Colin Parkinson
Army.ca Myth
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Both the Taliban and ISIS in Iraq prepared the ground, by secret negotiations, intimidation, murder and marriage. they "shaped the battle" before it started.
US, NATO Outta Afghanistan 2021
- Thread starter daftandbarmy
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In Afghanistan do they think about splitting the country along Tajik/Pashtun lines and would that even help?
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I think you ignored a large portion of my post but I'll re-state it....
The Taliban never controlled all of Afghanistan, even at the height of their power from 1996-2001. The Afghan Army is incapable of holding on to the entire Country but they still have capable fighting units and can control parts of the Country.
I don't think the Taliban will be able to control the entire Country and we will enter a long period of protracted civil war.
Altair
Army.ca Veteran
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You said the IRoA should leave the south and consolidate around the capital.
I'm saying that if the taliban marches on Kabul the ANA won't stand and fight and the talibam takes Kabul.
Whether they hold it or other regions is a open question, likely not. But I think the IRoA is on borrowed time and won't exist in a year or two.
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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Colin Parkinson
Army.ca Myth
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Absolutely not, the Colonial constructs of artificially drawn lines must be maintained at all costs. It's really funny to see people complain of colonialism and then defend the current borders or demand that the Golan be returned to Syria because of two colonialists said that it was a good idea to put a line there.
MilEME09
Army.ca Veteran
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Video is surfacing of a group of 10 Afghan commandos being executed after surrendering to the taliban. War crime o'clock apparently in Afghanistan today.
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OldSolduer
Army.ca Relic
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That didn’t take long. Murderers. I cannot express adequately my absolute loathing for the Taliban.Video is surfacing of a group of 10 Afghan commandos being executed after surrendering to the taliban. War crime o'clock apparently in Afghanistan today.
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daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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Well of course pilots get 'assassinated' while Infantry just get 'butchered' 
KABUL, July 9, (Reuters) - Afghan Air Force Major Dastagir Zamaray had grown so fearful of Taliban assassinations of off-duty forces in Kabul that he decided to sell his home to move to a safer pocket of Afghanistan's sprawling capital.
Instead of being greeted by a prospective buyer at his realtor's office earlier this year, the 41-year-old pilot was confronted by a gunman who walked inside and, without a word, fatally shot the real estate agent in the mouth.
Zamaray reached for his sidearm but the gunman shot him in the head. The father of seven collapsed dead on his 14-year-old son, who had tagged along. The boy was spared, but barely speaks anymore, his family says.
Zamaray “only went there because he personally knew the realtor and thought it was safe," Samiullah Darman, his brother-in-law, told Reuters. "We didn’t know that he would never come back."
At least seven Afghan pilots, including Zamaray, have been assassinated off base in recent months, according to two senior Afghan government officials. This series of targeted killings, which haven't been previously reported, illustrate what U.S. and Afghan officials believe is a deliberate Taliban effort to destroy one of Afghanistan's most valuable military assets: its corps of U.S.- and NATO-trained military pilots.
In so doing, the Taliban -- who have no air force -- are looking to level the playing field as they press major ground offensives. The militants are quickly seizing territory once controlled by the U.S.-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani, raising fears they could eventually try to topple Kabul.
Reuters confirmed the identities of two of the slain pilots through family members. It could not independently verify the names of the other five who were allegedly targeted.
In response to questions from Reuters, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the group had killed Zamaray, and that it had started a program that will see Afghan Air Force pilots “targeted and eliminated because all of them do bombardment against their people."
A U.N. report documented 229 civilian deaths caused by the Taliban in Afghanistan in the first three months of 2021, and 41 civilian deaths caused by the Afghan Air Force over the same period.
Afghanistan's government has not publicly disclosed the number of pilots assassinated in targeted killings. The nation's Defense Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon said it was aware of the deaths of several Afghan pilots in killings claimed by the Taliban, but declined comment on U.S. intelligence and investigations.
Afghan military pilots are particularly attractive assassination targets, current and former U.S. and Afghan officials say. They can strike Taliban forces massing for major attacks, shuttle commandos to missions and provide life-saving air cover for Afghan ground troops. Pilots take years to train and are hard to replace, representing an outsized blow to the country's defenses with every loss.
