# Canadians in Afghanistan: A video record



## krugan (23 Nov 2004)

Has anyone seen the 3 part documentary (Chasing Shadows, Friendly Fire and Waging Peace) by Garth Pritchard about our troops in Afghanistan?

The videos are for sale at the history.ca site, but I'm wondering if anyone has already seen them and what their thoughts were.


----------



## zerhash (23 Nov 2004)

hrmmm they look like a could addition to my collection


----------



## D-n-A (24 Nov 2004)

Saw them  on the history channel last year, their good.


----------



## camochick (24 Nov 2004)

Awesome videos. I suggest you buy them .


----------



## stukirkpatrick (24 Nov 2004)

IIRC the segment "Waging Peace" was not included with the history channel ones last year, i think, because i had only taped the first two when they were on, back to back...what part did it cover?


----------



## chriscalow (24 Nov 2004)

I thought they were very good and I thought they did a good job of showing us what the soldiers really do on a tour.  I thought it was really neat to see the engineers in the caves packing the explosives.  And the end of the friendly fire episode still brings a tear to my eye.  Very well done work if you ask me.


----------



## pbi (24 Nov 2004)

Garth Pritchard is a friend of the Army. When we were in Croatia in 94, he did some excellent work on our Battalion (1PP) and produced a particularly poignant video on MCpl Isfeld, the sapper who was killed by a mine outside the village of Kakma in my coy sector. When the battalion got together in Calgary after repat to see the video in the Jubilee Auditorium, there were alot of very emotional soldiers in the audience, me included. Garth would be welcome in any operation I was running. Cheers.


----------



## Bartok5 (24 Nov 2004)

The episode "Waging Peace" that didn't air on History Channel concerns 3 PPCLI BG's defence of the Coalition base at Kandahar Airfield.  There is a rather heavy emphasis placed on the CIMIC, Psyops and HUMINT operations that we conducted within the surrounding villages as one aspect of our overall force protection strategy.  The episode also focuses quite extensively on Recce Platoon's "area of influence" mounted patrol tasks, and the LdSH (RC) Recce Squadron's perimeter surveillance role.  

What is largely missing from the video is the hard defensive routine that the bulk of the F Echelon endured manning bunkers, trenches and (later) observation towers as part of the 4 km static defensive perimeter for months on end.  Also the many, many dismounted covert OPs, standing patrols, recce patrols, etc, that Recce Platoon and tasked sections from the rifle companies conducted.  And finally, Garth didn't manage to capture any of the Brigade QRF tasks executed by elements of the battlegroup - the platoon that air assaulted in the middle of the night to secure a downed Apache, the Recce Troop that drove untold kilometres through no-man's land to secure a downed Chinook, etc. 

Notwithstanding the somewhat distorted impression that "Waging Peace" gives of our time in the Kandahar defensive task, it does capture the essential "feel" of that aspect of the mission.   The "Chasing Shadows" episode is pretty much bang-on for the 2 battalion-level air-assault operations that Garth managed to cover.  He missed our Battlegroup air/mechanized "reconnaissance in force" operation into Zabul Province towards the end of the tour, but such is life.  "Chasing Shadows gives a very accurate impression of what our offensive operations were like.  

As PBI has noted, Garth Pritchard is a true "friend of the Army", and is deserving of our sincere thanks for his selfless efforts to promote what we do overseas to the Canadian public in a positive light.  He has done documentaries in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, etc.  Also worthy of note is the fact that his 3-part series about 3 PPCLI BG was privately funded.  Our supporters in the Canadian government would not fund a dime of his documentary efforts, despite the evident quality of Garth's previous efforts.  Funding for his travel, expenses, and production of the finished videos was all provided by Nancy Southern (CEO of the Frontenac Group).  They then sold the finished product to the History Channel (among others).  It is a pretty sad state of affairs when private citizens have to pony up the necessary funds to get our story out to the Canadian public, but there you have it..... 

