A Canadian war artist is impressed by the troops

Excerpts from a piece it's nice to find at the CBC website (via Kier Smith):

Lasting impressions
Children's author Sharon McKay talks about being a Canadian war artist


Children's author Sharon McKay spent time with Canadian troops in Afghanistan as research for an upcoming book. (Sharon McKay)

Sharon McKay is a children's writer who has tackled subjects such as child soldiers in Africa and the Holocaust. In addition to that, she's a Canadian war artist, part of the long-standing tradition of citizens who are sent to watch Canadian troops in action. On a recent trip to Afghanistan, McKay also realized that she was, in her own words, a "stupid civilian."

After a two-week trip to Camp Mirage and "KAF," as the Canadian base at Kandahar Airfield is known, McKay says she came home with a completely changed view of military life.

"Canada does such an incredibly good job in their discipline," she says in a recent interview. "I'm shocked at how good our army really is. I think I was under the impression that we are peacekeepers, we're gentler people. We're as tough as they come [emphasis added]."..

McKay is the author of Charlie Wilcox, about a Newfoundland boy during the First World War; War Brothers, about child soldiers in Sierra Leone; and Esther, about an 18th century Jewish girl living in New France. McKay was accepted last year under Canada's War Artist Program, an institution that has fostered talents of such as painters Fred Varley and Alex Colville. The current incarnation of the program allows civilians to accompany Canadian soldiers in times of peacekeeping and in times of war. In addition to painters and photographers, it accepts sculptors and novelists.

McKay says it was sometimes a shock for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan to find they were babysitting a children's writer. "When you say to someone, 'I'm a war artist,' when you say, 'I'm a children's writer,' you can almost see their heads spinning around. It's like. 'What the hell you going to write about?'" McKay recounts. "They can't get their heads around it. I came up against a little bit of resentment from the younger soldiers and I can see their point. We're coming in like it's Disneyland. [But] this is their lives."

McKay was able to meet Aghan children, albeit under the supervision of Canadian troops.
(Sharon McKay)...

McKay was given many privileges, including the opportunity to go to a forward operations base, the chance to ride in a tank and go on a foot patrol. That was where she was able to meet Afghan children. It was not as free as she might have wished, McKay says, in part because of the strict rules that govern foot patrols.

"What they do is they say, 'We can stop at a certain area.' When they walk, [there is] about 20 paces between us in the line – that's so if you step on a bomb, just one person dies. What they do is, when I'm allowed to stop and talk to children, they form a diamond [with a soldier on each corner]. And I'm allowed to stop in the middle," she said.

"I don't need a translator with kids. For the girls who were hiding [behind their hands], I played peek-a-boo. I also have blond hair, so I pulled my hair out and one girl pulled out her hair and we put our hair together. There's ways to communicate with children without language, and if I have time with kids, I take a piece of paper and make games."

McKay admits to being shocked by the dirt and poor sanitary facilities of the Afghan villages, as well as by the piles of rusting Russian ordnance left on the ground. She says that the children are unfazed by the sight of uniformed soldiers...

Canada's War Artist Program allows civilians to accompany Canadian soldiers in the field of action. (Sharon McKay)

McKay admits she posed constant questions of Canadian soldiers – and had to learn what not to ask. "I learned how not to ask stupid questions fast. I learned not to ask questions like, 'Should we be here?' First of all, they're here, so why are you even asking that?"

What she came away with, besides fodder for her book, was an "amazing respect" for the discipline and strength of character she saw in the Canadian military. "Never judge a soldier; you don't know what you're going to get. They're smart, they are disciplined, they have university degrees, they're older [than U.S. military recruits] [emphasis added]," she says.

McKay was surprised by her level of comfort with military life – including the omnipresence of guns – in two short weeks. Another surprise was the role of women, including other grandmothers in the Canadian military.

"I saw this tank coming up the hill, and there was nothing that says this is a woman in the tank. She comes roaring up and throws her stuff off and she looks like a movie star. The iconic image right now of the war is the ramp ceremony, but we may come out of this war with a new image, and that is [of] the woman as a battle soldier. It wasn't sexy — it was powerful. She was powerful and strong and straightforward and saying 'This is my place in the world [emphasis added].'"..

More on Canadian war art here and "...on Afstan and war art here, here, here here, and here."

Update: Official site of the Canadian Forces Artists Program (via SDA, with more about our soldiers).