Contact Charlie : The Canadian Army, the Taliban, and the Battle for Afghanistan

In the summer of 2006, a Canadian army patrol travelling through Afghanistan's Panjwayi region surprised an unexpectedly large force of Taliban fighters. The soldiers of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry had stumbled into a hornet's nest; the largest buildup of Taliban forces in the region since their regime had fallen in 2001. As their commanders threw more and more soldiers into what became a gruelling, drawn-out struggle, the battalion's Charlie Company found itself at the forefront of every firefight and ambush in a desperate, two-month pitched battle. The 150 soldiers of Charlie suffered more casualties and earned more decorations for bravery than any other Canadian unit since the Korean War. They came into contact with the enemy so many times they became known simply as "Contact Charlie." In Contact Charlie, reporter and embedded journalist Chris Wattie offers an intimate and harrowing look at a series of battles that would eventually take the lives of seven soldiers. Based on Wattie's own experience in Afghanistan, as well as hundreds of post-tour interviews, Contact Charlie is a rare piece of military writing, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the stories that made headlines that summer—and continue to do so today. "It's a decade since the world died. Humanity has retreated inside walled territories to protect those who are left. Every day is like the one before it: simple, mundane, dreadful. Erin Bishop lives in the territory Eden, where she enforces the rule of Mr. Bellemark, its leader and keeper - a self-proclaimed saviour of the world. All is well inside her concrete cage until the day she learns of a terrorist threatening the lives inside the walls and her partner falls victim to a vicious attack. All at once, Erin is swept up into a centuries-old battle between dark and light. She must fight to finally expose the secrets plaguing her life inside Eden and face the hideous truths of her existence."--Back cover