EvanL
05-26-2004, 10:31 PM
1 hour, 32 minutes ago
STEPHEN THORNE
KABUL (CP) - Canadian engineers were about to begin securing a gunnery range for artillerymen Wednesday when two Afghan civilians were badly wounded by a landmine on the same range less than a kilometre away.
A Canadian ambulance driven by Pte. Sylvie Dion was dispatched to the scene where Afghans had been hand-collecting rocks to crush into gravel. One of the Afghans had stepped on the mine, blowing off half his left foot and driving shrapnel into his abdomen and upper leg, causing massive wounds.
A colleague working alongside the man took shrapnel in the chest, legs and face, including a piece just above his right eye. He also had a large wound in his elbow that nearly severed his arm.
Master Cpl. Stephane Liboiron, a medic from Shannon, Que., administered first aid to the man with the foot wound. He figured the Afghan victim was about 25 years old.
"He was a tough guy," marvelled Liboiron. "He remained conscious and hardly said a word."
The medic gave him morphine, made from the same poppy plants that are grown in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and produce billions of dollars worth of opium and heroin for the international narcotics trade.
"Allah," the man murmured.
Cpl. Gino Tremblay, a medic from Lac-St-Jean, Que., said the second man, who was about 50, was so stoic it was as if he were asleep.
"But he was there," Tremblay said. "When we talked to him, he nodded his head, 'Yes.' " These guys will live, no problem."
While Dion drove them to the German hospital at nearby Camp Warehouse, Capt. Jessy Brunet of St-Enicet, Que., spoke to a third Afghan, a colleague who had been driven to the Canadians in an Afghan truck loaded with rocks.
The young man, who appeared to be in his early 20s, was covered in blood and appeared to be in shock. He didn't seem to comprehend the seriousness of the other men's injuries.
"His friends are not going to be fixed today," Brunet told a translator, meaning they won't be released from hospital any time soon.
In a telling insight into Afghan attitudes, the man needed a drive to Warehouse because he said the truck did not belong to the two men who were with him and they had to get back to work.
Meanwhile, a pair of two-man teams of engineers went to work clearing the site where the 5th Regiment d-Artillerie Legere du Canada (5th Canadian Light Artillery Regiment) was about to set up four of its howitzers.
Cpl. Marc Bolduc of Latuque, Que., Master Cpl. Jean-Yves Bernard of Quebec City, Sapper James Hache of Timmins, Ont., and Sapper Tommy Cleary of Jonquiere, Que., went about the ritual like a religious rite.
Bolduc and Hache walked step by step, wielding metal detectors while Bernard and Cleary followed them with daggers and spray cans.
The daggers were used to dig around any suspicious ground; the white spray was used to mark off the cleared areas.
The artillerymen were supposed to conduct a firepower co-ordination exercise with Dutch Apache helicopters and U.S. A-10 attack aircraft, but the A-10s didn't show and the Apaches' live firing was limited.
The howitzers fired off about 40 rounds during the four-hour exercise.
More than 100 people fall victim to mines and unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan every month, believed to be the highest rate in the world today.
Earlier this week, three Afghans were brought into the Canadian base hospital at Camp Julien after they were wounded by a mine planted in a poppy field they were destroying as part of a campaign against drug trafficking.
Ironically, all three were given morphine.
STEPHEN THORNE
KABUL (CP) - Canadian engineers were about to begin securing a gunnery range for artillerymen Wednesday when two Afghan civilians were badly wounded by a landmine on the same range less than a kilometre away.
A Canadian ambulance driven by Pte. Sylvie Dion was dispatched to the scene where Afghans had been hand-collecting rocks to crush into gravel. One of the Afghans had stepped on the mine, blowing off half his left foot and driving shrapnel into his abdomen and upper leg, causing massive wounds.
A colleague working alongside the man took shrapnel in the chest, legs and face, including a piece just above his right eye. He also had a large wound in his elbow that nearly severed his arm.
Master Cpl. Stephane Liboiron, a medic from Shannon, Que., administered first aid to the man with the foot wound. He figured the Afghan victim was about 25 years old.
"He was a tough guy," marvelled Liboiron. "He remained conscious and hardly said a word."
The medic gave him morphine, made from the same poppy plants that are grown in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and produce billions of dollars worth of opium and heroin for the international narcotics trade.
"Allah," the man murmured.
Cpl. Gino Tremblay, a medic from Lac-St-Jean, Que., said the second man, who was about 50, was so stoic it was as if he were asleep.
"But he was there," Tremblay said. "When we talked to him, he nodded his head, 'Yes.' " These guys will live, no problem."
While Dion drove them to the German hospital at nearby Camp Warehouse, Capt. Jessy Brunet of St-Enicet, Que., spoke to a third Afghan, a colleague who had been driven to the Canadians in an Afghan truck loaded with rocks.
The young man, who appeared to be in his early 20s, was covered in blood and appeared to be in shock. He didn't seem to comprehend the seriousness of the other men's injuries.
"His friends are not going to be fixed today," Brunet told a translator, meaning they won't be released from hospital any time soon.
In a telling insight into Afghan attitudes, the man needed a drive to Warehouse because he said the truck did not belong to the two men who were with him and they had to get back to work.
Meanwhile, a pair of two-man teams of engineers went to work clearing the site where the 5th Regiment d-Artillerie Legere du Canada (5th Canadian Light Artillery Regiment) was about to set up four of its howitzers.
Cpl. Marc Bolduc of Latuque, Que., Master Cpl. Jean-Yves Bernard of Quebec City, Sapper James Hache of Timmins, Ont., and Sapper Tommy Cleary of Jonquiere, Que., went about the ritual like a religious rite.
Bolduc and Hache walked step by step, wielding metal detectors while Bernard and Cleary followed them with daggers and spray cans.
The daggers were used to dig around any suspicious ground; the white spray was used to mark off the cleared areas.
The artillerymen were supposed to conduct a firepower co-ordination exercise with Dutch Apache helicopters and U.S. A-10 attack aircraft, but the A-10s didn't show and the Apaches' live firing was limited.
The howitzers fired off about 40 rounds during the four-hour exercise.
More than 100 people fall victim to mines and unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan every month, believed to be the highest rate in the world today.
Earlier this week, three Afghans were brought into the Canadian base hospital at Camp Julien after they were wounded by a mine planted in a poppy field they were destroying as part of a campaign against drug trafficking.
Ironically, all three were given morphine.