Lerch, Slade Gestur John: my Canadian Forces recollections (March 26, 2012)

An interview/narrative of Captain Slade Lerch's experiences whilst serving with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. Interview took place on March 26, 2012.

ABSTRACT: Captain Lerch talks about his third deployment in Afghanistan in Kandahar working at the Operational Coordination Centre Regional- Regional Control South HQ, located in the Joint Regional Afghan Army Center. He explains the complexities of ISAF structure in dealing with different organizations, like the US Army, the Canadian Forces, the Afghan Army, and the Afghan Police. Bridging the cultural differences, Lerch was an official Mentor to the Afghan Brigadier-General in charge of coordinating the Afghan response to the abundance of domestic problems happening in Afghanistan. He discusses the challenges and successes of his last deployment before a brief discussion on the trends of the war in Afghanistan. Recording 1 0:00 – 6:00 - Personal and deployment introduction. Break down of the ANSF. 6:00 - 10:30 - How he got his posting; Different roles of CF in Afghanistan. 10:30 - 15:00 - Command structure and being under US command. 15:00 - 17:00 - Difficulties of dealing with multiple organizations in a war zone. 17:00 - 28:00 - Location of JRAC; Friction between different Afghan Police units. 28:00 - 31:30 - Mentoring ANSF staff in the OCCR. 31:30 - 34:20 - The turmoil of selecting an Afghan to command the OCCR. 34:30 - 38:00 - Reflections on the successes of training and progress of ANSF. 38:00 - 43:00 - The problems, complications, and intricacies of being a mentor. 43:00 - 51:00 - Daily life description and Afghans using computers. 51:00 - 57:33 - Afghan treatment of foreigners and the importance of respect. Recording 2 0:00 - 4:00- Importance of respect and coalition forces dealing with Afghan demands. 4:00 - 11:00 - Training and working with American forces. 11:00 - 15:00 - Interpreters: importance of; politics. 15:00 - 18:00 - Civilians; security around Camp Lindsey and JRAC; interpreters. 18:00 - 20:00 - Coalition attitude to Canadians; living amenities at Camp Lindsey. 20:00 - 24:00 - ANA, ANP drug use and corruption. 24:00 - 29:00 - ANSF equipment, desertion; Improvement over deployment. 29:00 - 35:00 - Themes over deployments: Resurgence of the Taliban. 35:00 - 39:30 - Description of contact on second tour. 39:30 - 41:00 - IEDs: Trends, nature of. 41:00 - 43:00 - Brief summary of second tour. 43:00 - 44:00 - Afghan treatment of women in daily life. 44:00 - 51:00 - Opium farmers and PRTs; Validation Transition Teams; Summary.

Rank: Captain.

Interviewee: Lerch, Slade Gestur John, b. 1969

Interviewer: Balfour, Jimmy

In Collection:

• Canadian Military Oral Histories

Contributor

• Lerch, Slade Gestur John, b. 1969
• Balfour, Jimmy

Subject

• Soldiers
• Canada. Canadian Armed Forces
• Afghan Wars
• Afghan War (2001-2021)
• Military history

Language

• eng

Keyword

• Kabul (Afghanistan)
• Camp Lindsey (Afghanistan : Military base)
• Afghanistan--Politics and government--2001-
• Kandahar Airfield (Afghanistan)
• Counterinsurgency
• Women--Afghanistan
• Afghanistan National Security Forces
• Culture conflict
• Multinational armed forces
• Afghanistan--Afghan National Army
• International Security Assistance Force (Afghanistan)
• Provincial Reconstruction Team
• Drug traffic--Afghanistan
• Lerch, Slade G. J. (Gestur John), 1969- --Interviews
• Tactics
• Kandaha?r (Afghanistan)
• Special forces (Military science)
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Mentoring
• Civil-military relations--Afghanistan
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Joint Task Force Two
• Afghanistan--History--2001-
• Mentoring
• Taliban
• Panjwa?ii (Afghanistan : District)
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry--Battalion, 3rd
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team
• Translators
• Afghanistan--Afghan National Police
• Improvised explosive devices
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Personal narratives
• Soldiers--Recreation
• Afghan War, 2001- --Personal narratives, Canadian
• Integrated operations (Military science).
• Canada--Canadian Armed Forces--Barracks and quarters

Date created

• March 26, 2012

Relation

• Alternate title: "Canadian Forces Experience in Kandahar, Afghanistan".
• Part of the Military Oral History Class collection of interviews.

Resource type

• Sound

Rights statement

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Extent

• 2 sound recordings (MP3)

Geographic coverage

• Canada
• Afghanistan

Coordinates

• 33, 66
• 60.10867, -113.64258

Additional physical characteristics

• Original sound recordings (MP3) also available.

Physical repository

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Collection

• Canadian Military Oral History Collection

Provider

• University of Victoria (B.C.). Library

Genre

• oral histories (literary genre)
• sound recordings
• interviews
• reminiscences

Archival item identifier

• LS_706

Fonds title

• Military oral history collection

Fonds identifier

• SC141

Is referenced by

• Special Collections Finding Aid: https://uvic2.coppul.archivematica.org/military-oral-history-collection

Date digitized

• March 26, 2012

Technical note

• Digital sound recording in .mp3 format at 160 kbps and 44 kHz. Recorded in digital format by interviewer, technical and cataloguing metadata provided by JF and JP. Interview recorded in digital format for UVic Special Collections in 2012. Migration metadata by KD and MT.

Rights

• This interview has been posted with the understanding that it may be used for research purposes only. Should the interviewee or their heirs have any objections to this interview being accessible on the Internet, it will be removed promptly. Contact UVic Special Collections for permission if using for other than research purposes: speccoll@uvic.ca

DOI

•  https://doi.org/10.58066/w4ra-qc51

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Visibility	Actions
	SC141_MilitaryOralHistory_GenericThumbnail		Public	Press to Select an action Download
	Lerch_S_0706_01.mp3		Public	Press to Select an action Download
	Lerch_S_0706_02.mp3		Public	Press to Select an action Download