Kandahar Journal

Awesome blog from Richard Johnson in Kandahar, covering the war as a sketch artist. Amazing art.

It's official: The sponsorship form is down

I hope that all Canadians will support me in this change from a one-on-one pairing organization to an organization that deals anonymously with the wounded. I know many people who have written to me will be disappointed that they won't have a soldier of their "own" to care for, but I remind you that it is just as gratifying to know that you've brought a smile to the lips of a scared, injured soldier, miles from home. We don't need to know his name.

If you are interested in knowing how you can help, please drop me an email at

canadianangels at gmail dot com

Thanks!

Help is needed in Germany!

A couple of things. I got a request today for disposable razors, boxer-briefs in M, L, and XL, and solid color t-shirts. The hospital at Landstuhl, Germany is desperate for these things, as more and more injured are coming in every day, and they can't keep up. Please send items to:

21st TSC, Medical Transient Detachment
ATTN: Soldiers' Angels, MaryAnn Phillips
UNIT 23203
APO AE 09263

Please try to include cards and letters with your packages - troops from throughout the coalition love hearing that you support them.

The second thing I need to tell you is that sometime this weekend, Canadian Angels will be taking down the Sponsorship Application page. All of you have been so wonderful that I now have over 2000 Angels, and very few individual soldiers to match them with. I'm hoping instead to work full time with MaryAnn in supplying care packages to anonymous soldiers at the hospital, and I hope you will all be willing to support them with me.

PACOM: Spirit of Cooperation

As part of my PACOM series (other posts here and here), I'd like to introduce you to Major Paul Young, of the Canadian Air Force. That's right folks, there's a Canuck on Oahu, and he isn't just there to golf.

He stands apart from his American counterparts, with his darker green digitized uniform (apparently the basis for much teasing from his paler-green desk mates), soft-featured, friendly face and spectacles. Originally from the Maritimes, Major Young had been based in Winnipeg for the longest time before becoming part of the exchange program, moving his family to Oahu (there are worse postings to have to convince your wife of, I'm sure). There are currently 12 Canadians in various parts of the US Military machine (Canada offers just one spot for an American - currently vacant).

The exchange gives our Canadian soldiers an opportunity to work with bigger machines, better toys, and - in the case of Major Young, who works in Logistics - larger amounts of money and personnel. When I asked him, not totally understanding his role there, what he worked on, he said "American things. I work for the US Military. I don't sit at that desk working on anything Canadian." It's actually a very strange working relationship, since he will sit in his little cubicle, next to the Americans; together they will discuss various problems and solutions throughout the day, yet he is restricted from accessing certain areas of the very computer programs and databases he's meant to be working on. He is, after all, a foreign national.

Unfortunately I was only able to spend a few minutes with Major Young, but I could see he was happy with his role at PACOM. When I spoke with LTC Upson, who works with Major Young, he had only good things to say. Major Young is a well liked and respected colleague - one of their own.

And two became one....

Veteran Percy "Dwight" Wilson died this morning at the age of 106, leaving only one known surviving veteran of the First World War.

Wilson passed "peacefully" at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Canada's largest veterans' care facility, where flags were lowered to half-mast in honour of the veteran.

Bless him, and thank him for his service to Canada and the cause of freedom. I'm glad his death was peaceful.

Return of the Blog

Firstly I want to apologize for abandoning the blog. It doesn't mean I've abandoned Canadian Angels. In fact, we've been very busy. This coming weekend is the MilBlog Conference in Washington DC.

And our operations with Landstuhl Hospital in Germany are ongoing. If you want to see what Soldiers Angels does over there, check out this post by MaryAnn. You'll see her set-up, and where your donations are going.

I promise, I will check in more often going forward.

A positive letter from the Toronto Star

From Julie Freeman, from her letter to the editor, Toronto Star, today.

I want to thank Rosie DiManno for her article about Afghanistan. One of my closest friends is fighting in Afghanistan right now and when he left I hated the military and the government for sending him somewhere so dangerous for something that meant nothing to me.

I felt this until I asked him about the mission, and until I educated myself about why Canadians are fighting, and dying, in a country that is so far removed from mine, both geographically and ideologically.

I felt this until I learned the inhuman things that the Taliban were doing to the Afghan people. I am now thankful every single day that I can go to school, work, express my opinions and even dance and sing in public if I feel like it, without fear of repercussions.

Now, when people tell me that our soldiers are dying out there "for no reason," I try to help them understand the noble and generous sacrifices these people are making. To willingly put your life on the line so that people you may never meet can have a better life is the bravest act and the greatest example of kindness toward all humanity that I can possibly imagine.

Thank you to the men and women of the Canadian Forces who have given their lives for others. And thank you to the men and women of the Canadian Forces who continue to fight, and support those who fight, under frightening and dangerous circumstances for this cause.