The engineers are pucking around again...

Seeing old colleagues' names in the news takes some getting used to. Today it's an engineer whose mail used to get confused with mine, Ken Brooks:

The last thing you'd expect to see at Kandahar Airbase, where even winter temperatures can climb to 30 C, is a hockey rink. But that's exactly what you find in the boardwalk area, which serves as the economic and social hub for the base.

Obviously there isn't any ice, but on the surface it looks as real as any rink you would find in Canada. Except the players here are participating in a ball hockey league with games three nights a week.

"We realize that Canadians have to have their hockey and after a lot of brainstorming we came up with the idea to put it here," said Maj. Ken Brooks of Glen Miller, Ont. whose Engineer and Support Unit built the rink.

To add to the Canadian feel, it seems appropriate that the Kandahar Tim Hortons franchise is overlooking the rink, and Wednesday night a number of patrons were watching the play from the comfort of the outdoor patio.

Having anything from home is essential for soldiers putting their lives on the line, Brooks said.

There's a great rivalry between the OCdts studying Arts and those studying Engineering at RMC. So all I have to say is that somebody damn well better beat the pucking Engineers' team.

Of course, like Canadian soldiers deployed anywhere overseas, our men and women in southwest Asia are finding a way to make a charitable difference above and beyond the job they're paid to do:

Each team paid a $100 entry fee with the money being donated to orphanages in the Kandahar area.

"I thought since we're in a ravaged country the other thing to do is give back to Afghanistan a little more," explained Master Cpl. Paul Flanagan, 45, of Peterborough, Ont., who helped organize the league.

...

The game even offers 50-50 tickets, with the proceeds also going to charity.

"This is awesome," said Cpl. Laura Mills, from 2 Service Battallion, who was wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey.

"We do this back in Petawawa with the toy drive and we're doing it here too with the money staying for the kids here," she said.

Bravo Zulu, folks, and keep your chins up but your heads down over there.