Somalia Journals - Introduction
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I was with 3 Commando of the
Canadian Airborne Regiment for over five years, from 1990 until after
the disbandment in 95. Late in 1992, the Airborne was sent to
Somalia on a "Peace Enforcement" mission. Most Canadians have
heard about what happened in Somalia, but many of the facts are
clouded by media sensationalism. While in-excusable, what happened in
Somalia must be understood in the context of the situation and not
attributed to the easy scapegoats of racism or poor leadership. While
none of us will dispute the lack of integrity and leadership at the
command level, our leaders at the platoon and commando level were of
a high standard. It is only at the higher levels that the corruption
and self-interests highlighted by the inquiry became evident.
The men of the Airborne Regiment represented
the best that the military and Canada had to offer. They were professionals in a
military that is currently lacking that quality. The Airborne Regiment
represented a cross section of Canadian society. Thus the dark side of human
nature that was illuminated in Somalia is inside all Canadians.
Also of interest are the
theories that the experimental Malaria drugs we were taking could
have caused some of the violent behavior. I can attest to the
extremely violent and disturbing nightmares we experienced after
taking the drugs. The thought that this violence could have spilt
over into our daily lives is particularly unsettling. Peter
Worthington's article on this, Did
We Poison our Somalia Soldiers? is
interesting reading.
To help people better understand what happened in Somalia, I
am opening my journals to the public. Only by living in our boots can
anyone understand the forces that were at work against us and the extreme
emotional and physical stresses that we faced. What you will read here is uncensored, the
good mixed with the bad. Try not to judge us, but place yourself in our
situation. How would you react to the things we saw and experienced?
This journal may seem to contradict itself
in places. It was written day to day in Somalia based on what
we knew and experienced at the time. Often our attitudes changed
from day to day based on what we experienced, but I have left
the words I wrote in Africa stand. To understand what happened
in Somalia, what we perceived at the time as true and how we reacted
to those perceptions is just as important, if not more so,
than was actually true. To that end, these journals have been
edited only for clarity and I have not let the benefit of
hindsight change them.
I hope that by doing this,
I can give the reader a sense of
what it was like to be deployed to Somalia - the
culture shock, frustration, confusion and extreme boredom. I've tried to show how
our attitudes towards the Somalis changed over time and how what
we saw affected us. This may then provide a
greater understanding of why the things that happened did. Some of the things
I say may further tarnish the Airborne’s reputation, but I
hope that it will become clear that what happened was a product
of the extreme situations we faced. The events that transpired that
dark night in the bunker in Beled Weyne were not
the result of sending Airborne troops to Somalia, but
of the horrors and culture shock that young Canadians were
forced to endure totally unprepared.
I am confident that if it was any other unit thrust into the same situation
in Somalia, more incidents would have transpired. Airborne soldiers were the
most professional and mature that the Canadian Forces had to offer. The
inexperience and young age of the majority of soldiers in other units would have
produced even more incidents, as the record of the other countries' contingents
in Somalia highlights.
I am always eager to hear peoples comments on these
pages. Please feel free to share your views with others in the
Commando.org Forums,
or if you prefer to keep it
private, write to me directly using the Contact Form.
If you want to learn more about the Airborne or Somalia, I
have put together a list of books that I recommend.
Purchase your books through this page and a portion of the sale will go towards maintaining
this site.
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