Canadian Milblogger embeds in Afghanistan

The Torch: The winning percentage

Canadian Milblogger Damian Brooks, founder of The Torch , is in Afghanistan currently with the Canadian Forces, and getting excellent cooperation from the military. In fact this embed has been years in the planning. "Memos went up the chain of command, and back down again. Never any luck. And then, just recently, approval." he wrote recently prior to embarking on this trip. As far as he knows he's the first independent milblogger to be invited on what's termed a Regional Media Familiarization Visit funded by the Canadian Forces.

He is part of a group invited by the CF which includes Jean Laroche of the Journal de Quebec, Ian Shantz of the Barrie Examiner, and Ian Elliot of the Kingston Whig-Standard.

In today's post he writes about the importance of the recently arrived helicopters to Canadian troops who previously depended on truck convoys for infil and exfil leading to a disproportionate number of deaths and injuries to Canadian Soldiers. "“Like I said, for a guy who's always had a fascination with flying, some days are cooler than others. But apart from the roller-coaster thrill of the ride, it was evidence of something important: we don't absolutely need to do everything by convoy anymore, we don't absolutely need to beg rides on allied choppers all the time anymore.”

Damian has an excellent reputation for trying to keep the MSM from skewing their reporting on National Defense. While the military is paying part of his expenses, he is doing the rest on his own time and his own dime so, please, if you can afford it please don't forget to hit his tip jar at the link below.

http://www.chipin.com/mywidgets/id/17c174827aceb3fc

Let's help Damian become the Canadian Michael J. Totten.