I Face the Foe In Darkness

"I face the foe in darkness,
on a sandy white beach
facing the hidden foe.
I face the foe in darkness, with no fear.

I face the foe in darkness,
with no fear of Death's Embrace
the last cold embrace man will know.

I run up to a fence off death;
my black weapon of death wielded in my dirty hands.
I face the foe in Darkness,
using all my rage against the foe.

Thee un up to the walls of stone of thy foe,

and I fall with thy comrades.
Thence I have fallen with my friends,
in mighty battle."

The hearse bearing Capt. Matthew Dawe

leaves the Royal Military College in Kingston

on the way to the funeral service

by Noel Micheal Guscott

Noel was inspired by they men and women of the Canadian Forces and their dedication especially due to the long line of Military history in his family.

He wrote this poem shortly after the passing of Capt Matthew Dawe seen below.

I Face the Foe In Darkness (Part Two)

"Now I face the foe In darkness,
thence I have died;
I do still stand at my men's right side.
I face the foe In darkness.

Forever more in spirit.
Now the men come crashing down on the foe's halls of stone!
Yelling, screamin their rage!
While the dead provide light for their way, courage,
and all other things that they can provide.

Hail!
Hail the dead!
Hail the living!
Alas!
The foe in darkness has fallen beneath my friend's feet;
they celebrate now, before they move on.
Thence the foe in darkness has fallen."

by Noel Micheal Guscott


Capt Matthen Dawe,

MAY YOU AND YOUR BROTHERS IN ARMS REST IN PEACE

Kandahar Airfield without Canadiana

Beyond its troops and tanks, Canada casts a long shadow at Kandahar Airfield, the hub of the coalition's Afghan mission.
There's the Canadian gym, popular among the nearly 20,000 soldiers from other countries. So too is the on-base Tim Hortons, owned and operated by the Canadian Forces. The base's prominent Canadian-built hockey pad is home to a house league, which is dominated, naturally, by Canadian teams.
KAF is heavy on its Can-con, all of it built since Kandahar became the focus of Canada's Afghan mission in 2006. But with Canadian combat troops set to withdraw next summer, coalition countries face a cold reality: KAF without Canada. (read more =>)

Oh Canada, In respect of the loss of Cpl. Darren James Fitzpatrick

An injured soldier who returned home to Edmonton died from his wounds surrounded by family. The 21 year old infantryman was a member of the PPCLI. He had been injured by an I.E.D on March 6. Let us not forget all the injured soldiers who live and face new challenges everyday, and let us not forget Cpl. Darren James Fitzpatrick. His efforts were not for nothing.Rest in Peace

So deeply sorry to hear the news

Of the loss of another son

Oh Canada we’d have held you near

Our oh so precious one... See More

We thank you lord for seeing him home

To the country of his birth

We thank you lord for bringing him home

To those for whom he served

We thank you he had the loving arms

Of his family gathered near

That he could rest in the loving arms

Of his loved ones standing near

Oh Canada, for you are he

So much more than all of us

Oh Canada you have given so much

On behalf of all of us

Oh Canada we feel so cheated

For we knew not of your plight

Or so proudly we would have been there

Standing quietly out of sight

We would have held a vigil

Held you close within our thoughts

We would have held you closely near

In our prayers and in our hearts

Thank you son, Oh Canada

For me that is your name

For you’re the son who was welcomed home

And we knew not that you came

We thank you lord, he made it home

To his country, to his land

We thank you for your loving gift

Of this brave Canadian

Please Lord send your angels

Carry him gently hold him tight

That he may rest in the loving hearts

Of those he shared throughout his life

Let them know we are so grateful

For the sacrifice that he gave

To make our world a better place

Amongst a country he sought to save

Your efforts Darren will not be forgotten.

You are Canada, and you and your fellow troops are in our hearts.

Cpl. Darren James Fitzpatrick, we knew you not, but our prayers reach out for you, your loved ones, friends, and fellow soldiers. We do, so dearly, thank you and your loved ones for your efforts towards making our world a better place.

