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'Canuck Fan in Afghanistan'

diesel_3

Entry posted by diesel_3

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<a href="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2009/12/dec2209_diesel_3_b.jpg" border="0"><img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2009/12/dec2209_diesel_3_gw.jpg" class="imageFloatLeftFramed"></a>Upon request from Kevin Kinghorn..and again for Fans who may have missed it, My 'Canuck Fan in Afghanistan' Article.

By a Fan..for the Fan's

Enjoy!

My Alarm sounds.

Today isn't an ordinary Day for me, I'm not waking up and putting on my slippers and flicking on the morning news to get a weather update before I drive to CFB Edmonton. No, Today it is 6:30am Afghanistan local time and I am rolling over to stream in the sounds of Rick Ball and Tom Larscheid to serenade me as I rub the sleep of another long day out of my eyes...Ahhh, The ultimate 'wake-up call' I think to myself.

My name is Mack Reid, A Corporal working with 1 Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry's Combat Support Company on my first Tour of Duty in Afghanistan serving our fine Country. I grew up in Northern B.C idolizing Trevor Linden and Pavel Bure, My Winter's spent glued to the screen watching the Canuck's game, When I wasn't playing my own hockey, of course.

Back to reality, I wake up in the mornings realizing I am a long way from Home and my normal schedule that i'm used to, Especially a Winter where i'm not shovelling my driveway and wading through a foot of snow, rather, a Winter where I have traded my Shovel for a Rifle and my Snow Boots for a pair of Desert Tans to trot through the Talcum Powder-like Sand. This doesn't stop me from listening to as many games as my work schedule permits. There are some things that even a Tour Overseas can't change, Like when I was in a small T.V room packed with fans of the Montreal Canadiens, and I, in the middle wearing my Blue,Green with White trim smiling and nodding as the Canucks pounded then into the ice 7-1, or waking up at 3:30am and doing my goal celebration dance 3 times infront of the faces of frustrated Maple Leafs fans.

I feel like i'm a world away from it all, even though I am apart of a different type of action, I still try to live my life through the on-ice action of the Canucks to pass the days when i'm not busy working. I know i'm apart of a big family in the Military, but i'm also apart of a second Family, which is, Canuck Nation.

I would like to give a special thanks to the great people of the Canucks Fan Forum who have kept me up-to-date as the 82 Game Season pushes forward, I would also like to thank Jonathan McDonald for this opportunity to share a bit of my story and to get the word out about the great Fans of the Canucks and to tell the Canucks themselves that Canuck Nation is rooting for them here in the heat of the Desert thousands of KM's away.

GO CANUCKS GO!

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i am a beast

Thank you for your bravery and serving our lovely country. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and god bless you diesel_3! Go Canucks Go!

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LaCoupeStanley88

Great read! Thanks for serving our fine country and have a very Merry Christmas! Hopefully you'll be able to laugh at any Oilers and Flames fans when we beat them :)

Thanks & be safe!

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Buggernut

^ I think fighting a war will teach him that he's got more important things to worry about than some petty regular season victories over the Oilers and Flames. :lol:

Anyways, thanks for serving our country, Dies, and I hope you make it back safe. Can you please keep us up to date on the situation over there from an insider's perspective in your blog, and help us to separate the fact from the fiction as reported in the news? Thanks.

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LaCoupeStanley88

^^ So I suppose it was petty of him to do his "goal celebration dance" after the Canucks beat the Leafs?

Please, the first part of your comment was highly unnecessary and slightly illogical considering this is a hockey blog.

But anyhoo, once again, thanks for the great read diesel :)

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diesel_3

Bugger - I can't exactly talk about what I know/don't know, my job requires a special access security clearance, so most of the stuff i know is pretty heavy and lots of times happens way before it even hits the news, it's all apart of opsec, I dont even read what is put in the papers about the war, they dont know anything unless they are embedded reporters, and half the time its so embelished because they want it to look 'hollywood' and sell more...What i know is what i know, and im sorry, but an internet message board isnt the right place to get TOO in depth with my job...I can only really say that we lost a good member of 1 PPCLI yesterday doing route recon...our main goal hasn't really changed, we are trying to help locals, village by village who are being threatened and bullied by the taliban into doing some of their dirty work, it's guerilla warfare..a lot of stuff doesn't make sense here, so many things i have seen,heard or learned about are just mind boggling, but i like to think our troops are making it better for the locals living in fear.

Lacoupe - as far as the hockey and goal celebrations, its all apart of morale, its not easy being this far from home, I am really looking forward to the world juniors, first game is the 27th for us here at 130am local time, I cant wait to watch it, then go to sleep for a few hours to wake up and watch the canucks game, im going to be a mess that day haha.

zanstorm - im from mackenzie....a little bit east of smithers, but i played some good hockey back in the day out in smithers, also work with a guy who was on last roto who is from smithers, brendan svab, you may know him?

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RKESLER17

Hey Diesel thanks for the update!! Im sorry you cant make it back home for xmas but you have my prayers dude!! Im forunate to have my brother back home for X-mas whos been stationed out in Nova Scotia from the Navy. Its good to see him!!

Whos not looking forward to the juniors!? We got 3 up and comers that we get to see! Did you see the article on Peter Anderson!? Perhaps another steal in the draft!? We will see in 2-4 years!! Ill be cheering on our Canadian juniors and paying attention to USA and Sweden!!

Also on your days of rest have you gotten the chance to check out the country? Anything you would like to share with us? Hows the food and beverages over there!? Is it at all comparable to Canadian beer? ;)

Take care and be safe!!

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samurai

Hey Diesel,

I am from PG and know Mackenzie very well - played hockey against Mack many times. Always physical games with fights. And there is Powder King!

Glad to see you are representing the nuck fans in afghanistan and not letting the leaf and Hab fans off the hook either!

Take Care!

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