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Rick Hillier is still grinning, even if just barely. After more than three years at the head of Canada’s armed forces and at the centre of relentless media attention and political controversy over the war in Afghanistan, Chief of the Defence Staff General Rick Hillier, Canada’s sometimes embattled top soldier, remains determined and steadfastly optimistic.

Hillier is optimistic not only about the mission in Afghanistan, where he says there is progress every day, even if it is slow and incomplete, but also about the future of the Canadian Forces, which he says is finally becoming an organization that its members […]

It is decision time for Canada’s political and military leaders. And it is no easy question they have to answer. Indeed, it is a decision that could cost many lives. The question is this: what role will Canada next take on in NATO’s effort to stabilize Afghanistan?

With the end of Canada’s three-year commitment to its leading role in Kandahar province coming up in early 2009, Ottawa has in recent months been buzzing with debate about what should happen next.

While there are many options—everything from continuing the current combat role to complete withdrawal—the most often mentioned new role is one […]

Life is hard in Afghanistan, a country which ranks among the very poorest in the world. While cities like Kabul and Kandahar are relatively modern with their paved streets and concrete buildings, many of the smaller cities and villages probably haven’t changed a great deal in the last 1,000 years—food is scarce, the buildings are often made of mud, and clothing is rudimentary at best.

Seeing these living conditions first-hand can be quite a shock for the Canadian soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and understandably many of them want to help in whatever way possible.

When Major Pierre Huet, a reconnaissance squadron commander […]

Part 3: The Fall of Objective Rugby.

Whatever the new rotation of Canadian soldiers were expecting to find when they rotated into Kandahar in August 2006, it wasn’t this.

They had trained for counter-insurgency warfare, but what they found was a lot closer to conventional war.

What they […]

The main thing to know about the CC-117 Globemaster III—Canada’s newest military aircraft—is that it is very large and very powerful. It is thunderously large and powerful, in fact. And that’s not an exaggeration.

Should you find yourself sitting at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan when one of these aircraft takes off you will almost certainly feel your skull vibrate and your hair shimmy as everything around you starts to shake itself loose.

The Boeing C-117 Globemaster, referred to in its Canadian Forces nomenclature as a CC-117, is a strategic, heavy-lift aircraft. It can move up to 77,500 kilograms of equipment and
supplies—including […]

Part 2: Death in a Free Fire Zone.

Having just been blown up, Corporal Richard Furoy lay on the hard Afghan earth bleeding, in untold kinds of pain and probably close to shock. Beside him lay the body of his friend, Warrant Officer Rick Nolan. Enemy rounds […]

The big news at 2007’s New Brunswick convention is that the command is in good financial shape and new provincial President Mavis Cooper is looking forward to keeping it that way.

This year’s New Brunswick provincial convention–the command’s 78th–was held in Miramichi on the Labour Day weekend, […]

Part 1: The Charge of Charles Company.

Within sight of the infamous white schoolhouse, epicentre of the insurgency in Kandahar province, the hastily assembled Canadian force entered the kill zone. An enemy signal flare shot up across Charles Company’s lead elements and there aren’t […]

Canadian Forces soldiers in the Middle East are far from home and living in tough conditions in an uncertain environment. At any time of year their mission is a tough one, but at Christmas–when family and friends are celebrating the holidays back in Canada–it’s […]

With the high frequency of deployment for the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, sustaining morale is crucial. Which is why now is the perfect time for The Royal Canadian Legion’s Troop Morale Fund to pick up and begin hitting its stride.

It is now more than six years […]