Not a good place to be
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Monday, November 27, 2006 | 11:27 AM ET
By Darrow MacIntyre
Editor's note: Due to some behind-the-scene technical issues and human error we didn't post this blog entry when it arrived in mid-November. Our apologies to you and to Darrow. However, we post it now because we think you'll be interested.
Left work tent "Media 2" yesterday headed for a news conference with General Van Loon. Rounded the corner and bumped into Corporal Darren Dyer. I'd met him up at the forward operating base Martello near the borders of Uruzgan and Zabul provinces. It's the most remote of Canada's Forward Operating Bases (FOBs).
Dyer's a medic. A tough as nails gun-toting medic. But with a kindly streak in him. The day after I met him we were in a field outside the FOB. Soldiers were handing out tools and things to villagers. It was a little tense because they still don't really know exactly where the villagers' loyalties lie. So they had made a ring of razor wire around the trucks and the stuff they were giving out.
An old man came up to the wire and complained about pain in his hip. Dyer said he's a regular. Kind of a hypochondriac. He gave the old fellow a blister pack of ibuprofen. A few minutes later the old guy came back with a little boy ... his grandson. There was something wrong with the boy's eyes. Dyer took them aside and checked the kid out. Examined his eyes, took blood pressure and so on. Got him to cough. Then he put some drops in his eyes and gave the rest of the bottle to the grandfather with directions how to use the stuff. He said the kid has allergies. No big deal but this tough guy was so kind and nice to them. It was good to see.
When I bumped into him yesterday he was on his way to Panjway. Things are still pretty hot down there. Still lots of shooting and stuff. Plus the rainy season has started so the whole province seems to be turning muddy. If it's not too hot and dusty here it's cold rainy and muddy. Not a good place to be.
Cpl. Darren Dyer, foreground (Photo: Darrow MacIntyre)
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