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Ottawa, Ontario
Joined August 2023
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Just in case anyone has forgotten what Canadian soldiers faced when we were in Afghanistan, this is a heat map of all the IED's in Kandahar from 2005-2009.
Feel free to share it with anyone who forgets what we dealt with, and wonders if we were putting it on the line as much as anyone else.
Project Athena retweeted
In the early hours of 22 October, C Company of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada reached the church of Pieve Sestina, about 500 yards short of the main road north of Cesena. Including the tank hunters, Maj. Stewart Lynch had about 50 men. They had no tanks and no anti-tank guns, and the river behind them had risen six feet in five hours. Enemy tanks could be heard moving nearby.
Sgt. K. P. Thompson laid a string of Hawkins grenades across the road at the junction beside the church and camouflaged them. Smith led his PIAT team across an open field under fire to a roadside ditch, then went back across the road with Pte. James Tennant for a second PIAT.
First into the trap came a Volkswagen staff car, which passed between the mines. Behind it, a self-propelled gun struck one, lost a track and was finished off with PIAT bombs and grenades. Then came a Panther with infantry riding on its hull, sweeping the ditches with its machine guns. Tennant was hit.
At 30 feet, in full view of the enemy, Smith fired. The Panther stopped and began backing away. About ten German infantrymen jumped off and charged him. Smith moved out into the road and killed four of them with his Tommy gun at point-blank range, and the rest fell back. Another tank opened fire and more infantry closed in. Gathering abandoned magazines from a ditch, Smith stood over his wounded friend until, in the words of his citation, the enemy “finally gave up and withdrew in disorder.” He then got Tennant to cover and medical help, and went back to his place by the road.
“In the end there was just Jimmy and I, and then he got wounded so that left only me,” he said years later. “So I had to stay out there by myself while everybody else was in the church.”
By 0600 the Germans had gone. Smith’s Victoria Cross was the only one ever awarded to a Seaforth, and the third and last won by a Canadian in Italy.
FIRE SERVICE GATOR
A gator that we could use for in FOB fires and for day to day admin. The pump sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. It was hard to keep running.
🇨🇦 Canada · ESU · Task Force 1-09 · Operation Athena
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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EVENING MEAL
Mission brief before patrol from Bella
1st 32nd 10th Mountain
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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FOB SHAAQAREE
FRONT ENTRANCE - MOVED TO COP NOMAD - WEST
🇨🇦 Canada · 1 RCR BRAVO COY 5PL - 2010
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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CHERGOTAW
Looking west from Chergotaw
🇺🇸 United States · 3rd PLT C CO 1-187
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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U.S. NAVY MAINTENANCE AND SECURITY PERSONNEL
U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron Nine (VP-9) Maintenance and Security Personnel awaiting a return flight.
🇺🇸 United States · Patrol Squadron Nine (VP-9)
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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COMBAT OUTPOST KAMDESH
OP Keating was located at the bottom of a valley, conceding the high ground to attackers.
Pictured is a view of Combat Outpost Keating on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in a remote pocket of Afghanistan, known as Nuristan. According to soldiers who called the outpost home, being at Keating was like being in a fishbowl or fighting from the bottom of a paper cup. It was there, surrounded by mountains and insurgents, that former Staff Sgt. Clinton L. Romesha and his fellow soldiers fought back the enemy in a fierce 12-hour battle, Oct. 3, 2009.
f.mtr.cool/j6yheb0axy
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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SWEEPING FOR IEDS
Foot patrol out of COP Nejat
🇨🇦 Canada · Royal 22e Régiment · Operation Athena
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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74A AND ANA RECCE COMPANY PLAY VOLLEYBALL
After a day of training ANA Recce company play volleyball with members of the OMLT at Camp Hero. A part of a team building exercises with the ANA that was integrated into the training while in camp.
🇨🇦 Canada · 74A · OMLT · Operation Athena
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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OLD SOVIET TANK
waiting on EOD to deal with a IED.
I'll update the date of the photo when I can look at the time stamp
🇨🇦 Canada · Battle group QRF from MSG · Task Force 3-09
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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PB WILSON
ROOFTOP VIEW FROM PB WILSON CP
🇨🇦 Canada · PB WILSON CP · Task Force 3-06 · Operation Athena
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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CANSOF MI17
427 Sqn MI17 supporting TI "Old School" (CANSOF/USSSF infrastructure under CJSOTF command)
🇨🇦 Canada · 427 SOAS
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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HOWZ-E-MADAD POLICE STATION QRF
QRF out of MaSum Ghar after the police station came under attack. Capt. Ryan Sheppard, Bbdr. Adam Holmes, Cpl. Daniel Dignard, Cpl. Joshua Whitehall, Pvt. Mark Amos.
