"Some soldiers having to fight their own instincts to win hearts in Afghanistan"

[mariomike]

"KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Canada's subtle war to win over Pushtun mullahs and village elders has not only faced immense cultural differences and opposition from the Taliban. A big challenge has been to convince young soldiers who crave combat that there is a better way to succeed in the notoriously unstable Taliban heartland.":
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/afghanistan/story.html?id=2226107

 

[Greymatters]

I dislike it when articles like this imply that all CF soldiers 'crave combat'...

 

[X-mo-1979]

I find myself being able to understand the pubic a little better after being off work now for so long.The public not understanding the mission is not their fault at all.Are we currently set up in Bandalay now?Did Canada make a huge strategic change?Last time I was in bandalay a few people came to meet us but it wasnt waving ;D.

Im not sure if its the army not relaying well,the government,or the media not caring enough to use the information provided to them.

i know many think we are in kandahar airfield and thats it.

Time for the media to do a report on the changing strategy.THIS IS NEWS!

 

[brihard]

I dislike it when articles like this imply that all CF soldiers 'crave combat'...

To be fair, for a lot of inexperienced or junior troops it's not entirely wrong. I sensed a lot of that on my tour; granted, we were doing force protection, not battlegroup tasks. The platoon of Vandoos who came in to replace us seemed to have equal parts trepidation, and a desire to get 'in the shit'. I don't think it's an unfair comment in the article, particularly given that the source for the comment is a WO with eight tours.

 

[X-mo-1979]

I can say in many veteran soldiers the want to kill was there as well. Many people do crave combat.

I dislike articles that paint the Canadian soldier as strictly in the "nice" role.Fact is most of the combat arms have and will continue to kill people until we either win or leave that country.

What is so bad about saying our military enjoys combat?From what I have seen we do.