The 3-part video set is well worth the $75 if you are interested in getting a decent feel for what we saw and did over there back in 2002.  Just bear in mind that the footage is somewhat "sanitized" for public consumption.  You won't see any corpses, nor a representative level of soldierly profanity.  You will however, see me giving Garth a tour of some abandoned munitions the same day that 3 local Afghan Militia (our allies) were blown up in a booby-trapped ammo dump explosion just South of K'har Airfield.  I happened to be on patrol with Recce Pl that afternoon.   My 2 minutes of "fame".....   

BTW - Garth has another series "in the can" about 3 RCR's Op ATHENA Roto 0 peace-support tour in Kabul (again funded by Nancy Southern).  He is just waiting for the go-ahead from an OPSEC perspective to offer the video to television stations.  Some of the footage of 3 RCR's direct-action operations against suspected criminal/terrorist/narcotics targets is still considered a bit sensitive.  The footage is not untoward or controversial, but is being close-held for OPSEC reasons until a bit more time passes.


----------



## zerhash (24 Nov 2004)

when are these on the history channel next?


----------



## scm77 (24 Nov 2004)

If they aren't on soon, I'm going to have to buy them.

Looks good.


----------



## krugan (24 Nov 2004)

Figures, what a disgrace our government wouldn't even put a dime into it, but they don't mind the CBC siphoning taxpayers dollars away.  Is the CF's not allowed to help fund any of this type of documentary stuff and try and recoup it from rights to sales etc?

Thanks for your insight Mark C, I went and ordered the series.  

pbi,

I seen part of that work Garth did about that mine accident on the Independent Film Channel.  I missed the first part, but it was very insightful into the dangers peacekeepers face in war torn countries and how lucky we are to live in this country.


----------



## pbi (25 Nov 2004)

Speaking of the CBC, here is an interesting story told to me by an independent documentary film maker in Calgary. He had accompaned 2 CMBG over on the first IFOR Roto in Bosnia, and was at Zgon with 2 CER when a fire broke out in an apartment building. As there was no effective local fire brigade, and there were people in the building, 2 CER went into action to fight the fire and rescue people. Using whatever resources they had, they launched their fire/rescue operation. According to this gent, the sappers used a crane to improvise a lifesaving platform, as there were no ladders available. Using this system they reportedly saved a number of lives. As well, during the course of the fire, illegal ammunition stored in the building began to cook off, creating further dangers.

The filmmaker captured all of this on video, and felt that had an excellent example of Canadian soldiers going "above and  beyond" on an overseas mission. He knew that it was newsworthy stuff, so he immediately contacted CBC. According to him, after he described the footage to the CBC rep, he received the reply:" No-sorry-not interested. That would just be glorifying the military"

Cheers.


----------



## HollywoodHitman (25 Nov 2004)

" No-sorry-not interested. That would just be glorifying the military"

Ouch!


----------



## Big Foot (26 Nov 2004)

Sad to think that that would be just "glorifying the military", showing the citizens of Canada what the CF does. I've heard people complain that the military does nothing, yet the media refuses to report on things like this. Very selective perception, I think.


----------



## Cloud Cover (26 Nov 2004)

pbi said:
			
		

> Garth Pritchard is a friend of the Army. When we were in Croatia in 94, he did some excellent work on our Battalion (1PP) and produced a particularly poignant video on MCpl Isfeld, the sapper who was killed by a mine outside the village of Kakma in my coy sector. When the battalion got together in Calgary after repat to see the video in the Jubilee Auditorium, there were alot of very emotional soldiers in the audience, me included. Garth would be welcome in any operation I was running. Cheers.




As an aside, so did your buddy Gwynne Dyer [I belive on the same sapper] and IIRC a darn good commentary on an R22R sniper team. So as you said earlier, it's all about the winds of the moment and playing to the crowd. All the world's a stage, etc. , etc. !! Cheers.


----------



## krugan (26 Nov 2004)

Just as an FYI, I ordered the tapes on the 24th & received them today (27th)!  So in case anyone wants to know what it's like to order from the History Channel my experience has been great so far.

Can't wait to watch them tonight now.


----------

