Afghanistan Calling Part 5: Good Little Soldiers Wanted
Civilian helicopter Allan Cram continues to question the sanity of flying to Afghanistan’s Kajaki Dam where a forced landing would mean almost certain capture by the Taliban. Cram has no intention of becoming being “the next Internet beheading victim.”
Afghanistan Calling Part 4: Circus of the Absurd
A civilian Canadian helicopter team in Afghanistan tries to get to the bottom of his customer’s request that his crew fly alone into one of the country’s most dangerous territories, Kajaki Dam. Meanwhile, the crew is being berated by the Country Manager for “being chicken shit.” But there’s brave, and then there’s stupid…
Afghanistan Calling Part 3: Hostile Zone, Twilight Zone
When I arrived in Kabul on August 6, after travelling about 24 hours, I was met at the airport by the other crew, and was then told about the suicide bomber in the yellow Toyota, the theft of the police uniforms, and about a scheduled flight the next morning — in 11 hours — to fly south to a Forward Operating Base (FOB) 65 miles northeast of Kandahar to take photographs of a bridge along the highway…
Che Guevara Conference Takes Place in East Van as G8/G20 Leaders Meet Behind Barricades in Toronto
As G8/G20 world leaders met behind barricades and riot police lines in Toronto, Canada, I was in a run-down community hall in East Vancouver listening to people from one of the world’s poorest countries talk with pride about their gains in healthcare and literacy and refer to their leaders by their first names: Fidel, Che, Camilo, Raul.
Afghanistan Calling Part 2: Flying in a Hostile Environment
Allan Cram had his assignment in Afghanistan: “to overfly some of the most perilous terrain in the world, where kidnap victims had little hope of being released alive, where Taliban extremists believed math should be taught to Afghan boys not by the adding or subtracting of apples and oranges, but by counting bullets and AK-47s.”
Afghanistan Calling Part 1: Flying in a Hostile Environment
Helicopter pilot Allan Cram was used to flying in dangerous places, even war zones. But Afghanistan’s Kajaki Dam was considered by even seasoned military people to be, at that time, “the most dangerous place on earth”. Why would a sane pilot willingly fly there?
Ghosts of Gallipoli — The Meaning Behind Anzac Day
On April 25 each year, Australia pays homage on Anzac Day to its sons killed in war at Gallipoli. Vincent Ross recalls travelling to the land where so many thousands of Australians, New Zealanders, Turks, Brits, French, Indians and Canadians met their death because they were landed on an impossible stretch of coastline, the tragic casualties of British imperialism.
A Year of Living Dangerously?
Working oversees as a helicopter pilot, Allan Cram has lived in some of the world’s most dangerous places, including Afghanistan and Sudan. But as he discovers, most people are just “working stiffs” like him, trying to put food on the table.
War Story
I never went to the war. Sometimes I think I missed something very important. Like the ripples on the pond echoing down the years, there seems to be no missing anything. All it takes is time.
My Bi-polar Blood Stained Existence in A War-Ravaged Society
My life is full of contradictions, or what I call my bi-polar activity. Not that I have some clinically diagnosed chemical imbalance in my aging grey matter; rather, unlike most of my friends whose work and home life are often inter-related, mine is completely disparate.
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