Twelve more

There's a picture in this blog's sidebar of a world map, and if you click on it, it takes you to a DND site that provides basic information on each of the overseas operations to which Canadian troops are deployed. Although much of the CF's attention is focused on Afghanistan, not all of it is.

It's good to see that a member of our esteemed Canadian press corps has figured that out:

While Afghanistan hogs the headlines and the welfare of the 2,500 Canadian troops deployed there dominates public discourse at home, Canada does have other soldiers abroad, toiling in obscurity in forgotten corners of the globe, where the military challenges often equal those in Kandahar.

Since July, Col. Kilby has been stationed in the Congo with eight other Canadian soldiers as part of Operation Crocodile, a largely Indian-led UN mission to impose peace on what some have called "Africa's world war."

They are among the 128 Canadian troops posted overseas outside Afghanistan, from the slums of Haiti and the sandy wastes of the Sinai to the war-ravaged villages of Sudan. More than 200 sailors are also on a six-month mission, sailing the frigate HMCS Toronto with a NATO task force making the alliance's first circumnavigation of the African continent.

Such land and sea missions are a testament to Canada's small, but ongoing, contribution to international commitments beyond the Afghan imbroglio. And Col. Kilby is quick to point out that, in the Congo at least, the work is anything but traditional peacekeeping.

"I get involved in things here that are absolutely depressing human tragedies," says Col. Kilby in a telephone interview from Kinshasa, the Congolese capital. "It's demanding, and my days are long. But I've got a place to sleep and food to eat, which is better than half the population."

Good on The Ottawa Citizen for providing a survey of some of the CF's other operations. Although we are just as susceptible to tunnel-vision on the subject of Afghanistan as other sources of information on the CF, I'm proud to say we've done the odd story on other missions as well (and if you don't mind me dislocating a shoulder to pat The Torch on the back, you'll note we attacked this same issue in March of this year).

LCdr Angus Topshee strikes an admirable balance between hoping for increased awareness of other missions while not begrudging the Afghan mission of the spotlight:

While Lt.-Cmdr. Topshee has friends serving in Afghanistan, which remains in the spotlight, he says almost no one in Canada even knows about HMCS Toronto's historic voyage this year.

Still, he says, "I would not begrudge anyone in Afghanistan the support and attention they're receiving at home. They really are fighting on the front line."

On a personal note, it's good to see Angus rising through the ranks - although I can't help remembering him almost solely as the best number eight I've ever had the pleasure to play alongside.