By: Roger Borchert

For the Family, Loved Ones, Friends and Fellow Soldiers of Sgt. John Wayne Faught

He was a soldier’s soldier crusty to the edge
He led and guided younger ones
Safely kept until and when
To bring them home when their duty done
He died doing duty’s task
On behalf of a country so very proud
Now hurting at his pass
The hearts that pound, the tears that flow
He looks on from angel’s arms
And growls a laugh, Stand proudly lads
Until your duty’s passed
Weep not for me for now I’ll rest
In eternal loving arms
In hearts across a nation
Near mountains, seas and farms
In cities where we went to share
In the company of having fun
For we’ve enjoyed those very things
We’ve tried to pass along
To a nation buried in an evil dust
Of terror, hate, and war
That hasn’t had the chance to pass
Through freedoms opening door
So proud he walked the sands of time
So proud to give his all
To protect and place his life between
This terror and us all
They say John was gruff
Tough as Sergeants come
But for each and every one
To these youth he led in danger’s way
A father he’d become
They placed a trust a bond in him
As each do in that brotherhood
He will be missed by all those near
For what he taught to them was good
Oh Canada we rise salute
A soldier coming home
A son who rose to challenge’s hand
A soldier’s soldier it is wrote
For his family, friends, and loved ones
We pledge a solemn vow
To remember and hold high the torch
He’s carried forth for us till now

Your efforts John, will not be forgotten. You are Canada, and you and your fellow troops are in our hearts.

Sgt. John Wayne Faught we knew you not, but our prayers reach out for you, your loved ones, friends, and fellow soldiers. We do, so dearly, thank you and your loved ones for your efforts towards making our world a better place.

By: Roger Borchert

Fifteen Days: Stories Of Bravery, Friendship, Life And Death From Inside The New Canadian Army

Description:

Long before she made her first trip to Afghanistan as an embedded reporter for The Globe and Mail, Christie Blatchford was already one of Canada’s most respected and eagerly read journalists. Her vivid prose, her unmistakable voice, her ability to connect emotionally with her subjects and readers, her hard-won and hard-nosed skills as a reporter–these had already established her as a household name. But with her many reports from Afghanistan, and in dozens of interviews with the returned members of the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry and others back at home, she found the subject she was born to tackle. Her reporting of the conflict and her deeply empathetic observations of the men and women who wear the maple leaf are words for the ages, fit to stand alongside the nation’s best writing on war.It is a testament to Christie Blatchford’s skills and integrity that along with the admiration of her readers, she won the respect and trust of the soldiers. They share breathtakingly honest accounts of their desire to serve, their willingness to confront fear and danger in the battlefield, their loyalty towards each other and the heartbreak occasioned by the loss of one of their own. Grounded in insights gained over the course of three trips to Afghanistan in 2006, and drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews not only with the servicemen and -women with whom she shared so much, but with their commanders and family members as well, Christie Blatchford creates a detailed, complex and deeply affecting picture of military life in the twenty-first century.

Reviews:

“Blatchford has the rare ability to make her descriptions of combat, particularly those involving loss of life and serious injury, almost embarrassing to the reader. You feel that you are eavesdropping on very private matters. Her extensive research and her own recollections as she was caught up in the thick of some of the heaviest fighting are compelling, gut-wrenching and, unfortunately, real. . . . She walked the walk. . . . Blatchford’s hundreds of hours of interviews in Canada have produced a rare, intimate look at how individual families coped with an early-morning knock on the door, and the presence of a unit officer and a padre with devastating news, or having a vehicle chase down a father out for a jog with a request that he get in and return home because ‘the Army is at your house.’. . . As someone who has been to Afghanistan visiting our troops a couple of times, I learned more about the performance of our soldiers from reading Blatchford’s book then [sic] I did from being on the ground for short stays. . . . I’ve never felt prouder of being Canadian then when I’ve had the pleasure of commanding, or, in the case of Afghanistan, observing Canadian soldiers performing their duties abroad. Fifteen Days reinforced that pride even more. Bravo Zulu, Christie Blatchford.”

— Major-General Lewis MacKenzie (ret’d) in The Globe and Mail

“Her work, at its best, tends to reflect life’s mirror. There is death in her book, of course. It’s about war, after all — our war, to those who support it, and our soldiers, even to those who don’t. Blatch [sic] gives them more than just faces, she gives them life. And, for those who died wearing Canada’s uniform, she gives them a life that no newspaper has the length and space to describe, and no television documentary can convey in an hour’s time slot.”

— London Free Press

“Christie Blatchford brings to the theatre of hostilities her keen eye and curiosity. She writes superb prose that conveys the experience of the Canadians’ war in Afghanistan. She understands the soldiers and has grasped the comradeship that binds them together. She not only informs Canadians of today’s military realities, but champions values such as honour and sacrifice. She is exceptionally evocative, superbly descriptive, and develops a compelling storyline.”

- Citation from the 2006 Ross Munro Media Award

“Sandstorms, killer heat, sneak suicide attacks, rotten food, bites from five-foot snakes, death of buddies, can’t tell the enemy from friends - a tough and deadly war, yet Blatchford shows how our troops soldier on with no complaints. You will be involved in conversations with the troops that could only be gathered first hand. This book will open your eyes to this brutal war and it is worthy of our brave young men and women. It is a tough book written by a tough broad who tells it like it is. I could not put the book down.”

