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.