Shoot-downs and accidents are ever-present risks. Yet these pilots often are most vulnerable in the streets of their own neighborhoods, where attackers can come from anywhere, said retired U.S. Brigadier General David Hicks, who commanded the training effort for the Afghan Air Force from 2016 to 2017.
"Their lives were at much greater risk during that time (off base) than they were while they were flying combat missions," Hicks said.
Although Taliban assassinations of pilots have happened in years past, the recent killings take on greater significance as the Afghan Air Force is tested like never before.
Just last week, U.S. forces left America’s main military bastion in Afghanistan, Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, as they complete their withdrawal from the country 20 years after ousting the Taliban following the Al Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/BDHQKN2JHBPIVCLI3INCC4FIGU.jpg)
www.reuters.com
Special Report: Afghan pilots assassinated by Taliban as U.S. withdraws
KABUL, July 9, (Reuters) - Afghan Air Force Major Dastagir Zamaray had grown so fearful of Taliban assassinations of off-duty forces in Kabul that he decided to sell his home to move to a safer pocket of Afghanistan's sprawling capital.
Instead of being greeted by a prospective buyer at his realtor's office earlier this year, the 41-year-old pilot was confronted by a gunman who walked inside and, without a word, fatally shot the real estate agent in the mouth.
Zamaray reached for his sidearm but the gunman shot him in the head. The father of seven collapsed dead on his 14-year-old son, who had tagged along. The boy was spared, but barely speaks anymore, his family says.
Zamaray “only went there because he personally knew the realtor and thought it was safe," Samiullah Darman, his brother-in-law, told Reuters. "We didn’t know that he would never come back."
At least seven Afghan pilots, including Zamaray, have been assassinated off base in recent months, according to two senior Afghan government officials. This series of targeted killings, which haven't been previously reported, illustrate what U.S. and Afghan officials believe is a deliberate Taliban effort to destroy one of Afghanistan's most valuable military assets: its corps of U.S.- and NATO-trained military pilots.
In so doing, the Taliban -- who have no air force -- are looking to level the playing field as they press major ground offensives. The militants are quickly seizing territory once controlled by the U.S.-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani, raising fears they could eventually try to topple Kabul.
Reuters confirmed the identities of two of the slain pilots through family members. It could not independently verify the names of the other five who were allegedly targeted.
In response to questions from Reuters, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the group had killed Zamaray, and that it had started a program that will see Afghan Air Force pilots “targeted and eliminated because all of them do bombardment against their people."
A U.N. report documented 229 civilian deaths caused by the Taliban in Afghanistan in the first three months of 2021, and 41 civilian deaths caused by the Afghan Air Force over the same period.
Afghanistan's government has not publicly disclosed the number of pilots assassinated in targeted killings. The nation's Defense Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon said it was aware of the deaths of several Afghan pilots in killings claimed by the Taliban, but declined comment on U.S. intelligence and investigations.
Afghan military pilots are particularly attractive assassination targets, current and former U.S. and Afghan officials say. They can strike Taliban forces massing for major attacks, shuttle commandos to missions and provide life-saving air cover for Afghan ground troops. Pilots take years to train and are hard to replace, representing an outsized blow to the country's defenses with every loss.
Shoot-downs and accidents are ever-present risks. Yet these pilots often are most vulnerable in the streets of their own neighborhoods, where attackers can come from anywhere, said retired U.S. Brigadier General David Hicks, who commanded the training effort for the Afghan Air Force from 2016 to 2017.
"Their lives were at much greater risk during that time (off base) than they were while they were flying combat missions," Hicks said.
Although Taliban assassinations of pilots have happened in years past, the recent killings take on greater significance as the Afghan Air Force is tested like never before.
Just last week, U.S. forces left America’s main military bastion in Afghanistan, Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, as they complete their withdrawal from the country 20 years after ousting the Taliban following the Al Qaeda attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Afghan pilots assassinated by Taliban as U.S. withdraws
Afghan Air Force Major Dastagir Zamaray had grown so fearful of Taliban assassinations of off-duty forces in Kabul that he decided to sell his home to move to a safer pocket of Afghanistan's sprawling capital.
www.reuters.com
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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The Daily Prole comments....
