Canadian soldiers sent home with Kandahar ramp ceremony

As hundreds of soldiers mourned the deaths of two fallen comrades in Kandahar Friday morning, the commander in charge of the slain men vowed his squadron won't suffer such casualties again.

"The fact is two nights ago, they got lucky," Maj. Steve Graham said Friday, referring to the Afghan insurgents whose roadside bomb killed two of his men.

Graham took a defiant tone, telling reporters the Canadian forces in the Kandahar region would hunt down the insurgents who manufactured and planted the roadside bombs while pressing ahead with the mission.

"We're going to learn from that incident and I'm going to change the tactics that I do, and I'm going to tell you that what happened two nights ago won't happen to my squadron," he said.

The bold statement from Graham followed the solemn ramp ceremony for Master Cpl. Allan Stewart, 30, and Trooper Patrick James Pentland, 23, on Friday morning.

The soldiers died Wednesday in the third roadside blast in a day, and just three days after six of their comrades were killed in the worst attack since Canada's mission in Afghanistan began. Both men were with the Royal Canadian Dragoons based in Petawawa, Ont.

Lt.-Col. Rob Walker, commander of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group in Afghanistan, said roadside bombs had been a problem in the Zhari district until the Canadiansbroke upa bomb-makingcell and "took them out."

But only days ago, a new group of bomb makers had emerged to take their place, he said.

Wounded soldier salutes

"We were just in the process of starting operations to target that particular cell when we had that IED [improvised explosive device] strike," Walker said.

Cpl. Matthew Dicks,one of two othersoldiers injured in Wednesday's attack, attended the ramp ceremony on the tarmac of Kandahar Airfield. Dicks, who was still in a hospital bed, gave a firm salute as his comrades were carried into the back of a Hercules aircraft.

Pallbearers carried the coffins containing the bodies of Stewart and Pentland onto the aircraft for the journey back to Canada.

Stewart leaves behind a wife and two young daughters. His mother, Blanche Gilkes, told CBC News on Friday morning that Stewart was "a super dad" who was close to his mother.

"Not to hear his laugh anymore, no more hugs — that leaves a big hole," she said.

"I just felt I lost my world."

Canadian Forces' worst week in 50 years

Eight Canadians lost their lives in Afghanistan this week, making it the deadliest week in combat for the Canadian Forces in more than 50 years.

Yet Graham said that sad fact has obscured many successes.

"The local people now tell us where IEDare laid in the road," he said. "The locals come to my shura and talk about security in my area; they now work with the Afghan police, which they didn't want [to do] previously."

A shura is a meeting between Afghan villagers and Canadian soldiers. It is held to build consultation and trust with locals.

The three explosions on Wednesday occurred within hours of each other, in locations just 750 metres apart, just west of Kandahar.

2nd bomb took deadliest toll

The second bomb, which exploded next to a Canadian military vehicle, took the greatest toll — killing the two soldiers and injuring two others, including Dicks.

Thesoldiers wereattempting to help their colleagues who were struck by the first bomb, the Canadian Defence Department said in a news release. The first bombing, which also occurred next to a Canadian military vehicle, injured one soldier.

Canada has now lost 53 soldiers and one diplomat in Afghanistan since the mission began in 2002.