God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

[ruxted]

God rest ye merry, gentlemen, and safe too

A few weeks ago an Army.ca member reminded us of Christmas at Ortona in 1943 with this extract from the Seaforth Highlanders’ War Diary, December 25th 1943:  http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/54149/post-491248.html#msg491248 

“The setting for the dinner was complete, long rows of tables with white tablecloths, and a bottle of beer per man, candies, cigarettes, nuts, oranges and apples and chocolate bars providing the extras. The C.O., Lt.-Col. S. W. Thomson, laid on that the Companies would eat in relays... as each company finished their dinner, they would go forward and relieve the next company... The menu... soup, pork with apple sauce, cauliflower, mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, gravy, Christmas pudding and mince pie... From 1100 hours to 1900 hours, when the last man of the battalion reluctantly left the table to return to the grim realities of the day, there was an atmosphere of cheer and good fellowship in the church. A true Christmas spirit. The impossible had happened. No one had looked for a celebration this day. December 25th was to be another day of hardship, discomfort, fear and danger, another day of war. The expression on the faces of the dirty bearded men as they entered the building was a reward that those responsible are never likely to forget… During the dinner the Signal Officer... played the church organ and with the aid of the improvised choir, organized by the padre, carols rang out throughout the church."

Not every soldier could partake.  On Christmas 1943 the 1st Canadian Division was facing a tough, brave, determined foe: German paratroopers.  Ruxted notes that the same is true today.  Many Canadian Forces members will sit down to a cheerful Christmas dinner, replete with military traditions involving the officers and senior non-commissioned officers serving the troops.  Others will, probably, eat hard rations from a tin; cooked over a small stove, as they keep a watchful eye out for an equally tough, brave and determined enemy.

Canadian sailors, soldiers and aviators are accustomed to keeping Christmas far from home and loved ones – often with one hand on Christmas dinner and the other on a weapon.  Since Ortona our Canadian Forces have kept Christmas in Korea and the Middle East, and in Africa and Asia, too.  This Christmas Canadian warships patrol the Persian Gulf and Canadian coastal waters; Canadian Forces aircraft guard our country, transport supplies to and casualties from Afghanistan and stand by for search and rescue tasks at home; Canadian soldiers serve in combat and support functions in the High Arctic, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.

Ruxted is reminded of the old English carol: ‘God rest ye merry, gentlemen.’  Ruxted hopes that at Christmas 2006 Canadian sailors, soldiers and aviators will ‘rest’ merry – if only for moments - but, above all, alert, ready and safe.

A very Merry Christmas to our comrades in arms and their families from the Ruxted Group.

Original topic here,
http://ruxted.ca/index.php?/archives/36-God-Rest-Ye-Merry,-Gentlemen.html

 

[Edward Campbell]

Let me add my own Merry Christmas to all, at sea, on land, or in the air - patrolling, fighting, supporting or rescuing.

 

[manhole]

they are always in our thoughts and prayers........but especially at this very special time of the year.......away from family on behalf of our country........A very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year to all

Ubique

 

[Edward Campbell]

Here is a look at how some Canadians will be spending the Christms holiday season, by Christie Blatchford, from today’s (23 Dec 06) Globe and Mail.

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061222.wxcoblatch23/BNStory/specialComment/home

Canadian boys in the middle of nowhere

CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD
From Saturday's Globe and Mail

HOWZ-E-MADAD, AFGHANISTAN — ‘Merry Christmas,” said Corporal Jordache Young as he opened up a rations pack of spaghetti and meatballs, with a side of that lovely rock-like Wheat Snack Bread — all of it sufficiently preservative-laden it's good, well, safe anyway, for at least five years.

The soldiers of Three Niner Bravo — the weapons detachment for the Charles Company commander — were sitting in our light armoured vehicle and having their only meal of the day.

But for a string of tiny yellow lights running down the centre of the LAV, and a little mail from home, Cpl. Young's wry greeting was the only reminder that, far away in Canada, it is the holiday season.

Globe and Mail photographer Kevin Van Paassen and I are travelling with the weapons detachment as Charles Company inches its way along this most curious battleground of the Arghandab River valley.

