The Conflict in Afghanistan is primary in Canadian thoughts. We are lucky that we are not assisting in Iraq as are our neighbours. I have located a web site about Canadians who are serving in Iraq, as in all previous wars Canadians have joined other militaries of our allies, UK ,USA Australia to mention a few. Specialist Terry Foster of Chilliwack BC is currently serving in Iraq. He was a former member of Canada's Special Forces who resigned then a while later decided to join the USA in their fight against terrorism. As in Vietnam Canadians are rarely mentioned. I send this young man My prayers and thoughts as he engages the enemy on behalf of the Free World.
I also received a letter from a former military medic, concerned that the story of Combat Medics made the back pages of the Guardian . He asks are the deaths of Canadians , what is required for front page coverage? Something to think about!!
I also received this e mail from an old comrade in Ottawa, yes it concerns a US Marine but I think that our allies are also doing their professional best in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
This story is from his Local Newspaper In Omaha, Nebraska
Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, known as Iron Mike or just Gunny. He is on his third tour in Iraq. He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour. Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed fourUS soldiers. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision, he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term the longest walk, stepping gingerly into a 5ft deep and 8ft wide crater.
The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7in knife to probe the ground. I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs, he says. That's when I knew I was screwed.
Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded, he recalls. As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me.' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down. His colleagues cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there. My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down, says Sgt Burghardt. I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, 'Good, I'm in business.' As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in. I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher. He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute. I flipped them one. It was like, 'OK, I lost that round but I'll be back next week'. Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes acrossAmerica and that of Col John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warrior spirit. Sgt Burghardt's injuries - burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father - who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Nato Troops.
The website for Canadians serving in Iraq is available through this Link. http://mikegulf.blogspot.com/2007/04/canadians-in-iraq.html
So once again I close with Thoughts of Canada and her Allies in dangerous areas of the world. Please remember them in thoughts and prayers. Nil Sine Labore
Robby
