The Guardian Angel Platoon is the moniker of Canadian veteran, activist, and singer-songwriter Dennis MacKenzie. He released the self-titled debut in 2021, the day before Canada’s Remembrance Day.
The album is a conceptual work that chronologically charts MacKenzie’s journey as a soldier. It deals with sobering topics such as PTSD, trauma during the war, and mistreatment afterward. It also discusses overlooked issues in connection with veteran affairs.
MacKenzie spent nine years in the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment which included losing ten of his comrades in Afghanistan. Since returning home he has been a vocal advocate for veteran affairs, including mental health and the ongoing crises that confront veterans when they return home.
The album includes three letters that Mackenzie wrote about his personal military experiences. “Letter 3” highlights the sad reality that he “lost more friends to suicide than I lost during the Afghanistan war….but no one talks about that.”
The album concludes with the title track, which is a poignant tribute to fallen soldiers who “Either lost to the wars, or wounds that remain. Foreign hands or their own, each fated the same.”
Along with highlighting the grim realities of fighting in the war, it also sheds a needed spotlight on the aftermath experienced after returning home. The stigma around soldiers’’ mental health and suicide will never be removed unless we have needed conversations and take decisive action. MacKenzie is playing his part in this important endeavor.