Articles

By Holly Bridges

A group of airfield engineers from 14 Airfield Engineer Squadron at 14 Wing Greenwood are in the final stages of preparing to deploy to Kandahar, Afghanistan to build reinforcements for the pending influx of Canadian Forces troops slated for the region.

Corporal Wallace Cross, a reserve electrician for five years with 14 AES, gladly volunteered for the assignment.  "I volunteered mainly to serve a tour protecting and serving our country," says Cpl Cross.  "When the opportunity came up I jumped at it.  You have to be proud of the uniform and of your country to do what we're going over there to do."

18 engineers from 14 AES will be deploying to Afghanistan as part of a 44-member Technical Assistance Visit construction team in support of the overall Task Force Afghanistan enhancement package announced on September 15 by the Government of Canada.  The team of carpenters, electricians and plumbers will be constructing a new headquarters building, new washrooms and showers as well as performing maintenance on existing facilities.

"I feel proud to be going," says Lieutenant Shawn Milley who'll be leading the engineers in Kandahar.  "This is what we train for.  All of these engineers are trained to Regular force standards although most of them are reservists.  All of them are highly skilled so my challenge as a leader will be to ensure they have the resources and the equipment they need to do the job in a timely and efficient manner."

Cpl Cross says although it will be difficult and potentially dangerous being away from his fiancé for five months, he knows he will be making a difference in the lives of Canadian soldiers serving overseas. 

"I think the facilities we'll be building will be a bit of a morale booster for the troops," says Cpl Cross.  "If they feel a little bit happier they're going to pass that along to somebody else so even though it's not an ideal situation, we're making life a little bit easier for the ones who go outside the wire."

14 AES is scheduled to depart from 8 Wing Trenton sometime between October 17 and 24 for five months.  The airlift will involve moving the engineers as well as its three pallets of tools and equipment, also known as their "fly-away kit."  This is the first overseas deployment of 14 AES since a detachment served at Camp Mirage in Southeast Asia last year.