Keeping a Higher Vigilance on Patrol

You are always on guard and kind of making sure higher vigilance when we are out on patrol and I had a switch. After a mine incident in October that hit the Canadians we changed where we patrolled so at first my platoon was patrolling more the rural area of Afghanistan so we were out into the smaller villages but after the mine incident they changed that up and put more of the armoured vehicles out there because of the threats and the mines and be more protected so we moved into the city which was a little bit more complex of an environment to be vigilant because there is so much more, all these buildings and so many more people and all those factors that come into it. We try to change things up so we don’t become complacent and keep that vigilance up. There are a couple of times when the anxiety gets up but we’re well trained in our standard operating procedures to handle those situations and, you know, you never know how people are going to react to a situation but there were a few incidents where you are really stressed out and it is high anxiety but together you remember you are part of a team and everybody is looking after each other so that’s a way to get through that aspect of it.