OT: Afghanistan

It's really weird that just yesterday I was thinking the thought to myself - I wonder how long it will take until the majority of Canadians will know someone who has either served in Afghanistan, or even worse know someone who was injured in Afghanistan.

And then this morning I brought my paper in from the front porch and looking at me from the front page was a fellow who I went to university with - a guy who when we were going to school I actually knew quite well - Trevor Greene. It's seems to me that he'd be too old to be serving in Afghanistan as he'd have to be the same age as me since we were in the same year together and I'm turning 40 this year - but then it said he was a reservist, and that makes sense. And when I read the story in the paper, the circumstances of his injury makes why he was over there make sense too - he was a complete goof ball when we were at the University of King's College here in Halifax, but he also seemed to have a strong moral code at the same time - although it never stopped him from missing a century party or a bay party. That was the great thing about King's - the liquor - I LOVED university! haha! Sorry Mom and Dad! haha! (a century party is where you have to drink 1 ounce of beer every minute for 100 minutes without passing out, and a bay party is what they called parties hosted by the different wings of the men's residences where there was free liquor because they were sponsored by the different residences - I used them mostly as opportunities to spill my free liquor on people I didn't like - 20 years later I can now confess that fact.)

I can't comment on whether we should be in Afghanistan because I come from a military family, and my father (I think) is very proud to have served in the Canadian military - and I am very proud that Canada sends its Canadian armed forces arond the world to help countries in need - like Afghanistan - it's just truly unfortunate that countries like Afghanistan have roads that keep killing our troops - but maybe if some steadiness is brought for enough time they can get some infastructure so that less people die in traffic accidents and then people can really get down to the business of turning the country into what the Afghanis want.

Unfortunately it seems like it was just that infastructure building that is so desparately needed was what Trevor was trying to work on when he was attacked by a crazy person. That is really tragic on so many levels.

Here's the article that was in today's paper...

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/488064.html

Canadian soldier hurt in axe attack
Cape Breton native on tour in Afghanistan with reserves
By LES PERREAUX The Canadian Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Militants tossing a grenade and firing small arms attacked Canadian soldiers at a meeting with Afghan village elders Saturday but it was a lone man wielding an axe who caused the serious casualty among Canadians.

Lieut. Trevor Greene of Vancouver sat down for a meeting with village elders Saturday afternoon when a man suddenly struck him with an axe.

"He came out of the crowd and pulled out an axe from underneath his clothing and lifted it above his head standing right behind Trevor," said Capt. Kevin Schamuhn, the platoon commander who was sitting at Greene’s side.

"The guy lifted up the axe and cried out the ‘Allah Akbar,’ the jihad prayer before they commit suicide. And he swung the axe into Trevor’s head."

Schamuhn and two other soldiers each fired a volley into the attacker, killing him instantly.

A melee ensued, with local residents running in every direction and more attackers firing small arms from across a river.

Canadian and Afghan soldiers fired their own assault rifles and the Afghans added rocket-propelled grenades.

Moments later, another insurgent threw a grenade at Canadian and Afghan forces. The grenade exploded harmlessly a distance away. Soldiers returned fire at the man. They believe the man was wounded but he escaped.

The meeting was one in a series for the platoon based at a forward staging camp about 60 kilometres north of Kandahar.

Greene, Schamuhn and a security detail were meeting with local elders to talk about possible reconstruction projects when the attack took place.

The two officers removed their helmets and set down their arms as a gesture of trust for elders who traditionally guarantee security at such meetings, known as shura.

"We were completely vulnerable to them and they took complete advantage of that," Schamuhn said.

Greene was evacuated by U.S. Blackhawk helicopter to the Canadian hospital at Kandahar Airfield. He emerged from surgery Saturday afternoon and remains in serious but stable condition.

"We would classify it is absolutely cowardly, a maniac I guess is safe to say," said Col. Tom Putt, the deputy commander of Canadian forces in Afghanistan.

The soldiers are camped out at a forward operating base near Gumbad, north of Kandahar, a hotbed of anti-government activity. The small encampment surrounded by farmers’ fields had previously come under rocket attack and several U.S. soldiers died in the area last year.

"The area in question has been one of the transit routes for some time for the Taliban," Putt said.

Greene, a reservist with the Seaforth Highlanders, is an author and journalist based in Vancouver. He has written a book about the missing women of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and also co-wrote Closing Bigger: The Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals with Shane Gibson.

"Trevor is a talented author, an amazing dad and partner, the kind of person you can count on always," Gibson said in a statement.

"He is deeply committed to protecting and preserving the freedoms we enjoy as Canadians ... keeping in the strictest confidence the nature of his military responsibilities and past experiences while serving our country," Gibson said.

A journalism graduate of the University of King’s College in Halifax, Greene, speaks three languages.

Upon graduation, he spent seven years in Japan, working for the Tokyo bureau of Bloomberg News and Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

He went on to write a book about Japan’s homeless, that was short-listed for a book prize, and then worked as a research editor with the securities branch of a U.K. investment bank.

A native of Cape Breton, Greene returned to Canada in 1995 to join the navy.

After settling in Vancouver and transferring to the army reserves, Greene joined the Vancouver bureau of Bloomberg News as a general-assignment reporter on business and finance in Canada and Asia.

It’s the second injury in Afghanistan for Greene, who suffered whiplash in February when his convoy was struck by a roadside bomb.

Schamuhn said he was impressed by Greene’s conviction that the army could help the Afghan people.

The attack came as Canadian troops face increasing danger in the restive Kandahar region, including four in the last week alone.

Five Canadians were wounded in a suicide bombing Friday.