By Bill Graveland , The Canadian Press
 
PASAB, Afghanistan - As Canadian troops in this inhospitable, war-battered land work to root out and confront Taliban insurgents on a daily basis, the role for women on the front lines has continued to evolve in the country where Canada lost its first female combat soldier.

And while those who ply their trade beyond the relative security of Kandahar Airfield’s perimeter may not all be going from compound to compound hunting the Taliban, the jobs being done by women soldiers in Afghanistan still come with their own unique dangers.

“I had a suicide bomber detonate himself about 50 metres from me - that was the closest to death I’ve felt since I got here,” said Cpl. Nanette Black, 23, a medic stationed at Camp Nathan Smith, a Canadian outpost in the heart of Kandahar city.

The attack, which occurred last November, was the work of a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform who detonated his explosives at the Dand district headquarters near Kandahar city, killing two policemen and a civilian in addition to himself.

“You hear the loud bang and see the explosion and you don’t know what it’s coming from,” Black recalled.

“I didn’t know it was a suicide bomber and didn’t know whether we were being attacked, whether there’s mortars coming down. So initially, the first thing that runs through your head is, ‘Where is cover?”‘

Capt. Nicola Goddard, of the 1st Regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, died May 17, 2006, in a grenade attack in the Panjwaii district west of Kandahar city. She was Canada’s first female soldier to die in combat, but likely won’t be the last.

While the debate about the comparative merits and disadvantages of women in the military has raged for decades in several other countries, Canada has long been considered progressive when it comes to equal access and full integration of men and women in its armed forces.

Evidence of that attitude is on regular display in Afghanistan, where soldiers like Black relish the opportunity to skirt the daily perils of a war zone in order to serve their country.

“Hopefully, I’ve bettered someone’s life,” Black said as she anticipated the assignment’s brighter moments, like the opportunity to deliver donated toys to a local orphanage.

“If I can see the smiles on the kids’ faces, that would make this whole trip worthwhile.”

Suicide attacks and an increased use of improvised explosive devices are among Afghanistan’s most common threats, and have already taken a deadly toll on civilians and Canadian soldiers alike.

But the additional challenges that confront female soldiers are often more subtle - being a woman in a country that doesn’t value women, for instance.

Cpl. Nicole Bucci, a military policewoman who works with Afghan Uniformed Police officers in Pashmul in the dangerous Zhari district, is often called upon to conduct security searches on Afghan women - something Afghan troops and police are forbidden by Islam to do.

For Bucci, whose father is a regimental sergeant-major for medics serving in Afghanistan, the value of her contribution often comes in the form of the example she’s setting.

“I like to think I’m showing a face to the Afghan females here, too that there’s something for them outside the walls of their homes,” she said.

“That’s why I like to do it - for the children.”

Bucci, who has taken part in a number of military operations, had also her share of close calls, including a “scary” IED detonation that seriously injured a number of Canadian soldiers.

“There was just an explosion - I saw black smoke and that was it,” she recalled matter-of-factly. “We didn’t know if it was Canadians or AUP and we were hoping to God it wasn’t Canadians, but it was.”

The insidious prospect of a deadly explosion occurring under one’s feet is easily one of the hardest concepts for soldiers in Afghanistan to grasp, since there’s usually no warning, no chance to run for cover.

“It can be scary at times when you don’t know; gunfire is one thing, but IEDs just scare me - you can’t plan for it,” she said.

“I just thought it was a movie. That’s just what I kept playing in my head. It was just a Hollywood movie.”

Soldiers aren’t the only Canadian women doing active duty in Afghanistan. Lara Romaniuc is the first member of the Canadian International Development Agency, or CIDA, to be permanently stationed outside of Kandahar city.

As a stabilization officer for the Zhari and Panjwaii districts, long-standing hotbeds of Taliban activity, Romaniuc is essentially the first civilian foot soldier to be deployed in the perilous, poverty-stricken region when the fighting dies down.

Romaniuc, who deals face-to-face with village leaders, said her gender hasn’t been a problem so far.

“I only get smiles from men, from children and from women,” she said.

“Women I don’t see as much, and that’s the irony. Women are so hidden in this society that you don’t ever see them. It’s so easy to forget about them because they’re not there.”

In Romaniuc’s job, security is an ever-present concern every time she goes into the field.

“You get a very different response if you go in with your flak jacket and your entire gear,” said Romaniuc, who has also worked providing aid in Cambodia, Turkey and the Ukraine before joining CIDA in 2002.

“It’s intimidating and body language speaks volumes - it speaks louder than words and it’s the risk that I’m willing to take.”
Courtesy of:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com