Convoy Duty in Afghanistan

That was something that evolved a bit. We’d heard to begin with that our platoon was just going to spend its’ time doing gate security duty but we’d be at Kandahar airfield and I thought well it’s not really what I want to do with my tour but you know what, you’re over there, you never know where things will turn out and then we started to hear a little bit of scuttle butt, well, you know, don’t they have enough soldiers on the ground, you guys could be doing convoy escorts even a little of both so our job evolved, we got over there, we didn’t have any vehicles but they did task us to run convoy escorts so it really was something that started here and ended up over here because we went from being on the gate, which we did it for a while waiting for equipment and then we started to do a milk run back and forth to Kandahar airfield and then after that we went everywhere. I mean most people wanted to get a part of the tour. It was the first real reserve group that was integral that was going over. We were attached to the national support element so the people who drive the trucks and fix the trucks and look after the supply, our job was to get convoys together and take them wherever they needed to go, here, there and everywhere. Like I said it was small trips to begin with but pretty soon there wasn’t enough people to go everywhere that we needed to go because the battle group went all over the place. They were everywhere from Spin Boldak by the Pakistani border, way up to Tirin Kut in the north. We drove into Helmand, the neighbouring province and just everywhere where there was Canadian soldiers in between.

Being part of the reserve unit, Mr. Moroz speaks about the duties that evolved for his troops in getting the convoys together and going where they needed to go!

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.