In a rare-for-southern-Afghanistan strip of fertile land probably not as long as Toronto's Yonge Street subway line and not a whole lot wider, the company is leading the schizophrenic existence of the modern army — that is, caught between all-out combat, which is what happened for the Canadians much of the summer and virtually all of the fall, and the softer-edge tactics under the new Dutch NATO multinational commander, Major-General Ton Van Loon.

Every night, we take up a different defensive position in the valley, watching the Taliban, never more than a couple of kilometres away, watch us watching them.

Two nights ago, they fired off two rockets, which landed harmlessly. Yet, it was the first sharp sign of aggression in a standoff that has gone on for several days.

Where little more than a month ago, the Canadians might have been ordered to push south into the often lethal canals, wadis and grapevines of the remaining Taliban areas, now they are holding tight, acting in support of the Afghan National Army 205 Corps, Kandak (Pashtu for company) 2, headed by Colonel Shereen Shah.

The waiting game sees the Canadian Battle Group essentially park itself in changing defensive positions somewhere in the valley, almost always within sight of both the village of Howz-e-Madad and a couple of intersecting main highways, with Leopard tanks and LAVs and their heavy firepower forming a “ring of steel” on the perimeter.

Depending on what's called the “threat level,” the atmosphere vacillates from overtly relaxed, with soldiers basking in the sun, reading and listening to music, to incredibly tense, with everyone sitting in their vehicles, or “boats” as they call them, with the ramp up and armour on.

Once, intelligence sources reported that the Taliban would fire rockets or missiles by noon (it never happened); another time, the reported threat warned that the Taliban were preparing suicide bombers and Stinger missiles (it never happened). But for the 107-mm Chinese-made rockets that did land to no effect the other night, there was no advance warning.

A complication of anything the Canadians do, or even consider doing, is the potential for civilian casualties; this part of the plain is largely unpopulated on one side, heavily populated on the other. Some of the residents are friendly to the soldiers; others are not, and make no bones about it, glaring whenever the troops patrol the streets.

But, regardless of local loyalties, the NATO brass is exquisitely conscious of the damage that even a single civilian casualty can cause, if not in violence-inured Afghanistan itself then back home, in Canada, Britain and the Netherlands, in particular.

One recent night, for instance, soldiers were watching a particular compound where half a dozen heavily armed men were holed up; an air strike was considered but quickly dismissed when it was learned there may have been children inside the mud-walled building. And the Taliban are aware of, if not to the last detail, certainly the general parameters of NATO's rules of engagement.

For instance, over the summer and fall months, unarmed “farmers” would be spotted ostensibly walking their marijuana or grape fields and retreating to a mud compound — and just hours later, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds would be fired toward the Canadians from the same compounds and presumably by the same purported farmers. That shows a pretty keen awareness of the rules of engagement, and that one way around them is to have weapons caches all over the place, so a farmer can have them handy, wherever he is.

Because the ultimate objective of Operation Baaz Tsuka (Falcon's Summit) is to separate the so-called Tier 1, or hard-line, Taliban from what one officer has described as the “farmer-by-day, fighter-by-night” Tier 2 Taliban, this is as much an information war as anything else.

It means that, on one hand, soldiers of the Royal Canadian Regiment combat team are engaging in shows of force aimed at dissuading the real Taliban that engaging would be a really bad idea — in one such the other day, tanks and LAVs formed a giant convoy, tooted around the valley for a while at great speed, then set up a new position one kilometre north from where we'd been.

Meantime, other groups of Canadian soldiers — most are reservists with the Civilian-Military Co-operation side — are having regular shuras with the elders of the little settlements that dot the valley, dropping off basic aid and paying out cash to those whose property has been damaged in the earlier fighting, their goal to press the elders to press their young men to play ball.

For the combat team, now weary old hands at death, this time is a reprieve. As Charles Company Officer Commanding Major Matthew Sprague, seriously wounded in a September friendly fire strafing that saw the company's numbers reduced by a third but back in action, said the other day, “Once you've pulled a body from the turret, you don't want to do it any more.”

These soldiers have done that, ridden in LAVs so crowded with the injured there was no place to put their boots but on the dead. They have their whole lives ahead of them. In our boat, Cpl. Young, a reservist with the Toronto Scottish, is engaged and soon to be married; Corporal Paulo Franco, just 23, another Toronto Scottish reservist, is thinking of going back to school; gunner Mike Farrah, 21, is soon heading back to Windsor for his leave; and Master-Corporal Sean Neifer, the 28-year-old crew commander, and his wife want to start their family soon.