Military retreats from Afghanistan are problematic, as the British (1842) and the Red Army (1989) discovered to their cost. The cliffs of the Khyber Pass feature many memorials and plaques to departing or defeated foreign forces. The 2021 Afghan withdrawal is less fraught – the US is not yet retreating under fire. But the march to the exit has nonetheless turned into an undignified sprint.
Most Americans will welcome this accelerated end to an unpopular war. Yet it spells catastrophe for Afghans who pinned their hopes and their country’s future on western support in fighting Taliban and Islamist terrorism and who believed the nation-building promises made by George W Bush and others.
Fighting is currently spreading like a bushfire from district to district. There is no peace deal in place, no power-sharing, no intra-Afghan ceasefire, and growing fear of nationwide conflagration – and yet still the Americans are leaving.
Advertisement
Two questions are unavoidable: after expending so much blood and treasure, what of lasting import was achieved? And what on earth will happen next?
When US president Joe Biden set a withdrawal deadline of 11 September, exactly 20 years after the al-Qaida attacks that triggered America’s intervention, the Pentagon decided to get out as soon as possible. UK and other Nato allies are following suit. It’s now expected all foreign forces, plus 17,000 mostly American contractors, will be gone by mid-July.
The outlook for the vast majority of Afghans who do not espouse extreme religious views and misogynistic feudal dogmas is simply terrifying. Civilian casualties rose 29% in January to March, compared with 2020. Government figures recorded 4,375 terrorism-related deaths in May, up from 1,645 in April. Among last month’s civilian victims were 50 schoolgirls from a Shia Hazara neighbourhood in Kabul, deliberately targeted by Sunni militants. Aid workers, polio vaccinators, and journalists, especially women, are also singled out. The terrorists’ agenda of hate is only too clear.
The western-trained Afghan national army is struggling. Short of ammunition and supplies, 26 bases reportedly surrendered to the Taliban last month. An elite special forces commando was wiped out last week in Faryab province. The ANA’s one big advantage – air power – is evaporating as foreign technical and logistical back-up melts away.
Entire provinces, such as Uruzgan, and provincial capitals such as Kandahar and Helmand’s Lashkar Gah, for which British troops fought, risk overrun. Even Kabul itself may not be safe for long, according to gloomy CIA and military intelligence assessments.
Suggestions that the US will in future send combat aircraft and armed drones from neighbouring countries to support Afghan ground forces were dismissed last week. Gen Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, warned that even if Kabul were on the brink of falling, any post-withdrawal air strikes would be limited to countering terror plots that threatened the US “homeland”.
Such unusual restraint reflects the Pentagon’s inability to find alternative bases within reasonable striking distance. Pakistan, which covertly backs the Taliban and fell out with the US in 2011, does not want the Americans back.
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, which previously hosted US troops and spies, are unlikely to do so again – for fear of offending Russia. Iran is out of the question.
Lack of a credible post-withdrawal security plan is matched by the absence of an agreed political path ahead. Talks in Doha between the Taliban and the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani have achieved little. Demands that Taliban leaders guarantee civil rights and girls’ education have not been met.
US insistence that the Taliban refuse safe haven to al-Qaida and the Afghan iteration of Islamic State has also been ignored. On the contrary, senior Afghan officials say, these Sunni groups are working together. The Taliban’s aim? Total victory.
The CIA’s fear that Afghanistan could again become a regional terror hub is shared by China and India. Beijing has offered investment and vaccines, seeking another link in its belt and road imperial masterplan. China’s nightmare is that Afghan-based jihadists will join forces with persecuted Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
Ever greater fragmentation looms. Ethnic groups that comprised the Northern Alliance in the 1990s civil war oppose a fresh Taliban takeover. Ahmad Massoud, son of the Lion of Panjshir, Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was assassinated by the Taliban two days before the 9/11 attacks, says the mujahideen are ready to fight.
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...rapped-and-has-no-good-choices-in-afghanistan
Escalating violence in Afghanistan could destabilise the region, add hunger and displacement to existing problems of Covid, drought and climate change, create new refugee surges, destroy the quest for equal rights and justice for war crimes, and betray the sacrifices of western and Afghan soldiers. Yet it is now a very real prospect.
