Photos

This photo is definetly going to my agent, going to need to beef up my portfolio if I want to land that Fall Catalogue Gig with Canadian Tire!

Sometimes there can be a 10 - 15 degree difference between the shade and the sun. We come prepared. I personally like UNHCR tarps better but apparently they only give those to refugees....Damn.

Past-time while waiting...reading MAXIM Mags that range from early 2001 until present day.
**Notice the copy of SERVIR being intently read by someone in the back.....this person in no way shape or form hidding from this photo.


A beautiful sight, Canadian Birds in the skies above Kandahar Province

Joyeux Saint Jean Baptist de Kandahar

Almost feels like home.....if only they would stop trying to kill us!

Today we had the privilage of a "beer call". This normally means we fire up the BBQs grill some steaks and choke back 2 luke warm beers. Today it was to celebrate Saint Jean Baptist. Why is this a national celebration in Quebec? Is Saint Jean Baptist more then just a 4 day work week (for all of you i'm not so lucky)? Being a adopted Quebec'er I decided to find out. I asked 4 of my good Quebecois freinds why we celebrated Saint Jean Baptist Day and what Saint Jean Baptist did to get such recognition from us once a year.....well none of them could give me an answer so I decided to find one myself.

"Once made a statutory holiday, June 24 officially became a holiday for all Québécois rather than only those of French-Canadian or Catholic origins. Celebrations of the day were gradually secularized, primarily due to actions taken by the MNQ, and June 23 and 24 became as we now know them. While the religious significance of the celebration is gone, the day remains popularly called la St-Jean-Baptiste or simply la St-Jean."


Answer: The English Catholics had St Patricks day (excellent excuse to ruin your liver in the middle of March) so the French Catholics felt that "tabarnak, we need a day to get gased too!" Thus St. Jean Baptist Day was been chosen as the National Holiday of Quebec....why Jean the Baptist was chosen? Who knows but its another hell of a good excuse to ruin a liver!

Here's to John the Baptist!

When in doubt....

Notice the hair, this is only the beginning of what I like to call the "6 Inch Challenge". Oddly I am the only one I know taking this challenge.

Thank You British Royal Navy, we don't mind all that extra sand flying around.

An Afghan Uniform Police & a stray dog seem oblivious to the amount of crap this Sea King has decided to send our way....

Herman the German's Ironic Death...

Today I had the luxsury of shooting a German Luger. Interesting fact; the pistol was fabricated in 1942, approximately the same time as our Browning HP 9mm. We "tested" the Luger against our Brownings and found out that the Luger was actually more acurate. But let's not kid ourselves why would I want this German piece of engineering? I guess I would like to have it just to up my street cred. Wouldn't you?

German Luger VS. Browning HP

Herman fixes bayonette and charges...

Herman is now swish cheese.

Groundhog Day...

Today was another day. A day like every other, the sun rose at just after 04h40 and it was ridiculously hot by 07h00. Would it hurt Mother Nature to cut us a little slack? The temperature over the past couple of days has been hovering around 57 degrees celsius. Yes for those keeping track, that's only 43 degrees away from the temperature at which water boils. Yah I know the Human body is 65% water and that's what's got me worried! . I'm sure this weather would be pleasant if we were all in swim trunks and flip flops with an endless supply of Cold Beer. This however is not the case. ....

Sometimes I might as well be Bill Murray from Groundhog day. Its sometimes frightening to see how easy it is to fall into a routine and get slack. I mean, its always terribly hot, the sun is always scorching and 5 times a day the adhan (call to prayer) is played from Mosques across the country. The only differences lie in where we go and what we do. This is what keeps us fresh and keeps us sharp.
For those of you who wish to send some care package items I have made a list of some of the stuff we could use (some of it may sound stupid):

- A thermometor (ours is broken, we think it got too hot.)

- A medium collapsible cooler ( about the size of a 12 pack of beer, no not for beer but for bottles of frozen water) [This only applies to people with fulltime jobs and can afford it, I will pay you back in scotch on my return]

- Noodles, like the cup a soup stuff but noodles.

- Books ( These for me personally, send your history / current events / non fiction )

- Hot Sauce

And anything else I guess....

Some more...

My agent is going to be pissed when he finds out I did this gig pro bono..

90% of the Army involves this.........waiting, and then waiting some more.

