Day 3

Well - this was the day of the big show - October 12.

We started off with the MMA weigh-in in the morning and they did it right outside the Canada House. It was definitely a show for the ladies as all of them were bare-chested so there were quite a few cat-calls. After seeing this I decided to keep my shirt on for the duration of the trip. They did the stare down against their opponent and then moved on with the next weigh-ins. I joked about making bets on guys and one of the fighters said "if someone bets against me I'm going to be pissed". I decided not to mention it to them anymore - although I did ask one guy to go down in the second round for me - and he did not.





From there we went and checked out the CF weaponry - and we have a lot of it. I met guys that go deep outside the wire and some guys knew just a wee bit too much about sniper rifles. I'm not sure exactly what they do but I think I pieced it together. I got to here stories about how one guy actually had to shoot his way out of a situation. "All part of what we do". HOLY. That has to be one of the biggest adrenaline rushes of someone's life. I'm glad he made it out.

And yes - I was like a little kid saying "Can I go in the tank? Can I hold the shotgun?" Well - I hope little kids don't ask about the shotgun but you know what I mean.







From there we had an option to either prep for the show in the evening or go see a UAV - it's a Canadian drone. I'm really glad that I chose to do this as it was very interesting to see. We got to see the communications area and what they do and we got to see a UAV land - and I asked if I was able to tape it and post it and they said no problem so here it is. The video is a minute long but it takes about 30 seconds for you to actually see it.





After that we got to go see one of the most disgusting things you can imagine. They call it the "poo pond". There's not a proper sewage system in Kandahar so they actually just have a pond in the base where they drain the sewage. And yes - it was my fault - I jokingly said that we should go and see it but I guess the driver did not understand the sarcasm. So - I nearly vomited as the smell is just brutal but I managed to get a pic from the bus. When we were driving by there was a guy right beside it that was just eating a sandwich. That baffled me.



After that we went back to get ready for the show. About 30 minutes before the show we heard a siren wail and that indicated that we were getting a rocket attack. So we did what they said and hit the dirt. Waited 30 seconds and then went inside. They said that we were lucky because there are usually 3 or 4 in a week but we'd only had 1 so far. Lucky me! Everyone was calm though so it wasn't an issue.

We got to meet the Commanding Officer of the Afghanistan mission in the back tent. He made the intros for the show and forgot my name. I forget what I said but we had a good laugh about it when he came back in and someone snapped a picture at that time which is below. He also gave all of us the Commander's Coin so I am going to get this pic framed with the coin.


The Ricky Paquette Band was on first and they were awesome. JF, Martin and Ricky were all great guys on the trip and the crowd loved them - they put on a helluva show.



Wendy Daniels came back on (she was the host) and brought up Paul Gross to say a few words and Guy Lafleur threw some jerseys to the audience. Funny thing - they had every jersey except for a Leafs one. I personally think Guy burned them on the plane.



And then I was up - and it was great. Loved it - every second. I've got some pics here.




After me Crash Karma came on and closed the show. During their second last song our base launched 10 rockets towards the Taliban. It was unbelievable to see those rockets flying while they were playing. The most expensive light show in history me thinks.