Canadian
singer-songwriters Lennie Gallant, left, and George Canyon enjoy
the sun during a visit to Afghanistan this week where they performed
for the troops at Canadian Forces bases in Kandahar and Kabul. (SUBMITTED
PHOTO)
P.E.I.
singer pays visit to troops in war zone
Lennie
Gallant hears brave tales from Canadian soldiers serving in dangerous
Afghanistan.
By Sally Cole
The Guardian
It
wasn’t until Lennie Gallant was asked to don a flak jacket,
helmet and a pair of glasses that he realized he was entering a
war zone earlier this week.
That
occurred when he arrived in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and
changed planes for a flight to Afghanistan to visit Canadian troops.
“When
they started asking for my blood type and I’m wearing 40 pounds
of armour it starts to hit home where I’m going and what a
serious mission it is,” said Gallant, who accompanied Foreign
Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and his entourage during a tour of
Canadian Forces bases in Afghanistan.
Along
with country singer George Canyon, the Rustico native received a
warm welcome when he performed for the Canadian troops during concerts
in Kandahar and Kabul.
“We
tried to bring them images of home in our songs and stories and
let them know that people back home were concerned about them and
thinking about them,” said Gallant.
He
says of all the music he was asked to perform, the most popular
song was Meet Me At The Oasis.
“It
seemed to strike a chord with them,” he said with a laugh.
Gallant
says the officers and service men and women responded with heart-felt
enthusiasm to the entertainers.
“Everyone
kept telling us how happy they were that we were there,” said
Gallant, who met up with Dr. John MacDonald from Cardigan and Scott
Rogers, a soldier from Rustico.
Now
back in Canada, his mind is full of images from his trip.
“The
Afghan people that we met were extremely friendly, very outgoing
and I was very impressed by the people in the military. They all
felt they were trying to make the world a better place and they
wanted Canadians to know that,” said Gallant.
But
the thing that touched him most was a conversation with the commander
of the coalition forces in Kandahar.
“Personally
I was moved by seeing the emotion on Brigadier General David Fraser’s
face when his mind flashed to the four Canadian soldiers who were
lost due to a roadside bomb recently.
“Two
of the guys were responsible for protecting him. And he had happened
not to be in that convoy that day.And I believe, as the story goes,
they were actually aiming for him.
“So,
when the topic came up you could see the emotion on his face. You
could really feel that it was devastating to him to even recall
that. So I changed the subject very quickly,” he said.
Gallant
wasn’t the only Prince Edward Island entertainer in Afghanistan
this week. Fiddler Richard Wood is presently on a tour of Canadian
military bases. He is expected to return to the Island on May 27.
