Peggy Revell
As another Remembrance Day marked the sacrifices made by our country’s war veterans, a new generation of Canadians has become a part of this story.
This includes Fort Frances native Colin LeBlanc, who recently returned to Northwestern Ontario after serving in Afghanistan for seven months.
Master/Bdr LeBlanc was one of five reservists from Kenora’s 116th Independent Field Battery who served in Afghanistan from February to September, alongside Bdr. Ryan Scott and Bdr. Kevin Wiersema of Kenora, Todd Evans of Dryden, and Bdr. Ryan Hawkins of Shilo, Man., augmenting with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.
Prior to heading to Afghanistan, LeBlanc spent 10 months training, including two months an CFB Wainwright in Alberta and then the rest in CFB Shilo.
“It was long,” LeBlanc said of the training, though adding it was good training where they got to use and become familiar with the M-777 Howitzer and all the other equipment they would be using overseas.
Then in February, they landed at Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan. For the following months, they were stationed in the Zhari and Panjwai districts of Kandahar province.
“It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be,” LeBlanc recalled of his first impressions of the country. “When we first landed in Kandahar, there was actually a lot more there as far as things to do, and shops.
“And it was hot,” he added. “Oh, it was hot, and it was only February. It still got cold at night, though. It would be really hot during the day, like 30 degrees, and then it would go down to five degrees during the night.
“So the temperature extremes you had to get used to because in Canada, it doesn’t do that, it doesn’t go back and forth like that,” he added.
Then there was the dust.
“The sand there, it’s kind of like moon dust,” LeBlanc explained. “It’s in everything. You had to get used to that. It was in your lungs, in your eyes, and ears.
“It was everywhere.”
Working from the forward operating base, or wherever they had to go, the unit provided artillery support to other coalition forces during fighting against the Taliban. “When they call for support, we start shooting for them,” LeBlanc explained.
“We got rocketed, RPG [rocket-propelled grenades] shot at us, the 122 millimetre rockets . . . stuff like that,” he added, describing the type of attacks they came under.
“[The Taliban] are shooting rockets at us, and RPGs, but we still have to support our friends. They’re getting lit up a kilometre a way and they call us for support,” he continued. “So we start shooting for them at the Taliban to stop the Taliban from shooting them.
“But then the Taliban start shooting rockets at us.
“You kind of put it off to the side, and do your job, and focus on your job and let everybody else do their job, and if it’s going to come, it’s going to come,” LeBlanc reasoned. “When it comes to the rockets and stuff like that, there’s nothing you can really do about it. They’re either going to hit you, or they’re not.
“The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can go on and do your job.
“And then there’s always the roadside bombs every time you move,” he added. “So it gets pretty freaky when you’re driving down the road and you never know when it’s coming. Like for all you know, all of a sudden the world could just go black, or ‘boom’ and the vehicle right in front of you or behind you, or anybody, or you could blow up.
“So you never know.
“It gets annoying,” LeBlanc remarked. “It’s more of an annoyance after a while. We drove 80 km and it took us 12 hours just because it’s that slow moving.
“It’s not like Canada, it’s different, and with the rocket attacks and stuff like that, there was some pretty close calls but all my guys came back so it was okay.”
Another thing that took some getting used to were the local people, including their culture, habits, and how they lived, said LeBlanc, noting it made him realize how good we have it here in Canada.
“It’s a different world over there,” he stressed. “My best experience was probably learning about the culture of Afghans. Learning about them and how they live, and things like that.
“The people are great, they really are.”
But it’s also a country whose people have experienced war for 30 years, he stressed, with some being born into it and never knowing what peace is.
Being there gave him a chance to see what Afghanistan is really like.
“You watch the news, and no offence to the media, but the news, they don’t show one-hundredth of what happens in Afghanistan,” he remarked. “When you’re there and see what happens, see what the locals and hear what the locals go through fighting the Taliban, and what the Taliban do to them, you really learn.
“You’re seeing the reaction from them when you go into a town and give them fresh water or anything, or you hear about the Canadians who give them power, they’re just so happy,” he added.
“That’s probably the best experience, helping them,” said LeBlanc. “Even the different coalition forces, like when we support the Americans and the British . . . even that, it gives you a sense of satisfaction and sense like you’ve done something.”
And throughout the months spent training and in Afghanistan, LeBlanc said he had support from both his girlfriend and family back home.
“All my family . . . they supported me great, sending me packages, and everything,” he explained. “It was great getting the care packages and stuff like that. It was really good. It was like a touch of home right when you’re in the middle of the desert.”
That touch of home was nice, considering the worst part of it all was being away from home for so long, he said. Between training and going to Afghanistan LeBlanc hadn’t really been home in 17 months.
“It sucks,” he said bluntly.
“You lose touch with all your family and friends,” he noted. “One of my friends got married, others moved, and you’re gone and you lose touch with everything.
“You don’t know what’s going on, what movies are in the theatre, stuff like that. And you just get back and you’re like, ‘Wow, like holy cow, eh?’”
After arriving back home in September, LeBlanc said one of the biggest comforts now is being able to sleep again on a real bed with a real pillow.
“And to sleep a solid night where there wasn’t gunfire and bombs going off, and actually getting a solid three, four hours of sleep,” he added. “Solid sleep the whole way through, no interruptions, was amazing.”
He still calls Fort Frances his hometown, but LeBlanc is now living in Thunder Bay. He plans to renew his welding tickets and continue on with the welding career he put on hold for 17 months.
He doesn’t plan on going back to Afghanistan, but will continue to remain involved with the Kenora 116th Independent Field Battery.
“I’m going to keep parading at the home unit in Kenora, and help train the guys who want to keep going over there,” LeBlanc said. “Because there’s more of my crew from my unit who want to go, and I’ll, by all means, share my experiences with them.”
