Afstan: Contact Charlie

Excerpts from a review, by Arnav Manchanda, of Chris Wattie's new book in On Track (p. 36, Autumn 2008 edition of the Canadian Defence Associations Institute's magazine):

...
National Post reporter Chris Wattie, who was embedded with the Canadian battlegroup in Kandahar for eight weeks in early 2006, covers this critical period (6 May – 3 August 2006) through the eyes of the soldiers of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (1PPCLI). Wattie’s first book, Contact Charlie is an account of the actions of the soldiers who prosecuted the battle for the villages and ground of Kandahar and Helmand province. Readers hoping for a strategic debate or academic overview of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan should look elsewhere – The Unexpected War [more here] by Eugene Lang and Janice Gross Stein, for instance. Chris Wattie’s effort gets down in the dirt with the officers and grunts of the Canadian Forces (CF), and the result is something quite unforgettable...

What this book truly excels at are the descriptions of the people, battles and events; they provide colour and texture to the largely bland accounts that we receive in Canada about the work of the CF in Afghanistan. We meet outstanding individuals and read of their extraordinary work and bravery under extremely trying conditions...

...the work of Charlie Company and 1PPCLI set the stage for Operation Medusa that September, disrupting Taliban activities and establishing the Canadians as a credible force on the ground. We can only hope that the weak points of the mission then – an unreliable Afghan Army and Police, the absence of diplomacy and development efforts, weak ground-level intelligence, and a lack of a systematic NATO strategy – have been developed since.

This book is not for the squeamish. There are bullets and rockets, blood and guts, cursing and graphic language, triumph and sorrow, and death. Those who feel that Canada’s soldiers should not engage in counterinsurgency, or are opposed to the so-called ‘glorification of war,’ should stay clear. However, if you want to read what life outside the wire for the CF in Afghanistan is really like, this book is for you.

The review (p. 34), by Jack Granatstein, of Maj.-Gen. ret'd) Lewis MacKenzie's Soldiers Made Me Look Good: A Life in the Shadow of War, is also well worth reading.