Looking back on Op AEGIS: Corporal Mathieu Mageau-Martin’s Story

October 20, 2022 - Defence Stories

It has been over a year since Canadian Armed Forces aircrafts transported evacuees out of Afghanistan. Operation AEGIS was the CAF’s contribution to Canada’s efforts to evacuate Afghans with significant and/or enduring relationships with the Government of Canada, along with their accompanying family members.

Corporal Mathieu Mageau-Martin, a radio operator with the Canadian Forces Joint Signal Regiment, arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan on July 30, 2021.

The first thing he noticed was the beauty of the landscape and the mountains that surrounded the area. Little did he know that his 17 days in Afghanistan would be among the most eventful in his life.

A deployment that started with helping establish communications on the ground for his Command Team quickly morphed into aiding in urgent evacuation plans for Afghan nationals, colleagues, and eventually himself.

Once his initial task of helping set up communications was completed, the unplanned portion of his adventure began.

On August 10, Cpl Mageau-Martin began assisting Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in processing the visa applications of Afghan nationals. The work involved 16-hour days alphabetizing thousands of visa applications and matching them with applicants’ photos. While it was painstaking work, the payoff came when IRCC shared photos of applicants who had been successfully evacuated. Seeing firsthand the results of his work made the experience extremely rewarding. What added to this feeling of accomplishment was that his father, Master Warrant Officer (Retired) Denis Mageau had served with the CAF in Afghanistan from July 2007 to March 2008. Helping some of the same Afghan nationals who had helped his father during his tour in Afghanistan brought the partnership full circle, and his father telling him how proud he was of him didn’t hurt either.

The morning of August 11, Cpl Mageau-Martin woke up feeling very sick and quickly wrote out some Standard Operating Procedures on how to start the communications equipment that his Commanding Officer used daily. Later, that same morning, he received a text from back in Canada informing him that a close friend who had been battling brain cancer had passed away overnight. Despite his illness and this terrible news, Cpl Mageau-Martin remained focused on the mission and helping those around him. The following day, he continued with completing visa applications in order to speed up the evacuation process for Afghan nationals and their families. Then, things changed again. Towards the end of the day, the Canadian Ambassador ordered a general meeting, during which everyone was informed that the Canadian Embassy was to be evacuated as soon as possible.

Cpl Mageau-Martin would spend the next 27 hours, with a few minutes sleep here and there, focused on aiding Global Affairs Canada (GAC) in securing the Embassy. Finally, at 2 a.m. on August 14, their work was completed and the last door of the Canadian Embassy was sealed. Cpl Mageau-Martin and the few remaining occupants were evacuated in an armoured SUV to Zohak village. He was tired and his hands were sore, but the Embassy had been secured.

On the August 15, Cpl Mageau-Martin and his colleagues were flown to Kuwait, thinking the mission was over and they would be heading back home to Canada shortly thereafter. However, as it turned out, they would spend another 21 days at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, continuing to support Op AEGIS from a distance. There, he would also leave his legacy – a painting of the Op AEGIS logo on a wall at Camp Canada for all to see.

Cpl Mageau-Martin arrived safely back in Canada on September 5, 2021. Looking back on his time on deployment, he is immensely proud of doing his part to assist in the evacuation of thousands of Afghan nationals and their families. He will always remember the people he helped evacuate, the colleagues he worked with, and the first thing he saw when he entered the country. The mountains of Afghanistan are the perfect metaphor for his time there – rugged, challenging, but ultimately…beautiful.