But all that is far away now, out here in the middle of nowhere where life is reduced to basics: grub, a change of underwear once a week, sleep and survival.

They are a dear, irreverent, cheerful group, and when they sing The Chicken Song and do pirate imitations as we drive in orderly circles around the dust, passing camels and donkeys and shepherds moving their sheep across the plain, it is the ghosts — the friends who died at their side, in their arms — who are held close.

cblatchford@globeandmail.com

Many members of Army.ca have spent many Christmases away from home and family, many others will.  Sometimes it was, is and will be be boring, sometimes fearfully dangerous, it was, is and will be usually, but not always shared with members of one’s regimental family or ship’s company.  Canadian sailors, soldiers and air force personnel do that so that others, the overwhelming majority of Canadians, don't need to.

 

[vonGarvin]

What a very good article.  I think this one article alone speaks volumes of the multi-faceted mission.  Tanks and LAVs operating almost just as the Combat Team Commander's Course does up and down the Lawfield on one hand, soft knocks and shuras on the other.  May God keep these fellas safe and see them return to their families, and may those living in Afghanistan see better days and the "soft" Taliban return to a normal life.  The "hard" Taliban?  No ill-wishes from me at this time; however, the merry season is almost over and forgive me for saying so, but I hope that they are not long of this earth.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Here is a bit more, from today’s (24 Dec 06) Ottawa Citizen about Christmas in Kandahar.  It is reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=2bb30754-2927-41b1-9791-b2c2bf158959&k=8892&p=1

Not home for the holidays
Christmas greetings lift troops' spirits during lonely battle against Taliban

Brian Hutchinson, National Post
Published: Sunday, December 24, 2006

MAS'UM GHAR, Afghanistan - Slouched inside a sandbagged bunker at the top of an alpine military placement, Pte. James Arnal slurps down instant noodles from a Styrofoam cup. He does not seem infused with Yuletide joy.

Who could blame him? In this lonely spot, inside a country so distant and foreign from his own, and in the midst of an interminable war, Pte. Arnal feels adrift. Were it not for a few decorations and greeting cards that hang from a piece of string in his bunker, one would hardly know that it's Christmas time at all.

"I've never been away from home at Christmas before," says the 23-year-old Winnipeg native, nibbling at the last of his noodles.

Manning an observation post in dusty Kandahar province is not the first place he'd choose to spend the season, but so it is.

"I'll be calling in the reindeer," he said.

Otherwise, he plans to spend tomorrow the same way he spends every day here: Gazing out at the arid landscape, looking for Taliban fighters.

Chances are slim that he'll see any.

Pte. Arnal is stationed at Mas'um Ghar, a key Canadian forward operating base about 35 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city. The Taliban were chased from the immediate vicinity four months ago.

Pte. Arnal helped remove them.

On Aug.19, he and his mates from Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry met the Taliban head on, in a gruesome battle that unfolded not 50 metres from where he now stands.

"They came right over the top of this mountain," he says. "We killed 72 of them. We didn't have one casualty. It wasn't even close."

That's now a distant memory. Pte. Arnal has since survived Operation Medusa, and a friendly fire incident that occurred just a short distance from his current position and killed Pte. Mark Graham.

Now it is Christmas, in Kandahar. Pte. Arnal misses his family, his girlfriend, and his buddies back home. He sends them messages when he can, and places a phone call now and then. It's not the same.

But something happened recently that lifted his spirits. He received a letter from a Canadian teenager grateful for his efforts.

Actually, the letter wasn't addressed to him. "It was 'To Any Canadian Soldier,' Pte. Arnal recalls. "I opened it and read the letter. It was really nice. It was from someone in Quebec named Tristynn Duheme."

Tristynn, it turns out, is a 15-year-old Grade 10 student who lives in St. Anicet, about 80 kilometres west of Montreal. She wrote the letter as part of a class project. Pte. Arnal took the time to reply and express his thanks for the thoughtful gesture.

