Summarised from The story behind the squadron that “Cleared the Way” in Afghanistan Canadian Military Family Magazine published 19 Nov 2016
Clearing the Way: Combat Engineers in Kandahar tells the story of the 23 Field Squadron as part of 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group deployed in Kandahar from 2006 to 2007. Among other things, the squadron was responsible for taming the saturated area from improvised explosive devices environment of Kandahar.
Canadian documentary producer Paul Culliton is aiming to bring to life the book in a documentary including firsthand accounts footage from Canadian soldiers who served with the Squadron in Afghanistan. Culliton produced the award-winning documentary If I Should Fall: A true story of the Afghan War experience recounting the life and death of 22-year-old Royal Canadian Dragoon Trooper Marc Diab.
Culliton noted he has wanted to complete Clearing the Way for the last 10 years. Now that a lot of the pain is gone and the engineers are ready to talk about their story, it’s important for me to show the world what these guys have dealt with every day: the dangers, the constant fires. They made Afghanistan a safer place. I strongly believe they are the unsung heroes of the Afghan War,” he explained.
Major Anthony Robb was deployed with 23 Field Squadron to Afghanistan at the time.
“History is only history if someone takes the time to record it,” he noted. “The 15-year (sic) long Canadian contribution to the Afghanistan theatre of operations is filled with stories of sacrifice, loss, heroism and love. While we are in no position to tell the whole story, we are certainly both capable of and responsible for telling our own story. Further, the specificity of the story told ensures that the ultimate sacrifice of Sgt Shane Stachnick, a section commander within our 23 Feld Squadron, and the sacrifices and actions of those team members still with us today--never becomes reduced to statistics.
A Go Fund Me campaign has been launched to help complete the work and record this important part of our Engineer heritage and history. See the article to see how you can help.