About 50 soldiers left the Edmonton International Airport Wednesday morning as part of the last deployment of Canadian soldiers to Afghanistan.
The troops will first stop in Winnipeg to pick up another group of soldiers who will join in the training mission to mentor and train Afghan police and the Afghan army.
“We have some senior officers advising senior members of the Afghan security forces, we have young soldiers that are involved in logistical roles or drive teams, and staff officers that work in the national command support element headquarters … so we have a real mix of people,” said Deputy Commander Colonel Lee Hammond Wednesday.
Hammond said many of the troops joining the mission are excited to be a part of the historic deployment.
“I think for the troops that haven't been over there, there is a lot of excitement because this is the most important operation of our generation and those soldiers that haven't had a chance to contribute to that are really looking forward to having that opportunity.”
Some of the troops could be in theater as along as spring 2014 but Hammond said most will be back in December.
“These troops will be scaling back to Canada throughout our tour over there, and that will start in fall. So we’re the last rotation, so we’ll start big and get smaller all the way to the end.”
