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http://www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/12/24/2968595-sun.html
Sun, December 24, 2006
Canadian reject wins coveted Brit military honour
By CP
HALIFAX -- A former Nova Scotia man who was turned down when he tried to join the Canadian air force has won the Distinguished Flying Cross for demonstrating "great courage and composure" while piloting a British military helicopter in Afghanistan.
Flight Lieut. Christopher Hasler grew up in Bedford, near Halifax, and learned how to fly gliders and Cessnas with the local air cadet squadron.
After job-shadowing a Sea King helicopter pilot at 12 Wing Shearwater and graduating high school, he turned his eye to the sky with the hope of making a career out of flying military choppers.
"I applied out of high school to the Canadian Forces and didn't get in, for whatever reason," the 26-year-old said yesterday at his parents' home in Ottawa.
"These things happen. So I went to university and still really wanted to fly. So I gave the (Royal Air Force) a call and then I was successful."
After a relatively peaceful stint in Iraq in 2004, Hasler was sent to Afghanistan last summer for two months.
He was the captain of a Chinook on July 17 when he led a group of helicopters into Sangin, a Taliban stronghold where a soldier had been killed the day before while trying to secure the landing site.
The mission was to bring desperately needed supplies to British paratroopers.
According to the Royal Air Force's description of events, Hasler chose a different landing site to surprise the enemy.
"To give the Chinook more space, he intentionally placed one of the spinning rotors above a single-storey rooftop. Any error could have been fatal. The mission was a complete success," the medal citation says.
A few days later, Hasler landed in an area taking fire from insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machineguns and rifles.
"There was about 1,000 rounds fired that night, but I managed to get it in, get the guys on the ground and get out," he said.
Hasler, who did another two-month tour of Afghanistan in the fall and is to return again early in the new year, will receive his award in the spring from the Queen.
A total of 4,460 Distinguished Flying Crosses have been awarded to Canadians.
Sun, December 24, 2006
Canadian reject wins coveted Brit military honour
By CP
HALIFAX -- A former Nova Scotia man who was turned down when he tried to join the Canadian air force has won the Distinguished Flying Cross for demonstrating "great courage and composure" while piloting a British military helicopter in Afghanistan.
Flight Lieut. Christopher Hasler grew up in Bedford, near Halifax, and learned how to fly gliders and Cessnas with the local air cadet squadron.
After job-shadowing a Sea King helicopter pilot at 12 Wing Shearwater and graduating high school, he turned his eye to the sky with the hope of making a career out of flying military choppers.
"I applied out of high school to the Canadian Forces and didn't get in, for whatever reason," the 26-year-old said yesterday at his parents' home in Ottawa.
"These things happen. So I went to university and still really wanted to fly. So I gave the (Royal Air Force) a call and then I was successful."
After a relatively peaceful stint in Iraq in 2004, Hasler was sent to Afghanistan last summer for two months.
He was the captain of a Chinook on July 17 when he led a group of helicopters into Sangin, a Taliban stronghold where a soldier had been killed the day before while trying to secure the landing site.
The mission was to bring desperately needed supplies to British paratroopers.
According to the Royal Air Force's description of events, Hasler chose a different landing site to surprise the enemy.
"To give the Chinook more space, he intentionally placed one of the spinning rotors above a single-storey rooftop. Any error could have been fatal. The mission was a complete success," the medal citation says.
A few days later, Hasler landed in an area taking fire from insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machineguns and rifles.
"There was about 1,000 rounds fired that night, but I managed to get it in, get the guys on the ground and get out," he said.
Hasler, who did another two-month tour of Afghanistan in the fall and is to return again early in the new year, will receive his award in the spring from the Queen.
A total of 4,460 Distinguished Flying Crosses have been awarded to Canadians.
