Edmonto Sun Editorials- Respect Has Its Price/ Praise For The Pats

[military granny]

http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Commentary/2006/08/08/1724237.html

The Edmonton Sun does us proud once more.


Tue, August 8, 2006

EDITORIAL: Praise for the Pats
     
It should have been a happy homecoming for members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry battle group.
Since February, they have been engaged in the first shooting war involving Canadian troops since the Korean conflict.

Now, after six months taking it to the Taliban on their home turf in the mountains of Afghanistan, the Edmonton soldiers are being rotated out of the theatre, to be replaced by members of the Central Canada-based Royal Canadian Regiment.
But that was before the attacks last Thursday, where four soldiers perished and another 10 were injured, as the Taliban stepped up the offensive in the bloodiest 24 hours yet for Canadian troops.
Brig.-Gen. David Fraser called it a "tough day."

 
But it may be even tougher for the Princess Pats' families, friends and loved ones at the Edmonton Garrison.
For Canadians used to the benign military role of peacekeeping, having a fighting army may come as a shock. Especially after 23 soldiers and a member of the Canadian diplomatic corps have perished since the federal Liberals committed our troops to the Afghanistan mission in 2002, shortly after the cynical 9-11 attacks in New York and Washington by Taliban-backed al-Qaida terrorists.
Last week, Liberal Defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh apparently changed his party's tune and said it's now time to "re-evaluate" the mission, which he said "focuses" too much on combat.

Fortunately, Prime Minister Stephen Harper put the contemptible Liberals in their place when he talked about the "sacrifice" our soldiers have made bringing "stability and hope" to the Afghan people.
"They represent the best that Canada has to offer," Harper said. And he spoke of their "profound commitment to Canada."
We couldn't agree more.
Operation Mountain Trust has been a monumental test of the courage and bravery of the PPCLI. And they did us proud.

While the Pats draw members from across Canada - and the Afghan mission was further augmented with soldiers from several militia units - the regiment will always be seen as the West's army.
Since returning to Edmonton when the western command was consolidated at Namao, the PPCLI has become an integral part of the capital region. And given the number of members who have chosen to settle in the Edmonton area once their military duty is done, it's clear there's a strong bond between the regiment and Alberta.

Soldiering - despite what the federal Liberals think it should be - is a dangerous business. But it's also a noble one.
And the stress and anguish it puts on military families when their loved ones go away to a war zone is understandable. Tragedy that occurs as the deployment is about to end only adds to the heartache.

Welcome home Princess Pats. You did us proud

 

[Booked_Spice]

I am not sure this has been posted, but I am catching up on the news.

I loved this article.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Columnists/Stanway_Paul/2006/08/08/1724239.html


Paul StanwayTue, August 8, 2006

    Respect has its price

As the death toll of Canadian troops in Afghanistan increases (24 now since 2002), I have no doubt our soldiers are up to the challenge - but I'm not so sure about the rest of us.

As Dr. Rob Huebert, associate director of the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, aptly put it in yesterday's Sun, "We will hear more stories as the rotations (of troops to Afghanistan) come to an end, and there's two ways they'll play out.
"People will either decide war is hell, that this is a learning experience for the Canadian public, and we've got to learn that TV and reality are two very different things. Or people will step back and say, 'Wait a minute, this isn't what we signed up for.' "
Apparently, some folks have already decided the latter. Records of telephone calls, e-mails and letters to Stephen Harper's office in the four months since the new government took office indicate that several thousand people have expressed their displeasure at Canada's involvement in the war on terror. We are told that in May, for example, around a thousand letter and e-mail writers, and just over 100 telephone callers, demanded Harper bring the troops home.

To be honest, that's not very impressive, particularly if you take into account several antiwar-military-U.S. groups urging letter-writing campaigns. As Alberta's Ralph Klein noted last week, he only gets worried when the mail is running at tens of thousands opposed to something his government is doing.
But opinion polls suggest there is a deal of latent unease among Canadians over our involvement in the fighting in Afghanistan, particularly in Quebec, which produces more knee-jerk support for anti-American, isolationist policies than elsewhere in the country.
For a minority Conservative government that wants to become a majority, and consolidate its rare toehold in Quebec, that has to be of concern. Even for a prime minister who bravely says he won't be bullied into making foreign policy to suit noisy interest groups.

Harper made a good start at explaining Canada's role in Afghanistan, and underlined it with a high-profile personal visit to talk to the troops on the ground. After spending recent weeks on domestic issues, it's clear he's going to have to get back to bolstering wobbly public support for that role in the wake of almost a dozen recent deaths among our soldiers.
Those deaths are tragic - and every one deserves to be mourned - but Canadians need to look at this with a sense of perspective.

The latest fatality was Cpl. Ray Arndt, a reservist with the fabled Loyal Edmonton Regiment. The Eddies got the "Loyal" added to their name after enduring brutal losses in the Italian campaign during the Second World War. The regiment lost 53 men killed in Sicily, another 63 at Ortona, and about 60 more in the assault on Monte Cassino.
That was just one regiment of Canada's wartime army, in just three engagements in about 10 months of fighting. In those days, the Eddies were made up overwhelmingly of young men from the Edmonton area - an enormous sacrifice from essentially one community. And contrary to much popular hindsight about the Second World War, at the time support for Canadian involvement was far from universal and the outcome far from certain. People had concerns.

That's worth remembering as we face up to the human costs of taking an active role in world affairs - after decades of deluding ourselves that our famous (and much exaggerated) role as the world's peacekeeper was actually part of some well- thought-out foreign policy.
As we emerge from behind the defensive skirts of the U.S., it's going to take Canadians some time to rid themselves of the absurd notion that simply chirping from the sidelines earns us respect and influence.
The hard reality is that real respect and influence sometimes has to be earned by the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform.

Past generations of Canadians figured that out. Hopefully we will too, and continue to give our troops the support they deserve.