The Story of Charlie Company

Sorry to be OT (sort-of) but I just found this incredible UK video documentary at Little Green Footballs entitled "No Excuses for Terror" made by a self-professed leftist - it's definately worth a look and should be seen by EVERYONE in my opinion!!

Here's the link:

http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2006/09/27/youtube_no_excuses_for_terror.php

Maybe it's just me but that story must be some of the worst writing ever to come out of the Afghan conflict.

eg: "In hindsight, some of the soldiers acknowledge their "spidey sense" was tingling. It was quiet that day. Possibly too quiet ... "

I'm surprised he didn't start with "It was a dark and stormy night."

Also, it would be nice to read a story in which Canadians aren't always depicted as emotionally shattered victims. Is this our national state of mind now?

Well, this is the Star, after all. It is sad that it takes significant Canadian casualties to get them to cover a story, but it's worth reading anyway.

It would be nice to read about the more successful engagements, too, of which there have been many. But the Canadian media don't seem to find those stories worth covering.

The grunts of Charlie Company are not alone in their loathing of Jack Layton and the ND.'s.
Fortunately for him in Canada he has the approval of the leftist Canadian media.
The blogging community however sees him with the eyes of Charlie Company!

Chip (and Kevin,)

any battle in which two out of three platoon "leaders" (it is not clear whether the Warrants were the commanders or the seconds-in-command of their platoons) are killed and the company commander is wounded enough to be replaced is going to have an effect on participants, especially if they did not expect it. That does not make them "emotionally shattered victims." The key fact is that they were affected (as they had to be) and soldiered on.

If the writing does not meet the normal patriotic gung-ho standard you seem used to, I recommend a book that tells it like it is, Farley Mowat's “And No Birds Sang,” which shows the soldier’s reality beyond official histories and uplifting propaganda in our Italian Campaign in WWII.

Att: Taliban Jack/NDP, et al:

Romania, host of the Francophonie meeting, gets it right.

Sends 600+200 more troops to Afghanistan. ...-

globeandmail.com : Harper at francophone summit in Romania

... Romania has 600 troops in Afghanistan, with another 200 on the way. ...

Farley Mowat...

Let's see, that wouldn't be the same Farley Mowat who's admitted that he never lets minor considerations like facts get in the way of his "truth", now would it?

Reading Comprehension Alert

agitfact, note that I did not say this particular story had to be less victimist, but that almost all stories tend to be. And further note, I did not criticize the writing as insufficiently gung-ho; but that it was cliched schlock.

Considering your inability to understand a simple post, it is perhaps not surprising that journalists are able to get away with spooning we Canadians such mediocre nonsense.

Plastic Yank, read "The Regiment," then "And no Birds Sang," and then slag Mowat if you think you can.

Chip, write what you mean, or mean what you write. You can't have it both ways.

well, the legacy of the damn libs continues, finishing with mr dither's last great act, the g wagon...once again, canadian soldiers are dying because of lib procurement garbage....we need to spend about 20 billion just to purge the system of all the crap they have purchased since the 70's.....GO ARMY

I just saw the front page of the Toronto Star while out shopping. I just about lost it. The main headline said something to the effect of, "never has a canadian combat unit been cut to peices so fast since Korea." Unless some battle happened that hasn't been reported on yet, or these people think that four dead and a few dozen wounded is "cut to pieces. In Korea I don't recall any unit being cut to pieces either.

agitfact:

I've read excerpts, none of which, I'm sorry to say, managed to convince me that Mowat has ever been anything other than a bitter man with an agenda to push, any way he can.

Has anyone yet seen a Mitch Potter story from Afstan that is positive? Only buried in this story do you read of the success of C company,accounting for 200 taliban deaths..

Every picture in the red star portrays humbled ,tired ,shocked soldiers..the agenda is to show we are losing when the opposite is in fact reality.

Why don't we talk for a while that a thousand plus enemy have been eliminated and we are constantly pushing forward..no can't do that,that would be glorifying war on the poor brown people.

We will win this war without the defeatists like the star or the NDP

support our troops!

Taliban Jack says he wants to visit Afghanistan.

Not a good idea, Laydown. You could catch a stray bullet . . . er friendly fire? = TG

Support the troops.

Wear red and parade up and down in front of the Star with placcards reading . .

*Report the truth!*, *No spin on Afghanistan.*
= TG

With regards to General frets about home front (Star) http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1159654214783&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

For those of you old enough to remember we've seen this all before with the Tet Offensive in 1968 . A massive defeat of the communists was turned into a case to cut and run by the western media.

Check "The Press And The Tet Offensive" at [External Link]

and the Wikipedia entry at [External Link]

WTF is with WOs being "leaders" of the platoons - you cannot tell me that 2 of the 3 line platoons in a Company have no officer? Don't get me wrong, losing the platoon WO would be a very big deal - they are often the vey heart of a unit, but generally the "leader" is the LT. in command.

On another note, the purple prose is really Over the top - I mean, sure, the first shock of combat is always a big deal, moreso when your plan goes to ratsh*t in the first seconds and you lose key players, but was this really much more intense than the Medac pocket (Croatia) battle that 2 PPCLI fought?

The WO is mainly responsible for admin and logistics. He makes sure the food and water get there on time, and that you've got all the foot powder you need. He also advises the platoon commander, and will take over if said commander is killed, but the WO is DEFFINITELY not a "platoon leader".

Lots of other mistakes in that article too, which isn't at all surprising. It's the Star we're talking about. Asking the Star to write about the military is like asking George Bush to write about quantum physics.