Americans shut Canadian service personnel out of Thanksgiving

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Not content with having their harvest festival at a stupid time of year, the Americans have... oh let's just let Barbara Mair tell her story from today's Star letters page:
In August 2006, my nephew left his wife and 5-year-old daughter for a 6-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. He, like so many other Canadian military personnel, did this for love of his country and to fight for freedom that too many of us take for granted.

On Oct. 9, 2006, our family sat down to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We talked about Afghanistan and wondered if those stationed there would be able to enjoy a similar meal. Later we found out that because the food service at the Kandahar base is run by the American military, they did not observe our Canadian holiday. Being the passive Canadian family, we thought Thanksgiving would be observed on the American holiday, Nov. 23 and didn't voice our disappointment at the time.

Can you imagine the shock and disappointment that our troops felt yesterday when a traditional Thanksgiving dinner was served, yet the mess was closed to all but the Americans? Why? I cannot think of one justifiable reason that the Canadian troops would not be allowed to sit at a table with the American troops. They live with them, they eat with them every other day; they fight the same battle as them, yet they are not permitted to share a meal. Are we such a passive society that we will allow this blatant slap in the face to our servicemen and women?

We need to stand up for the rights of our military personnel; we need them to know we support them, no matter what our personal beliefs may be about the situation in Afghanistan or any other area of conflict. This is about more than a turkey dinner; this is about equality and human decency. Our Canadian Forces have earned the right to be treated as equals.

Barbara L. Mair, Midland, Ont.


UPDATE (Dec 7): a letter from Canadian Forces Lieutenant-Commander Kris Phillips, currently stationed in Kandahar and with a quite different view of the matter, is in today's Star letters.

Comments

Sandra said…
Bloody disgraceful.
Sat Nov 25, 10:13:00 am GMT-5
SayBlade said…
First I've heard of it. Why are we hearing about this now! Why was nothing said back in October? Write your MP! Write the PM!
Mon Nov 27, 07:01:00 pm GMT-5
Mark Dowling said…
My MP's Layton - not sure it would help given his general attitude toward the Forces.
Mon Nov 27, 11:25:00 pm GMT-5
Unknown said…
Hi, I'm one of those rare Americans
(why are we the only ones called that, out of all the countries
in N. and S. America??) who hasn't
been brainwashed. There a a few of us
here in the USA who actually know what's going on in the world. Most
people here believe the world is
like one, big John Wayne movie.

Can anyone here confirm that this
incident occurred? I'd like to
get the story out there to my
fellow American Resistance people.

Thanks,
Johnny Asia
http://johnnyasia.info
Tue Nov 28, 07:57:00 pm GMT-5
Leines said…
This story was written by my mother last week.. i can confirm that its not fake.. it did get published in the toronto star letter section last friday... This did happen... it was been a tight lipped situation around our house since this happened.. im not sure if it will ever fully be admitted.. but if you ask someone stationed there they will confirm.. i was told my cousin ate a hamburger at a fast food place on the base for american thanksgiving... If y ou would like anymore information please email
ted_mair@hotmail.com
Wed Nov 29, 10:18:00 pm GMT-5
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