Yesterday, I took SWWBO to the airport, saw off Prodigal Son & Girlfriend, went to see Ultraviolet, then went Someplace Sekrit and got SWWBO a Natal Day gift.
This has nothing to do with that, except tangentially.
Tangents.
What does this:
Ambush in Afghanistan Mar. 5, 2006. 05:20 PM MITCH POTTER MIDDLE EAST BUREAU
A Canadian civil affairs officer came in peace yesterday to a destitute Afghan village, removing his helmet and laying his weapon on the ground. He sat cross-legged with tribal elders and produced a notepad, into which he began to faithfully record the people's needs.From behind, a young man stepped forward suddenly from among the crowd of villagers and raised an axe above his head. With a single cry of "Allahu Akbar," he swung the blade into the top of the Canadian officer's head.
Lieut. Trevor Greene, a Vancouver resident serving in the Canadian Forces' Civil-Military Co-operation (CIMIC) unit was in critical condition last night, en route to Germany, where a team of neurologists waited to assess the extent of brain damage. His vital signs were said to be satisfactory and he was breathing without assistance.
Have in common with this:
Trevor was a couple of years behind me in undergrad but Kings being so small we were certainly knew each other, played intramurals, argued over the merits of pre- or post-Wham George Michaels and shared beers. It is quite the thing, 20 odd years after the age folk sign up, that Trevor was still ready and able to volunteer as a reservist. Thoughts today are with him.
Have in common with this?
That sign is the modestly famous farked up sign intending to be all supportive of the US Army while having a Canadian soldier on it, along with a Brit tank. There isn't one US Army thing up there in that pic. While shopping for SWWBO's Natal Day Commemorative, I came across a vendor selling these metal signs, along with lots of other reproduction antique ads. Remembering the amused kerfuffle over these, I determined the Castle should have one.
Tangents.
The Canadians lost a few other soldiers in Afghanistan lately too, in a vehicle accident. More on that, later.
Juxtaposition - While going through the check-out with the nice lady who ran the concession, I told her why I was interested in the sign, pointing out the Canadian soldier and British tank, and decided lack of anything US other than symbols. Her response?
"Pshaw. Canada doesn't even *have* an Army."
Heh. The Armorer displayed admirable restraint.
"Um, yes, yes, they do. They're even reworking it to make it more deployable and versatile. In fact, there are over 2000 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan right now, and a Canadian General has just assumed command of a significant chunk of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. They've had soldiers killed over there. In fact, yesterday, they had a soldier attacked by an axe-wielding bastard who hit him from behind while they were in a meeting discussing villager's needs."
"Oh, piffle. The Canadians aren't helping us and I don't believe they are in Afghanistan, much less commanding anything."
It took showing my military ID to establish some credibility, but I finally convinced her that yes, indeed, the Canadians are involved, in a real, material way, in the GWOT. And getting hurt doing it.
Juxtapositions.
Yes, regular readers of this space are aware of the Canadian presence in the GWOT. Sadly, that's only 2K or so world-wide, so it is a muted trumpet, indeed.
The war is personal for many of us, having friends, co-workers, family deployed. Some of us have "Gold Stars" too. I stand at 13, personally, albeit 8 of them came on one day - 9/11, at the Pentagon.
And now Castle Contrarian and Canadian Alan has been touched by the war, in a personal way, by the wounding of Lieutenant Captain Green. Hopefully, this won't turn into a Gold Star for Alan, or a personalized Poppy.
Tangents. Fuzzybear Lioness works with Soldier's Angels, a charity we've asked you all to give to in support of Project Valour-IT and other Good Things they do. We've gotten donations from Canadian sources, too.
Fuzzybear sent me this today, and I wanted to share it you guys - especially our Canadian readers.
I just got the following from Soldiers' Angels Germany. I would put it in H&I Fires or create a "Update" post on LT. Greene or something, but it's gonna be a busy morning for me.I just spoke the the Canadian Liaison, CPT Mietzner. LT Greene is in ICU and in critical but stable condition. His family should be here tomorrow. CPT Mietzner will let us know if there is anything we can do. Unfortunately, there is not much we can do for ICU patients.
[I'm hoping SA will be able to at least get in touch with his family so that they know SA is available to help them.]
I will contact my blogger friend Candace to see if she'd like to collect best wishes for him and his family again, as we did
for the 3 critically injured Canadians that were here last month.[I've offered my help in this]
Sadly, the Canadians had 2 fallen heroes this weekend. I did not know until CPT Mietzner told me. Cpl Davis was killed in a
vehicle accident down range and another soldier, MCpl Wilson, was seriously injured in the same accident and died here in Landstuhl early Sunday morning. They were able to keep him alive until his family arrived, so they were with him.
2 further soldiers injured in the same accident are also here but on regular wards and stable (Chavez & Haggerty).
CPT Mietzner will make sure they get backpacks, etc.
I'll let you know if CPT Mietzner tells me of anything else we can do.
mp
We know you're there. We care. We care for all our allies. More importantly, perhaps - as Fuzzy's note shows, it's *not* just Denizens of Argghhh! who know and care. There is a larger community of us out there who treat you as family, even if your family is well, you know, kinda like in-laws sometimes...
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