Canada in Afghanistan

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

RIP, Tyler.

Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan

CTV.ca News Staff
Updated: Sun. Apr. 11 2010 3:38 PM ET

A Canadian soldier has been killed by an improvised explosive device while on foot patrol in the Dand district of Afghanistan.

Pte. Tyler William Todd, 26, was killed at approximately 7:30 a.m. Sunday near the town of Belanday, which is about eight kilometres southwest of Kandahar city.

Another soldier, whose name was not released, was wounded in the blast.

Todd was from Kitchener, Ont., but was serving with the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton.

Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard, the commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, said Todd was on a routine patrol, speaking to local villagers. "The patrol was part of the battle group's effort to learn more about the village's people and their needs," Menard said.

Menard paid tribute to Todd, saying he died doing a job he loved with his best friends.

"He never allowed the small things to get to him and was often the rock upon which his comrades depended," Menard said. "His enthusiasm and strong will was an inspiration to his platoon."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered his condolences to Todd's family and friends.

"The thoughts of an entire country are with you in this most difficult time. I also hope for the quick and full recovery of the other Canadian soldier injured in the same incident," he said in a statement.

"Canada is grateful for Private Tyler William Todd's sacrifice. We are all saddened by this loss."

The Prime Minister said Todd's death did not diminish his government's commitment to the mission. Canadian troops are scheduled to pull out of Afghanistan next year.

"The courage demonstrated by the Canadian Forces in this mission speaks to their dedication of creating a better future for the Afghan people. Canada's commitment to this goal is not diminished by this incident."

In the past, the Belanday region had been heavily travelled by Taliban militants who staged attacks on the village and the outskirts of Kandahar City from surrounding grape and wheat fields.

Pte. Patrick Lormand, 21, was killed in Sept. 2009 by an IED blast while on patrol around the town.

But Belanday is now considered the western tip of a security bubble that extends through the Dand district and the Canadians hoped to expand the region of security around the town.

Last November, the Canadian battle group established a permanent presence in Belanday, setting up a platoon house there as part of an experiment by military brass to have troops leave their fortified bases and live among the population.

It was lauded as a success at NATO headquarters and even praised by U.S. generals, as the Canadian soldiers turned the town from a no-go zone into an oasis of calm in Taliban territory.

Just a few weeks ago, Canadian troops and Afghan soldiers swept an area just south of Belanday and had been assured by locals that the Taliban had fled the area.

Todd's death brings to 142 the total number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the mission began.

[John McGillivray]

Canadian troops rotate in advance of summer offensive
By Ethan Baron, Canwest News ServiceApril 28, 2010

