Friday, October 20, 2006

Taliban + Marijuana + Canadian Army = Hilarity

I am not in the military, nor have I ever been, but I imagine that the field manuals do not advise trying to burn down a pot field if you enemy is hiding in it. Well apparently the Canadian Army skipped that day of field exercises because when encountered with what described as a ‘forest’ of marijuana in Afghanistan, that is exactly what they tried.

The Taliban fighters were using the dense thicket of plants for cover, so the troops were forced to eliminate the weedy threat.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy and heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," General Rick Hillier said in a speech in Ottawa.

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hiller said.

Sometimes you just have to scratch your head and wonder? Best part... They failed to burn down the 'forest' of plants. Seriously? You couldnt light marijuana on fire?

3 comments:

Jonathan Perri said...

At least those Canadians know that the only way marijuana can be dangerous is if your enemy uses it for cover:

Hillier added that after the fight, a soldier said: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."

Anonymous said...

That was a field of hemp, not pot.

It does go to show that hemp IS tough enough to repel the Canadian Army.

Anonymous said...

This news story was part of a PR campaign to get more positive press and possibly draw more recruits for the Canadian military. Last week, another story appeared - 300 out of 1000 new recruits tested positive for drugs.

Since the Canadian Forces need new bodies for the increasingly bloody battles in southern Afghanistan, they are relaxing the "zero tolerance" drug policy.

Also, most CF troops are very familar with the plant - an astonishing number of growers I have met over the years are vets.