# A reminder that "training" = "safer" than K'Har but =/= "Safe"



## The Bread Guy (22 Sep 2011)

Are there any reporters embedded with the training units?  I'm not seeing much MSM coverage, and this story's been written in "Ottawa" according to the placeline....


> Canadian military trainers helped defend a NATO compound in Kabul last week when Taliban insurgents launched a dramatic attack against the U.S. Embassy and surrounding neighbourhood that killed 16 Afghans and wounded dozens more.
> 
> This revelation, combined with assertions from a senior military official on Thursday that the Canadian Forces considers the Afghan capital an “extremely violent” environment, has raised fresh questions about the risks Canadian soldiers are facing in what was originally billed a low-risk, “behind the wire” training mission.
> 
> ...


Postmedia News, 22 Sept 11

Meanwhile, the CF InfoMachine is focusing on this.


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## T.I.M. (23 Sep 2011)

I was wondering if that would ever hit the news.

Made for an interesting day.  And a very large ammo cas.


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## PuckChaser (23 Sep 2011)

Don't tell my wife! I still want to DAG Green.  >


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## dogger1936 (23 Sep 2011)

If the media had to report every TIC you could forget reading anything else such as kate plus 8's new haircut or things like weather. This isnt a new or differnt thing. Troops get in TIC's. Nothing noteworthy there.


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## The Bread Guy (24 Sep 2011)

T.I.M. said:
			
		

> I was wondering if that would ever hit the news.
> 
> Made for an interesting day.  And a very large ammo cas.


Hope you guys are all OK.



			
				dogger1936 said:
			
		

> If the media had to report every TIC you could forget reading anything else such as kate plus 8's new haircut or things like weather. This isnt a new or differnt thing. Troops get in TIC's. Nothing noteworthy there.


If this was an isolated drive-by shooting of a place where Canadian soldiers were located, that's true.  However, this could be seen as part of a MUCH bigger cluster of attacks in Kabul that day, attacks that drew a lot of media attention.

This issue was also raised in Question Period yesterday:


> _Mr. Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre, NDP):_  Mr. Speaker, today, Canadians learned that our military trainers in Afghanistan were involved in active combat last week when a NATO compound in Kabul came under attack.  The Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence repeatedly told Canadians that this would be a non-combat mission. Clearly, that is not the case. This training mission is a combat mission that continues to put Canadian troops at risk.  Will the government now acknowledge that there is no non-combat military role in a war?
> 
> _Hon. Peter MacKay (Minister of National Defence, CPC):  _Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, the combat mission in Afghanistan has now come to an end. We have transitioned to training. That training is taking place in and around Kabul. However, I do not think the member is naive enough to suggest that Canadian Forces are not going to protect themselves when in a volatile city like Kabul. They will return fire and protect themselves. That is what happened in this instance. The member and Canadians would expect no less.
> 
> ...



Note to Mr. Dewar (and anyone else who thought this was going to be a cozy, safe go):  I guess you didn't hear the PM say the threat was _never_ zero here, here and here.


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## Franko (24 Sep 2011)

A TiC in Afghanistan? Say it isn't so!

/sarcasm


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