- Don Cherry

“Fifteen Days is by far the most deeply personal and startlingly honest account of Canadian soldiers since they first stepped foot in Afghanistan. Uninhibited by the official line, the troops hold nothing back, proving over and over why they are the best PR agents in the military; they also have the most to lose. By earning their confidence and respect, Christie Blatchford has delivered a candid and often painful account of their most difficult days. She is a master at capturing the truth of a moment, the humour and the heartbreak. The book is so vivid that I could feel the unbearable weight of the fallen. “

- Lisa LaFlamme, National Affairs Correspondent, CTV National News

PW - I Stand

I Stand for You

When terror grips you,

and the fabric of civility tears,

I stand for you.

On foreign soil,

where peace is but a whispered hope,

I stand for you.

As bullets fly like bees,

and hateful bombs explode

Threatening to steal my sanity – I stand for you.

I carry broken bodies back to be mended, and

No matter how hard I try – The tears fall like rain,

and still through all the pain,

I stand for you.

That is until I fall, and I wonder,

as I lay cold and Still...Will you remember,

and stand for me?

- Unknown -

QW - ARTILLERY'S TWO PEOPLE

"Artillerymen believe the world consist of two types of people; other Artillerymen and targets."

- Unknown

WE MAY NOT WIN AT THE OLYMPICS BUT WE TOOK GOLD IN AFGHANISTAN

Canadians beat Americans in Afghan ball hockey game!!

GO TEAM, GO!!!

QW - WOMEN SOLDIERS

"We have women in the military, but they don’t put us in the front lines. They don’t know if we can fight, if we can kill. I think we can. All the General has to do is walk over to the women and say 'you see that enemy over there? They say you look fat in those uniforms'"

- Elayne Boosler - comedian

Corporal Joshua Caleb Baker

Age: 24
Hometown: Edmonton, Alta
Unit: Loyal Edmonton Regiment 4th Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
Deceased: February 12, 2010
Incident: Training Accident, Kandahar City, Afghanistan

Contact Charlie: The Canadian Army, The Taliban and the Battle that Saved Afghanistan

Description:

From May through August 2006, Canadian soldiers fought a running battle against Taliban insurgents in the Panjwayi district southwest of Kandahar, the Afghan provincial capital. In the most intense fighting the Canadian army has conducted since the Korean War, the Taliban offensive was defeated, checking their goal to break NATO’s tenuous resolve by occupying Kandahar, however briefly. Contact Charlie, by National Post reporter and army reserve officer Chris Wattie, recounts the Battle of Panjwayi, focusing on Charlie Company of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, with whom Wattie was embedded for eight weeks in early 2006. Wattie’s book is an extraordinarily intense minute-by-minute account of the major engagements from the point of view of the Canadian soldiers who fought them. We tread familiar, but nonetheless inspiring, ground reading about courage, fear, determination, frustration, sorrow, and professionalism. Although clearly a battle narrative, Contact Charlie contains little history or true reportage, and is unrepentantly biased. Add in the breathless tone, and the book is, ultimately, a tribute to those Canadians who have chosen to fight on behalf of Canada. Even a tribute, though, requires some sense of legitimacy, and Contact Charlie often strains credibility. The lack of annotation, and the apparently perfect recall of the soldiers, suggests that Wattie has amplified the tone, if not the facts, of the battle for dramatic effect. Nonetheless, the book will inform those interested about combat in Afghanistan, and about the lives and sacrifices of our soldiers. But between the lines of heroism and professionalism is an uncomfortable truth: two years later, the Taliban are attacking Kandahar, NATO resolve is still tenuous, and Canadian soldiers are still fighting and dying in Panjwayi.

Reviews:

“In the summer of 2006 the Taliban were poised to take back their Jerusalem, Kandahar City. They didn’t figure on 1 PPCLI. Chris Wattie’s outstanding effort lets us eavesdrop on the intense battles that saved the city, the country and NATO itself, and should make every Canadian proud of our country’s sacrifice in the name of freedom.”

—Lewis MacKenzie, Major-General (ret’d), Commanding Officer 1PPCLI, 1977–1979

“Way beyond the perceived access of embedded reporting, Contact Charlie brings the boots on the ground view in Afghanistan closer than anyone outside the Canadian Forces has ever seen it. Wattie’s account of the battle for the Panjwayi is reminiscent of war correspondence from such giants as Ross Munro, Matthew Halton or Bill Boss—as close to the sharp end as one can get."

—Ted Barris, journalist and author

"Many journalists try to write about military life but few possess the ability, eloquence and sheer grasp of the fleshy reality of war and soldiering that Wattie has in obvious abundance. This is reporting, military history and political analysis of the first order. Splendid and memorable—a book that should carve an honoured place in Canadian literature."

