Valour

Leadership and skill. An officer at the best (I'm not singling out officers; just the first story out, see below):

In the dust, heat and danger of Afghanistan's Zhari District, Maj. David Quick of the Royal Canadian Regiment earned the medal for bravery [Star of Military Valour--only the VC is higher] he will receive from the Governor General in a ceremony today at Rideau Hall.

Maj. Quick, 34, was cited for courage under fire as he led his men in India Company against Taliban insurgents this past summer in battles in which the enemy was so close "you could hear them changing magazines," Maj. Quick said. "The ground didn't allow us to get any further back."

After being ambushed by insurgents one day last June, one of his soldiers turned around the corner of a building and stumbled on an enemy fighter just metres away and shot him dead. "You don't get any closer than that without fixing your bayonet."

Maj. Quick then instructed his artillery officer to call in airstrikes while his soldiers returned fire to hold the enemy in place.

The fight was over after F-15 fighter jets fired about 20 rockets just 20 metres from where the Canadian troops were holed up.

In situations like that, rank makes little difference, Maj. Quick said. "You're just a weapon like everybody else. You have to fight your way out."

He did plenty of that on his six-month tour in Afghanistan, preferring to lead by example rather than give orders from the rear.

That approach demonstrated to his troops that he would only lead them into situations he felt comfortable with, he said.

And it worked. Through 24 combat operations, including 16 with fighting at close quarters, with anywhere from 80 to almost 200 soldiers under his command, Maj. Quick did not lose a single Canadian soldier.

"That in itself is my greatest personal success. I'll never be able to duplicate that in my life."

Maj. Quick, based in Gagetown, N.B., will be the sole recipient of the Star of Military Valour when Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean presents 36 decorations today.

His responsibility in Afghanistan was to ensure the dangerous Zhari district west of Kandahar City was stable and secure, said his boss, Lieut.-Col. Robert Walker.

"That was his main task. Pretty daunting because, by the time summer came, the foliage was up and we were restricted in moving down a lot of those roads. There were (improvised explosive devices) in a lot of those roads," he said.

Maj. Quick learned that the hard way when his light armoured vehicle ran over a landmine in April. Though his head was exposed, he escaped with only a concussion and some inner-ear damage. The explosion blasted two wheels off the vehicle, but there were no casualties.

Over the next few months he went on to spearhead several intense combat missions -- as many as two a week -- against a Taliban threat no longer preoccupied with the poppy harvest or hampered by winter.

"Throughout, he showed exceptional courage, leading from the front. And it was because of his strength of character, his willpower, his physical fitness and his tactical acumen," Lieut.-Col. Walker said.

Maj. Quick's military life began somewhat by fluke. While in high school, he applied for pilot training at the Royal Military College, like every other kid in Trenton, he said.

His colour-blindness, however, got him rejected. While in his first year at the University of Guelph, he was approached by recruiters offering him a spot in an intensive military training program.

Having spent most of his money at a campus pub, he accepted.

Tours in Bosnia, Kosovo and Haiti then helped accustom him to the constant threat of violence he would face in Afghanistan.

"But up to that point, I wasn't killing anybody," Maj. Quick said.

And there is no substitute for the intense experience of combat in close quarters, he added.

For all of NATO's military technology, fighting in Afghanistan is not much different from the wars of previous generations.

Light-armoured vehicles are of little use in the more rugged terrain and are too dangerous on roads spiked with improvised explosive devices.

In regions teeming with Taliban fighters under the cover of dirt buildings and summer foliage, Canadian battalions travel by foot and face insurgents within a stone's throw, much like the Vietnam War, said Maj. Quick.

That shrunken battlefield also meant he would have to call in air strikes targeting his own position, he said.

"You'd mark yourself off, à la Vietnam, with red smoke, and the A-10 would kill everything around you."

The Air Force lost a good one.

The other medals:

Facing Taliban militants amid a rain of rockets may have been uncomfortable, but standing in Rideau Hall was downright nerve-racking for some Canadian soldiers who accepted bravery awards Wednesday.

Standing before Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean in their dress uniforms, under the watchful eye of Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defence staff, wasn't the problem.

It was all the praise.

The suggestion he was a hero rattled Sgt. Gerald Killam, who received the Military Medal of Valour for leading his platoon safely out of a Taliban ambush last May.

"I have my heroes and my heroes, they don't come home," said Killam, a native of Cole Harbour, N.S., who had friends among the 81 Canadian soldiers who've given their lives in Afghanistan.

He was particularly close to a group of soldiers who served in Afghanistan in the fall of 2006, and recalled having coffee with some soldiers of the 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment who ended up killed and wounded.

"I've known quite a few guys who never made it back. It's very personal and so, those are my heroes and to label me the same way, I'm not very comfortable with it, no."

Killam, who served with the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment battle group in the spring of 2007, said he appreciated the recognition and took pride that he did his job and his platoon came home safely.

Maj. Dave Quick, who accepted the country's second-highest decoration for bravery, the Star of Military Valour, was equally ill-at-ease as he shook hands with Jean and Hillier, and heard the applause of friends and family at the reception.

"I'm uncomfortable with the recognition on a personal level, but I understand what it represents professionally," said Quick, 34, who was wounded by an improvised explosive device on April 22 last year.

Despite his injuries, he rallied his troops and carried the fight to Taliban positions in Zhari district, outside of Kandahar.

Quick, a native of Burnstown, Ont., led 24 combat operations in Afghanistan and never lost a man.

"I'm very humbled, but personally it's very hard to get this recognition and attention when you know there are people who are reading the newspaper who've lost sons and daughters.

"I have a hard time with that. It's not about me - or even what we did as a team. It's about what Canada is committed to in Afghanistan."

Five Canadian soldiers, including Killam and Quick, were awarded medals of valour for their service in Afghanistan.

Another 31 service decorations - including Meritorious Service Crosses and Meritorious Service Medals - were presented separately to other soldiers, sailors and airmen.

Rideau Hall's ornate reception room left Pte. Aaron Dolmovic awestruck, but he said it was "great to see how proud everyone was of us."

Dolmovic - originally from Cottlesville, N.L. - and another soldier, Cpl. Dave Gionet, a native Pigeon Hill, N.B., provided life-saving first aid to another comrade whose vehicle had been blown up in a roadside bomb attack on April 11, 2007.

Both of them received the Medal of Military Valour.

In the same attack, Pte. Jay Renaud, originally from Tilbury, Ont., was in the Coyote reconnaissance vehicle that had been hit.

He was blown clear of the wreckage and knocked unconscious. When he regained his senses, Renaud began administering first aid to his wounded mates.

He too received the medal of valour.

"It is often in the most difficult situations that we show our true worth," said the Governor General.

"You are absolute proof of this. You have shown the world what you are made of."

Jean went further with her praise, saying history will remember the vital role they have played in bringing peace to Afghanistan.

Hillier singled out each of the valour recipients and said their names are now part of Canada's military history and will inspire future generations of soldiers.

Notice the Atlantic provinces?