Typical Day as a Coyote Gunner

Heroes Remember

Typical Day as a Coyote Gunner

Transcript

When you are a gunner, you are in charge of all the armament of that vehicle so we have a 25 mm gun on the front of the vehicle so you get to take care of the gun and actually shoot and stuff like that; you have the grenades, launchers, you have the guns on the turrets and stuff like that so you’re in charge of all the armament. We were always going out and doing some kind of operation out there and as a driver it was really hard because, of course, we are going hatch down so the gear inside the vehicle and you have the motor of the vehicle right here so it’s already hot like 50 degrees and then you get this heat from the motor and it was so hot and we were always going for long, for very long periods of time so all you do is drive, stop, then it’s hot and you get to stay in the hatch and so… Interviewer: So during the time of driving, was there always a destination or were you patrolling? What was your role? We did, it was always different from doing road blocks to going to do roadblocks or going to meet with some villages, people or clearing routes from IED’s or so on and so forth. It was always different. And it was scary because it’s mostly the driver that gets to lose their lives. It can be anybody but the driver usually gets hit. So you’re always thinking, oh my God, hopefully it will go well. I remember praying a lot because you never know, no. You’re going outside routes and stuff like that and you’re thinking hopefully it will go well.

Description

Ms. Dupuis explains the roles of a gunner and circumstances that occur while on patrol outside the wire.

Natacha Dupuis

Ms. Natacha Dupuis was born May 25, 1979 in Longueuil, Quebec. Throughout her younger years, she always had a desire to join the military. In 1997, at age 18, Ms. Dupuis joined the reserves and with family support and encouragement, she enlisted with Armoured Corp as a tanker. After receiving her basic training in Montreal as well as completed the Crewman course in Valcartier, Ms. Dupuis moved to Vancouver and joined the British Columbia Regiment. There she took an advance reconnaissance course and a few years later joined the Regular Force accepting more training on the Leopard tank and completed the Coyote Gunner/Driver course. Ms. Dupuis was deployed to Bosnia and twice to Afghanistan. Suffering from PTSD, Ms. Dupuis was medically released from the military. She now has a positive focus on her future and maintains pride for her service years. She is involved with the Canada Army Run and is a proud member of the Soldier On organization.

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