Remembrance Day Week Part 1

“It’s a special feeling to know that I’m going overseas and contributing to this mission which is very important, I’m helping a country in one form or another.” After serving one month in the Canadian Armed Forces, Private Michael McLauchlan returned home for a two-week visit with his family. Upon his arrival, not even two days had passed before he appeared as a guest speaker at Brooklands School for their annual Remembrance Day Ceremony. “Remembrance Day to me is a day to remember all the people that have gone overseas and fought—so that our country can live freely and that other countries can have the opportunities that we have,” says McLauchlan. He saluted with grace as the children and faculty members sang the Canadian National Anthem: O Canada. His five year old niece, Amy, led the wreath parade as an introduction to the assembly. McLauchlan led his speech by speaking about his background history in the army, his current position and Canada’s involvement in Operation ATHENA in Afganistan.

Mclauchlan, 27, joined the Canadian Armed Forces two years ago. His basic training sent him all over the country. He finally resided in Shilo, a Canadian Forces Base located east of Brandon, Manitoba. Mclauchlan was sent to Afganistan in September of 2009, as a Supply Technician in the Kandahar Airfield.

Operation ATHENA sent troops to Afganistan in 2005, to help re-build and reconstruct the economy; they provide food and water to the civilians, as well as education. “We’re making sure that the Taliban can’t come back and take away all that we’ve fought for,” says McLauchlan referring to women having the right to vote; being able to work, children getting an education and “training the military -- as well as the police so that if we pull out in 2011, they’ll be able to pretty much govern their own country,” he says, “I think the country can change, but it’s gonna take a while, it’s not something that will happen overnight.”

McLauchlan currently works in the stocktaking cell in the Kandahar Airfield, where he keeps track of all the military equipment and where the money is being spent. His typical day consists of laying out weapons and matching them to the flight manifests for that day. He issues out the weapons and does the necessary paperwork, to make sure everything is where it should be; to make sure that everything is accounted for, that nothing is getting lost, “if a light armoured vehicle (LAV) goes missing, that’s – a couple million dollars right there that we have to explain to the Treasury Board,” says McLauchlan.

a LAV

The Kandahar Airfield Base holds approximately 40,000 troops in Afganistan. It is well patrolled and armed. “We get the rocket attacks once in a while—that’s when we get our kits on and hit the floor,” says McLauchlan, who says he feels pretty safe on the base. “Bad guys usually don’t have a chance to get where we are,” he adds.
During his month overseas, McLauchlan attended two ramp ceremonies, one of which was for a troop he had issued a weapon to. “It was kind of overwhelming to know that I met that guy ten days prior and ten days later he was killed,” he says “It’s more real once you’re over there, you know you see it on TV and it’s very sad, but when you’re actually there and you see the casket going by you, it’s a ... an odd feeling.”

This soldier, is a friend of mine and actually used to work at Portage Place with me, he was my boss!