What the Thunder Said, Lt.-Col. John Conrad’s account of his six-month tour in Kandahar, introduces us to new perspectives on the Canadian experience in Afghanistan, and contains the foundations of a better understanding of that experience.

Conrad was the commander of the logistics battalion supporting Canada’s Kandahar-based Task Force Orion during the hard-fought summer of 2006. Every day, he and his 300 soldiers ran the harrowing gauntlet of IEDs and ambushes to deliver ammunition, fuel, food, repairs, and a myriad of other supplies to the Task Force.

Although a logistics officer’s perspective on these matters is unique in Canadian military writing, what truly elevates this particular book from other, similar works is Conrad’s startling ability to capture the many layers of dissonance inherent in being a Canadian at war in Afghanistan. Conrad recalls being “shocked” by news of the aggressive deployment to war-ravaged Kandahar, and reflects that Canada’s dreams for Afghanistan are “almost un-Canadian in their boldness.” He and his soldiers find themselves in an environment utterly alien, fighting a war fundamentally different from the 20th century Weltanschauung of the Canadian Forces. The fact that Conrad is in logistics, historically somewhere between soldier and civilian, in a war where such distinctions are largely irrelevant, adds another surprising layer to his account. Conrad brings to the book a raw storytelling talent and an introspection yet unseen in the canon. Passages in the book soar to the sublime.

Is What the Thunder Said Canada’s answer to Michael Herr’s classic about Vietnam, Dispatches: the definitive description whereby we will come to understand our national experience in Afghanistan? Perhaps not: on a line-by-line basis, Conrad lacks the technical writing skill to match his storytelling ability. Nonetheless, Conrad has done us all an inestimable service by putting his story on paper, and for that alone his book is worth reading.