Western politicians, including in the UK (which is withdrawing aid as well as troops), shield their eyes. They don’t want to see, let alone discuss, what’s about to happen. Nato last week pledged future security force training and funding and said it would “continue to stand” with Afghanistan. Stand back, more like.
Catastrophe stalks the Afghan people. Nato claims a “new chapter” is beginning. That’s true, but it’s a cause for fear, not pride. The US and partners achieved little in terms of permanent progress, and even that meagre legacy is now threatened. Robert Gates, defence secretary under Bush and Barack Obama, pleads: “The situation will doubtless worsen when US troops are gone … We cannot turn our backs.” But his is a lonely voice.
What to do? I’ve been writing about Afghanistan for more than 30 years. I’ve reported from the country and personally witnessed its poverty and pain. I don’t know the answer. Who does? But scurrying off home, regardless of consequences, is certainly not it.
www.theguardian.com
Catastrophe stalks Afghanistan as the US and UK dash for the exit
Military retreats from Afghanistan are problematic, as the British (1842) and the Red Army (1989) discovered to their cost. The cliffs of the Khyber Pass feature many memorials and plaques to departing or defeated foreign forces. The 2021 Afghan withdrawal is less fraught – the US is not yet retreating under fire. But the march to the exit has nonetheless turned into an undignified sprint.
Most Americans will welcome this accelerated end to an unpopular war. Yet it spells catastrophe for Afghans who pinned their hopes and their country’s future on western support in fighting Taliban and Islamist terrorism and who believed the nation-building promises made by George W Bush and others.
Fighting is currently spreading like a bushfire from district to district. There is no peace deal in place, no power-sharing, no intra-Afghan ceasefire, and growing fear of nationwide conflagration – and yet still the Americans are leaving.
Advertisement
Two questions are unavoidable: after expending so much blood and treasure, what of lasting import was achieved? And what on earth will happen next?
When US president Joe Biden set a withdrawal deadline of 11 September, exactly 20 years after the al-Qaida attacks that triggered America’s intervention, the Pentagon decided to get out as soon as possible. UK and other Nato allies are following suit. It’s now expected all foreign forces, plus 17,000 mostly American contractors, will be gone by mid-July.
The outlook for the vast majority of Afghans who do not espouse extreme religious views and misogynistic feudal dogmas is simply terrifying. Civilian casualties rose 29% in January to March, compared with 2020. Government figures recorded 4,375 terrorism-related deaths in May, up from 1,645 in April. Among last month’s civilian victims were 50 schoolgirls from a Shia Hazara neighbourhood in Kabul, deliberately targeted by Sunni militants. Aid workers, polio vaccinators, and journalists, especially women, are also singled out. The terrorists’ agenda of hate is only too clear.
The western-trained Afghan national army is struggling. Short of ammunition and supplies, 26 bases reportedly surrendered to the Taliban last month. An elite special forces commando was wiped out last week in Faryab province. The ANA’s one big advantage – air power – is evaporating as foreign technical and logistical back-up melts away.
Entire provinces, such as Uruzgan, and provincial capitals such as Kandahar and Helmand’s Lashkar Gah, for which British troops fought, risk overrun. Even Kabul itself may not be safe for long, according to gloomy CIA and military intelligence assessments.
Suggestions that the US will in future send combat aircraft and armed drones from neighbouring countries to support Afghan ground forces were dismissed last week. Gen Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, warned that even if Kabul were on the brink of falling, any post-withdrawal air strikes would be limited to countering terror plots that threatened the US “homeland”.
Such unusual restraint reflects the Pentagon’s inability to find alternative bases within reasonable striking distance. Pakistan, which covertly backs the Taliban and fell out with the US in 2011, does not want the Americans back.
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, which previously hosted US troops and spies, are unlikely to do so again – for fear of offending Russia. Iran is out of the question.
Lack of a credible post-withdrawal security plan is matched by the absence of an agreed political path ahead. Talks in Doha between the Taliban and the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani have achieved little. Demands that Taliban leaders guarantee civil rights and girls’ education have not been met.
US insistence that the Taliban refuse safe haven to al-Qaida and the Afghan iteration of Islamic State has also been ignored. On the contrary, senior Afghan officials say, these Sunni groups are working together. The Taliban’s aim? Total victory.
