‘It’s a very good thing that we did’ — Day of Honour pays tribute to Afghanistan veterans

NEWS — Sgt. Jim Collins doesn’t like crowds but he was willing to talk just a little today about his two tours of duty in Afghanistan as he sat at a corner table at Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 52, his therapy dog T.J. on the floor beside him.

Collins, 33, a sergeant in the Rocky Mountain Rangers reserve unit, joined other veterans and family members at the Legion to mark National Honour Day.

“I think it’s nice for people to remember what happened,” he said, “That it’s not just on Remembrance Day.”

Collins, who joined the reservists when he was just 16, has been back home in Kamloops for a few years but T.J. is living evidence that Afghanistan changed his life. T.J. helps him deal with his agoraphobia, which Collins explained is “a direct result of what happened in Afghanistan,” without going into details.

It’s OK. On other days, he’s talked more about it, and media have told the story.

It was during his second tour, Dec. 30, 2009, when an IED blew up the armored vehicle that was behind his own during a patrol. Four soldiers and a Canadian journalist were killed.

It left Collins with PTSD — Post Traumatic Stress Disorder — or, as it’s also known, OSI or Operational Stress Injury.

As he sips his beer, a tattoo is visible on his right arm. It shows a palm tree and a Maple Leaf, and GC-GM-ZM-KT-ML.

The initials stand for Garrett Chidley, George Miok, Zachery McCormack, Kirk Taylor and Michelle Land.

They were part of a platoon called Call Sign 4-2, mostly reservists, who were on patrol that day outside Camp Nathan Smith near Kandahar City. Collins was in a 20-tonne LAV in front of the one carrying his friend Sgt. Miok when the IED went off right under Miok’s. Miok, Chidley, McCormack, Taylor and Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Land were killed.

Four days later, Collins’ platoon was back on the job and he kept working until he came home at the end of May 2010 but is still a reservist, and still dealing with what happened.

His story, the soldier part, began as a teenager. His first deployment to Afghanistan came in 2008, where he spent seven months as a master corporal attached to the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

Collins’ second tour started at the end of 2009, again with the Princess Patricias, not long before that disastrous day in December. His unit’s job was to provide security for road reconstruction around Kandahar, mostly for government officials going out to check progress on the work.

“There wasn’t really a day that was the same,” he said.

Collins was involved in several firefights during that tour. “It’s not like the movies,” he said of war. “There’s no common ground.”

But between his two tours, he saw evidence of real progress. More kids were going to school, more women were out in public. “Unfortunately, we had to leave when we were doing some good.”

Senator Nancy Greene Raine was at the Legion today, bringing a message from MP Cathy McLeod and telling the small crowd, “It shows how great our country is.”

Branch 52 president Craig Thomson estimates 15 or 20 veterans of Afghanistan live in Kamloops. “It means saying thank-you to the veterans,” he said of National Day of Honour.

“The legion is a foundation of veterans — what better venue to celebrate and honour our veterans?”

Collins, for one, appreciated the nation’s gesture — he’s proud of what Canadians did in Afghanistan.

“There’s not many times you can say you have directly travelled to another country and made a difference. I believe it’s a very good thing that we did.”

• • •

Among those honoured in ceremonies in Ottawa today was Master Cpl. Erin Doyle of Kamloops, the 90^th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan. He was killed Aug. 11, 2008 when insurgents attacked a remote combat outpost in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar.

Another soldier was injured. Doyle, a member of the 3^rd battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, was on his third tour of Afghanistan.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay read this tribute at the time of Doyle’s death: “The two soldiers were bravely protecting their combat outpost in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan, when they came under attack by insurgents with rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire… Master Corporal Doyle gave his life in support of our efforts to bring security to a country that has seen decades of war… Master Corporal Doyle was a true professional and dedicated Canadian soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan. He will be remembered with respect and gratitude.”

Doyle’s name was the first  veteraadded to the Battle Street Cenotaph.