Canadian Afghanistan veterans sometimes tell Dr. Andrew Burtch they were there but did nothing remarkable. He offers a way to hear what that modest account leaves out, and discover experiences that never reached the official record.
After a friendly fire incident wounded thirty Canadians, people had to move casualties over a mountainside. Andrew recounts a detail about that evacuation that still astonishes him. What looks like a brief entry in military history was lived second by second.
Years later, some veterans are ready to let their families into those experiences. Others look back with different feelings about what the mission achieved. The Canadian War Museum’s The Long War brings those voices together, leaving room for pride, doubt and accounts that do not neatly agree.
Topics: Afghanistan veterans, oral history, casualty evacuation, military families, The Long War
GUEST: Dr. Andrew Burtch | https://www.warmuseum.ca/dod/podcasts/the-long-war
RUNDOWN: Dr. Andrew Burtch | Post-1945 Historian, Canadian War Museum | Canadian Afghanistan veterans | Dr. Andrew Burtch explains how The Long War uses veteran interviews to preserve experiences beyond official records, including a rapid casualty evacuation, while allowing differing perspectives on the mission’s legacy.
Originally aired on2026-10-01
