Description
Mr. Morrison recalls his strong recollection of the smells and sights upon arrival in Afghanistan.
Jody Morrison
Mr. Morrison was born September 24, 1974 in Swindon, England. At fifteen months of age, his family moved to Edmonton, Alberta. Jody’s father was in the military and his influence directed Jody to join the service. At age 16, Jody joined the army and trained as a supply technician. Being part of 1 Service Battalion, he served within Canada and in July 2004 travelled to Kabul, Afghanistan for a seven month tour. In 2007, with ten years military service, Jody was medically discharged from the army. He now resides in Kingston, Ontario with his two children.
Transcript
Nothing, nothing like I had expected and it was scary from the moment I got into Kabul. The smell, it was horrible. If I close my eyes I can almost still smell it, just disgusting, garbage everywhere. They skin their meat right on the middle of the road and it was an eye opener. And when I first arrived they have what’s called air sentry so the majority of the people are in the armoured vehicle, but I was nominated to take my weapon and stand outside or stand probably waist high above the hatch and just I was told don’t let any vehicles pass us or anybody to come near us and if they tried then I was to point my weapon at them and if need be shoot at them. It was different and that’s pretty much when war or a non-peacekeeping duty hit me. It still took a while to sink in but I knew that I wasn’t in Canada anymore, that’s for sure.