PASHMUL, Afghanistan — It gives a whole new meaning to "all in the family."
Growing up in Petawawa, Ont., Nicole Bucci has never wanted to be anything but a police officer.
However, graduating college at 19 she was deemed too young to be picked up by a police force so decided to ply her trade as a military police member with the Canadian Forces.
Cpl. Bucci's decision shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise. Her father, Master Warrant Officer John Bucci has made a career in the military and is currently serving at the regimental sergeant major at the Role 3 medical facility at Kandahar Airfield.
His little girl however, is in a more precarious location - a police substation in the volatile Zhari district helping to train the fledgling Afghan Uniformed Police. She was also brought in to help search female civilians during a Canadian-led operation in central Zhari which saw 21 Taliban killed and 27 others captured.
"I'm very worried. Everytime something happens especially I check over at our headquarters and they all know that it's her call sign. They come and get me right away," he sighed.
"My wife keeps pretty well everything inside. She's happier that I'm here with her so I can keep an eye out."
"Putting her on the bus with me still sitting here was very hard. I didn't know it was going to be that hard till I put her on the bus. She's the baby of the family," Bucci said.
Cpl. Bucci acknowledges her mother was a little nervous about her decision to deploy overseas but her father "was really happy." There are a handful of men in the small, fortified camp that she calls home.
"Living with men 24-7. It gets to you sometimes with the testosterone levels and stuff like that."
She did have some concerns about taking an assignment that involves giving orders to men who tend to see women in more of a traditional way.
"I was worried at first actually because I heard stories about the AUP and stuff not getting along with females but I've never had a problem. They love me," she giggled. "They obey me. They like to say a lot of the jobs are women's jobs like doing dishes and something like that but they're just joking."
Family visits are pretty rare.
"I hardly ever see him," she said. "Just a phone call every two weeks.
That's not quite true said her father.
"When I go out I'm out there for about 20 minutes. I see her because I have to visit the medical stations when I'm there too so she kind of follows me around when I'm doing that," he said. I have seen her once since I have been here and that was last week."
The younger Bucci offered up another surprise.
"My husband's here too."
Master Cpl. Laidlaw is currently in an infantry unit at a forward operating base in the area.
He's not quite her husband yet said the regimental sergeant major even though the couple has bought a house together.
"I think they're getting engaged when they go down to Australia on leave," he laughed. "He didn't think he'd be that worried about her. He emailed me and said I'm going to ask her to marry me."
Bucci said he would rather his daughter was doing a different job but that doesn't take away from a father's pride.
"Very, very proud that she's handling herself out there okay and seems to be okay," he said.
"They look after her really good but I think she looks after them a little bit more."
(yetch!)
