"Stick Together and Follow Command"

The day started with a very important tip from an experienced officer sitting beside me at breakfast: when you are out there stick together and follow command. He was answering my questions about the exercise and how to stay out of trouble. He also said that this is elite training and that every day out there is the soldiers worst day. "Everyday is like Monday," he reinforced.

Another very exciting part of the day was the helicopter safety briefing. We didn't get a chance to ride in one, but definately learned a lot about these machines. The briefing was very clarifying and fun at the same time. We learned what to do in case of a crash and it sounds like panic here is your worst enemy. The most important advice is take a breath and think about what you should do. But I love the Flight Engineer's humor. In the very end he said: " if you see me running, get your jam in your pocket because you  are all toast." I guess we have to go back to the first advice of the day: follow command, especially if things go wrong!.

These photos show our group learning about helicopters safety. This is mandatory in case we have to go in a Griffin (Canadian Army Helicopter).

In the afternoon we said goodbye to half of our group (4 people). They got in a helicopter and headed to somewhere in the middle of the desert where they were embedded with Canadian troops. They will be there for four days and on Friday will be the time for us, the remaining four, to do the same. Until then, we will play Afghan media.

The rest of us went for a ride into the "box", where the exercise takes place. Actually it will start tonight, so we could not do any stories yet. Tomorrow will be the day that we will go out there, something will happen- possibly a suicide bomb, or a road side bomb, or insurgent fighting - and we will have to report for the Afghan media, while our embedded colleagues will send tapes - with the help of drivers- to be edited for the Canadian Newscast.

In the "box", we visited a couple of villages where part of the exercise will take place. I have never been in Afghanistan, but from what I have seeing on TV and other reports, the Americans are doing here a very good job replicating the atmosphere of that part of the world. This was confirmed by one of the actors who is actually from Afghanistan. Anna  left her country during the Soviet occupation and she now lives in the US. She comes here because it is a job for her, but she also takes the opportunity to teach soldiers a bit about her country and her culture. "People see fighting on TV and they think that's all, but we actually have a very rich culture," explains Anna. 

Well, now we are in the game! This is the stage and all the actors will take position tonight for the big training. This will be the last chance for the soldiers here - both Canadians and Americans- to maybe get it wrong, fix it and learn from it in order to get it right in the real world.