Mike Gauley cherished his 35-year military career

By Joan Janzen

Mike Gauley, from Cereal, Alberta, took time to share some of his experiences serving in the Canadian military for more than 35 years. In 2017, he transferred to the Reserves and worked with the Cadet program as a way to wean himself off a career he cherished. He was released on Oct. 31, 2023, and said, “I would do it all over again if I could.”

(L) Chief Warrant Officer Mike Gauley (retired) covers for Sgt. Mike Rude (retired) as he engages with Afghan police and another armed member via an interpreter, in Panjwayi, southern Afghanistan in 2005. Both men are from Cereal, Alta. Photo (submitted)

Mike Gauley (L) and Mike Rude resting on the steps of the municipal district’s HAQ in Panjwayi, Afghanistan. Photo (submitted)

Mike joined the military when he was 18, serving as an army reservist for two years in Lethbridge before joining the Regular Force. “I originally served as an artilleryman in the Airborne Battery as part of the Canadian Airborne Battle Group. After five years, I voluntarily transferred to the parachute infantry. I finished my full-time career with 14 years in Special Operations,” he explained.

He did four tours in Afghanistan, with each tour having a different mission. His first deployment was part of the initial response to the 9/11 attacks, which lasted seven months. During his second six-month tour, he provided security for Canadian officials who had the mission of assisting the Afghans with their governance structures. They ran escorts in the area that served as the centre of the Taliban, to permit meetings with the local governor and other officials.

“At that time, the Taliban were trying to re-consolidate their power with the goal of destabilizing any effort to empower everyday Afghan citizens by the West or their own government,” Mike said. “They hit our teams often with indiscriminate attacks in crowded areas, causing civilian casualties as well as casualties to our own comrades. In one attack, Canadian diplomat Glynn Berry was killed, and several soldiers in my platoon were severely wounded.”

While on tour in Afghanistan, there were rules the soldiers needed to respect. For example, they weren’t allowed to speak to or acknowledge the presence of women. “But having women soldiers with us permitted them to engage with the women in Afghan society,” he explained.

Mike pointed out another distinction between the cultures: how the Afghans do business. “If you have an hour to meet with a tribal elder to secure an agreement, we learned to spend the first 45 minutes speaking about family, achieving a human connection to make us relatable to them,” he explained. “Only then could you engage in discussion of business, such as asking them about the presence of the Taliban, how we could help secure their village, the things they needed to improve life for themselves, etc.”

When he was on operations in the early days, his platoon was inserted by U.S. helicopters into the high ground to clear out Al Qaeda from the mountains. “Once a couple more landed, we had a large enough force to start pushing our way further down the mountain range,” he explained. It was a big operation, including approximately 400 soldiers.

They carried their supplies in rucksacks weighing over 70 pounds; however, the rucksacks of soldiers carrying machine guns and large radios were even heavier. Rockets were fired into caves, which lightened the load for some of the soldiers.

“After a full day of clearing and blasting cave sanctuaries and moving across the mountain range, we set up for the night,” he said. They built small sanctuaries out of rock for protection from enemy fire and slept with their boots on, ready to be awakened for sentry duty to protect everyone while they slept.

In the morning, they would heat up rations and brew coffee on little stoves they carried for their one hot meal of the day before getting their orders for the day. “As the weather warmed, we didn’t have snow to melt for water, so we were resupplied by helicopter dropping water and rations for us,” he said.

This 24-hour cycle continued until the job was done. At the end of the operation, the soldiers were tired, dirty, unshaven and hungry. Injured people were evacuated by extremely skilled pilots who could put the large helicopters into impossible spots, “sometimes with only a single wheel or the edge of the rear ramp contacting the ground,” he said.

Mike had done a few tours in places like Bosnia and Cyprus before he found himself in Afghanistan, but he said, “It was never pleasant being away from family.” The soldiers could communicate with loved ones via email and Skype.

“We would receive letters from Canadian school children, to which a lot of us would respond. Mail was always a morale boost,” he added. “One time, I was based near the border of Pakistan at a small outpost where we were resupplied by parachute airdrop every few nights. Living there was pretty rough. But they dropped in a Bowflex exercise machine to us one night.”

During the time Canada was stationed in Afghanistan, Mike reported: “We proudly enabled a generation of girls to become educated women, and we rendered banditry and oppression relatively extinct for their citizens. We opened schools and clinics, helped them start their form of democracy, and prevented the Taliban from ruling like they do there now—by decree and violence.”