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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday May 11, 2007 - 3 Soldier never fired weapon in battle in Iraq Continued from page 1 5 Simple Reasons: Oakville's Natural Stone Supplier PERMA 2. Our Qualified Teachers ­ Every member of the Pathways teaching staff team member of the Pathways staff has attained their Early Childhood Education (ECE) designation allowing Childhood Education (ECE) designation allowing your child to learn in a safe, effective and nurturing environment; child to learn in a safe, effective and nurturing environment; 3. Our World-Class Facilities ­ Once you step into our world-class facilities, you'll see how our bright, creative and stimulating environment provides ample room for your child to learn and explore both inside and outside the classroom; 4. Our Nutrition Program - Our "Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds" program ensures that your child receives fresh, balanced and nutritious meals every day. All meals are designed by our professional chef to enhance the overall health and well-being of your child; 5. Our High Level of Care ­ We care deeply about every child as an individual and provide a happy, healthy learning environment designed to bring out their best. Contractor Referral Program Providing A Full Line of Premium Grade Stone Products For Pools . Patios . Walkways . Retaining Walls . Gardens Pathways Academy offers a comprehensive, award-winning educational experience ranging from infant child care to senior kindergarten. Contact us today for a personal tour of our world-class facilities and to learn more about the Pathways educational experience for your child. Monday - Friday: 7am-5:30pm . Saturday: 7:30am-3pm Burlington 905-637-8481 www.pathwaysacademy.ca Infants On Cornwall Road, East of Ford Drive Ph: 905-849-5557 www.boulders.ca · Toddlers · Preschool · JK/SK 1. Our Proven Curriculum ­ The Pathways enriched curriculum blends the best of Montessori, Core Knowledge and High Scope teaching methods designed to stimulate every part of your child's brain for successful development; · Camps The news also came as no huge surprise to Carla, but knowing that her husband would soon be participating in a conflict, which to date has killed 3,354 Americans and wounded more than 25,000 did nothing to diminish her concern. "I was worried about him," she said. "I didn't know him when he went before, so this was my first experience. It was difficult, it was hard, but the kids were really resilient and with the support of friends and family we were able to muddle through it. It definitely wasn't easy though." Palm's own feelings were mixed after hearing the news of his imminent deployment. "It's hard to sort of disengage and temporarily put on hold a lot of important things in your life. Your family, your job, your spouse," he said. "It creates a very stressful last month when you do that. That's not to say that you aren't excited with the new challenge and the opportunity, but it's definitely a difficult process." One month after he was told he was going to Iraq, Palm stood in the doorway of his Oakville home and bid his family goodbye. Ahead of him lay two weeks of training in Buffalo and a flight to Kuwait before making his way into the country that has witnessed some of the most vicious fighting of the 21st century. "It was early morning and it was very sad. He was in his uniform and he had a couple of duffel bags and off he went," said Carla. "It was surreal." DAVID LEA / OAKVILLE BEAVER SAFE AT HOME: Lieutenant Colonel Eric Palm relaxes at his Oakville home with his family -- daughters Allie and Emily, wife Carla, son Kyle and dog Maggie. This parting was just as hard on Palm's children. "In their little minds I'm sure they were thinking, `gosh what's Dad doing,' because they hear things at school and they know about the war in Iraq and that soldiers have been killed," said Carla. Palm says all soldiers dread moments like these, when they must leave emotionally devastated loved ones for the unknown. "It doesn't get any easier, whether you do it once or twice or three times, it's always a very difficult time." Even though he has created a life for himself in Canada, Palm says it never occurred to him for a second to protect that life by doing what a few other American soldiers have done and avoid deployment to Iraq by hiding in Canada. "I'm a Lieutenant Colonel and over the last four years I've shaken hands with a lot of soldiers who have made the commitment of spending six months to a year away from their families. So, when my turn came I knew I had a responsibility and an obligation to go given that a number of these people that had worked for me had made a similar sacrifice." By mid-November Palm found himself in Camp Speicher, a 7km by 7km base of operations for around 10,000 American soldiers. Located just outside Tikrit, birthplace of Saddam Hussein, the area had been a scene of fierce insurgent attacks against American troops during the early days of the occupation. In recent years these attacks have lessened somewhat to the point where, in 2005, U.S. forces had turned control of their headquarters within the city over to the new Iraqi government. Despite this progress, Palm says there are still areas in the city where you just do not go. "The area that I was in was a mixture of very quiet and stable areas that were going through the reconstruction process well and then interspersed among these there were some very contentious areas that unfortunately were still quite violent from an insurgency perspective." In one incident, reported by CNN, last February authorities shot a would-be suicide bomber as he tried to enter an Iraqi Army Recruitment Centre. While in Iraq, Palm worked for the Centre for Army Lessons Learned which is charged with keeping soon-tobe deployed soldiers back in America current on what tactics are being used in Iraq. "We made sure they had the latest information in terms of what was happening on the ground," said Palm. "This included both the friendly tactics and the enemy tactics and so the IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) would be a good example. There's understanding what the enemy is doing and what the Coalition Forces were doing to counter this." Doing this job effectively meant Palm could not stay within the relative safety of the army base travelling, mostly by helicopter, across vast stretches of Iraq. "Our operational area really went from the Northern half of Baghdad up to the Syrian border," he said. "It was important to interview the frontline leaders, so I did a lot of travelling to the units around our area as they were conducting operations." Although he was never attacked or required to fire his weapon during his travels, this did not mean Palm never saw the enemy. "On one of the helicopter rides, I went on they had a contingent of prisoners that was on there as well," he said. Hooded and shackled, one of the prisoners was a young boy, Palm estimated to be only 15 or 16. "I remember thinking how terrible it was that he'd been brought into that sort of environment and there definitely is a process to identify the minors and to make sure that they're handled separately." Besides incidents like these, Palm never got a glimpse of an insurgent. "The enemy by their very nature don't tend to show themselves. That's one of the big differences between this deployment and the first Gulf War," he said. "There's no front line and the enemy is in a lot of cases invisible." As Palm did his part in the war against this invisible enemy, back in Oakville, Carla and the children did their best to cope with his absence. "I tried not to watch the news because the news would upset me," she said. "You see things and you hear things but I tuned it out as much as I could." Fortunately the work involved in taking care of three children alone made the time go by that much faster. Also Palm was not completely cut off from his family. "A huge difference between this deployment (and) the last one is the communications," he said. "Last time, I probably talked with my family three times in six months." This time the Internet and email allowed Palm to keep in touch with his family almost every day of his deployment. "That goes a long way," he said. For Carla and the children reading Palm's emails became an almost daily ritual. "We'd wake up in the morning and the first thing See Internet page 4 WHY CHOOSE PATHWAYS ACADEMY FOR YOUR CHILD?