Yesterday, he received another mailing from Tristynn. This one included a cheery Christmas card, and a care package containing an assortment of goodies: potato chips, candy, chocolate, and best of all, several boxes of Kraft Dinner, a Canadian staple.

Reached at her home yesterday, Tristynn says she sent the young private the care package and card because she "felt bad for him, stuck over there with nothing, when I have everything. I'm very happy to hear that he received them."

For his part, Pte. Arnal says the gesture made him "pretty ecstatic. It made my day."

Also in Mas'um Ghar yesterday, Canadian battle group commander Lt.-Col. Omer Lavoie told reporters that the latest campaign to roust the Taliban from Kandahar province has proceeded almost flawlessly, adding insurgents have offered little resistance to what he calls "very robust combat power."

Lt.-Col. Lavoie said the only way things might have gone better in the week-old campaign is if "Taliban commanders had come out waving a white flag and all converted to our side."

He said the Taliban likely learned a lesson from Operation Medusa, the violent predecessor to the current campaign.

"In typical insurgent (fashion), for static targets they're willing to take pokes at you and retreat quickly," he said. "But... they can't take on a conventional force head to head. They tried in Medusa and were beaten pretty badly."

Lt.-Col. Lavoie noted the large Canadian combat force positioned in and around the village of Howz-e Madad has been reduced by two-thirds.

The remaining Canadian troops will conduct manoeuvres in the area and provide assistance to the Afghan National Army. The others will be postured "somewhere else."

He did not indicate where, or when; however, Lt.-Col. Lavoie did suggest that Operation Falcon's Summit will continue, even though material assistance has been delivered to villagers, which was to have been the campaign's primary goal.

"There are certainly other pockets of the enemy in that area," he added. "(We) are prepared if necessary to clear those areas out."

© The Ottawa Citizen 2006​

Thanks to Tristynn Duheme from St. Anicet PQ for thinking of a lonely soldier.

 

[tomahawk6]

Soldiers love getting mail,even if its someone they dont know. The mail boosts morale and demonstrates that the folks at home are thinking of them. Great story.

MAS'UM GHAR, Afghanistan - Slouched inside a sandbagged bunker, at the top of an alpine military placement, Pte. James Arnal slurps down instant noodles from a Styrofoam cup. He does not seem infused with Yuletide joy.

Who could blame him? In this lonely spot, inside a country so distant and foreign from his own, and in the midst of an interminable war, Arnal feels adrift. Were it not for a few decorations and greeting cards that hang from a piece of string in his bunker, one would hardly know that it's Christmas time at all.

"I've never been away from home at Christmas before," says the 23-year-old Winnipeg native, nibbling at the last of his noodles.

Manning an observation post in dusty Kandahar province is not the first place he'd chose to spend the season, but so it is.

"I'll be calling in the reindeer," he said.

Otherwise, he plans to spend Monday the same way he spends every day here: Gazing out at the arid landscape, looking for Taliban fighters.

Chances are slim that he'll see any.

Arnal is stationed at Mas'um Ghar, a key Canadian forward operating base about 35 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city. The Taliban were chased from the immediate vicinity four months ago.

Arnal helped remove them. On August 19, he and his mates from Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry met the Taliban head on, in a gruesome battle that unfolded not 50 metres from where he now stands.

"They came right over the top of this mountain," he says. "We killed 72 of them. We didn't have one casualty. It wasn't even close."

That's now a distant memory. Arnal has since survived Operation Medusa, and a tragic friendly fire incident that occurred just a short distance from his current position. One Canadian was killed when an American A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft accidentally strafed his company; more than 30 Canadians were injured, many of them seriously.

Now it is Christmas, in Kandahar. Pte. Arnal misses his family, his girlfriend, and his buddies back home. He sends them messages when he can, and places a phone call now and then. It's not the same.

But something happened recently that lifted his spirits. He received a letter, from a Canadian teenager grateful for his efforts.

Actually, the letter wasn't addressed to him. "It was 'To Any Canadian Soldier,' Pte. Arnal recalls. "I opened it and read the letter. It was really nice. It was from someone in Quebec named Tristynn Duheme."

Duheme, it turns out, is a 15-year-old Grade 10 student who lives in St. Anicet, about 80 kilometres west of Montreal. She wrote the letter as part of a class project. Arnal took the time to reply and express his thanks for the thoughtful gesture.

