Tims server honours brother with Afghan work

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Every day, Sean Wilson walks along the perimeter fence of this NATO base, and looks in the direction of Panjwaii District where Canadian troops are fighting and dying.

Wilson is not a soldier, but his brother Mark was a member of the Armed Forces.

Mark was killed beyond that perimeter fence in a massive Taliban bomb explosion.

How Wilson, a former entertainment-complex manager from London, Ont. ended up in Afghanistan is a story of tragic death, a brother's undying love, a chance encounter with a general, and iconic Canadian coffee and donuts.

Trooper Mark Wilson, 39, was a Royal Canadian Dragoon based in Petawawa, Ont. In October 2006, he was manning the machine gun from inside an armoured vehicle when it hit a devastating road bomb in Panjwaii.

The married father of two was killed.

For Sean Wilson, it took about a year to fully accept he'd never see his brother again. Then he decided he had to find a way to get to Afghanistan.

"I wanted and needed to come here to see where my brother died," said Wilson, 38. "I don't call it closure. The pain never ends. I just needed to take that step for my brother, to say I went as far as I could, in honour of him."

Wilson and his twin brother Scott considered joining the Canadian Forces reserves, but dropped the idea because they knew how badly it would upset their mother.

In 2007, Wilson learned from television news that Kandahar Airfield had a Tim Hortons, staffed through the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency. He saw his opportunity, but found it elusive. "I submitted my resume via e-mail three times, and I got no response," he said.

Last summer, Wilson and his father Carl were invited to Toronto to hear a speech by Gen. Walt Natynczyk, commander of the Canadian military. At the venue, Wilson mentioned to Natynczyk's public-affairs officer Maj. Cindy Tessier that he was trying to get to Afghanistan, where his brother had died.

Tessier told Natynczyk, who walked over to Wilson and pointed out a man nearby.

It was Ron Joyce, the franchisee of the first Tim Hortons, who went into partnership with Tim Horton in 1967. Wilson introduced himself to Joyce, telling him where he wanted to go, and why.

"He said to his right-hand man: 'Give this young man your card,'" Wilson said.

In January, Wilson flew to Afghanistan and took up his job at the base Tim Hortons, where soldiers from dozens of nations line up for coffee and donuts. He'll be working until July.

Most of the soldiers of the Royal Canadian Dragoons serving here have come to know Wilson, some because he introduced himself, some because they noticed the pin he wears on his Tim Hortons ball cap — the springbok emblem of the Dragoons — and asked about it.

The soldiers, when they're on the base between missions outside, often come down to Tim Hortons to visit Wilson.

"He's someone who lost a family member here. To actually come here, that takes a lot of courage," said Dragoon Cpl. Jason McDonald, who served with Mark Wilson on the tour when he was killed. "It's just good to see that he's here. And we're here for him. It's good for both of us — good for the regiment, and good for Sean to see this place and know Mark had friends here."

Every morning or evening, Wilson walks out along the base's perimeter fence until he gets to the southwest corner. He stands and stares across the desert. "I know that 40, 50 kilometres away, that's where my brother was killed," Wilson said. "That's where my brother left me."

Wilson does not agree with Canada's scheduled military pullout from Afghanistan next year.

"It's very personal, because we gave a son, we gave a brother," he said. "I want us to stay and see it through. It's costing Canada a lot, and lives are being lost, and I know a lot of Canadians are against the war. But my brother believed in helping the people of Afghanistan, and he taught me to believe that.

"I do not want to look back on this 10 years from now and have people talk about Afghanistan as a loss, as a waste."