Just prior to going over in ’06,
I was promoted to the rank of master corporal
and I was placed in 5 Platoon B Company
and in January of 2006 we were on a flight
headed over the pond to experience
something like I never thought in any way
that I would ever experience.
I never thought that I would be encased
in anything that I experienced over there.
We landed in Kandahar airfield and I just
remember getting off the plane and it was
just that impact of that heat and getting off
the plane on the tarmac and it was like wow!
This is something else! I never been to a
desert type environment so that in itself
was just a shock. Once we got off the plane and
we organized ourselves in Kandahar airfield we
did some engagements with the personnel that
we’d be relieving and getting our weapons
all checked out and just briefings and then
we packed up our stuff and it was B Company
that was encased into the PRT down in
Kandahar city and I remember everybody
talking before we headed out about these
golden arches and IED alley and you just start
hearing stories and, you know, it creates this
initial feeling of anxiety which I couldn’t
relate with before. I didn’t understand what
anxiety was, I took it sort of like an adrenalin,
keeping myself aware because when we
initially jumped in the vehicles to roll out to
head down to the PRT in Kandahar airfield,
oh sorry in Kandahar city, it was just like wow
this is something else. Like I am going through
these poignant spots where like you hear
about it on the news, you see it on TV but
now it’s like I am going to experience this.
And I mean we made it through.
There wasn’t any incidents but I just remember
that initial rush of adrenalin and it made me
feel alive. It was like a powerful drug that I just,
like I liked it! I loved it and I wanted more of it.