Defence Today

HEARTS AND MINDS ON THE LINE This is part four of Legion Magazine’s story on the efforts of one small Canadian unit to win the hearts and minds of a town in the Taliban heartland last fall. First Platoon of Alpha Company, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry has been in Salavat for a week and a half, living in a small school compound on the edge of town, struggling hard to get a grip on the distrustful, slightly hostile little community in the centre of Panjwai District, the deadliest place for Canadians in all of Kandahar Province. Follow the links to read [...]

Roughly one hundred metres above the Gulf of Oman: cargo door open; all senses engaged. Shadows and human silhouettes against sunlit water; vibrations still typing rhythmic pattern up spine to neck; deep muffled engine and main rotor noise in helmet overlaid with sudden invite from 423 Squadron’s Captain Adam Power: “Would you like to come up and fly for awhile?”

This is Part 3 of Legion Magazine’s series on the Canadian effort to win hearts and minds in Salavat, a restive community in Kandahar Province’s notorious Panjwai district.

Fifteen metres above the Gulf of Oman: cargo door open; all senses engaged. Surge of heavy air against arms and legs; vibrations moving from floor to feet to spine; muffled whine of the engine infiltrating your helmet, and best of all—out there—through that wide opening, the rapid rush of blue-silvery water, broken only by fleeting whitecaps and the vanishing trails of flying fish.

This is the second part of Legion Magazine’s series on the men of 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry as they go headfirst into their new mission to secure the town of Salavat, deep in the heart of Kandahar province’s infamous Panjwai district. Stationed in a small, commandeered school compound, 1st Platoon now comprises what is known as a ‘Platoon House,’ the linchpin in a new strategy emanating from Kabul to get NATO soldiers off their big bases and out into the villages.

For several weeks last fall, a dusty and dangerous frontier town in Afghanistan was home for Legion Magazine staff writer Adam Day. Armed with a notebook and camera, Day spent his time in Salavat with a platoon of 1st Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, deployed in an attempt to secure the town and win the trust of its people. The result of Day’s visit is a series of articles, beginning with Part 1, The Struggle For Salavat. Before we go there, however, we open with a story (Hearts And Minds) by freelance journalist Matthieu Aikins whose travels throughout Afghanistan have given him a perspective on how Afghans view international efforts to bring stability to their country.

For the first few days the platoon was uneasy. So much of everything was unknown. As a unit they were new to the war but they knew the war’s reputation for random savagery. As each patrol was leaving the little fortified schoolhouse over the first days, the soldiers staying behind would come out to see them off, pretending to tease them. Or maybe they would really tease them. There were always a few sombre last moments as the guys gave each other thumbs up or fist bumps on their way out, and then it would start. ‘Have fun at the war soldiers,’ someone might yell in a girl’s voice. ‘Watch out for those IEDs, tough guys,’ another might yell cutely. It seemed pretty clear the soldiers were worried about each other.

Abdul Wali was looking back over his shoulder, explaining to me how bad things had gotten for him, and about the gains the Taliban had been making in Kandahar, when, with a crunch, he rear-ended the car in front of us, another equally battered Corolla taxi that had been trying to take a left turn.

Legion Magazine staff writer Adam Day spent nearly a month in Afghanistan last October. These field notes serve as a prelude to a major special section on the war in Afghanistan scheduled to appear in the March/April issue—the Editor. AFGHANISTAN FIELD NOTE No. 1 In the spring and summer of 2009, it seemed that critical opinion about the war in Afghanistan was sinking towards pessimism nearly as fast as violence inside the country was rising. “We are not going to ever defeat the insurgency,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told CNN, and a chorus of military analysts soon joined him in expressing doubt. [...]

The single point of failure. This short phrase hides an idea powerful enough to make a special operations aviator professionally uncomfortable. The phrase makes them tense. It makes them speak of dangerous things. Up in the sky, there are few places to hide. And while commanders do their best to make plans resilient enough to avoid any single point of failure, it’s a rare plan that survives first contact with the enemy and recent military history shows that occasionally even the most elite forces can become undone. It takes just a single piece of bad luck—a dust storm that blinds and disorients, [...]