Canadians at Camp Souter provide critical support to NATO training mission

By Lieutenant (Navy) Len Hickey

KABUL, Afghanistan — On 23 August 2011, Colonel Peter Dawe, the deputy commander of the Canadian Contribution Training Mission – Afghanistan (CCTM-A) paid a visit to Camp Souter to meet the small but vital team that lives and works there, and tour their facility.

Camp Souter is a British support base conveniently situated near Kabul International Airport. The Canadians assigned there work diligently behind the scenes to meet the support requirements of CCTM-A, the large and growing mission deployed with the NATO Training Mission–Afghanistan (NTM-A) under Operation ATTENTION. NTM-A is the international effort to help the Afghan national security forces prepare for the transition to full responsibility for security throughout Afghanistan in 2014.

“The men and women here at Camp Souter have been instrumental in their support of the training mission,” said Col Dawe. “it is truly amazing what a relatively small group of motivated and dedicated Canadians can accomplish.”

Approximately 50 Canadians at Camp Souter provide everything from the transport and warehousing of cargo to the routine movement of CF personnel between camps in the region.

Captain Tom Hammond is the senior Canadian at Camp Souter. “Though the work that is being done at Camp Souter is not glamorous,” he said, “it is absolutely critical to the success of the mission. Providing responsive and flexible support to the training camps allows them to focus on their task of mentoring the trainers of the Afghan national security forces.”

In recent months, the Canadian contingent has been busy coordinating, loading and unloading freight delivered to Kabul International Airport from Kandahar Airfield as Operation ATTENTION builds up and the Mission Transition Task Force at Kandahar Airfield continues to draw down Operation ATHENA, the now-concluded combat mission in southern Afghanistan..

“All soldiers here at Camp Souter embrace the fact that we are here to support Canadians,” said Capt Hammond. “It also gives them an opportunity to work with coalition partners, particularity the British.”