Sylvie Paillard
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For Squamish resident Capt. Dave McAllister, being a Canadian soldier was a natural fit.
His craving for a challenge, strong belief in service and enjoyment of intensely physical work led McAllister to the Canadian Forces (CF) in 1987.
He has seen his share of disasters, but he says he expects his next deployment will challenge him beyond anything he's experienced before.
"I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't apprehensive," said McAllister. "The enemy is savage, ruthless, and intelligent. He relishes the prospect of death in battle. He has made mistakes in the past, and is learning from them.
His allies are coming to help him - and they have recent experience in Iraq and Chechnya. For him, no price is too high to provide us with even a small setback."
This week, McAllister, an infantry officer with the First Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (1 PPCLI), was dropped into an area that has seen recent death, injury and serious threat to Canadian soldiers. McAllister will spend the next eight months helping to fend off the Taliban's horrific presence in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
On Jan. 15, a suicide bomber slammed into a Canadian convoy in Kandahar killing diplomat Glyn Berry and seriously wounding three soldiers. And on Sunday (Jan. 22), a bomb was remotely detonated metres away from a CF convoy returning from patrol to the safety of Kandahar's Camp Nathan Smith.
McAllister is well aware of the threat, but said his determination to help Afghani citizens suffering under the murderous Taliban overwhelms his anxiety. And McAllister will discuss his experiences and share his observations in his weblog at http://blog.virtualdave.ca.
"I am far more excited than I am nervous," he said. "The opportunity to do great things there is just too great to ruin it with fear. The simple truth is that there is no question that we will ultimately win."
McAllister is the Operations Officer of the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), an integrated Canadian effort that includes a large component of CF personnel, diplomats from Foreign Affairs Canada, development experts from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and officers from the RCMP.
McAllister's mission is not one of peacekeeping, but of security and rebuilding. His team will build schools, dig wells and repair police stations, which can be just as effective a way of fighting the enemy as taking up arms.
McAllister is also prepared for those parts of the mission that will call for more serious tactics. "We have a very clear mission in Afghanistan, and it will almost certainly involve combat - not occasional, desultory, 'odd angry shot' kind of fighting, but the real thing," said McAllister. "A big part of my job will be to coordinate security. You may rest assured that if I see the enemy, then I or my soldiers will capture him, or we will kill him. We are not playing games."
The inevitable casualties that result from Canada's presence in Afghanistan have caused some Canadians to rail against the idea of the country's involvement. And of all the things to fear, one of things McAllister fears most is that public pressure will force a pullout.
"My only fear is that once we start to suffer casualties - and, again, we will suffer casualties - that support will begin to erode, and well-meaning but nevertheless terribly misguided Canadians will start to demand our return home," he said. "I am making no comment whatsoever on governmental decisions that may or may not be made in the future - but make no mistake, a public that does not support the fight does not support the troops. Period. Strategically, therefore, the best thing to ensure our safety is to support our fight."
McAllister is receiving support from a family he said is nervous but tries to hide it. And all of them, including his baby niece, are wearing yellow pins until his safe return.