This Day in Canadian Military History News Feed

I have decided that I will officially become your "This Day in Canadian Military History News Feed". With only 1 Veteran of the Great War still living today, I think its paramount that we are reminded of the ultimate sacrifice that Canadians gave in the "War to End All Wars".

Tomorrow ( 13 June) marks the end of the battle of Mount Sorrel. The Battle of Mont Sorrel (Battle of Mount Sorrel, Battle of Hill 62) was a localized conflict of World War I between three divisions of the British Second Army and three divisions of the German Fourth Army in the Ypres Salient, near Ypres, Belgium, from 2 June 1916 to 13 June 1916.In an effort to pull British resources from the observed build-up in the Somme, the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps and the 117th Infantry Division attacked an arc of high ground positions defended by the Canadian Corps. The German forces initially captured the heights at Mount Sorrel and Tor Top before entrenching on the far slope of the ridge. Following a number attacks and counterattacks, two divisions of the Canadian Corps, supported by the 20th Light Division and Second Army siege and howitzer battery groups, recaptured the majority of their former positions.

For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mount_Sorrel

Things have been quiet here on our front. We have been enjoying the downtime we've been given before things start to roll again. Which should be soon....Hopefully tomorrow I can post some more photos...

Broken From Baseball?

Is it possible to develop a case of tendinitis from one game of recreational beer league baseball?? The answer is yes. For those of you who do not believe me, you try playing 4 different positions in the outfield at once. Yes you may be questioning the validity of my self diagnosis, however I talked to several people in the medical field and after their initial reactions (often laughter, disbelief etc) they said it could very well be the case. So why write a post about this now? Your guess is as good as mine. I guess I am just warning all those recreational baseball players out there........watch yourself.

When things around here get busy (AKA CRAZY), we look forward to some downtime. A chance to write emails, make some phone calls and even annoy friends and family with posting useless information on blogs (the latter I am never guilty of). Time off is often like an oasis, you see it just up ahead but you never ever get to it. Well sometimes fortunes change and you do get that down time, what do you do when there's nothing to do. You can only watch the same movies and read so much. I often find myself dare I say it.....bored.

Je me souviens...

For those who are not regular followers of current events ( Erica Booth for one), this week another Canadian Soldier was killed. Pte. Alexandre Péloquin member for the 3rd Battalion of the R22eR was killed while on operation.

We will remember...

People often ask if its scary out here or do I worry. I can honestly say that I am not scared when we are out and about and have zeros worries. Our build up training was progressive, current and second to none, I have full confidence in those I work with on a daily basis. What is probably the scariest thing is when we know there has been a Canadian Soldier killed and we have to wait until the name is released. That time is probably the most stressful simply because (I speak for myself) my greatest fear is that it could very well be one of my friends. Some friends I haven't seen since I left Canada.
Things have begun to get interesting as its been about a week since I have been back in K.C. The weather is still getting hotter and the dust doesn't seem to be going away (see attached photos for examples). When air conditioners are fully functional yet not in the slightest lowering the temperature of a vehicle you know its hot.
As far as other news goes: I have almost finished the book Buying On Time by Antanas Sileika, rarely do I read fiction but I ordered this book from Amazon.ca on the recommendation of my friend Danny (who is currently in Afghanistan with me and it just so happens his father is the Author). So far the book has been great. For those of you who are dying to send me packages and letters.....here is my address:

N29 829 168 / McNair / BA / Cpl
9er Tac
Camp Nathan Smith
PO BOX 5005
Belleville, On
K8N5W6

Feel free to send whatever you wish.

I will sign off for now. Feel free to comment on any of my posts, if you want you can even post questions that I can answer assuming they are within the limitations of what I can say!

This is not snow. Its is the flash reflecting off all the dust in the air........paradise.

Its much cooler at night...actually its a nice temperature!

Least we forget....

Today is a very special day for all Canadians, 65 years ago on the 6th of June at 07h45 the 3rd Canadian Division landed on Juno Beach in Normandy. Juno was the most heavily defended beach of the 5 Allie landing sites. By the end of D-Day the 3rd Canadian Division had penetrated farther into France than any other Allied force, advancing roughly 10 km at the cost of almost 1,000 casualties, including 335 killed.I feel immense pride in knowing what Canadians soldiers accomplished on the more heavily defended beaches. As was with Vimy Ridge just decades earlier the Canadians were called upon for the hardest task. I am very proud to be a Canadian Soldier and on hard days like today it is an honour to wear the same uniform and represent Canada at war as others have before me.

