For Canadian, serving in Iraq is a source of pride

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For Canadian, serving in Iraq is a source of pride Posted outside Baghdad as part of exchange with U.S., soldier says he's optimistic about future of war-torn country MARK MACKINNON

From Friday's Globe and Mail

March 21, 2008 at 4:52 AM EDT

When Lieutenant-Colonel Darryl Mills walks through the halls of Saddam Hussein's former palace on the outskirts of Baghdad, people tend to stare at his left shoulder. The red-and-white Canadian flag he wears is a rare sight for Iraqis and U.S. soldiers alike.

He doesn't mind the odd looks. He says he's both proud of his country and of being one of the few Canadians taking part in what the U.S. Army calls Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"I feel like the pretty girl at the dance party," Col. Mills said of the stares, adding that he's chosen to wear a larger-than-standard flag to make sure everyone knows he's Canadian. "From a soldier's perspective, I wouldn't call it razzing. It's, 'Oh, I thought Canada didn't support the war.' "

Canada refused to join in when the United States, Britain and a collection of allies invaded Iraq in 2003. That Col. Mills and four other Canadian officers are serving in Baghdad under an exchange between the U.S. and Canadian militaries is little known, and little publicized by either government.

The Department of National Defence website makes no mention of Col. Mills and the other officers being deployed to Iraq.

"This is part of a worldwide system of officer exchanges with many countries, none of which are pro-actively publicized due to their routine nature," said Jay Paxton, the press secretary to Defence Minister Peter MacKay.

While a U.S. officer has taken his place with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, Col. Mills has been seconded to the U.S. Third Infantry Division. Now on his second tour in Iraq, he's the deputy chief of staff for the unit responsible for the flashpoint cities of Karbala and Najaf, as well as much of south-central Iraq. His 15-month deployment ends in June.

Col. Mills and the other Canadians were deployed to Iraq along with their units last year under U.S. President George W. Bush's much-ballyhooed "surge" strategy, which sent an additional 30,000 U.S. soldiers to a country that was in the throes of civil war.

That move, combined with decisions by some Sunni and Shia militias to stop fighting the U.S. occupation, has at least temporarily led to a 60-per-cent drop in violence from the worst days of 2006 and 2007.

Col. Mills, whose last tour in Iraq was in 2005, says he can feel the difference on the ground. "It allowed us to come back here with the numbers we needed to get things back on track."

The biggest difference from two or three years ago, he said, is that when the military clears an area of insurgents, it can stay and hold the newly won ground, rather than returning to base for lack of troops.

Col. Mills also cautioned that there is much more to be done in Iraq, and that the recent gains could evaporate if the Iraqi government doesn't move quickly to restore basic services such as clean water and electricity that haven't functioned well since 2003.

"We need to take this opportunity to restore services and get the economy going. If we can't, it's an evil spiral: People will just continue to get mad because they haven't seen changes," he said. "I think you can say some things have been accomplished. Can we declare victory again? No. ... The plan is we stay here for as long as we have to."

Though his posting is primarily a desk job - he spends much of his time co-ordinating operations from the relative safety of Victory Base, one of Mr. Hussein's former palaces that has been converted into a U.S. military hub - Col. Mills experienced how dangerous Iraq can be in January of 2006, when the Humvee in which he was travelling was hit by a roadside bomb. Luckily, no one was injured.

"We were just riding along ... looking out for dangers and then boom, we got hit. Everything happened so fast," he said recalling the moment, just days before his first tour in the country ended.

"I pray every day because the knucklehead who planted it didn't know what they were doing. It was a direct hit on our vehicle. Had it been laid right, I might not be here today."

Another Canadian officer serving in Iraq under a similar exchange with the U.S. army suffered minor injuries in May of 2003 when a grenade exploded near a convoy. The officer's name was never released.

Col. Mills has also served on the other major front of what Mr. Bush calls the "war on terror," the PPCLI being the first group of Canadian soldiers to deploy to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2002. Like the U.S. President, he sees the two conflict zones as part of a single struggle.

"You can't look at them as separate, distinct fronts. What happens in one place will clearly affect what happens in the other place," he said, noting that Afghanistan's Taliban seem to borrow tactics that have proven effective for Iraqi insurgents. "It's all about global stability."

Col. Mills prefers to stay away from the politics of him serving in Iraq, portraying himself as just a soldier doing what his army asked him to do. His job, he says, is first and foremost to learn from the U.S. military and to take those lessons back with him to the PPCLI. Perhaps, he suggests, they'll serve the Canadian military well if he's deployed again to Afghanistan.

But he's a believer in the U.S. effort in Iraq, and an optimist about the country's future. He knows that puts him at odds with what many Canadians think about the five-year-old war.

"I try and stay away from the political position our country took," he says, choosing his words slowly and carefully. "But I have a different perspective, having been here. ... I've seen three years of the good that's been done, helping the Iraqis."

With a report from Campbell Clark in Ottawa

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ping

[Clive]

-

[alfa6]

Thanks for the great post(s) Clive

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[fanfan]

[Army Air Corps]

Many warm thanks to Lieutenant-Colonel Darryl Mills.