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We hear a lot these days about our soldiers in Afghanistan — especially those who come home in coffins.
Mike Czuboka, Winnipeg publisher of a monthly newsletter, The Rice Paddy — he and I were in different battalions of the Princess Pats in the Korean War — sent the following assessment. Its origin is unknown:
The Canadian soldier is profane and irreverent, living as he does in a world of capriciousness, frustration and disillusionment.
He is perhaps the best-educated of his kind in history, but rarely accords respect on the basis of mere degrees or titles.
He speaks his own dialect, often incomprehensible to the layman. He can be cold, cruel, even brutal and is frequently insensitive. Killing is his profession and he strives to become even more skilled at it.
His model is the grey, muddy, hard-eyed comrade who took the untakeable at Vimy Ridge, endured the unendurable in the Scheldt and held the unholdable at Kapyong.
He is a superlative practical diplomat; his efforts have brought peace to many around the world. He is capable of astonishing acts of kindness, warmth and generosity. He will give you his last sip of water on a parched day and his last food to a hungry child; he will give his life for the society he loves.
Danger and horror are his familiars and his sense of humour is, accordingly, sardonic. What the unknowing take as callousness is his defence against the unimaginable; he whistles through a career filled with graveyards.
His ethos is one of self-sacrifice and duty. He is sinfully proud of himself, of his unit, of his country. He is unique in that his commitment is total. No other trade or profession demands such of its members, and none could successfully try.
He loves his family dearly, sees them all too rarely and often as not loses them to the demands of his profession. Loneliness is the price he accepts for the privilege of serving.
He regards discomfort as routine; the search for personal gain is beneath him; he has neither understanding of, nor patience with, those motivated by self-interest, politics or money.
His loyalty can be absolute, but must be earned. Paradoxically, payment for his loyalty, is also loyalty.
He devours life in big bites, knowing that each bite might be his last; his manners suffer thereby. He would rather die regretting the things he did than the ones he dared not try.
He earns a good wage by most standards and, given the demands on him, is woefully underpaid. He can be arrogant, thoughtless and conceited, but will spend himself, sacrifice everything for total strangers in places he cannot pronounce.
He considers political correctness a podium for self-righteous fools, but will die fighting for the rights of anyone he respects or pities
He is a philosopher and a drudge, an assassin and a philanthropist, a servant and a leader, a disputer and a mediator, a Nobel Laureate peacekeeper and the Queen’s hitman, a brawler and a healer, best friend and worst enemy.
He is a rock, a goat, a fool, a sage, a drunk, a provider, a cynic. You, pale stranger, sleep well at night only because he exists for you — the citizen who has never met him, has perhaps never thought of him and may even despise him.
He is both your child and your guardian. His devotion to you is unwavering. He is The Canadian Soldier.
BRANDON — A Manitoba-based soldier who has been in the Canadian Forces for about a year has been charged with second-degree murder.
Jason John Ouimet, a gunner at Canadian Forces Base Shilo, is charged in last month’s death of a 21-year-old male in Brandon, Man.
The 28-year-old soldier is a member of the 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.
Police say the body of Duane John Lacquette was found in the basement of his home on Jan. 16 and that he had died of blunt-force trauma to his upper body.
Lori Truscott, a spokeswoman for the base east of Brandon, says any disciplinary action by the military is dependent on the outcome of a court trial.
OTTAWA — The last time the Olympic Games were held in Canada, the military sent 42 soldiers to operate a logistics and distribution warehouse.
Oh, how times have changed. Back then, the country's solicitor general decided the security threat to the 1988 Calgary Winter Games "was such that security assistance from DND was not required," said a Defence Department briefing note, written in April 2008.
The RCMP and local police made up the security force in Calgary.
It seems quaint now, considering the police in Vancouver will be backed up by Afghanistan-hardened JTF-2 commandos and two battle group-sized formations of regular and reserve troops on land. Many of those troops have already deployed to the mountains and forests overlooking the venues.
There will also be frigates patrolling the waterways, CF-18 jet fighters screaming overhead and high-tech surveillance wizardry in the form of static surveillance balloons that are usually employed on the bomb-laced roadways of Kandahar.
In all, the Canadian military will field 4,500 soldiers, sailors and aircrew out of a total security force of 15,000. The federal and B.C. governments have set aside $900 million for the security operation.
SPRINGWATER TWP. — Officers from four police agencies were involved in a pursuit Tuesday afternoon after a motorist went on a rampage at CFB Borden and neighbouring Angus.
Just before 1 p.m., officers from the Nottawasaga and Huronia West OPP detachments, as well as Barrie city and military police, pursued a Dodge Caravan being driven dangerously on the base after being denied access.
After damage to a business, another motor vehicle and a police cruiser, police placed a man in custody.
Police say the accused was denied access into CFB Borden after being verbally abusive with military police, but the accused ran the gate and MPs followed after him.
The vehicle was travelling at high rates of speed and running red lights. The vehicle then exited the base into Angus. The vehicle then entered a grocery store parking lot where another vehicle was struck and a glass storefront was also damaged.
The accused continued eastbound on County Road 90 and then veered northbound onto George Johnston Road, in Springwater Township, south of Sunnidale Road. It was there the combined police forces were able to get the vehicle stopped and arrest the driver.
A Barrie city police cruiser was damaged when officers were attempting to get the suspect vehicle stopped.
No one was injured.
George Johnston Road is closed from County Road 90 to Sunnidale Road for the investigation.
Joseph Arlow, 32, of Angus, is charged with dangerous driving causing bodily harm and flight from a peace officer causing bodily harm. Additional charges are pending.
The accused was taken to Stevenson Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor injuries and will be held for Wednesday's bail hearing in Barrie.
"I hold it to be of great prudence for men to abstain from threats and insulting words towards any one, for neither the one nor the other in any way diminishes the strength of the enemy; but the one makes him more cautious, and the other increases his hatred of you, and makes him more persevering in his efforts to injure you"
- Niccolo Machiavelli
Military Word Of The Day
Military Term #195 of 925:
CFRC
:
Canadian Forces Recruiting Centre
Today in Military History
February 8
1943:
The Italian Submarine Avorio is cornered and sunk by HMCS REGINA in the Mediterranean.
1945:
Operation Veritable, Canadian and British troops launch offensive near Nijmegen to capture Reichwald area
1945:
THE REICHSWALD, effective dates for battle honour to begin
1945:
THE RHINELAND, effective dates for battle honour to begin (to 10 Mar 45)