On Saturday, he received another mailing from Duheme. This one included a cheery Christmas card, and a care package containing an assortment of goodies: potato chips, candy, chocolate, and best of all, several boxes of Kraft Dinner, a Canadian staple.

Reached at her home Saturday, Duheme says she sent the young private the care package and card because she "felt bad for him, stuck over there with nothing, when I have everything. I'm very happy to hear that he received them."

For his part, Arnal says the gesture made him "pretty ecstatic. It made my day."

And it should make his difficult Christmas a bit easier to swallow.

Also in Mas'um Ghar on Saturday, Canadian battle group commander Lt.-Col. Omer Lavoie told reporters that the latest campaign to roust the Taliban from Kandahar province has proceeded almost flawlessly, adding insurgents have offered little resistance to what he calls "very robust combat power."

Lavoie said the only way things might have gone better in the week-old campaign is if "Taliban commanders had come out waving a white flag and all converted to our side."

He said the Taliban likely learned a lesson from Operation Medusa, the violent predecessor to the current campaign.

"In typical insurgent (fashion), for static targets they're willing to take pokes at you and retreat quickly," he said. "ButE they can't take on a conventional force head to head. They tried in Medusa and were beaten pretty badly."

Lavoie noted that the large Canadian combat force positioned in and around the village of Howz-e Madad has been reduced by two-thirds.

The remaining Canadian troops will conduct maneuvers in the area and provide assistance to the Afghan National Army. The others will be postured "somewhere else."

He did not indicate where, or when; however, Lt.-Col. did suggest that Operation Baaz Tsuka will continue, even though material assistance has been delivered to local villagers, which was to have been the campaign's primary goal.

"There are certainly other pockets of the enemy in that area," he added. "(We) are prepared if necessary to clear those areas out."

Minutes after Lavoie made his remarks, the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan issued a news release stating that coalition forces in neighbouring Helmand province killed a senior member of the Taliban's inner circle.

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was traveling in a vehicle when it was destroyed by a coalition air strike. He died instantly.

"Osmani was in the top ring of the Taliban leadership and he was also a close associate of Osama bin Laden and Gulbuddin Hekmatyr," the ISAF release stated.

"His death is a major achievement in the fight against extremists and their terrorist networks."

The incident occurred December 19th but was only confirmed by ISAF Saturday.

National Post

bhutchinson@nationalpost.com
© CanWest News Service 2006

 

[patrick666]

Great story. Thanks for sharing, I'm going to share it as well.

I've been away for Christmas and it's not fun at all. The fact that she recognized that and sent out a care package to somebody to brighten their holidays is truly what the holiday spirit is about - helping others.

 

[tomahawk6]

The real nice angle for me was that this was a class project at her school so this means many other soldiers also have been remembered.

 

[Kendrick]

The nice angle for me is that its from a girl/class here in Quebec, which I have been seeing as one of the most uniform-allergic provinces, and anti-army.  Gives me hope.

I will also be sharing this story.

 

[Matt_Fisher]

As I sit inside the comfort of my own home this Christmas eve, enjoying the company of my family, sipping on a glass of 15 year old single malt Scotch Whisky, I cannot help but give pause to think of those who are standing on the line...  Those who have made the choice to be away from their families... Those who have chosen to forego the comforts of home and hearth... Those who who are willing to sacrifice everything they have, including their own lives to ensure that my family and I can live in a free society.

Merry Christmas to our Canadian Forces and the allied forces that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them. 

 

[vonGarvin]

As I sit inside the comfort of my own home this Christmas eve, enjoying the company of my family, sipping on a glass of 15 year old single malt Scotch Whisky, I cannot help but give pause to think of those who are standing on the line...  Those who have made the choice to be away from their families... Those who have chosen to forego the comforts of home and hearth... Those who who are willing to sacrifice everything they have, including their own lives to ensure that my family and I can live in a free society.

Merry Christmas to our Canadian Forces and the allied forces that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them. 

+1!!!

Merry Christmas to all.  Especially who stand watch, ready to keep me safe as I sleep tonight.  Thank you.

 

[KevinB]

Merry Christmas, and God Bless our troops in Harms Way.

