How to care

Canadian soldiers are wounded, and an American volunteer network gets to work:

While going through the check-out with the nice lady who ran the concession, I told her why I was interested in the sign, pointing out the Canadian soldier and British tank, and decided lack of anything US other than symbols. Her response?

"Pshaw. Canada doesn't even *have* an Army."

Heh. The Armorer displayed admirable restraint.

"Um, yes, yes, they do. They're even reworking it to make it more deployable and versatile. In fact, there are over 2000 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan right now, and a Canadian General has just assumed command of a significant chunk of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. They've had soldiers killed over there. In fact, yesterday, they had a soldier attacked by an axe-wielding bastard who hit him from behind while they were in a meeting discussing villager's needs."

"Oh, piffle. The Canadians aren't helping us and I don't believe they are in Afghanistan, much less commanding anything."

It took showing my military ID to establish some credibility, but I finally convinced her that yes, indeed, the Canadians are involved, in a real, material way, in the GWOT. And getting hurt doing it.

...

We know you're there. We care. We care for all our allies. More importantly, perhaps - as Fuzzy's note shows, it's *not* just Denizens of Argghhh! who know and care. There is a larger community of us out there who treat you as family, even if your family is a well, you know, kinda like in-laws sometimes...

Candace at Waking Up On Planet X has details on how to help, including donating items injured soldiers need:

I've received an email from MaryAnn in Germany (Soldiers Angels) and she has been speaking with the Canadian Captain responsible for our guys in Germany. This past week has been a particularly rough one, and messages from Canadians would certainly cheer them up. Currently we have Captain Trevor Greene who was brutally attacked this weekend as well as Pte. Miguel Chavez & Sgt. Darren Haggerty injured in the accident last week. The accident victims are in stable condition and on regular wards.

She will be introducing me to the Canadian Captain via email so we can streamline the process; she remains available to our soldiers to provide them with whatever they might need (backpacks with personal hygeine items, a T-shirt or two, etc. - these guys are shipped, literally with the clothes they are wearing & nothing else, so these are a lifesaver).

Go help. And know that good people stand shoulder to shoulder with our ours.

Or hand to bedside, when the tragic need arises.