Leopard I Main Battle Tank in action Kandahar, 2008, LdSH
For most Canadians, the Afghanistan War was a mounted & dismounted war. Long distances, crazy heat, and difficult terrain, made armoured vehicles essential. IED's, even more difficult terrain, and an insurgency, made dismounted actions required as well.
The trucks were our lifeline, our shields, and our firepower. They were also deathtraps and gave us away for miles.
A LAVIII Armoured Fighting Vehicle (Engineer variant) near the Arghandab Dam, 2008, 1CER
We either gunned it down routes we knew and traveled well, risking an IED cause these roads were so long and well traveled it would be too much effort to search, and the risk was a little lower (not zero, people have died). Or we painstakingly drove through terrible and canalizing terrain where the risk was much higher and we'd (Chimo's) have to search well to make sure we didn't explode. Sometimes it happened anyway. Sometimes it happened anyway and then someone starting shooting at us too.
There's a subset of Canadians that have now diffused out into the population, more or less. There's probably some in your home town. We know well what it's like to try to stay alive in heavy combat vehicles. Combat vehicles that were manufactured or procured via the Canadian way. Thus, it wasn't perfect. Which, is an inconvenience at the best of times, but in Kandahar, it's an inch closer to death, thanks to bureaucratic bean counters.
