The base that Bush built
Matthew Fisher National Post Monday, September 24, 2007
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -Colonel Pat Stogran would not recognize his old haunt today. Kandahar Airfield now features a flight line bristling with scores of fighter jets, attack helicopters, drones and squadrons of jumbo-sized cargo aircraft squatting on acres of freshly poured concrete, rows of air-conditioned offices, barracks and shower huts stretching to the horizon, a Tim Hortons, a Burger King, a Pizza Hut, a massage parlour, several gymnasiums, a baseball diamond, a floor hockey rink, several basketball courts, satellite television, four Western radio stations, several sprawling chow halls, a regular bus service and military police whose primary duty seems to be handing out speeding tickets to anyone driving faster than 20 kilometres an hour.
One of Canada's new generation of warriors, Col. Stogran commanded the now almost forgotten first battle group to call Kandahar home. It was early in 2002, the Taliban had just been ousted from power and Osama bin Laden was on the run.
Col. Stogran's outfit, built around a battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, mostly ate rations and by turns baked or froze in a clutch of simple canvas tents near what was then a shattered airfield. In this severely austere setting they planned and launched grueling mountain operations in places such as Tora Bora.
Although this was only five years ago, it was a much less complicated time politically and militarily. Immediately after 9/11, there was broad public support for President George W. Bush's war on terror in the United States and Canada, and general agreement in the West that this was a just cause.
Working with a combat brigade from the U.S. Army, the Patricias' mandate was to hunt down and eliminate remnants of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Canadians took part in an epic battle at a place they called the Whale.
Their snipers caused a sensation in military circles by making several world-record kills, including one deadly shot of 2,400 metres. But this success was overshadowed when an American warplane dropped a bomb that killed four Canadians as they tested weapons during a live-fire exercise at Tarnak Farm.
Then, suddenly, Washing-ton's focus shifted to Iraq. Col. Stogran's battle-proven soldiers quietly returned to Alberta, while Ottawa dispatched other troops to take on a more traditional peacekeeping role, doing good deeds in and near Kabul.
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Matthew Fisher National Post Monday, September 24, 2007
Article Link
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -Colonel Pat Stogran would not recognize his old haunt today. Kandahar Airfield now features a flight line bristling with scores of fighter jets, attack helicopters, drones and squadrons of jumbo-sized cargo aircraft squatting on acres of freshly poured concrete, rows of air-conditioned offices, barracks and shower huts stretching to the horizon, a Tim Hortons, a Burger King, a Pizza Hut, a massage parlour, several gymnasiums, a baseball diamond, a floor hockey rink, several basketball courts, satellite television, four Western radio stations, several sprawling chow halls, a regular bus service and military police whose primary duty seems to be handing out speeding tickets to anyone driving faster than 20 kilometres an hour.
One of Canada's new generation of warriors, Col. Stogran commanded the now almost forgotten first battle group to call Kandahar home. It was early in 2002, the Taliban had just been ousted from power and Osama bin Laden was on the run.
Col. Stogran's outfit, built around a battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, mostly ate rations and by turns baked or froze in a clutch of simple canvas tents near what was then a shattered airfield. In this severely austere setting they planned and launched grueling mountain operations in places such as Tora Bora.
Although this was only five years ago, it was a much less complicated time politically and militarily. Immediately after 9/11, there was broad public support for President George W. Bush's war on terror in the United States and Canada, and general agreement in the West that this was a just cause.
Working with a combat brigade from the U.S. Army, the Patricias' mandate was to hunt down and eliminate remnants of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Canadians took part in an epic battle at a place they called the Whale.
Their snipers caused a sensation in military circles by making several world-record kills, including one deadly shot of 2,400 metres. But this success was overshadowed when an American warplane dropped a bomb that killed four Canadians as they tested weapons during a live-fire exercise at Tarnak Farm.
Then, suddenly, Washing-ton's focus shifted to Iraq. Col. Stogran's battle-proven soldiers quietly returned to Alberta, while Ottawa dispatched other troops to take on a more traditional peacekeeping role, doing good deeds in and near Kabul.
More on link