The CIA’s fear that Afghanistan could again become a regional terror hub is shared by China and India. Beijing has offered investment and vaccines, seeking another link in its belt and road imperial masterplan. China’s nightmare is that Afghan-based jihadists will join forces with persecuted Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
Ever greater fragmentation looms. Ethnic groups that comprised the Northern Alliance in the 1990s civil war oppose a fresh Taliban takeover. Ahmad Massoud, son of the Lion of Panjshir, Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was assassinated by the Taliban two days before the 9/11 attacks, says the mujahideen are ready to fight.
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...rapped-and-has-no-good-choices-in-afghanistan
Escalating violence in Afghanistan could destabilise the region, add hunger and displacement to existing problems of Covid, drought and climate change, create new refugee surges, destroy the quest for equal rights and justice for war crimes, and betray the sacrifices of western and Afghan soldiers. Yet it is now a very real prospect.
Western politicians, including in the UK (which is withdrawing aid as well as troops), shield their eyes. They don’t want to see, let alone discuss, what’s about to happen. Nato last week pledged future security force training and funding and said it would “continue to stand” with Afghanistan. Stand back, more like.
Catastrophe stalks the Afghan people. Nato claims a “new chapter” is beginning. That’s true, but it’s a cause for fear, not pride. The US and partners achieved little in terms of permanent progress, and even that meagre legacy is now threatened. Robert Gates, defence secretary under Bush and Barack Obama, pleads: “The situation will doubtless worsen when US troops are gone … We cannot turn our backs.” But his is a lonely voice.
What to do? I’ve been writing about Afghanistan for more than 30 years. I’ve reported from the country and personally witnessed its poverty and pain. I don’t know the answer. Who does? But scurrying off home, regardless of consequences, is certainly not it.
Catastrophe stalks Afghanistan as the US and UK dash for the exit
Little has been achieved in 20 years of war, and as the Taliban regroup, ordinary Afghans brace for an uncertain future
www.theguardian.com
OldSolduer
Army.ca Relic
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Gwyn Dyer had an article in the WFP today. The end is nigh…
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The great Rosie DiManno:
Mark
Ottawa
Mark
Ottawa
OldSolduer
Army.ca Relic
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I certainly hope this lights a fire under the fat asses of the bureaucrats who are stalling about the immigration of some of the interpreters that our military employed.
- Reaction score
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I would be shocked if that's even on the Top 10 of their radar, unless it's prompted by another political party asking "why didn't the current Liberal Govt do this sooner?"
Jarnhamar
Army.ca Myth
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I've stayed in touch with an interpreter on and off over the years. He said the Taliban is even going after people who worked for NATO 15 years ago.
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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“May God keep you away from the venom of the cobra, the teeth of the tiger, and the revenge of the Afghans.”
— Alexander the Great
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Acting CDS' comments on current state of affairs in Afg. Personally, having been to Afg like many of my fellow veterans here, I agree with LGen Eyre when he states that it was never going to be a military solution and that the people of Afg had to do it for themselves at some point. Doesn't make it hurt any less to see what's going on though:
"Many of us have been watching the reports coming out of Afghanistan with dismay. The fall of Panjwai, reported last week, has hit many of us particularly hard, and as we question our legacy, it serves as a harbinger for all Canadians who served in the country, regardless of when and where.
Panjwai District, with its place names such as Masum Ghar, Nakhonay, Sperwan Ghar, and Mushan, are indelibly etched into the collective psyche of those who served there. The heat, the dust, the grape rows, and the poppy fields all provide a backdrop to what truly troubles us – our investment of effort, of sweat, and most of all of blood.
Our Afghan experience has left none untouched, and many, including families, are scarred physically, mentally, and morally from it. Many of us have been asking, some for years, ‘was it worth it?’ Answers will be deeply personal, and not all have reached a final conclusion other than ‘time will tell’.
We can hold our heads high knowing that we did everything our government asked us to do. Our members served with valour and selflessness, and were there to make a difference. The solution was never going to be a military one, and what we gave the people and the government of Afghanistan was time. The decision with what to do with that time was theirs to make.
