“Five Years Ago . .”

On Aug. 11 five years ago, in the first deadly summer of Canada’s full-fledged combat mission in Afghanistan, Andrew (Boomer) Eykelenboom was killed by a suicide bomber.

He wasn’t the first casualty and he wasn’t the last, though for all those who loved him, his death was certainly the most harrowing and catastrophic.

Yet even as that mission is now over, with troops remaining only to train Afghan soldiers and police, and despite the deaths of 157 Canadian soldiers, their countrymen back home are still asking the same questions they were with the first casualties in the spring and summer of 2006:

Was it worth it?
Did those young men and women die in vain?
What did Canada really accomplish, when Afghanistan is still mired in violence?

The big answers are complicated, and I pretend no geopolitical expertise, or any other sort for that matter. And though I knew several of those who were killed – Boomer wasn’t among them, though I was once unknowingly in his presence and under his protection and even saw him work his magic as a medic — and I wouldn’t presume to answer for their parents, brothers and sisters, wives and children. No one should.

But I can answer for me. As a reporter embedded with the Canadian army who spent about six months of ’06 over four separate trips to Kandahar, I can tell you one thing for sure – they made a difference.

I’m not referring to the significant collective effect of the massive NATO effort, though many of those important measures have improved – the rates of death in childbirth have declined, as have childhood diseases, and girls are now in school where under the Taliban they weren’t.

I’m speaking purely of what I saw, with my own eyes, of the elevating effects of what a popular bumper sticker describes as random acts of kindness.

Afghanistan, as a Canadian soldier once told me, is a country where everything can kill you, “and if you’re not careful and lucky,” as he said, “it will.”

When Canadians first arrived in Kandahar Province, decades of invasion and war had reduced the country’s infrastructure to Biblical levels; the society is traditionally tribal and clannish, suspicious even of the neighbor on the next mountain, and armed to the teeth. Most Afghans are illiterate.

(I am always amused when people speak of the new training mission – it isn’t new in any case, as Canadians, among others, have been mentoring Afghan troops for years — as if it is going to be a walk in the park. Can you imagine trying to teach such abstract concepts as the rule of law to a people who can’t read or write even in their own language?)

Particularly in the south, the climate alone is punishing. Even the bugs, spiders and ants and snakes, seem bigger and nastier-than-anywhere-else. Death is a regular, frequent and expected visitor. It was into this milieu that Boomer and his comrades came in the spring of 2006. Though they were armed to the teeth themselves, they also carried the soldier’s core belief (that the vulnerable, and in Afghanistan this means women and children, were most deserving of their help), the Canadian’s respectful way of doing business, and, because most were young, their generation’s idealism.

I saw them interacting with Afghan farmers, soldiers and ordinary people, in moments of great stress and at quiet times, and I can honestly say I never saw a Canadian soldier treat an Afghan with less than courtesy.

I saw them on village medical visits, where Afghans would line up for hours under a searing sun to be seen by a doctor or dentist or have a sick animal examined by a veterinarian. Now, some of those in the lineups were ill, or brought ill babies with them, but just as many appeared to have come for a gentle word or a kindly touch or a few minutes of attention. They knew they would get it, and they were right.

I saw Canadian soldiers at shuras, the ritualistic meetings with village elders, repaying their gracious and generous hosts with patience and trust, accepting the tea and biscuits that were pressed upon them, listening with solemn faces as the elders talked on.

The Canadians were at their best with the Afghan kids, of course – some of them weren’t much more than kids themselves – and the kids, who had nothing, loved them back. I have seen soldiers play peek-a-boo with them, rub their dusty heads, take their pictures. I remember one fellow in particular who in the middle of nowhere – they were on patrol — once sang to the small group of youngsters around him, and soon had them, gifted little mimics all, singing back to him.

For the few years the Canadians were in Kandahar, they personified kindness and decency in the roughest part of a rough place which sees very little of either, and that is no small feat.

Christie Blatchford is a columnist with PostMedia and the National Post and a Trustee with Boomer’s Legacy.

Start of Maureen’s Blog!

These past few months have been an incredible time for Boomer’s Legacy. Let me go back to April and just highlight some of the important happenings to date.

- Met with General Natynczyk and Randy Helgason – we discussed the feasibility of establishing a new Trust Fund so that no matter where our Military Members are deployed they will have a Trust fund that will help them help the people that they are serving.
- Boomer’s Bike Ride – June 18th & 19th. Ninety-two cyclists rode from Comox to Victoria, raising funds and awareness. Each cyclists rode with a pennant for two fallen soldiers. We remembered each one who have paid the ultimate price and their families while riding to help our soldiers who are on the ground in Afghanistan help others. It was an amazing weekend of comraderie, sunshine, cycling through the most amazing scenery with school children cheering us on, pipers playing and flags waving. What an honour to ride for our military in uniform who are lacing up their boots and putting their lives on the line. The Bike Ride this year has raised $48,500.
- Then on June 22nd in Calgary, our son Gordon and I had the honour of attending a most amazing Garden Party, hosted by a most amazing host, W. Brett Wilson. Please check out the link to the video. W. Brett Wilson, a Dragon from the CBC show Dragon’s Den hosts a Garden Party each year and raises funds for a different charity. This year he chose Boomer’s Legacy and we were all blowen away by the generosity of Calgarians. That evening over $250,000 was raised. WOW
-Recently we had a brainstorming meeting for Boomer’s Bike Ride 2011. What an awesome group of cyclists that attended. Stay tuned for the ride next year will be wonderful, especially with Deb Koster and Al Pullin being Co-Chairs. I need to also add that today was the first day that I have ridden on a tandem bike with Ron Gaudrealt, we have begun my training for next year’s ride.
-Nov 6th is the date for our Black Tie Gala Event at Royal Roads in Victoria, this past week I have had confirmations from Col Ian Hope, commander of Task Force Orion, Afghanistan 2006, Christie Blatchford, Globe & Mail columnist and author, and Gen (ret’d) Rick Hillier, former Chief of Defence Staff. Our special guests/speakers will make this event one you will not want to miss. I am so honoured that they are coming, it is going to be fantastic and we have such a great group of people on the organizing committee.
-In Sept, I am off to Edmonton and so looking forward to meet with many of the medics that served with Andrew. I will be speaking at the Stony Plain Rotary on Sept 15th. and then at an Assisting Officer course on the 17th and then off to Grande Prairie for Koen (youngest grandson) baby hugs.
- I look forward to using this medium to communicate up to date information. Thank you to all who give so very much of their time, talent and treasures in order to Help Our Soldiers Help Others.