Take out in Afstan

Keeping up a good clip:

KANDAHAR–Taxi!!!

Well, maybe not quite.

But the "Clip'' is as close to livery service as it gets in Kandahar.

That's actually CLP, as in Combat Logistical Patrol, the convoy that moves through the night, resupplying Canada's forward operating bases as troops push outward from Kandahar Airfield in radiating toeholds of NATO presence.

From Panjwaii in the west to the newly occupied Spin Boldak in the east, the forward operating bases and power points are nearly entirely dependent on the Clip for water and food, ammunition and equipment, pretty much whatever soldiers weren't able to carry on their backs going in.

"Beans 'n' bullets'' is how Warrant Officer Chris Saunders, 36, of Halifax describes the consignment...

Most nights, the Clip musters come sunset at Kandahar Airfield, its actual transportation components – troop-ferrying Bisons, 10-tonne supply trucks, flatbeds – supplemented, looked after, by a close protection escort of light-armoured Nyalas and LAV-IIIs, the arm-around chaperones.

Because this is risky business.

"We do the fightin' if we have to,'' says Sgt. Richard Aston, chain-smoking escort crew commander, as he crouches over a giant military map, his finger tracing tonight's route. "Hopefully, it's more of a deterrent than anything else but the job is to make sure that we get everybody out there safely and intact.

"Under cover of darkness, it is dangerous because that's when the enemy comes out. The enemy uses the night to their advantage and also the villages because they know moving among civilians nullifies our weapons, which is unfortunate for us.''

This is Aston's 21st Clip excursion and nothing has gone seriously wrong yet, beyond blown tires, fried engines, hitting something in the middle of the road last week "which wasn't supposed to be there," and vehicles disabled in hostile terrain...

The Clip tries to vary its schedule and routes but options are few when going from Point A to Point B and Point C and back. Off-road forays are unwise and generally impossible, given the lumbering supply trucks in tow.

"They must know our routes," points out Cpl. Brent Ward, 23, driver of the lead escort vehicle, which means his Nyala is most vulnerable to improvised explosive devises. The previous platoon hit two of those and was ambushed once.

"They know we take the same routes all the time and that we're coming."

What's surprising is that the Clip isn't targeted more often as a predictable target.

Technically, there's an 11 p.m. curfew in Kandahar province for civilian vehicles but that's a joke and a half. Jingle trucks, mostly from Pakistan, endlessly ply Afghanistan's highways, hauling goods...

Do they do Chinese?

Babbler's update: What a lucky coincidence that just as this article is published, the CF announces it's getting a new Armoured Heavy Support Vehicle System (AHSVS) fleet to supplement/supplant the aging Heavy Logistics Vehicle Wheeled (HLVW) trucks the CF has been operating since the late 80's.