2.jpg&contenttype=jpeg)
loading...
Canwest News Service
Mack Reid called a few weeks ago. "I'm in Afghanistan," he said. "I'm a huge Canucks fan. I'd like them to know what they mean to me." Mack, be our guest. And we look forward to hearing from you in future installments of White Towel.
My alarm sounds.
Today isn't an ordinary day for me. I'm not waking up and putting on my slippers and flicking on the morning news to get a weather update before I drive to CFB Edmonton.
No, it is 6:30 a.m. local time in Afghanistan and I am rolling over to stream in the sounds of Rick Ball and Tom Larscheid to serenade me as I rub the sleep of another long day out of my eyes. ARating 3 , the ultimate "wake-up call," I think to myself.
My name is Mack Reid. I'm a corporal working with 1 Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry's Combat Support Company on my first tour of duty in Afghanistan serving our fine Country.
I grew up in Northern B.C. idolizing Trevor Linden and Pavel Bure. My winters were spent glued to the screen watching the Canucks games — when I wasn't playing my own hockey, of course.
Back to reality. I wake up in the mornings realizing I am a long way from home and my normal schedule that I'm used to, like a winter where I'm shovelling my driveway and wading through a foot of snow. I have traded my shovel for a rifle and my snow boots for a pair of desert tans to trot through the talcum-powder-like sand.
This doesn't stop me from listening to as many games as my work schedule permits.
There are some things that even a tour overseas can't change, Like when I was in a small TV room packed with fans of the Montreal Canadiens and I, in the middle wearing my blue and green with white trim smiling and nodding as the Canucks pounded them into the ice 7-1, or waking up at 3:30 a.m. and doing my goal-celebration dance three times in front of the faces of frustrated Maple Leafs fans.
Even though I am a part of a different type of action, I still try to live my life through the on-ice action of the Canucks to pass the days when I'm not busy working. I know I'm a part of a big family in the military, but I'm also a part of a second family, which is Canuck Nation.
I would like to thank the great people of the Canucks Fan Forum, who have kept me up-to-date as the 82-game season pushes forward. I would also like to thank Province sports editor Jonathan McDonald for this opportunity to share a bit of my story and to get the word out about the Canucks' great fans, and to tell the Canucks themselves that Canuck Nation is rooting for them here in the heat of the desert, thousands of kilometres away.
GO CANUCKS GO! Have a message for Mack Reid? Write jmcdonald@theprovince.com and we'll pass it along.
