It was early spring in Kandahar City and while Canada’s combat mission in Afghanistan was coming to an end, the fighting was far from over.
It is a question being asked at Legion branches across Canada—what is a good way to reach out to Afghan veterans, to connect with them and show them the Legion is there to be of service?
The world wants you dead. This is unfortunate, but it’s true, particularly in Canada, and especially in the North. Nature is cold and dark, the sea is deep and there are a million ways to die.
¹ As a part of their fieldcraft training, soldiers are taught about camouflage. They’re given a checklist of basic principles to use in order to stay hidden from the enemy—things like avoiding silhouetting yourself, shadows, spacing, shininess, etc. The list is entitled: “Why Things Are Seen.” For many Canadian soldiers—particularly the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry—the phrase has become a part of the common language, used to point out the basic reason why something is screwed up. If an outpost runs out of batteries, for example, and none can be sourced and so all sorts of crucial things stop working, a soldier hearing of the situation might quip: “Why things are seen.” It is a synonym for a blunder.
In tribute to the lost, the wounded and their families on Remembrance Day in Ottawa
At just past 11 a.m. on November 11th, four jets thundered over the National War Memorial in downtown Ottawa, an unmistakable signal that the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month had arrived.
It was a record-breaker of a year at the 2013 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships held Aug. 7-13 in Langley, B.C.
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An informative primer on Canada’s crucial role in the Normandy landing, June 6, 1944.
