Moment of true realization

This week I was sent up to CFB Petawawa to cover the trial or I guess custody hearing of an Army Captain that is charged with second degree murder of an "unarmed" severely wounded Taliban. That turned into the coverage of a member of the Dragoons that was killed in Afghanistan by an IED.

Peter (my reporter) and I went up to the base on Tuesday morning, easy enough day. The military as an organization were very welcoming to us...well I guess as welcoming as they can be considering we're there to cover the trial of one of their own. A few soilders weren't fans but overall it wasn't too bad. Little did I know that it was going to get worse. Peter and I left the base on Tuesday night and drove back to Ottawa. We knew that we had to come back to the base the next day and our office talked about putting us up in a hotel but I wanted to come back to Ottawa for the night...little did I know that there was a snowstorm coming. As we drove back our VP, News called me and said that he wanted to talk so we set a time for the next day.

The next morning we went up and enroute we got word that there was a lockdown on the base. A lockdown on the base means something is up, usually a death. Since 3 RCR is the company that is in Afghanistan right now and they're from CFB Petawawa, Peter and I figured that it was going to be from the base. We arrived and immediately we knew that there was something up, the mood on the base was very different. Short time later we learned that it was Trooper Good that has unfortunately passed away. At a little after 1 my phone rang and it was our VP. The trial was going on so I step away down the hall and sat on a table in the stairwell and talked to my boss about Afghanistan. In the middle of the conversation I realized that I was talking with my boss about formally going and representing the company in Kandahar and figuring out the details while on a military base, the base of the unit that's in theatre right now. That's when I realized that this was happening. It was a pretty cool moment.

A lot of people have asked me lately if I'm scared. The answer is not really, of course I'm sure that as soon as I walk out of the plane and see that I'm in Afghanistan I'll be a little freaked but I'm pretty excited! It's something that I've had a lot of time to think about and it's a chance that I can't pass over. It's a something pretty cool.

Let the adventure continue.