🇨🇦 Canada · 3RCR · Operation Athena
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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SWEEPING FOR IEDS
Jimmy Moore, Fausto, Sgt Yannick Piche and others I don't remember on foot patrol out of COP Nejat
🇨🇦 Canada · Royal 22e Régiment · Operation Athena
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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MEMORIAL FLAG
TF 3-07 FOB MSG Canadian Rock Flag/Memorial (September 18, 2007)
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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Project Athena retweeted
Thirty feet from a Panther: the true story of Smokey Smith
22 October 1944. The Savio River, Italy.
Rain had raised the river six feet. No tanks or anti-tank guns could get across to the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada on the far bank. Then three Panthers, two self-propelled guns and about thirty infantry came down the road at them.
Pte Ernest "Smokey" Smith knocked out a Panther with a PIAT at thirty feet, then held the road with a Tommy gun. He became the only Canadian private awarded the Victoria Cross in the Second World War.
Every unit on this map is placed from the war diaries and company reports of the men who were there.
Tomorrow, 82 years to the day, we release the full video: six days, and the crossing of the Savio.
#SmokeySmith #VictoriaCross #SeaforthHighlanders #CanadianHistory #WW2 #ItalianCampaign #LestWeForget – at Casselman, Ontario
CPLS KYLE HARDY, ANDREW REESOR AND MITCHELL MCFARLANE, ALL RESERVISTS FROM THE ONTRS REUNITED FOR ONLY TIME DURING DEPLOYMENT
Cpls Kyle Hardy, Andrew Reesor and Mitchell McFarlane, all reservists from the OntRs, atached to A Sqn RCD, reunited for only time during deployment at OP Salavat.
🇨🇦 Canada · RCD A Sqn · Task Force 1-10 · Operation Athena
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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LT. COL. RICHARD CLARK TF 3-504 COMMANDER
Uncertain of the exact location.
'Resolute Strike' brings back intel on ambush
SANGIN, Afghanistan (Army News Service, April 11, 2003) - A task force led by 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment garnered information and equipment related to an ambush that left two U.S. service members dead and one seriously injured.
The mission of Operation Resolute Strike -- conducted April 8-9 in the affluent southern Afghanistan city of Sangin by 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers, Special Forces operators and criminal investigation task force members -- was two-fold: to gain intelligence and the perpetrators of the March 29 ambush, and to deny sanctuary and remove weapons and ammunition used by anti-coalition forces.
Lt. Col. Richard Clarke, task force 3-504th PIR commander, said the operation was a success on both counts.
"We're gathering a significant amount of information about this ambush that may help lead others to find the perpetrators/attackers," Clarke said after the first day of the operation. "What we've done so far is recover a significant amount of small arms, mortar rounds, mortar tubes and anti-tank mines. Most importantly, we recovered bomb-making materials, to include some old C-4, and explosive devices that could have been used against coalition forces later."
At the end of the operation, a large cache of AK-47s, RPG launchers and other small arms weapons were taken by U.S. forces. Also, more than 240 pounds of ammunition used with mortars, RPGs and small arms were seized and destroyed by 731st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company members.
When the convoy moving outside of Sangin was ambushed March 29, the equipment used by the three U.S. casualties was left behind in the rush to Medivac them to safety. One of the key goals of Operation Resolute Strike was to get that equipment back.
"It looks like we've recovered one weapon and we're in the process of recovering additional materials from the ambush against coalition forces," Clarke said.
Capt. Del Monroy, battalion intelligence officer, said the overwhelming show of force used in the operation was critical to the mission's success.
While 82nd paratroopers established a containment area around the city and special forces operators swept the city for suspects and intelligence, close air support aircraft buzzed overhead as another reminder of American power. Air Force A-10s and F-16s, Marine Corps Harriers and Army Apache helicopters were ever-present throughout the course of the operation. During the night, a steady barrage of illumination mortars were fired to remind local residents the U.S. was still in town.
"The influence that we were able to bring here had a lot to do with the success here," Monroy said. "I didn't think we would get any of the U.S. equipment back."
The show of force was enough to convince a government official from the Helmond province - of which Sangin is a member of - to bring forth several witnesses and people who had picked up the U.S. equipment after the ambush.
Qualified personnel and members of the criminal investigation task force questioned more than 50 local residents who might have had knowledge of the ambush. Out of that crop, four were flown to a Kandahar Air Field field collection point for further questioning.
(Editor's note: Spc. Jim Wagner is a member of the 109th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)
🇺🇸 United States · 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne
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AFGHAN AT BAZAAR
Bazaar off base - Afghani Salesman doing his thing
🇦🇫 Afghanistan
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
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MILLAYWAN CHECKPOINT RESCUE
A QRF mission out of Ma'Sum Ghar in support of ANP station that had been attacked. 3RCR rolling heavy with tanks supported by infantry walked in to help ANP remove the dead and wounded. Not much left of the place or the local police by the time they arrived. Total guess on this route based on the photos and the classic Afghan school building shape at the end. Somewhere west of Rte Summit a couple of miles, but relying on twenty year-old memories, so yeah. Definitely, give this route/destination side-eye scepticism.
🇨🇦 Canada · 3RCR · Operation Athena
📷 One of thousands of photos in the Project Athena archive. Have photos from Afghanistan? Add yours at projectathena.ca
🗺 View on the map → f.mtr.cool/kj1mh24s83
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