 

[kratz]

Back at the wall, I'm thinking of our sailors, soldiers and air crew who are not home for the holidays. Stay safe to enjoy your return to friends and family. Merry Christmas.

 

[Thompson_JM]

Merry Christmas, and Godspeed on your safe return home.

Tonight and Tomorrow I will raise a Glass for all of you who are spending christmas with your "other" family this year 

 

[NL_engineer]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our guys and girls over seas  .

 

[captainj]

Folks

I couldn't agree more with all the posts. However I would be remiss if I didn't mention our wounded some of whom are in hospital over Christmas. I just spent a few hours with one of them today. I know along with those deployed we all think about the wounded and wish them a speedy recovery.

 

[Pea]

+1 to what all those previous have said.

Merry Christmas to those out there in harms way, so we can be at home with our families this evening and tomorrow. You're all definitely in my thoughts.

Miss ya D, see you in February when you make your triumphant return. Stay Safe.

 

[Rice0031]

+1 to what all those previous have said.

Merry Christmas to those out there in harms way, so we can be at home with our families this evening and tomorrow. You're all definitely in my thoughts.

+1 !!

 

[Edward Campbell]

Here is a bit more from yesterday’s (24 Dec 06) Ottawa Citizen, reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=e58d67df-5242-4e97-95d4-fc8a2fc2e983&k=95766

Entertainers, Ottawa news anchor surprise troops

Aedan Helmer, Ottawa Citizen
Published: Sunday, December 24, 2006

Christmas came a day early for Canadian troops stationed in Afghanistan, as Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier and an entourage of entertainers touched down at Kandahar Air Field early Sunday morning.

The surprise visit was kept under tight security, travelling by Sea King helicopter from a Canadian battleship stationed in the Persian Gulf.

The group includes comedians Rick Mercer and Mary Walsh, singer Damhnait Doyle and rock group Jonas, as well as Treasury Board President John Baird, the MP for Ottawa West-Nepean, and MPs Laurie Hawn and Jay Hill.

CTV Ottawa’s Max Keeping was also with the group, making his first trip to the wartorn region, and will be acting as emcee for the troops’ Christmas Day dinner.

"One of the reasons I’m here is that there are so many troops from Petawawa here, and they miss home," said Mr. Keeping by telephone.

"What I’ve been saying to them is that there’s tremendous support at home and there’s also tremendous admiration for what they’re doing."

Morale remains high among the 2,500 troops, despite rumblings from the home front. According to Mr. Keeping, the troops he spoke to have a keen interest in what is being said about the war back in Canada.

"Canadians may have some difficulty understanding the mission, but these soldiers have no difficulty at all understanding the mission," said Mr. Keeping.

"They hear about the political debate, but they really believe in what they’re doing," he said. "They do believe they can win this war … not overnight, but they believe they can bring freedom to the Afghan people."

Mr. Keeping made sure to bring along some authentic Ottawa gifts for the soldiers, delivering 600 Ottawa Senators caps and a jersey autographed by the entire team.

The mission was designed to lift troops’ spirits, which have been battered by renewed insurgency, suicide bombings and a recent spate of bad weather.

"It’s cold and wet and miserable over here," said Mr. Keeping. "But it’s even more miserable for the battle group stationed ‘outside the wire’," referring to the soldiers on the front lines.

Troops on patrol in the Afghan interior can sometimes be away from base for weeks at a time. Part of the mission’s efforts will be to arrange the delivery of a traditional Canadian Christmas dinner.

"They’re eating rations," said Mr. Keeping. "If all goes well, they’ll be circulating a hot turkey dinner to all of them."

Arrangements have been made for free phone time for the soldiers to call family and friends back home.

A videophone has also been set up at the base to help the troops combat loneliness during the Christmas season.

tagline: Read more about the visit in Tuesday's Ottawa Citizen

© Ottawa Citizen​

BZ to the Ottawa Senators.


----------

I cannot resist an inside the greenbelt political shot:

During and just after last year’s general election campaign the mainstream media complained long and loud that Stephen Harper and the Tories were ignoring them in favour of the local media which, according the pundits in the Parliamentary Press Gallery and the national media (CBC, CTV, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, etc) are less vigorous in their questioning, etc – read: country bumpkins.  I wonder if the DND Public Affairs people are following a similar track.