Christmas in a tank

The following note from a loyal reader in Kandahar is one of many special greetings from expatriate Saultbies that SooToday.com is publishing over the holidays.

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************************* Hi and Merry Christmas to all:

My name is Jan Frech and this will be my third Christmas in Afghanistan.

I work for SNC/Lavalin, a defence contractor, under the Canadian Contractor Augmentation Program (CANCAP).

I work as part of Transport Company on Kandahar Airfield operating trucks, buses, forklifts, and at times [I work as] a fleet dispatcher as well.

Our little section takes care of all the on camp duties for Transport Company, such as loading/unloading aircraft, the movement of sea cans and any large/heavy items around camp, passenger movement, rental vehicles, transport supply and maintenance planning as well.

Work has been light since the last rotation of troops has come in, but we shouldn’t have a problem hitting the 450 million pound mark for freight moved this year.

This is all done on five rickety old Mercedes trucks with 2-3 million kilometres on them.

That’s assuming that all five are running at one time, but we get by.

I started working overseas in 2003 when the army went into Kabul and now have almost four years service under my belt.

In that time I’ve spent seven months building up Kabul, seven months closing down Bosnia, and almost 32 months maintaining Kandahar.

In this entire time people ask me if we are doing any good over here.

I have to say that the reason for being here is noble and great, to help people to have a better life through education, employment and by providing security so business can develop is fantastic.

Canada is trying to provide the infrastructure so the Afghans can help themselves.

On the other hand, I also have insight into what all this costs both in money and lives, not only lives lost but possibly ruined both for NATO soldiers and the Afghans, as well.

Our interpreter has to take a different way home every day and can’t live with his wife because the Taliban leave notes on his door saying that if he doesn’t stop working for the Canadians they will kill his wife and then him.

I saw a 21-year-old driver, who had been through his third IED strike, stop and fall out of his truck because he was so freaked out he couldn’t even stand up on his own.

He was fine until he had nothing to distract him from the incident; I looked at the damage to the truck and saw that two big pieces of metal had hit the windshield directly in front of him at face and chest level.

A few days later I was in the office when he was told his girlfriend was having problems with her pregnancy and that he was to call home immediately.

Things turned out fine but being so far away unable to help, it wasn’t a good week for him.

I think we have done a lot of good here but I’m not optimistic about the future.

I think that some of the money would be better spent somewhere else.

One new Mercedes truck and shipping costs as much as two years of operating the hospital in Richards Landing and there are 82 of them.

Granted, the truck has saved numerous lives already and suits the army’s needs very well - it is still a lot of money.

That being said, and despite the multiple tours that many soldiers have done, Afghanistan has helped the military.

The army now has lots of combat-experienced troops to train new soldiers to higher standards, new vehicles protect soldiers better and remote aircraft that provide information.

All of this allows the military to do the job better, safer and with less risk to Afghan civilians.

Alright then, time to get some food.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Please remember that there are lots of us that don’t get to be with family this year because we chose to come and help out here instead.

We’ll make the best of it though.

Cheers Jan

************************* Look who else has written to us this year

Two Meghans travel home from James Bay (3 photos) Holiday greetings from the southwest Pacific Mischa's first Christmas away from the Sault Brianna dons a sombrero. In Germany. It kind of sucks! Christmas in a tank

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