Canadian soldiers in second Afghan accident

[big bad john]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/02/16/afghanistan-soldiers060216.html

Canadian soldiers in second Afghan accident
Last Updated Thu, 16 Feb 2006 09:56:00 EST
CBC News
A Canadian soldier was flown to a military hospital in Germany on Thursday after the second traffic accident involving soldiers in Afghanistan in as many days.

A Bison light armoured vehicle stopped quickly as Canadian troops were bringing Canada's new artillery to a firing range near Kandahar on a light truck. The large howitzer clipped the Bison.

 
Canadian troops secure the area. (CBC Photo: Stephen Puddicombe) 
Two Canadian soldiers were hurt, but their injuries aren't life threatening, say reports. One soldier was flown to the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for further treatment, while the second is being treated at the Kandahar airbase.


FROM FEB. 15, 2006: 2 Canadian soldiers hurt in Afghanistan

On Wednesday, two Canadians and one coalition soldier were injured when their light armoured vehicle rolled over. One Canadian was sent to the Landstuhl hospital, while the second returned to work.

Canadians diffuse large bomb

Also on Thursday, Canadian military engineers defused a large roadside bomb outside Kandahar after a local goat shepherd alerted soldiers.

The two large Russian shells, weighing almost 14 kilograms each, were tied together with red wire and attached to a remote control detonator. The engineers say they the bomb could have been set off from as far away as 200 metres.

The soldiers suspect the target was a local police chief who was supposed to travel down the same road to watch an upcoming dog fight.

 
The shells were left over from the Soviet war in Afghanistan. (CBC Photo: Stephen Puddicombe) 
The engineers, who can't be identified due to security issues, say the explosion would have devastated the nearby area, easily killing the police chief and anybody else around.

The bombs are simple to make and constructed out of ordinance found in the ground.

"This stuff is all over the place in this country," said one of the engineers.

One of the engineers says they will put a drawing of a bomb on their vehicle each time they defuse one.

 

[BKells]

What's with all the accidents? Is this normal in a theatre of operations or is this a problem that needs addressing?

 

[Tracker 23A]

If anyone says the roads are to blame, as the media does via PAFO, they should give their head a shake.  There have been plenty of other tours and in different parts of the world where the roads are much worse and fewer accidents had happened as compared with the time driven on those roads.

Something is up, whether it be the drivers or complacency I don't know.

 

[George Wallace]

Cross reference the discussion at: http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/39839/post-337179.html#msg337179  Canadian Soldiers injured in rollover

 

[MJP]

Most of the othere environments weren't as dangerous as the current theater is tracker IMHO and yes once you leave the pave roads.....the roads are just as much to blame in some cases.

Personally I think all the accidents are getting quite a bit of media attention because the mission is new and sexy and is the in thing to report on.  It'll all calm down in a bit and very few of the accidents will be written about.  We seem to be Par for the course for every other tour for accidents.

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

On ATHENA Roto 0 there was an article about two weeks after we got there about our "high" accident rate.

 

[dapaterson]

2Bravo - Occam's razor suggests your hypothesis is correct - new troops are now arriving in the theatre, and are initially having a greater number of accidents as they become familiar with the rather "unique" road conditions and driver habits.

Of course, if we need to train drivers to deal with decaying road infrastructure and homicidal drivers all around them, may I recommend my hometown of Montreal?

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Same thing happens on every tour whether its Bosnia or A Stan.  Its not like they follow any traffic laws on the streets and the terrain can be hostile at best.

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

I guess what I was trying to convey is that the driving conditions are treacherous.  The article appeared after a couple of weeks as the "story of the day."  We had accidents throughout the tour, and subsequent Rotos certainly had their share.  Perhaps the MSE safety guys have charts that graph accident rates against time in theatre.