seen as the reason behind this rise.
Matthew and his mother live on base at CFB Petawawa. They have a good relationship, and have learned how to work through the difficulties they had while Matthewâs father was in Afghanistan, where he commanded a tank crew in Kandahar and was involved in direct combat, including the 2006 attack on a building called the White School, a Taliban headquarters, which resulted in several Canadian casualties.
Iâm in grade five. My father is a sergeant. Heâs been with the army for eighteen years. I have one brother. Heâs six years old.
Canada has always been one of the worldâs main peacekeeping countries. Weâre part of the United Nations, and weâve helped out in Israel, Croatia, Bosnia, Egypt. Lots of places. Weâve kept the peace there and prevented people from fighting. Weâve also helped to stop wars before they even start to happen. No one wants World War One or Two again.
The Taliban is causing a lot of trouble in Afghanistan. Weâre trying to stop them, through being there with our tanks and through aggressive negotiations.
Dad had a rough time in Afghanistan, a very stressful time. He was right in where all the heavy fighting was. We all knew that there was a strong possibility that he could be hurt or killed. Mom in particular was really stressed. She kept hearing on the news and from her friends about all the fighting that was going on, and that made her very jumpy and upset. I guess it made me get that way, too. Dad was close to dying a few times over there. We knew he was in trouble, and Mom and I didnât always handle it well.
She was stressed so sheâd yell a lot, and I was stressed and Iâd yell back, and the whole thing was really a mess. What was really going on was that we were both worried about Dad, and there was nothing we could do about that. We couldnât go over to Afghanistan and make him come home with us. So we didnât have any power to make our worry go away. We were scared and frustrated and angry, and we yelled at each other because we didnât know what else to do.
Itâs hard for me to talk about that time. It wasnât good, with Dad being away and with Mom mostly really angry or really sad. I tried to keep myself away from conflict and bad emotions, but I wasnât always successful.
One of the things Dad was involved in over in Afghanistanwas the attack on the White School. It was a bad time. Dad got shrapnel in his shoulder, really close to a vein. He could have died from blood loss.
Two of his commanding officers have died in Afghanistan. Lots of other soldiers have died there, too. Lots from Petawawa.
There was one time when they were in a battle with the Taliban. The Taliban had a makeshift base, maybe in an old prison or something, right beside a big marijuana field. The Taliban grows opium and marijuana to help them fund the war. It was a big battle, and five soldiers died.
Dad doesnât talk about the war very much. He talked just one time about it, but since then heâs basically just kept quiet. I donât really like to ask him. I donât want to let my mind go to it. Iâd rather focus on things I like, such as reading, video games, normal eleven-year-old-kid things. I donât want to think about Dad walking in the desert, maybe having someone shooting at him.
He would phone every three weeks or so when he was away. Thatâs how we learned heâd been wounded, because he didnât call for awhile, so we figured something was wrong. He was in the hospital and couldnât call us.
Dad seems a little quieter now than he used to be. I kind of missed him when he was gone, and I kind of didnât, because he would yell at me a lot when he was around, and I get kind of tired of that. But heâs been a little quieter since he got home. I think he saw real things wrong in Afghanistan, so the things that I do wrong donât seem like such a big
Matthew and his mother live on base at CFB Petawawa. They have a good relationship, and have learned how to work through the difficulties they had while Matthewâs father was in Afghanistan, where he commanded a tank crew in Kandahar and was involved in direct combat, including the 2006 attack on a building called the White School, a Taliban headquarters, which resulted in several Canadian casualties.
Iâm in grade five. My father is a sergeant. Heâs been with the army for eighteen years. I have one brother. Heâs six years old.
Canada has always been one of the worldâs main peacekeeping countries. Weâre part of the United Nations, and weâve helped out in Israel, Croatia, Bosnia, Egypt. Lots of places. Weâve kept the peace there and prevented people from fighting. Weâve also helped to stop wars before they even start to happen. No one wants World War One or Two again.
The Taliban is causing a lot of trouble in Afghanistan. Weâre trying to stop them, through being there with our tanks and through aggressive negotiations.
Dad had a rough time in Afghanistan, a very stressful time. He was right in where all the heavy fighting was. We all knew that there was a strong possibility that he could be hurt or killed. Mom in particular was really stressed. She kept hearing on the news and from her friends about all the fighting that was going on, and that made her very jumpy and upset. I guess it made me get that way, too. Dad was close to dying a few times over there. We knew he was in trouble, and Mom and I didnât always handle it well.
She was stressed so sheâd yell a lot, and I was stressed and Iâd yell back, and the whole thing was really a mess. What was really going on was that we were both worried about Dad, and there was nothing we could do about that. We couldnât go over to Afghanistan and make him come home with us. So we didnât have any power to make our worry go away. We were scared and frustrated and angry, and we yelled at each other because we didnât know what else to do.
Itâs hard for me to talk about that time. It wasnât good, with Dad being away and with Mom mostly really angry or really sad. I tried to keep myself away from conflict and bad emotions, but I wasnât always successful.
One of the things Dad was involved in over in Afghanistanwas the attack on the White School. It was a bad time. Dad got shrapnel in his shoulder, really close to a vein. He could have died from blood loss.
Two of his commanding officers have died in Afghanistan. Lots of other soldiers have died there, too. Lots from Petawawa.
There was one time when they were in a battle with the Taliban. The Taliban had a makeshift base, maybe in an old prison or something, right beside a big marijuana field. The Taliban grows opium and marijuana to help them fund the war. It was a big battle, and five soldiers died.
Dad doesnât talk about the war very much. He talked just one time about it, but since then heâs basically just kept quiet. I donât really like to ask him. I donât want to let my mind go to it. Iâd rather focus on things I like, such as reading, video games, normal eleven-year-old-kid things. I donât want to think about Dad walking in the desert, maybe having someone shooting at him.
He would phone every three weeks or so when he was away. Thatâs how we learned heâd been wounded, because he didnât call for awhile, so we figured something was wrong. He was in the hospital and couldnât call us.
Dad seems a little quieter now than he used to be. I kind of missed him when he was gone, and I kind of didnât, because he would yell at me a lot when he was around, and I get kind of tired of that. But heâs been a little quieter since he got home. I think he saw real things wrong in Afghanistan, so the things that I do wrong donât seem like such a big
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