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A Dire Story from Afghanistan

Adam Day — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 19:53:24 +0000

It’s always been hard to determine what will result from the NATO mission in Afghanistan. Recently, it’s become more clear that victory is far from assured. Which is to say, that despite everything everyone did from 2001-2014, the country may simply return to the same calamitous civil war it was involved in when the whole...

Documentary about life in Afghanistan

Adam Day — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:38:43 +0000

A short note for those interested in reliving bygone days, there is a documentary out now by Catherine Jones which tells a behind-the-scenes story of Canadian support troops at war. Check it out here.

More bad press for the F-35, the ‘supersonic albatross.’

Adam Day — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:37:35 +0000

While the Canadian government seems increasingly intent on following through with its somewhat troubled purchase of new F-35 fighter jets for the RCAF, bad news about the project continues to roll out across the internet. In this interesting piece from the much-respected magazine Foreign Policy, the jet is portrayed as a massive waste of money,...

Live from the Arctic! The Canadian Forces land in Resolute.

Adam Day — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:18:47 +0000

Operation Nunalivut 2012 is underway in Canada’s Arctic as more than a hundred soldiers, sailors, air force and Canadian Rangers have descended on Resolute (in the C17 picture above, no less) in order to patrol, dive and fly their way across the frozen north. More details (and pictures) to follow, but for now more information...

Thoughtful article on Afghanistan

Adam Day — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:26:42 +0000

Not only is this recent article a thoughtful and interesting look at the current situation in Afghanistan, it also starts with a pleasing little joke: The situation in Afghanistan is beginning to remind me of an old Russian joke about the difference between an optimist and a pessimist. The optimist says, “Things are so bad,...

Some great reporting from Panjwaii

Adam Day — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:21:56 +0000

With any official trial of alleged mass-murderer Robert Bales still a long, long way off, reports are starting to trickle out of Panjwaii that describe what happened that night. Until very recently, the villages in question were essentially a no-go area — when Afghan troops tried to enter the village immediately after the massacre, one...

A soldier’s greatest fear — not for the squeamish!

Adam Day — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:50:40 +0000

So, it’s a sensitive subject, talking about fear on the battlefield. While there are almost unlimited risks to life and limb in a war zone, it’s not any of the standard threats that tend to get soldiers chattering. Instead, there is one possible outcome to a deployment that strikes absolute terror into soldiers. And it’s...

Some context for the recent massacre

Adam Day — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:55:19 +0000

Warning: Explicit Language. It’s not easy to explain what sustained amounts of combat can do to a person — or a unit — but this story published today comes pretty close. It’s a fascinating story of how aggression and violence can become addictive and how it can get to the point where aggression and...

From a land of bad news, some exceptionally bad news

Adam Day — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:51:26 +0000

From our Kandahar mission’s beginning back in 2006 it was always a battle of hearts and minds, a long grinding struggle to win the trust and allegiance of the Afghan population. I can hear the voices of so many Canadian officers telling me that the situation in Panjwai is “fragile but improving,” that “two steps...

Great story by Legion mag contributor

Adam Day — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:56:11 +0000

The unstoppable Matthieu Aikins (who wrote for Legion Magazine here) has filed another great piece about Afghanistan, this one chronicling the inside story of the siege of the American embassy on Sept. 13 last year. It’s a very solid and interesting piece of reporting and it tells quite a tale. Here’s a representative snippet: At...