In some ways, Canada is like the wanderer who, in Robert Frost's, The Road Not Taken, arrives at a fork in the road and cannot decide which of the two paths to follow.
In Canada, today, there is a hue and cry erupting from those who claim that Canada has no place in Afghanistan and that our servicemen and women ought to be brought home immediately. Such people claim that the cost in human lives - Canadian lives, primarily - is too high a price to pay. They continue that Canada is not a country that goes traipsing around the world looking for wars but is a 'peacekeeping' country whose service personnel wear blue berets.
Then there are others who feel strongly that Canada's contribution to Afghanistan ought to continue without letup. These people cite Canada's duty as both a member of NATO and UN to aid those in need. Certainly, Afghanistan is a country in need.
Which of these two 'wanderers' best exemplifies Canadians?
According to polls, it might well be the former as these same polls suggest that their strength is growing as more and more Canadians look on with horror at the flag-draped coffins as they arrive on Canadian soil. Certainly, the families of those who gave their lives so that Afghanis might be offered a better way of life than was the case under the Taliban, are understood when they claim that lives lost is too high a price to pay.
Others, families of fallen soldiers, claim that Canadians who died in Afghanistan died for the proper cause. These ones feel equally strongly that Canada must not cut and run as some members of parliament suggest. To do so, is to break a promise and akin to abandoning a friend/neighbour when his house is afire and needs help. Stay the course and see the fight through to the finish.
Which opinion is correct?
With no apologies, I support the latter. I base my support on my military background.
As a veteran of the Korean War - internationally known as the Forgotten War - I have more than a passing knowledge of and interest in warfare. I know that in war, people die - on both sides. I know, too, that in war the enemy is not always visible nor is he clothed in a uniform that stands out and announces him as enemy. In Afghanistan, our service personnel are faced with the uncertainty of knowing whether or not that 'civilian' who stands by the side of the road is a terrorist just waiting to blow the Canadians and himself into a million pieces, or is a simple farmer or merchant who wants the terrorists out and a degree of stability to replace the uncertainty and warfare.
In Korea, the enemy was, for the most part, identified by his uniform - but not always. The communist north - both North Koreans and Chinese - were pretty clever. Wearing captured South Korean uniforms was not beyond them. The old saw, "Shoot first and ask questions later," was apropos. I suppose to a certain degree, it holds true in Afghanistan today.
In my book, Indelible Memories, I wrote that Korea was a killing ground. A killing ground that saw five million causalities with 516 Canadians killed and approximately 1800 wounded. In Afghanistan, the number of those killed - civilians and military personnel - does not and hopefully will not reach that number. Regardless, the war in Afghanistan is a war and despite the rhetoric and marches and rallies that the 'cut and run' crowd put forward; it is not a peacekeeping mission and our service personnel are in a killing ground. They must stay the course and see the war to its eventual, successful end.
There are others in Canada who claim that the military ought to be pulled out because it is not helping the civilian population; they claim that the civilians cannot expect to live a normal life with a war going on. I suppose that there might be a kernel of truth in that, but until the Taliban/terrorists are driven from the country, no Afghani in the Kandahar province will be permitted to live a 'normal life.'
I suppose an analogy about a forest on fire might be considered appropriate.
What would these cut and run advocates suggest if instead of a war, Afghanistan were burning in a manner akin to California fires or Australian fires where and when homes were consumed by the raging flames. Would they scream that the firefighters abandon the conflagration while they, the do-gooders assist the citizens rebuild their homes - while the fire rages all round? Ludicrous in the extreme. Yet, that is what these do-gooders are suggesting in Afghanistan. They want the military to cut and run while they assist Afghanis rebuilt their lives. It is rather difficult to do these well-intentioned deeds while there are live rounds and canon fire hurtling overhead. Let's put the fire out and then help to rebuild the country.
Rest assured the Taliban will not look kindly on Afghanis who were seen to be neutral or who assisted the Canadians and other nationals to remove a cancer from the country. The killing will be too horrific for even the most war-hardened veteran. Heads will be rolling in the blood-stained streets.
In several wars from the Boer War to Afghanistan, Canadians have volunteered their services and have done remarkably well. It was the Canadians ability to ride horses and shoot at the same time in South Africa that began the term guerrilla. It was those Canadian guerrillas who carried the day and saved the British bacon during the Boer War. Likewise, Canadians served with distinction in the Great War [WW1] and, once again, saved the British [and French]. In WWII, Canada saw its duty and volunteered to turn back the Nazis and win the peace for Europe and much of the world. Then, just five years later, Canadians stepped forward and fought in Korea in a land most had never heard of before embarking on the United Nations first-ever action. History has recorded that Canadians fought bravely and turned back an advancing communist army at Kapyong that, had it broken through, would have changed the war and not for the better. Both the Canadians and the Australians, who were also at the Kapyong valley, received the American Presidential Citation. Then, in the first Iraq War, Canadians were there, again under the charter of the United Nations. Now, in Afghanistan Canadians are front and centre once again; and, once again, they are proving their mettle.
Yes, there have been Canadian casualties and probably, sadly, there will be others. It is not a time to turn tail and run away; it is a time to stay the course.
To quote a naval saying, "Ready, Aye, Ready," seems appropriate.
In closing, the final two lines from Frost's The Road Not Taken.
"I took the one less travelled by,
And that made all the difference."
Bob Orrick is a retired private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
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