SPERWAN GHAR, Afghanistan — Canada's new command group for the front-line combat base arrived in Afghanistan Wednesday, as troops from the Royal Canadian Regiment of Petawawa, Ont., take over from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry of Edmonton.
The new rotation of soldiers arrived in advance of NATO's upcoming summer Kandahar province offensive, planned to be the largest-ever in the war.
C Company from the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR), posted to the fortified hill base here, is expected to be charged with pushing the Taliban from west Panjwaii district, a key insurgent stronghold.
"Our company is very well prepared, very well trained," said Capt. Stephen Good, second in command of the RCR's C Company.
In his previous tour, Good moved around several volatile districts.
Now, Canadian combat troops are working almost exclusively in Panjwaii, attempting to secure population centres by keeping a solid presence in a more limited area.
"In 2007, it was all kinetic operations, all disruption — we never held the ground, and we never stayed with the population. We didn't have enough manpower," said Good, originally from Coquitlam, B.C.
Outgoing Princess Patricia's troops engaged in frequent fighting in the first part of their seven-to-eight-month tour, then endured an escalating threat from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
"It's time to go home," said Sgt. Mark Courtney, originally from Sydney, N.S., and posted to Edmonton for 10 years. "You get excited. It's almost like Christmas."
Courtney also fought with C Company in 2006, when Canadian combat troops were highly mobile, operating from the field and from scattered encampments.
"They were really two different missions. There are a lot more troops on the ground now. The insurgents aren't as willing to fight us," he said. "In 2006, we were something new and they wanted to have their go at us. Now they're a bit more cautious."
The Taliban are increasingly using IEDs against Canadian foot patrols, putting them in paths, walls and trees, in addition to planting them in roads to target vehicles, said Courtney.
He, along with three other soldiers, narrowly escaped a blast of shrapnel from a remote-detonated IED. "It went between two of us."
Princess Patricia's C Company arrived in Afghanistan in October, and moved in December to this base in west Panjwaii — a few hundred metres from a broad Taliban-held zone with what soldiers call "the heart of darkness" at its centre: the town of Zangabad.
"We started pushing out west toward Zangabad and we started getting in a lot of firefights," said Cpl. Richard Ready, a field medic originally from Appin, Ont. He had been in Afghanistan less than two weeks when an IED exploded six metres away.
"That was a bit of an eye-opener, for sure," he said.
Canada's new approach of solidifying a "ring of stability" around Kandahar City made reconnaissance platoon Cpl. Jamie Ward's tour far different from his previous rotation in 2008.
Then, as in previous years, Canadian troops moved against areas where the Taliban were entrenched, killing insurgents and driving them out, then moving to the next hot spot without having secured control.
Under the new strategy, Canada's soldiers operate out of bases located very near village areas, and work closely with the Afghan army and police — as well as Canadian military- and civilian-development teams — to clear out Taliban, solidify control, and begin providing services to villagers.
"From what we've seen on the ground, the strategy seems more focused," said Ward, originally from Victoria.
As members of the RCR arrive, the Princess Patricia's are introducing them to their new operations area, and will soon begin taking them out on patrols. The outgoing troops will leave the country in mid-May.
"I'm pretty happy to go home and go back to normal life," said Ready, "just working on the house, drinking beer by the fire, spending time with my wife and kid — he just turned one year old on the 20th."
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Can...141/story.html

[Brian Gough]

Canadian killed by IED in Afghanistan

A Canadian senior non-commissioned officer in Afghanistan was killed Monday by an improvised explosive device near Kandahar city.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Craig Blake, 37, was killed while working in the Panjwai district, approximately 25 kilometres southwest of the city.

Brig-Gen. Dan Ménard, the commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, said the Simcoe, Ont., native was returning to camp Monday afternoon after successfully disposing of another IED when the blast went off.

Blake was serving with the Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic. He had only been in Afghanistan for a few weeks when he was killed.

"A navy clearance diver, Craig was most comfortable working under water, yet he effortlessly adapted to the rigours of land operations," Ménard said in a statement.

"Incredibly fit, with a backbone of steel, Craig put 100 per cent into everything he did."

Blake, married with two children, was a hockey coach and triathlete, Ménard said.

His death brings to 143 the number of Canadian troops who have died in the Afghan mission since it began in 2002.

"On behalf of all soldiers, airmen, airwomen, sailors and special operators of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, I offer my sincere condolences to his friends and family," Ménard said.



With files from The Canadian Press

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Clearance Divers in the CF have about the biggest Brass Ones of any I know. Not only can they swim and dive like the much-touted US Navy SEALS, but they are all EOD experts as well, on land as well as at sea. That takes a courage which few have.

Unfortunately, PO2 Blake's luck ran out. I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes.

I tip my hat to Petty Officer Craig Blake and all his comrades, and extend my deepest condolences to his family.