—Michael Coren, Sun Media columnist, television and radio host and best-selling author

“ Contact Charlie fills in the blanks between Canada’s military objective in Afghanistan and the dizzying transformation on the ground. It is a thorough, lucid account of how one company’s tour of duty altered so many lives. Like a magnet, Charlie Company is drawn into a fight behind every wall and Chris Wattie captures it all in meticulous detail. Each time they suit up for a ‘routine’ patrol, there is a sense of dread for what looms. Contact Charlie will survive as a testament to the soldiers who never came back and the friends who will never forget them.”

—Lisa LaFlamme, National Affairs Correspondent, CTV News

QW - CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

“Cannon to the right of them,

Cannon to the left of them,

Cannon in front of them,

Volley'ed and thundered.”

- The Charge of the Light Brigade, during the battle of Balaclava in October 1854

PW - In Support of Our Troops and Their Families

Though winter comes knocking on my doorstep

My heart is warmed by those

Whose selfless efforts go unheard

Except to the ears of those who care

Those who watch the news in fear

And feel it’s mighty cost

They search engulf all the news

For they’re the families of those who serve

Who’ve stepped forth and also could be lost

My heart rides this torrent too

For they are now friends of mine

Though they know not I’m standing near

Near throughout this precious time

With prayers to quell their fears

My tears have flown

My mind in thought, pen run out of ink

From jotting down how much I care

For those for whom I think

I wish the Lord would intervene

And cause that peaceful end

There is no need for a loser found

Let all be winners in this stand

For when greater minds prevail and see

A better world is what is found

Awe but this is just a simple dream

Imaginations simplistic ground

In a world that is far to complex

For a dream that could not last

For each day a barbarian thrives anew

And drives the future to the past

Tis why our heroes ride this charge

Across a great wide world divide

To stand and stop a dangerous foe

When our values and theirs collide

By: Roger Borchert

QW - COL G. BTUVHMULLER'S INFANTRY

"The thanks of the infantry, in my opinion, must be treasured more by every artilleryman than all decorations and citations. "

Canadian infantryman in Korea, 1951-54. The period 1950-1955 saw 12 Canadian infantry battalions serving in Korea, most of them with the 25th Canadian Infantry Brigade as part of the First Commonwealth Division. Reconstruction by Ron Volstad.

-Colonel George Bruchmuller,

Imperial German Army Artillery Officer and Father of Modern Fire Support

QW - SOLDIERS ETERNAL

"Wars may come and go, but my soldiers remain eternal"

2Pac

A TEACHER'S LESSON

A lesson that should be taught in all schools . . And colleges



Back in September, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.

'Ms.. Cothren, where're our desks?'

She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.'

They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.'

'No,' she said.

'Maybe it's our behavior.'

She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior.'

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.'

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.

Twenty-seven (27) War Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall... By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned..

Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'



By the way, this is a true story. Martha Cothren is a teacher is the USA but this story transends boarders, so, we thought it appropriate.



Consider passing this along, so others won't forget that the freedoms we have in this great country were earned by War Veterans.



LEST WE FORGET - Wear a Poppy to show your respect on Remembrance (Vetrans) Day



For more on this story go to - http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.asp

PW - THE SOLDIER

The air is choked with dust,

The rockets come screaming in;

There is sadness and suffering,

But amidst the chaos, there is you.

The people trudge through the day,

The downing of the sun, yet nothing stills;

There is the frantic activity of nations,

But during the night, there is you.

The sights, the sounds, smells,

The longing for home, the heartache for peace;

There are nightmares, and dreams of better days,

But cutting through the endless dark, there is you.

The tired soldiers so weary to the bone,

The bravest of hearts and courage of spirit;

There is love and joy and honor always to be found,

And like the beautiful angel at my side, there is you, the soldier.

by A. Landry

Kandahar, Afghanistan March 10, 2009

QW - AN OPINION ON THE ARTILLERY

"The artillery was my strongest tool. Often it was my only reserve.... I repeatedly said it was more a matter of the infantry supporting the artillery than the artillery supporting the infantry.... I wish I knew the countless times that positions were taken or held due solely to TOT's ...."

-Unknown

QW - DEFINITION OF THE INFANTRYMAN

(Canadians in Italy, 1943-1945)

“The art of the infantryman is less sterotyped and far harder to acquire in modern war than any other arm. The role of the average Artilleryman, for instance, is largely routine; the setting of a fuse, the locating of a gun, even the laying of it, are processes which once learned, are mechanical. The Infantryman has to use initiative and intelligence in almost every step he moves, every action he takes on the battlefield. We ought, therefore, to put or best intelligence in the infantry.”

-Unknown-