Postcard From Kandahar
A somewhat amusing exerpt from an email from a friend in the Canadian Armed Forces;
The routine for Canadian movement in Kandahar at the moment is to travel under the cover of dark. So we leave before sun up and arrive home well after sundown.
[…]
Me and one of the guys were just heading towards Green Beans for a chocolate chai latte to go, when we were called back. Oh so close……….I could almost taste the coffee. We loaded up and were on our way. It had been less then an hour since the first explosion. We took an out of the way route this time, as you try not to use the same route over and over, but that can be hard when there is only one road. You don’t want to be predictable or complacent.
We took a back road this time, and I use the term loosely (like the sand was). We ended up turning around several times and heading in new directions. All the time the road just seemed to disappear as we got going. The sun was now coming up, and the locals were gathering on the sides of the hills to watch the Canadians drive around a swampy field. If you drive by the same person more than three times, are you on a first name basis? At one time we were even parallel to the hwy we were trying to avoid. Finally we gave up and got back on the hwy. Just before we reached the PRT we were told a rocket hit within 300m of the camp. Our luck was holding out, but for how long?.
Its good to see the Afghans are in such capable hands. You would think little Paulie Martin might be able to buy these mounties a gps system. Although, what would you expect from a third world dictator like martin?
Perhaps they were turning around because of the loose sand rather than because they were lost?
What better way to avoid attack than to drive around aimlessly. The Taliban probably thought these guys were already wounded…