CAF Story | Hard to Kill
Transcript - CAF Story
General Hillier came out to our FOB. Someone had said: “Oh, these guys, they've all survived three IEDs.” He kind of made a joke that we were the hardest guys to kill in NATO.
When I was in Afghanistan in 2007, my job was a Leopard tank gunner.
The 16th of September 2007, we were just rolling right along and then, there was like a giant boom.
The 2nd of November 2007, it was at night time, huge blast.
14th of January 2008, I'm not sure if I lost consciousness, but I definitely like remember coming to, like sitting on the floor of the vehicle.
I guess what I learned is how far I could push myself mentally to get back up and continue fighting or continue going.
Harnessing you're training, helps you to maintain being calm because you have a job to do so that everyone comes out okay.
It's more about the guy who is in the loader seat or the commander seat or the driver seat.
You've told every story to them two or three times. That was the best part of being in the army is those friendships you made, you’ll have forever.
When I was there, you could see a change. 2007-2008, Panjwayi, the main town was pretty much empty.
And then you come back in 2010 and there’s – there are shops, and people living there and there are schools. I don't think that would have happened if it wasn't the security that we were providing.
I spent quite a bit of time outdoors. It's very quiet when you're hiking out in the woods and you have time to reflect on things that have happened.
When you see people get injured from the silliest things sometimes and then, survive three IEDs in four months and, you know, I didn't even have barely a scratch.
When you see people get hurt or killed around you, you realize: "Hey, you know, you could be here one moment and gone the next."
Maximize every moment you have with your family and give it 100% at work and set goals to keep going forward.