‘We were the frontline’: Canadian veterans outraged by Trump’s NATO comments

Andrew Johnson speaks with a Canadian veteran about his experiences fighting in Afghanistan and the outrage sparked by comments made by U.S. President Trump.

U.S. President Donald Trump is facing backlash from Canadian veterans after suggesting NATO allies did little during the war in Afghanistan, comments veterans say ignore their painful sacrifices.

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said the United States had “never needed” its NATO partners and characterized allied contributions in Afghanistan as minor, saying they “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”

His remarks didn’t sit well with Canadian veterans who were part of the Afghan conflict, which represented the country’s largest overseas deployment since the Second World War. More than 40,000 Canadian Armed Forces members served in the region between 2001 and 2014. In total, 158 Canadians were killed and thousands more were injured.

‘We were the frontline’

Retired corporal Bruce Moncur, who served in 2006 as part of Operation Medusa, said he is “enraged” by Trump’s comments. “We were the frontline,” he said Tuesday. “We took over Kandahar from the Americans because of their war in Iraq. We alleviated those forces so they could move to Iraq. We were as frontline as frontline can get.”

Moncur’s time in Afghanistan came to an end when his platoon was mistakenly attacked by U.S. troops.

“An American A-10 Warthog fired on our position without looking at his coordinates,” Moncur said. “It strafed myself and my entire platoon, essentially wiping out my platoon and killing (Private) Mark Anthony Graham.”

Moncur said five per cent of his brain was removed following the attack. He re-learned how to walk, read, and write, effectively ending his military career. He is now a fifth-grade teacher in Thompson, Man.

Out of his 40-member platoon, Moncur estimates 35 soldiers were either killed or wounded during their time in Afghanistan.

‘Wolves don’t mind the opinions of sheep’

Retired corporal Trevor Street of Maple Ridge B.C., served two tours in Afghanistan and said Trump’s comments speak to his ignorance about the conflict.

“To allude to this idea that Canadians shied away from fighting or played no major part in fighting it just doesn’t line up with the objective facts.”

Street called Trump’s statement “insulting” but added he was trying not to take it too seriously. “Wolves don’t mind the opinions of sheep, he said.

Street also believes now is the time to use the added attention on Canadian veterans to advocate for new federal support on behalf of the Veterans Transition Network, which provides housing and counselling for those who did so much in Afghanistan, and beyond. “I have a very Canadian attitude about this. You know, you take a negative and you turn it into a positive,” Street said.