Deployment Opportunities as a Reservist

As a reservist it wasn’t that I thought I would be away right away but ya, the thought of will this happen is always there. When I first got in I joined the military police thinking it was going to work itself into a civilian police career but that didn’t work out quite the way I had thought. But I really wanted to join the infantry so when I got back in, when I was thirty I joined the 49th Battalion, The Loyal Edmonton Regiment and joined the infantry. Interviewer: And why the infantry? More active, more physical. Grew up around fire arms, thought it would all meet with my interest and my needs for activity like a work dog, I guess. It had been on my mind that after a number of years of training and achieving a little bit of rank that I needed to get out and test what I had learned and the only way to do that was actually to deploy somewhere. You can test yourself so far in training but to really make the jump of, is this really something I am good at requires a little more attention shall we say and I saw the deployment as a way to really test myself so my wife understood, she realized this was something that was in my future somewhere and she was very supportive. Interviewer: So take us through that reaction when you first arrive in Afghanistan. Well, here we land in Kandahar airfield and it’s you know like a nice hot summer day here maybe 25, 30 degrees and we’re met by a major or above who had quite the rant about the food. Apparently he wasn’t satisfied with the food so my first introduction to Afghanistan was a rant about how horrible the food was and he went on and on and on so you’re landing on a runway, it’s big and it’s wide open and someone’s ranting about the food. Not the first thing I thought I was going to hear about what conditions were like in a war zone.

Mr. Moroz tells of the opportunities he was seeking when deciding to join as a reservist and opportunities that developed in accepting a deployment to Afghanistan.

Vincent Moroz

Mr. Vincent Moroz was born November 12, 1965 in Spirit River, Alberta. In his early 20’s he worked as a prison guard in hopes of pursuing a career with the military police. This not working out, later on in life, at the age of 30 he re-joined the Reserve unit with the 49th Battalion, the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and within this role accepted a deployment to Afghanistan in 2006. Holding rank of section commander, Mr. Moroz held various responsibilities mainly in the convoy escort duty and providing support to Canadian battle groups. Being part of the Canadian Delegation commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge holds a great sense of pride and honour for his service as well as the sacrifice made by all our Canadian Veterans. Mr. Moroz resides in Spirit River, Alberta with his wife and family.