Afghanistan veterans reflect on Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day can be a difficult and reflective time for veterans, but it will be especially so this year for Canadians who served in Afghanistan.

Kabul’s fall to the Taliban on August 15, the same day the Canadian federal elections were called, and the withdrawal of Western troops that month brought memories to so many Canadian veterans of the war in Afghanistan.

As they reflect on Remembrance Day this year, they are also thinking of the countless Afghans who helped them as performers and in other roles. Some veterans remain critical of the Canadian government’s slowness in removing those Afghans from their country and wonder about the fate of those left behind.

The Star spoke with seven Canadians who served in Afghanistan about their reflections on Remembrance Day. They include current and retired military members, and a Canadian who served in the British Army.

Your thoughts and emotions regarding Remembrance Day this year vary widely, from anger and sadness to a sense of hope.

Jody mitic

A former sniper and former Ottawa city councilman, Jody Mitic says he feels “emboldened” this Remembrance Day.

“I feel full of energy,” he said. “Yes, it is a stoic moment and a moment that deserves reverence, but I almost feel like it is a starting line for me and many other veterans.”

Describing what he sees as a “leadership failure” in Canada and other countries, Mitic says he does not give up on the idea of ​​another political career and that it has become a personal goal for veterans to be elected to city councils in Canada.

“For veterans to have an effect in Afghanistan, we have to take leadership positions and change in Canada,” said Mitic, who lost both legs in a landmine explosion in Afghanistan.

“I think people who maybe have a vested interest in how Afghanistan will turn out, rather than just political, maybe we will have a chance.

“I know that for me, having gone and fought there and left parts of my body on Afghan soil, I feel like I have a vested interest in the well-being of all Afghans, regardless of who is in charge.”

Karine lachapelle

A mixture of anger and sadness is what former intelligence officer Karine Lachapelle feels this year.

“I am sad because I think the population of Afghanistan in general deserved a better result,” said Lachapelle, who served in Afghanistan in 2009.

“I am angry because I believe that the Canadian government and Western governments in general have abandoned the people of Afghanistan, particularly those who supported our mission in the country, as well as elements of civil society that we support.”

Remembrance Day is “always a bit challenging for me as a Canadian,” Lachapelle said, noting that the narrative around who is a veteran often centers more on people from older conflicts and missions.

“A veteran is not even someone who was sent abroad. He is someone from the Armed Forces and who served his country during that time, ”he said.

Lachapelle noted that tens of thousands of Canadians rotated through Afghanistan for more than a decade, “and yet they are hardly in public view.”

“There has to be a modernization of the veteran concept,” he said.

“People need to understand that veterans live and work in their communities, and that amputees, for example, are also amputees between 20 and 30 years from the war in Afghanistan, and not just from World War II.”

Rodrigo DeCastro

Remembrance Day is always a sad and solemn day for Rodrigo DeCastro, who this year will be thinking especially of the Afghans left behind.

“The conclusion is that it is not more difficult because of the friends I lost there, that is difficult every year. If it is more difficult, it is because it has made us think more this year about our Afghan friends who stayed and stayed in Afghanistan, “he said.

“For me, it was always the little kids. I always thought these kids deserve better. They did it then and they still do it now. ”

DeCastro said no one he served with went to Afghanistan “with the certainty of what the outcome would be. They did it with certainty of purpose.

“The chapter that is being written now is not the one that any of us would have preferred to read, but it does not negate the previous chapters and it certainly does not diminish my pride in serving with the people there. , both military and civil ”, he said.

DeCastro, who went to Afghanistan in 2008 and again in 2009-10, remains a member of the Royal 22 Regiment (known as Van Doos), where he currently serves as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Seeing images of the fall of Kabul brought back memories. While it made him think that the people there deserved a better result, it did not lead him to think that it was all in vain.

“Not once before, not once since then, have I felt that the people we lost there were lost in vain, because I am sure that all those who had contact with Afghans were better for having known them, for the same reason that I better for having met them, ”he said.

Maureen wellwood

Now Colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces, Maureen Wellwood spent time in Afghanistan as a commander from 2009 to 2010. Remembrance Day has always been important to her, but she has felt different and more personal since serving in Afghanistan.

She acknowledges questions about the value of Canada’s commitment and sacrifice in the country.

“We were there for several years, for some people we were there for most of their lives, and during the time we were there, we made a significant difference and their lives improved,” he said.

“So while we have to fully recognize that the changes we made in Afghanistan are not necessarily long-lasting, some of the impacts that we had absolutely are, and only those positive impacts to me are worth the sacrifice that our soldiers made.”

Bruce moncur

The founder of the Afghanistan Veterans Association of Canada has been busy trying to keep morale high among veterans this year.

Bruce Moncur is also a driving force behind Valor in the Presence of the Enemy, a non-profit organization lobbying for the Canadian Victoria Cross to be awarded to a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, Jesse Larochelle, for bravery while serving. in Afghanistan. The country’s highest honor, it hasn’t actually been bestowed on anyone since its inception in 1993.

There is a petition calling for Larochelle’s case to be examined, and Moncur is trying to get as many signatures as possible this Remembrance Day as a way to boost morale among veterans.

“To show them that we did a lot of really cool things while we were there, vaccination, education, road building, school building,” he said. “We also have Canadian soldiers doing a lot of things at the national level, like fighting COVID on the front lines … We have a lot to be proud of.”

Moncur served in Afghanistan in 2006, including participation in Operation Medusa, Canada’s largest operation in the country.

He said morale has been doubly affected this year due to Afghanistan and the current sexual misconduct crisis in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Between that and Afghanistan, “I think we still have to focus on the fact that 42,000 Canadians are doing this incredible job every day, putting on their boots and still coming to work.”

Matt luloff

At first, Matt Luloff didn’t think this Remembrance Day would feel different, “but it certainly is” given the ongoing media coverage of the situation in Afghanistan and the stories of the people left behind.

Luloff, who is now a city councilman for Ottawa, said he was told that the interpreters who worked with his platoon did not make it to any flights back to Canada.

“I find it absolutely heartbreaking,” he said. “These interpreters came into battle with us, stood shoulder to shoulder with us and helped us understand what the Taliban were doing as we fought them in real time.”

Luloff, who went to Afghanistan in 2008 and served in combat positions, said the uncertainty of what happened to the Afghans he worked with “adds an extra layer of mourning” this year.

“When you are in mourning for your friends, you know where they are, you can go to their graves,” he said. “But these Afghans who were by our side during this war, I don’t know if they are safe.”

He said he is proud of the work the military did in Afghanistan.

“I am proud of this because of the 20 years of stability that we have provided to a people in desperate need of stability and I hope that the decades that we have been able to provide that stability will inspire the next generations of Afghans to stand up to the tyranny of the Taliban.” said.

David mack

Mack, a Canadian who served in Afghanistan with the British Army in 2009, also helped create Valor in the presence of the enemy.

And like so many other veterans, he is especially upset by the treatment of Afghans who assisted soldiers on the ground.

“I am very critical of the way the Canadian government failed to effectively remove people who were on the list to be removed,” he said. “There is incredible inertia within the Canadian government.”

In terms of Afghanistan itself, Mack said the question that comes up so often is, was it worth it? He said that he does not think it is a fair question, because “as a profession of arms, you live by the sword and die by the sword,” a commitment made by the military.

“When we put on the uniform, we all knew after 911 where the world was going,” he said. “If we make the decision to deploy troops, then ‘it’s worth it.’ It’s as simple as that.”