PING!
Posted on 04/06/2007 11:47:01 AM PDT by GMMAC
Canadian combat team herds huge coalition
By John Cotter
cnews.canoe.ca
April 6, 2007
SANGIN, Afghanistan (CP) - Like an alert sheepdog with its fangs bared, a Canadian combat team herded a huge column of coalition vehicles through Taliban country Friday.
A line of trucks and Humvees stretching back kilometres slowly rumbled through Helmand province, their headlights vainly trying to stab through thick clouds of dust in the pre-dawn light.
The convoy of Afghan and American troops and tonnes of supplies is heading to the Sangin Valley - where coalition forces and insurgents are fighting it out. It is the job of the Gagetown, N.B.-based Royal Canadian Regiment battle group to help get them there safely. "Every time we move, it is a combat operation," said Maj. Alex Ruff, who commands the team of tanks, armoured infantry and mine-clearing vehicles.
"The potential always exists. That's why we are here." The main body of the convoy is an Afghan National Army infantry battalion, its troops jammed into the back of unarmoured Ford Ranger pick-ups, some flying big red, black and green national flags.
There are also vulnerable fuel and munitions trucks and tractor-trailers carrying heavy construction gear that roll overland across the desert and through fields blooming thick with purple and scarlet opium poppies. The column stretches out and compresses like an accordion, starting and stopping, rarely going faster than 30 kilometres an hour.
The Canadian combat team watches over the trucks, dashing ahead to ridge lines, the turrets of the Leopard tanks and LAV-3 armoured vehicles traversing right and left searching for threats.
Other Canadian vehicles nip at the tail of the column, keeping it closed up and ensuring there are no stragglers.
Ruff, from Tara, Ont., said his biggest concerns are landmines and roadside bombs, but his troops - who have been living out in the desert for a solid month - are ready for anything.
"The ground creates choke-points at certain locations and the Taliban will try to get out ahead of us and mine it," he said.
As the hours roll by, radios inside vehicles crackle with reports of the vanguard of the column detecting two such mines before they explode.
The push into Helmand from Kandahar province is a first for the Canadian battle group as NATO's International Security Assistance Force ups the pressure on Taliban in the opium poppy-rich province.
ISAF launched Operation Achilles on March 6 to drive the Taliban out of northern Helmand NATO troops conducted an air assault into the Sangin area Wednesday night to secure the insurgent stronghold, which commands the approaches to the strategic Kajaki dam. The convoy is part of the follow-up to maintain control of the area.
The Afghan government and the coalition want to refurbish the dam to bring electricity and water for irrigation to the parched area.
Farmers in Helmand depend on growing poppies to feed their families.
The coalition hopes better security, cheap water and electricity will help farmers grow other crops such as corn and wheat.
Canadian troops in the combat team said they can sense that some farmers are unhappy to see the coalition, perhaps unduly worried the convoy is part of the Afghan government's poppy eradication campaign.
"There are people here who seem agitated to see us," said Master Warrant Officer Wayne O'Toole, who is from St. John's, Nfld.
O'Toole, the team's sergeant-major, spends hours standing in the hatch of a LAV-3 watching for trouble. "The general consensus is that we are here to plow under their poppy fields and take their crops away."
After hours on the road, some Canadian troops push to within 10 kilometres of the Sangin district centre, handing over the line of trucks to coalition troops from Estonia and American paratroopers.
While there have been a few mechanical breakdowns along the way, there have been no losses from the Taliban. "Things went very smoothly," said Ruff, his eyes red with fatigue after spending the day moving his troops and shepherding his flock.
He downplays the risks and challenges of riding herd on such a huge convoy through forbidding terrain.
"It is always better to go big than to go small."
PING!
Bless our allies and keep them safe.
That needs repeating.
Trying to remain calm !! Stay Safe guys! Go get 'em !
HATS OFF TO FIGHTERS OF THE FREE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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