Combat Mission Kandahar: The Canadian Experience in Afghanistan

Seven soldiers. Seven military specialties. Seven stories.

What was it like to serve in the combat mission in Afghanistan? Journalists’ reports from 2006 to 2011 could only give brief glimpses of the reality on the ground for Canadian soldiers. This book reveals the full story of what happened to seven soldiers throughout their deployment in Operation ATHENA, Phase 2. This came to be called “the combat mission” as Canadian battle groups engaged in a deadly multi-year war of counter-insurgency in Kandahar province.

Infantry, combat engineer, armour, and psychological operations: These seven soldiers represent the breadth of Canada’s unprecedented combat mission. Ranking from corporal to captain and belonging to a range of different combat arms, each soldier’s experience on his tour of duty showcases a facet of Canada’s longest, most complicated, and challenging operation in the Middle East.