Canada's assault on Juno

When the going gets tough, the tough get going!!

We will remember..

For the “where I listen to CBC Radio 3” photo competition

Lucas Robinson and Cpl. Brent McNair listen to the CBC radio 3 at theGovernor’s Palace in downtown Kandahar.

The word of day: Meat

Today's topic of conversation is meat. While enjoying a bit of down time between patrols conversation often goes from relevant to downright ridiculous in a hurry. Today someone brought up the topic of BBQing. What followed was a 60 minute conversation of every single possible kind of meat and the best ways of cooking it. Me not being far removed from a cold pint of Guinness and a good meal made sure I described in great detail the quality of the Bowfinger rib and the first bite out of a Hope Street Invitational pulled pork sandwhich. The others now completely jealous of me thought it was only fair to remind me that I won't be experiencing such luxuries for some time. Bastards.

kids

overcast skies.......rare

More foot patrolling


out and about...

A crowd gathers...

Stay tuned.....

Back in K.C.

Last night I finally arrived back in Kandahar City (KC), it feels good to be back and i'm thankful its not scorching hot today. Hopefully mother nature will be kind to me and ease me into the climate. Although the travel was long and generally uneventful I am extremely happy to be back and into the swing of things. I woke up extremely early this morning 05h30local to watch the Pitt - Det game. I am very happy that they won. On the topic of Hockey I was very disappointed to find out that our ball hockey league here was dismantled because it was way too competitive and rough. Nothing like stupid army toughness to play rough and risk injuries that could get someone repatriated. Anyway hopefully the friendly pick up games continue because I was hoping to showcase my skills between the pipes. Besides that not much is new, same old grind, day in and day out. I keep posting some pictures to keep you all interested until I actually come up with some good to say.
Stay Frosty..
B

With the ANA.

The Arghandab river

A comfortable place to relax!

Some Photos.....

A hill with a view.

Blue Steel......kinda

Foot Patrols...

The clear advantage of being able to reach out and touch the bad guys....

Some tea with our Afghan counterparts.

Lets try this one again....

Just after having a change of heart and feeling that I need to keep in touch more often ( thanks to some verbal lashings from some of you) I decided to write a big long post to keep everyone in the loop, this was promptly stopped by being kicked off the internet because my 30 minutes was up. 30 minutes into a 31 minute post everything gone and not retrievable. FML. And what did Brent learn from this: It does not pay to be a chatty Kathy. So take II. I will try to post an entry like this about once a week to keep everyone informed as to what is going on. In no way shape or form will these posts resemble anything worthy of a Pulitzer Prize, what I can guarantee however is that I will do my best to keep these as exciting as possible hoping to deter you all from falling asleep. Easier said then done. There will also be no revisions seeing my time is limited so spelling and grammar will be primitive at best. Do not try and read this if you have been drinking because lets be honest it will probably be a challenge to read even when sober.
I am currently in a location in South East Asia (which apparently is the worst kept secret in the Canadian Forces). I however will do my part in not saying where this is.......you all know anyway. The flights back to this secret or not so secret location sucked ass. I arrived at P.E.T airport only to find the place a zoo. Being the patient Canadian I am I wait in line like everyone else, once its my turn to check in they decide to tell me that I am on stand by because air Canada overbooked. Excellent. So I asked to talk to somebody of importance to explain to them that it is absolutely necessary that I be on the flight. They continued to tell me that they didn't have time and I would have to wait my turn to see if I'm called on stand by. I do so until about 30 mins before the flight when I freak out and verbally assault the Air Canada floor manager for not only being dis-organized but for just generally being a bitch. (its not my fault that she hates her life). She didn't take that well but after flashing a diplomatic special passport and reminding her of the problems should I not make the flight she actually did her job and got me on. I guess all is well that ends well however it was not the most ideal way to finish an amazing vacation.The flights were uneventful and I was happy to hear that our Air France flight was lucky enough to stay air borne from Paris to here.
Once on the ground here, I am kinda regretting not working out more and drinking more water. The piss poor weather during my Vacation in Montreal has done wonders in making me soft again. Its 10h30am and its already 40 degrees Celcius. But at any rate thats just it. Things have been quiet in Afghanistan when I was away seeing they are just finishing up the opium harvest. That means its a very uneasy calm before the storm. Will send more news when IM back in Kandahar City.

Stay Thirsty My Freinds...

Brent