A Line in the Sand: Canadians at War in Kandahar

In 2007-08, CAPTAIN RAY WISS, M.D., a former infantry officer, served with the Canadian Forces at forward operating bases (FOBS) in Kandahar's Panjwayi valley, the area experiencing the most intense combat in Afghanistan. His bestselling first book, FOB Doc, was the diary of his time "outside the wire" during that tour of duty.

In 2009, the Canadian Forces asked Captain Wiss to return to the combat area. By late April of that year, Task Force 1-09 had completed its deployment to Afghanistan. This would be the seventh Canadian task force sent to fight the Taliban on their home turf. A few weeks later, they were joined by Captain Wiss, who during that spring and summer would spend 107 consecutive days outside the wire.

Once again Captain Wiss kept a diary. It begins where FOB Doc ended, but this time he wrote something completely different. A Line in the Sand is the story of an entire battle group. In these pages, profusely illustrated with more than 100 colour photographs, you will meet the Canadians who go into the most dangerous terrain on Earth. You will also meet the Afghans---soldiers, civilians and Taliban---seemingly so different, yet with whom we share so much. This book illuminates the intricacies of this complex war, and is the definitive description of the Canadian experience in Afghanistan.

All royalties from the publication of A Line in the Sand will be donated to the Military Families Fund, created by General Rick Hillier, Canada's former Chief of Defence Staff, to assist military families faced with unforeseen and often immediate needs resulting from conditions of service.

Captain Ray Wiss, M.D., is an emergency medicine specialist from Sudbury, Ontario, and a member of the Canadian Forces Reserves. In 2008, he was awarded the YMCA Peace Medal and the Ontario Medical Association Career Service Award. In 2010, he received the Rotary Club's Paul Harris Award at an event headlined by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Also in 2010, he was selected to be the keynote speaker at the North York General Hospital Emergency Medicine Update, Canada's premier emergency medicine conference. FOB Doc, the book he wrote about his first tour, was one of Amazon.ca's "Editors' Picks: Top 100 Books" of 2009.