[John McGillivray]

Canadian troops will take lead in Panjwaii offensive: General
By Ethan Baron, Canwest News Service May 5, 2010

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Despite a massive U.S. troop buildup in southern Afghanistan, Canada will take the lead in securing the Taliban stronghold in western Panjwaii district, according to the commander of all Canadian troops overseas.
"Definitely Canada will have the major role in that area," Lt.-Gen. Marc Lessard said during a visit to the region. "The Canadian troops are there."
Canadian soldiers in western Panjwaii operate primarily out of two heavily fortified bases, Masum Ghar and Sperwan Ghar.
Lessard's comments came as 1,500 Canadian and allied troops gathered on the tarmac at Kandahar Airfield to honour Petty Officer 2nd Class Craig Blake, killed Monday by a Taliban bomb.
Although NATO's offensive planned to kick off this summer will involve "massive, massive activities," it will focus not just on security operations but on building governance, Lessard said, and while Canadians will undertake combat missions, their main priority will be applying the same tactics they've been using to secure a village area to the east.
"Think about the slow, painstaking tactical activities occurring right now in eastern Panjwaii — Nakhonay — where you have outposts close to the population, you're doing patrolling, you're talking to the elders, you're trying to find out who's pro-(Afghan government), who's a fence sitter, and who's pro-Taliban, and why," Lessard said.
"Will there be tactical encounters? Of course there will be. But it is not a major operation, in fact (that's) the opposite of what we want to do."
The goal for Canada in the offensive will be to turn "fence-sitters" into government supporters, and turn Taliban supporters "at least" into fence-sitters, Lessard said.
As preparations continue, provincial Gov. Tooryalai Wesa insists the offensive will only go ahead only if the province's people wanted it, repeating a statement to Canwest News Service made last month and adding that in any case "it is not a military operation."
Early last month, tribal elders reported that villagers were already fleeing from rural areas into the city in anticipation of violence during the offensive, and that city residents were living in fear with nowhere else to go.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Can...854/story.html

[John McGillivray]

Report on CBS on the upcoming battle for Kandahar.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?...ag=mncol;lst;1

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Another one falls...

Canadian soldier killed by IED in Afghanistan
CTV.ca News Staff
Updated: Fri. May. 14 2010 10:00 AM ET

A Canadian soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device Thursday, just a few days short of the end of his tour of duty in southern Afghanistan.

Pte. Kevin McKay, of the 1st Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, died when an explosion erupted around his platoon while on patrol in a village just outside Kandahar City.

The 24-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., was on a "presence patrol" in the village of Nakhonay, about 15 kilometres west of Kandahar City, when the IED exploded.

The foot patrols are intended to demonstrate to local Afghans that NATO troops have pushed the Taliban out of the area, part of the volatile Panjwaii district that was the scene of fierce fighting in 2006 and 2007.

Col. Simon Hetherington, the deputy commander of Task Force Kandahar, said McKay embodied the spirit of the Canadian soldier.

"He was the type of soldier that Canadians might think of when they think of their army in Afghanistan -- the tough, courageous infantryman, living in austere conditions and doing incredibly difficult work," Hetherington said from the main coalition base at Kandahar Air Field.

"His platoon brothers and friends will remember Kevin, better known as 'Mickey' to his buddies, as a generous man, dependable, with a quick wit and a great sense of humour that was exemplified by his awesome moustache."

Hetherington, speaking on behalf of task force commander Brig.-Gen. Dan Menard, who is on leave, said that McKay was short in stature but not in the estimation of his comrades.

"While not a tall man, he had no difficulty in poking fun and taunting those less vertically challenged platoon mates," Hetherington said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement that McKay served Canada valiantly, and deserves the gratitude and respect of his nation.

"Canadians are forever proud and grateful for his service and for the contributions of all our men and women in uniform to this UN-mandated, NATO-led mission."

McKay is the 144th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan since the mission began in 2002. Two civilians -- diplomat Glyn Berry and journalist Michelle Lang -- have also died.

McKay's death comes as hundreds gather in Halifax to remember the first Canadian sailor to be killed in the Afghan conflict.

A memorial service will be held for 37-year-old Petty Officer 2nd Class Craig Blake, who was killed by an IED on May 3, also in the Panjwaii district.

About 1,000 people are attending the service at 12 Wing Shearwater, a huge aircraft hangar overlooking Halifax harbour.

Blake had 10 years' experience as a clearance diver for the Canadian Forces and was a member of Maritime Forces Atlantic Fleet Diving Unit.
Members of the diving unit carried Blake's remains into the memorial service.

His remains will be placed in the sea at a private ceremony.