Tag: Afghanistan

Caesar The War Dog: Operation Blue Dragon by Stephen Dando-Collins

In the golden glow of dawn, an Australian Army Black Hawk helicopter swept in low over Sydney Harbour. Below, ferries, water taxis, speedboats and yachts were already out on the water, leaving foaming white trails behind them. Inside the helicopter’s passenger compartment, Sergeant Ben Fulton of the Special Operations Engineer Regiment (SOER) sat in full combat rig of bulletproof vest, camouflage jacket and trousers. A holstered Browning Hi Power 9 mm automatic pistol was strapped low on his right thigh, and a rappelling harness covered his torso. Leather combat gloves moulded to his hands so precisely they were like a second skin. On the belt around his waist were a full water canteen, a sheathed combat knife, spare Browning magazines and two pouches – the larger one empty, the smaller one containing dog biscuits.

In the golden glow of dawn, an Australian Army Black Hawk helicopter swept in low over Sydney Harbour. Below, ferries, water taxis, speedboats and yachts were already out on the water, leaving foaming white trails behind them. Inside the helicopter’s passenger compartment, Sergeant Ben Fulton of the Special Operations Engineer Regiment (SOER) sat in full combat rig of bulletproof vest, camouflage jacket and trousers. A holstered Browning Hi Power 9 mm automatic pistol was strapped low on his right thigh, and a rappelling harness covered his torso. Leather combat gloves moulded to his hands so precisely they were like a second skin. On the belt around his waist were a full water canteen, a sheathed combat knife, spare Browning magazines and two pouches – the larger one empty, the smaller one containing dog biscuits.

Ben Fulton and his EDD (explosives detection dog) Caesar are back in a new adventure. Operation Blue Dragon opens with a sweep of the Sydney Opera House in preparation for the arrival of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General. Ben and Caesar discover a bomb and afterwards enjoy an event at Government House. There they meet the UN Secretary General who two weeks later is taken hostage by the Taliban. Ben and Caesar are part of a team assembled to rescue the UN Secretary General and his staff. Time is of the essence as is secrecy. Back in Sydney Ben’s son Josh is experiencing challenges of his own at school, where a bully seems to have fixed on him. Josh doesn’t want to worry his father at his work, but he’s at a loss to know just what to do.

Operation Blue Dragon: 2 combines the action and high drama of elite forces in Afghanistan with the real life dramas faced by families of soldiers. There are multiple storylines for readers to follow. There’s Josh’s bully dramas; Sergeant Ben Fulton’s work; friend Charlie’s recuperation from double amputation and return to the job he loves and the family’s adjustment to the loss of Josh’s mother to cancer. There are detailed explanations of equipment, manoeuvres and acronyms. Dog-lovers will appreciate the intelligence and judgement displayed by Caesar. Along the way, readers discover both the people and the landscape of Afghanistan and about the ongoing challenges of that war. There are also explanations of the role of the UN and the structure of some of the organisations that link with the UN. Violence is acknowledged but the details are not dwelt on. This is an ideal story for action-loving boys who want to know all about the army and special forces.

 

Caesar the War Dog: Operation Blue Dragon, Stephen Dando-Collins

Random House Australia 2013 ISBN: 9780857980533

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookshops or online.

The Ink Bridge by Neil Grant

Omed, a boy, flees Afganistan after a run in with the Taliban. He leaves behind his family and all he knows. His agonising and protracted journey leads him to Australia. There he is supposed to find peace and prosperity. Hector is an Australian boy, locked into silence by trauma. He’s gradually withdrawing from all he has known.

Omed had the Buddha’s eyes and a tongue that refused words. His was the silence of caves; the false peace that descends when a mortar shell rips apart a building. His was the stillness of bald mountains and long beards and the paths cleared by bullets; the quiet of a long-bladed knife.

Did all this begin with Omed? Or did it start with me at fifteen, shouting for answers; words running sour in my mouth, bleeding to whispers in my throat, evaporating in numbed ears. Those ears: my dad, my invisible friends, teachers that either didn’t care or cared too much.

Omed, a boy, flees Afghanistan after a run in with the Taliban. He leaves behind his family and all he knows. His agonising and protracted journey leads him to Australia. There he is supposed to find peace and prosperity. Hector is an Australian boy, locked into silence by trauma. He’s gradually withdrawing from all he has known. Their lives intersect in a candle factory in the suburbs. It is a place of numbing boredom, but also a place of secrets. Dangerous secrets. Hector and Omed are linked by their stories, by their experience and by the secrets they uncover.

Hector and Omed are from very different worlds. Both are silent, although it’s not immediately obvious why that is. Candles are supposed to light up the darkness, but illumination leaves shadows, even when two candles combine. There are dark corners in the worlds these boys encounter, separately and together. Meeting each other is a turning point, although neither could have predicted the direction. Grant takes the reader into the enduring horror of Afghanistan’s wars and shows the complexity of the challenges, the realities for a people so long the focus of aggression and hate. The metaphor of a bridge linking the seemingly unlinkable features strongly. He also shines a light on the desperation that impels refugees to seek homes elsewhere, and the barriers that make the journey so much harder than it should have to be. Hector’s rites of passage journey contrasts with Omed’s, but shows the power of empathy and shared experiences. Recommended for mid-secondary readers.

The Ink Bridge, Neil Grant
Allen & Unwin 2012 ISBN: 9781742376691

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com