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Reconstructing
Kandahar
By Ian Robert Ross
Major Sanchez
King left Halifax three months ago for a six-month tour in
Afghanistan, where he is working as part of the Provincial
Reconstruction Team (P.R.T.) in the city of Kandahar, in Qandahar
province. Operating under the mandate of Enduring Freedom, King and
250 other Canadians are helping local administrators to re-establish
stability in the province.
“Our job, in a mission like this, is
to help the command structures in place,” King explains. “We work
with local government, local people, agencies, like the U.N., and
N.G.O.s (non-governmental organizations) that are in operation here.”
King has been serving as a reservist
with the Princess Louise Fusiliers for 23 years however this is his
first mission overseas. The team in Kandahar is predominantly made up
of regular force, with reservists comprising between 5 and 10%, and
additional members that include R.C.M.P. and others.
“I definitely volunteered,” he
said. “I sought out this opportunity. I came here to do the job I
was trained to do.”
King is now stationed at Camp
Nathan Smith. The base was renamed in honour of the young private
from Porter’s Lake, a member of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light
Infantry, who was one of four soldiers killed in a friendly-fire
incident in 2002, while serving in Afghanistan.
“The base was first set up by the
Americans in an old fruit factory,” said King. “American forces built
up the walls and set it up as P.R.T. and then we made changes when we
came in. It’s relatively small, but while other bases are loud and
dusty, it’s fairly quiet.”
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Photo by
Photo Technician Sgt. Jerry Kean of Halifax, who is currently serving
with the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
This photo accompanied the original publishing of the feature in the
Dartmouth Laker.
(Source:
http://combatcamera.forces.gc.ca)
Instead, the team will often offer
aid to training centres or the university in the city and help train
police or medical professionals through these pre-existing
institutions.
In December, adding to the Canadians
currently stationed alongside Americans, Romanians and others in
Kandahar, another 650 Canadian soldiers will be redeployed from Kabul
to Kandahar, to bring further assistance to the people of the region.
“I find them to be a very proud
people,” King says. “They are certainly very friendly and generous
hosts. They’d offer you the last of anything they had. There are
those that don’t want us here-- the A.C.M. -- but they’re in the
minority. The people are tired of war so they want peace and
stability.”
- Published in "The Dartmouth Laker", November,
2005 |