War is still with us. What have we learned?

Let’s sidestep the municipal election and focus on a wounded soldier.
The war in Afghanistan reached Aurora this week when Trooper Jeffrey Hunter took two hits.
The first came Tuesday when shrapnel tore into This body as he witnessed the death of two fellow Canadian soldiers.
Three days later, the Canadian military, under the umbrella of the federal government, pulled on  its combat boots to kick Trooper Hunter when he’s down.
While making arrangements to arrive back in Canada this Saturday to face months of rehabilitation, the 23-year-old was told he’s losing his danger pay.
Since Hunter is not in the battle theatre, he’s no longer entitled to his operational allowances, a government policy dictates.
The treatment of Aurora’s soldier boy is a government’s public relations nightmare. No doubt, politicians are falling all over themselves trying to distance themselves from themselves.   
A few hours after Hunter’s story appeared in a newspaper, General Rick Hellier, head of Canada’s military, stepped forward and promised to review its pay policy for soldiers .
While Hellier was at the podium, Aurora mayor Tim Jones was sending an urgent message to Newmarket-Aurora MP Belinda Stronach, asking her to try to persuade the federal government to search until it finds a heart.
Pickering-Scarborough MP Dan McTeague is keeping the Hunters of Aurora informed of the changing developments. McTeague, a very outspoken Liberal, has been leading the push to have this insensitive policy dumped.
“I want the policy overturned and I want the danger pay to be made retroactive to 2002,” McTeague said.
As well, Aurora residents are invited to visit the town office to sign a get-well card for Hunter. Considering what he’s going through, this young soldier deserves Aurora’s and Canada’s best wishes.
All wars eventually become close to home.
Let us not forgot Corporal David Donaldson of Bradford and Master Corporal Nicola Bascon, who trained at the Queen’s Rangers base in Aurora, are still in harm’s way  in Afghanistan.
In April, sympathies went out to a former Thornhill family, following the death of Canadian soldier Matthew Dinning, stationed in Kandahar.   
When I attend a Remembrance Day service Nov. 11, I’ll do what I’ve done all of my life: recognize my uncle and fallen soldier, Pvt. Alfred Alldread, killed in action in 1944. 
More than 60 years have passed and still, we send our children off to war to die. It suggests the ultimate sacrifice, made by my uncle and the others, doesn’t mean much.
War is still with us. What have we learned?
How Canadians can stomach seeing soldiers come home in body bags is beyond me. Every time a dead or injured soldier arrives home to Canada, I get the following message: Canada’s 2,300 troops should be withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Let’s examine the situation facing our Aurora soldier. As a member of the Royal Canadian Dragons, Hunter was one of several soldiers providing security for road construction near Kanadhar when insurgents attacked with mortars, rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire, killing Cpl. Craig Paul Gillam and Cpl. Robert Thomas James Mitchell and injuring the Aurora soldier.
How did Canada get from being peacekeepers to being a part of sitting-duck combat?
Why did the Hunter family have to pay their own expenses to get to Ottawa to gather up met their wounded son, a Canadian soldier?
When and how did Canada adopt this kick-our-soldiers-to-the curb mentality and put forward a policy denying a wounded soldier danger pay?