Canada in Afghanistan

[John McGillivray]

Young reservist describes training for Afghan misson
Updated Mon. Feb. 5 2007 7:21 AM ET
Ken Regular, CTV.ca News
A little girl's voice sounds across the telephone line. Quiet and a little shy, Ashley Woodford's voice seems jarring as she describes nine grueling months of military training. She is tougher than she sounds.
"I don't mind taking a beating," Woodford told CTV.ca by telephone.
At 5'2" Woodford stands just a little taller than the C6 machine gun she will carry into battle.
Over nine months the Canadian Army has taken the 21-year-old reservist through a punishing training schedule that left her with aching knees, injured leg ligaments and lost toenails. She even needed surgery to repair some of the injuries inflicted to her legs.
Such is the life of a soldier preparing to go to Afghanistan.
Woodford and several others from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment decided to take their careers in the reserves to the next level. But many, mostly young men, did not make it through the training.
Those who remain, Woodford included, are now just days from putting their combat boots on Afghan soil.
Six months of dangerous duty are ahead. As the only female machine gunner she knows about, Woodford will see action.
"It's different from training in Alberta where when someone dies there's always the 'God Gun' to resurrect them. There's no God Gun this time," Woodford said.
Thinking ahead, she added that Afghanistan will be a difficult adjustment.
"Dealing with always getting attacked with mortars and RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades); it's going to be 'fun' getting used to the fact you're not always welcome and people want to do harm to you."
On Valentine's Day, the reservists who are now trained to a level well beyond weekend warriors will fly to Kandahar. Their duties are well known now but it took months of training before the army's plans became clear.
They learned how to drive in convoys of vehicles with armoured vehicles in the front and rear, and other vehicles laden with supplies in the middle. A two-week exercise in Gagetown, N.B. revealed their future role.
"Within two weeks we did 104 convoys and they normally take, in proper battle procedures, about five hours or so. We were non-stop," Woodfood said.
"Right then and there we kind of figured out what our mission was going to be over in Afghanistan. We were going to be actually doing the convoy security portion of it."
Sitting inside a hulking RG-31 armoured vehicle (better known by the name of its South African manufacturer, Nyala) Woodford will be at the remote controls for a .50-calibre machine gun whose purpose is to stop any threat before it gets close to the convoy.
Also mounted on top of the Nyala is a C6 machine gun. That is Woodford's weapon, too. When the time comes, her finger on the trigger is the difference between life and death.
"It's a lot of responsibility considering that we usually have two vehicles escorting up to 20 vehicles and within those two vehicles we'll have two machine guns."
"So you're pretty much the heavy fire power to protect those people in the convoy. You have a lot of responsibility. A lot of people are depending on you," Woodford said.
Her family is depending on Woodford too as they deal with the reality of Ashley going into the line of fire.
"I'm going through the motions but I don't know if reality has struck yet," mother Doreen Woodford said from her home in Harbour Main, NL., just a short drive outside St. John's.
While her daughter is in a war zone, Doreen's husband lives most of the year in Richmond, Va., where he works for a communications company.
The distance and circumstances take a toll on the whole family.
Doreen supports her daughter's decision, but admits it is not easy. She has joined a support group offered by the military. Doreen knows this is how she will face the next six months of being alone and worried for her daughter.
"I went Tuesday night (to the support group) for the first time because as the day gets closer ... you need someone to turn to."
"With all the emotions you'd like to say, 'please stay home, don't do it.' But when she's doing what she wants to do for her country..."
Doreen will spend four days with Ashley before she ships out but as a mother, she cannot face the final farewell.
"I won't be staying until she flies out because I don't think I'll be good for her. It certainly won't be good for me," Doreen said.
Family weighs heavily on Ashley's mind. While determined that this is the right thing to do, the young soldier wonders about what she is asking of her family.
"Sometimes I think about it ... sometimes I wonder is it cruel that I will be putting my parents through this and my family, and then I realize that I'm not the only one. There's a lot of people that's doing this and their families are going to be worried about them too," Ashley said.
Ashley reassures her worried mother that she will be okay, the Nyala will protect her. It is a heavy vehicle and has saved many lives in Afghanistan.
Then her thoughts turn to herself and other soldiers.
"I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about casualties and people dying."
"You see the caskets coming home and they're draped with Canadian flags, you feel for those families and their significant others and you shed a tear for them but this time it's different because I know a lot of people ... and it's probably going to be one of my friends who is one of those casualties."
It is a heavy burden Ashley is just starting to feel.
During her tour of duty, Ashley and the others will escort convoys into some of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan. The convoys bring food, fuel, ammunition and other supplies to soldiers on the front line with the Taliban. The escorts protect convoys from attack.
Ashley says it is the second most dangerous place to be.
"The way I always say it is that the RCRs (Royal Canadian Regiment soldiers) are the predators out hunting and myself with force protection, is like the prey. Like, we're out to re-supply them but we're the ones that are being hunted."
She has already heard the stories of suicide attackers targeting convoys. For six months, Ashley's hand on C6 and .50-calibre machine guns will be the difference between surviving or being the prey.
Still, she is determined to go and discover if being a full-time soldier is the right choice for her future.
Ashley hopes the realities of combat and Canada's efforts in Afghanistan will make her a better person and open up a military career.
Before that life and death will hang in the balance.
"I'll be home," she said with confidence.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...0205/20070205/

This is all too familiar.