Trooper greeted by rocket attack during first week 3 · Thursday, November 19, 2009 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Continued from page 1 "I was surprised by how much rain we had there. A lot of people think it's not going to rain that much there, but it rained almost every other day for the first month," said McAulay, who said the terrain was very different from the desert images normally seen in broadcasts from Afghanistan. "We were stationed right around a river, so there was a lot of farming and irrigation done there. Lots of green trees and stuff like that. It was different to see that." Arriving at the Kandahar Airfield NATO base in late March, McAulay was given a couple of days to gather his hundreds of pounds worth of equipment before being crammed onto a black hawk helicopter, along with eight other soldiers, and flown to his post, the forward operating base of Ma'Sum Ghar. Approximately 30 kilometres west of Kandahar City, Ma'Sum Ghar houses around 400 Canadian soldiers, including Canada's only tank regiment the Lord Strathcona's Horse -- McAulay's unit. Located within the volatile Panjwaii District, the area surrounding the base has been the scene of intense fighting between Canadian soldiers and Taliban insurgents ever since the Canadian Forces moved there in 2005. McAulay said that from the base one could see the infamous `white school' where several Canadian soldiers met their end during a Taliban ambush in 2006. McAulay himself was introduced to the dangerous nature of the area during his first week when a Taliban rocket attack shook the base. "I was at a guard post at the gate of the base and I saw a rocket come in and it landed about 50 metres away from me. I didn't know exactly what was happening because I had never seen a rocket before. An American convoy of humvees was coming in and it landed right beside them and I thought they were getting attacked, but it had actually been fired at our base and had just fallen 50 metres short," said McAulay. "I didn't even duck because I was watching it and someone said to me, `Next time you might want to duck,' which made sense because I could see the shrapnel flying into the base." McAulay said Taliban rocket attacks actually became a part of the base's routine for a time with attacks coming almost every other day during one period, normally at dusk. At one point the soldiers actually erected a sign that said, `Camp Ma'Sum Ghar: 0 days without a rocket attack,' which they adjusted when appropriate. Despite being the butt of a few jokes, the rockets were still dangerous, with one actually scoring a direct hit on the base clerk's office. CARSON MCAULAY / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER ON PATROL: Tanks from the Lord Strathcona's Horse regiment in action in Afghanistan. McAulay noted the only reason the men inside were not injured or killed was because a heavy file cabinet, between them and the rocket, absorbed most of the blast. McAulay said there is little the soldiers can do to stop the rockets as the Taliban fire them from at least a kilometre away, often leaving a timing device to trigger the rocket hours or even days after the insurgent has left the area. In some cases a bucket of water is used as a timer, with the rocket triggered to fire when all the water has evaporated. That first rocket attack left a definite impression on McAulay. "It was the first time I really saw anything happening and it had only been my first few days there so I was like, `Whoa, I guess it was a little bit more real than you expect,'" he said. After a brief shakedown period, McAulay began the first of what would be more than a hundred missions undertaken during his tour of duty. As the driver of an armoured supply truck in what was known as the quick reaction force of the Lord Strathcona's Horse, McAulay was required to follow squadrons of Canadian Leopard tanks as they rode across the Afghan countryside. These tanks would usually be called on to provide security for road or bridge reconstruction projects or whenever an unexploded mine or improvised explosive device (IED) was found and needed to be dealt with. The tanks would also patrol areas where the Taliban were known to operate in an effort to show the insurgents the type of firepower NATO can call on if need be. McAulay noted the first mission he went out on was particularly unpleasant, not because of the Taliban, but because of the pouring rain, which for the first month was his almost constant companion. "It was so muddy that most of the vehicles were getting stuck every two seconds. The only thing that could get us through these fields were the tanks, because they were the only thing that could basically plow through them, all the other vehicles were getting stuck. You couldn't believe the mud," said McAulay. "We ended up just going to the middle of nowhere, setting something up, and we were there for three or four days. Trying to sleep out beside my truck with the rain, I had a waterproof sleeping bag, but my face was getting rained on. You worry you're going to suffocate yourself by trying to keep your head dry and then you wake up in a pool of water. It was crappy." With IEDs being the cause of the vast See Soldiers page 7 SHUTTERS · Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed · Serving Oakville with Shop at Home Service Authorized Eclipse Shutters Dealer CALIFORNIA & PLANTATION · Wood & Vinyl Shutters, Supplied & Installed · High Quality at Affordable Prices FREE Shop at Home Service SHUTTERS ETC. 905.691.4455 www.shuttersetc.ca