Dundurn Press to Publish “Combat Mission Kandahar"

---

For the past several years, I have been working on a manuscript that deals with the Canadians in Afghanistan and  I have just now received great news about it.  Dundurn Press has accepted my submission and will publish it next year.

The memories of that mission are quickly fading away in the public eye as new dangers arise in the world. My book is meant to preserve some of those memories, as I write about the experiences of seven soldiers who I think give a broad sample of what it was like to be deployed to Afghanistan. These men are a cross-section of the combat arms, including infantry, armour, combat engineers and the new specialty of psychological operations, all of which played important roles in fighting the Taliban. By telling their stories, I hope that their experiences will give readers an appreciation of what the combat mission meant to men and women who went outside the wire. They are

• Captain Jay Mineault, a combat engineer who played an important role helping Afghans reconstruct their villages and improve their lives
  

• Corporal Francois Dupéré, who joined a tteam of specialists trying to fight the insurgency on the psychological plane.

•  Corporal Sean Chard, the leader of a crew of an armoured reconnaissance vehicle equipped with the most advanced electronic technology in the fight against a deadly hidden insurgency.

• Sam, a combat engineer trained in removing and disposing the Taliban’s deadliest weapon, the Improvised Explosive Device.

• Captain Rob Peel, who became the leader in an Operational Mentor Liaison Team carrying out the critical task of helping to train the Afghan National Army;

• Master Warrant Officer Richard Stacey, the senior Non-Commissioned Officer of an armoured squadron, providing ongoing leadership to men who daily drove their tanks out to face IEDs and Taliban ambushes.

• Lieutenant Simon Mailloux, the leader of an infantry platoon which, in a counter insurgency struggle, was the basic unit fighting for the security of ordinary Afghan citizens.

  I was particularly pleased that Dundurn decided to publish my book because, ever since it began in 1972, it has had a focus on Canadian history and biography and has continually published books on Canadian military history. while it now publishes a broad range of titles on Canadian fiction and non-fiction, I feel my book falls well within its original purpose - helping to preserve Canadian history.

The book is expected to be published before Remembrance Day, 2016.