While history will be the ultimate judge, the current trajectory of the country leaves us with much pain and doubt. After their wars, our forebears were able to visit many of the countries in which they served, such as in Europe and Korea, and put their sacrifices in context, giving them meaning when they saw hope and prosperity rise out of the rubble and ashes. At this moment in time, it is difficult to envision having similar sentiments for our war.
So where does that leave us? Should we hang our heads in bitterness and remorse; or should we continue to venerate the sacrifices of so many in our ranks and their families, to honour the noble commitment to service and making the world a better place, and endeavour to learn from our experiences, grow, and become better every day? While none of us can speak for them, I have to believe that our Fallen would want us to pursue the latter.
If you are struggling with your experience, I ask you to reach out for help.
For current CAF members and families:
Beyond these resources – speak to a friend, family member, your supervisor, or a mental health professional – do not shoulder this burden alone. Pain shared is pain divided.
For Veterans and families:
For Veterans as well as family members or caregivers who are struggling, VAC Assistance Service is available 24/7. Call 1-800-268-7708 (TDD/TYY: 1-800-567-5803) to talk to a mental health professional.
More information on counselling services, peer support and free online resources for Veterans and families can be found in the Mental health and wellness section of the Veterans Affairs Canada web site.
Lieutenant-General Wayne Eyre
Acting Chief of the Defence Staff"
"Many of us have been watching the reports coming out of Afghanistan with dismay. The fall of Panjwai, reported last week, has hit many of us particularly hard, and as we question our legacy, it serves as a harbinger for all Canadians who served in the country, regardless of when and where.
Panjwai District, with its place names such as Masum Ghar, Nakhonay, Sperwan Ghar, and Mushan, are indelibly etched into the collective psyche of those who served there. The heat, the dust, the grape rows, and the poppy fields all provide a backdrop to what truly troubles us – our investment of effort, of sweat, and most of all of blood.
Our Afghan experience has left none untouched, and many, including families, are scarred physically, mentally, and morally from it. Many of us have been asking, some for years, ‘was it worth it?’ Answers will be deeply personal, and not all have reached a final conclusion other than ‘time will tell’.
We can hold our heads high knowing that we did everything our government asked us to do. Our members served with valour and selflessness, and were there to make a difference. The solution was never going to be a military one, and what we gave the people and the government of Afghanistan was time. The decision with what to do with that time was theirs to make.
While history will be the ultimate judge, the current trajectory of the country leaves us with much pain and doubt. After their wars, our forebears were able to visit many of the countries in which they served, such as in Europe and Korea, and put their sacrifices in context, giving them meaning when they saw hope and prosperity rise out of the rubble and ashes. At this moment in time, it is difficult to envision having similar sentiments for our war.
So where does that leave us? Should we hang our heads in bitterness and remorse; or should we continue to venerate the sacrifices of so many in our ranks and their families, to honour the noble commitment to service and making the world a better place, and endeavour to learn from our experiences, grow, and become better every day? While none of us can speak for them, I have to believe that our Fallen would want us to pursue the latter.
If you are struggling with your experience, I ask you to reach out for help.
For current CAF members and families:
- CAF Members have access to mental health care and a range of support services provided at Canadian Forces Health Services primary care clinics across Canada. Care is also available for those deployed. Many services are available either with or without an appointment, and there is a choice of in-person or virtual/telephone.
- Member Assistance Program (CFMAP) is a confidential advisory and referral service that is external to the CAF and available to members and their families by phone 24-hours-a-day, seven-days –a-week at 1-800-268-7708.
- Spiritual guidance and support are available through military chaplains.
- Information on these and other medical and mental health care and support services for military members and their families may be found on the Military Mental Health “You’re Not Alone” web page.
Beyond these resources – speak to a friend, family member, your supervisor, or a mental health professional – do not shoulder this burden alone. Pain shared is pain divided.
For Veterans and families:
For Veterans as well as family members or caregivers who are struggling, VAC Assistance Service is available 24/7. Call 1-800-268-7708 (TDD/TYY: 1-800-567-5803) to talk to a mental health professional.
More information on counselling services, peer support and free online resources for Veterans and families can be found in the Mental health and wellness section of the Veterans Affairs Canada web site.
Lieutenant-General Wayne Eyre
Acting Chief of the Defence Staff"
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