HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN

TRURO - Darren Weatherbee no longer sweats the small stuff.
While traffic jams and other such life incidentals may once have gotten under his skin, the little things that often set off an average person on a bad day "don't bother me anymore," he said.
That's what being up front and personal in a war zone will do for you. After a couple of tours with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan, Sgt. Weatherbee of the 1st Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment says he has developed a new outlook on life.
"I've got all the time in the world."
Weatherbee, 35, is a Salmon River native who decided at about age 11 he wanted to be a soldier.
"At that early age, I liked guns and playing war, just the things that boys do when they're growing up," he said. "I didn't really realize what all it entailed until I got a little bit older."
That realization never deterred his childhood ambitions, however, and his desire to become a soldier developed into a "higher power" of challenging himself mentally and physically, taking advantage of the opportunity for world travel and of fulfilling a patriotic duty by serving his country.
"Do my little part," he said.
Now stationed in Petawawa, Ont., Weatherbee, his wife and two daughters are in Nova Scotia visiting family and friends.
In early May, Weatherbee returned from his second tour in Afghanistan and while he believes wholeheartedly in Canada's role of helping to lift the Taliban thumb from the backs of the Afghan people, he is also glad to have his tour of duty behind him.
"I think world security is very important," he said, "and I believe in the mission in Afghanistan. I think it's a very important part that we are playing because we're helping Afghanistan get back up on its feet after being under Taliban rule. We're helping them get into a more democratic way where the people have a say in who they want to govern and rule them."
While there is still much to accomplish, Weatherbee has witnessed first-hand some of the progress that has been made and he believes the mission must be continued or all the casualties and lives sacrificed will have been for naught.
"They don't have to tell us," he said, of how the Afghanistan people have benefitted from the coalition assistance. "They can enter the workplace now," he said of Afghan women. "They can go to school, they can get an education. They are not second-class citizens."
Of the 125 Canadians killed so far, 16 were Weatherbee's close friends, including his best friend from Truro, Cpl. Chris Reid, who was killed in 2006.
Because of the importance he places on the mission, Weatherbee is happy to see the effort being reinforced by tens of thousands of new American troops. He does not agree, however, with Canada's plans to pull out in 2011. He said pulling out too early will reverse the gains that have been made by Canadian troops.
"My own personal opinion, it's not the government's party line but in my opinion, if we left there in 2011, if all the coalition forces pulled out, the Taliban would be back in control within a year."

hsullivan@trurodaily.com