All is not so quiet.

Amidst the sturm und drang surrounding the US' imperial march through Iraq, Canada's (growing) military presence in Afghanistan has gone largely underreported. As we're set to increase our troop presence there over the next six months -- and we've just elected a pro-military party to office -- it helps to have stories like this one circulating, the better to remind us that our military is involved in some its largest maneuvers in recent history.

National Post reporter Chris Wattie was travelling with a Canadian Forces patrol yesterday when a bomb planted in the road went off directly in front of the lead vehicle. Here is his account of the attack.

(...)

Then, out of nowhere, there was a flash in front of the lead G-wagon and a bang that we could feel in the back of our teeth even in the rear vehicle of the convoy.

A column of dirt shot 15 metres into the air, seemingly erupting from the hood of the lead vehicle, and within seconds the first two Canadian patrol cars disappeared in a cloud of mud-coloured dust.

"They're hit, they're hit!" shouted Master Corporal Jason Keen, second-in- command of the patrol and in charge of the rear G-wagon in the formation. "Can you see them? Can anyone see them?"