CDN Aviator said:
oh c'mon
Think about it, will the Taliban expect Canadians to attack them with pipes leading ?
I did play the day before we went in to Pashmul... and I wanted to play while we crossed the Arghandab, but the company commander said no just at the last minute. But, he wanted me to play on top of objective Rugby once we took it, and I would have... but we all know what happened.
I did bring a few "lucky charms" with me into battle, though; My grandmother gave me a medallion of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, I had it on my dog tags... I had a few other items (due to my families superstitions) but they're of no consequence... Just more junk to tote around.
Now, my "lucky charms" are the 2 hunks of shrapnel which sit next to my kidneys... They always remind me just how lucky I was to survive. That, and all the little holes; some of which are in places which should have done more damage or should have killed me. Sometimes that makes me feel good... most of the time it just make me feel sad; all the hits I took and I'm okay, and yet the one who didn't make it was only seriously hit with just one piece... but that's all it took... It just doesn't seem fair.
Anyway, I think just about everyone I deployed with had something to help them feel more lucky... something to help them through. A good friend of mine had a journal which he had been writing in for a long time (I'm guessing about 5 years)... he had written in it every day, even over seas, between writing letters home and writing to schools and friends who had sent him stuff... he wrote all the time. He had this book in his LAV when we went into battle, and had to leave it there when his LAV was disabled by an Anti-tank recoilless rifle... He and his crew suffered only minor injuries, but his vehicle and his journal were left on the battlefield. Shortly after we withdrew from battle, the LAV and it's contents were bombed into dust by the Coalition air support we had over our heads.
The image above is his LAV after 2X 1000lbs JDAMs.
His whole section lost kit... thus is the nature of combat, and why I tell people to take stuff over at their own risk... But, I felt bad for his loss. That book was more than a collection of writing; it was a tribute of time and a window into his thoughts. He lost that book 3 weeks into his tour, but that didn't stop him from writing... he has a new journal, which he started in Afghanistan.
I'm not one for telling other peoples stories, but knowing him, he wouldn't tell it himself... it took a lot to get him to let me write about him in my piece in "Outside the wire" (in the end I owed him a copy of the book)... But his loss got to me then, even amongst all the other loss that day, because it was a loss of time, effort and knowledge.
I can't say I believe in lucky mementos or charms; I do believe that luck does play a huge factor in survival over there sometimes. A lot of us were and are lucky... some of us weren't so much. I guess it just helps us to cope when someone we know is taken from us; It was their time... their luck just ran out.
Anyway, sorry if this turned into a novel, and I'm sorry it darkened the mood... I'll stop before I depress everyone.
