Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Canadian Forces Afghanistan Vet interview

I listened to that interview recently and her comments about the shocking difference in culture I’ve heard many times from other vets that served in Afghanistan.

I’ve listened to interviews with soldiers that were serving during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the brutality they had to witness and not allowed to help is hard to comprehend.

Shawn Ryan is a former Navy Seal and has a good podcast where he interviews a lot of veterans.

mod7rem;
Good afternoon to you sir, I hope your part of the province is getting the weather you need and you're all well.

It's a wee bit chillier than I'd prefer at night here, but we did see the sun and the buttercups are starting to come out so the yard mulies are feasting on them.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

For sure Sean Ryan is on my subscribe list of channels and I like a lot of his stuff.

Being former military he seems to be able to bring connect with a lot of the interviewees better than some others are able to.

All the best.

Dwayne

Good evening Dwayne,
Busy day around here as I mentioned in our txt's. It will be nice when the weather warms a bit, rumoured to happen this weekend.
I mention the bit about interjecting in a conversation only because there is one guy who has no military background yet attempts to insert himself every chance he gets.
Conversations usually end about that time. It can make things uncomfortable. Most folks however, do simply listen and try to understand fortunately.
It was a good life, I am proud of my service even retiring "broken".
I started to watch the video, will likely do it in chunks. I get where she is coming from being in an all French unit. The last few weeks of my last tour in Bosnia were with a French unit. Guess what, I'm 100% Anglo. It was interesting.
Jeff

Hi Dwayne.
Everything’s good here in PG. Went from -28 yesterday to *3 today. Weather changes fast here. I’d rather it stayed somewhere in the middle of the two extremes we seem to get here, but my wants don’t mean much to Mother Nature ha ha.

Shawn Ryan’s is great at letting his guests speak without injecting too much of himself into the conversation. Not all podcasters have that ability. But, he definitely doesn’t have a time limit. His episodes take as long as they take so some are marathons.

I haven't been able to watch the whole thing yet, but I'll echo Greg's comments, especially about improvising when you don't have the resources you need. Full disclosure: I spent close to 2 years in Iraq: I never made it to Afghanistan.

The smells she mentions at the very beginning is absolutely a real phenomena. It'll knock you off your feet and you'll never forget it. I will somewhat disagree however about the rich not sending their kids. While there is some truth to that I am sure, I think it is important to mention that I knew several well off kids who just wanted to join. There are plenty of kids from poor families that don't. One Jr officer I was in Fallujah with was a congressman's son and a few others came from very well to do families. There are people from all walks of life in the military, and people who joined for every reason that can be thought of.

On the PTSD front, I have heard it is more pronounced these days after the Vietnam era(ish) because in earlier wars there was time to decompress and talk to teammates on the long ride home. Now they're back in 2 days and thrown out into the world, albeit with some relatively minor screening by a psychologist. I hope in the 15 years I have been on the outside they have amped that screening up.

While I'd have to really think about it, I suspect more guys from my units have committed suicide after getting back, including at least 2 senior SNCOs, than we lost in actual combat. That is just the ones that I know about...there could be even more that I never heard about. PTSD affects everyone differently and even very mentally tough people can be broken down by it.

T Inman;
Good morning my friend, I hope all is going as well as can be for you up north.

Thanks so much for your thoughts on the subject, you were another one that I was hoping might drop in with your input.

Any thoughts I have are as a complete outsider of course.

The fact that our government is encouraging veterans to commit suicide via our MAID system is so detestable to me that I have a difficult time expressing the degree of disgust and anger.

Hopefully we can have a change of government along with some policy changes in time to save what's left of our armed forces T. As it stands now for so many reasons it's not sustainable and everyone, allies and enemies, can see that.

On a lighter note, I am sitting waiting for a long time buddy to show up and we're heading out to call coyotes and will howl for wolves too just because.

All the best to you this weekend.

Dwayne

Good luck out there today Dwayne! Hope you get into them!
I pulled the last of my lynx traps yesterday as the season closed. I still have a few sets out for wolves but haven't caught one of either this year. It has been a slow year, but that is OK. I have the snowmachine loaded and I am planning for an all out assault on ptarmigan here in a couple hours.

I googled a bit more about Canada's MAID system, and my goodness. It seems like it isn't the terminally ill Dr. Kavorkian types that the 'service' is designed for...I honestly don't even want to think about it. Even for Justin Trudeau's regime it is just wrong on so many levels, although some articles I read indicated he was actively fighting against it.

At 19:30 when referring to KIA, Mrs. Sheren said something to the effect of: "They're gone. They don't care". I understand her point to some extent, but in some ways am not in agreement. Back when though, I sometimes felt that the 'lucky' ones were the ones who didn't make it back. There are times i still believe that even though in the back of my mind I feel a bit guilty about it. I really should get more involved with local veterans organizations and do more than I do to help the issue.

T Inman;
Me again sir, back down without firing a shot, but it was a grand run regardless.

The MAID system was originally presented as a humane way for terminally ill folks to be able to choose to die "with dignity".

That's as I understand it.

At the same time, ironically in my view, the feds are still saying we need more firearms regulations in order to prevent suicide?

The cynical side of me might suggest they don't want competition in anything, death included.

Regarding getting involved in veteran organizations, if you're so inclined then by all means I'd encourage you to do that.

As I've aged and look back on a life of relationships in and out of work, it's the ability to effect positive change in others' lives that have been among the most meaningful - for me.

Thanks again and all the best this weekend T.

Dwayne

I haven't finished watching it either. I'm around half way maybe. She makes plenty of great points though. The improvisation to complete the mission is huge, esp in the Canadian Armed Forces, or at least it was during my time. One instance that comes to mind was the need for an incubator as we were air medevacing an infant, newborn actually, from a village in Bosnia via Herc. The flight team consisted of myself, a Cpl Flight Medic and a Capt Flight Nurse. We built an incubator from a cardboard box, a space blanket lined it. We hooked an O2 bottle to the box and ran a canula into the box. Every once in a while the nurse would place baby inside the front of her flight suit for warmth and so I could exam it. The child was successfully evac'ed however, the mother never turned up. We were told that she was too ill to travel. We were a Medevac flight for [bleep] sake! More like, she was taken as a sex slave.....

Smells, damn straight, I can still smell the mass graves we found on another tour in Bosnia. Plus, the smell of death and destruction from the shelling of Sarajevo will always be with me.
The things humans do to one another are horrifying to see. I'll leave it there.

As for VAC offering MAID to veterans, that is a most despicable thing to discuss with someone reaching out for help dealing with PTSD. This current government is a coalition of evil in Canada.
Jeff