ANIZAI, Afghanistan — Vancouver's notorious Downside Eastside is a low-income neighbourhood dominated by open-air drug markets, back lane "shooting" galleries where addicts inject drugs and the mentally ill live on the street.
It also turned out to be a fertile training ground for a medic serving with the Canadian Forces here in Afghanistan.
"As part of my military medic training we would ride with the civilian ambulance so I worked down there and saw all kinds of crazy stuff. Mostly a lot of drug overdose calls, the odd trauma here and there, a few stabbings," said Pte. Mike Gadway, 28, of North Bay, Ont., as he took a break while on a foot patrol in the central Zhari district -- still a hotbed of Taliban activity in Kandahar province.
"It was a really dirty, dirty place."
There are over 5,000 injection drug users living within the 10-block area encompassing the Downtown Eastside, where overdose and suicide are leading causes of death.
In other words, perfect training for Afghanistan.
"This place isn't nearly as dirty as it was there. It's different medicine altogether but it gives you that ability to stay focused and stay calm and that's nine-tenths of the battle right there," he said.
"My first few calls I was real nervous and I'd be sweating all the time and they said you gotta remember this is their emergency not yours and you just take that on every call and everytime you work on someone you stay calm," Gadway added.
The biggest difference between the two locales is he was never shot at in Vancouver.
And in what appears to be a growing trend of couples serving in Afghanistan at the same time -- his fiancee, Cpl. Nanette Black, 23, of Charlottetown, is serving as a medic at Camp Nathan Smith, home of the Provincial Reconstruction Team, in Kandahar city.
"We met while on court training," said Gadway. "If she's over here I gotta worry about her which I do a lot since she's exposed to the same types of dangers."
"The positive is I get to see her which definitely buoys the spirits but that's only been twice since I been here but when I do it sure goes a long ways."
Cpl. Black said she prefers not to think about what her husband-to-be is doing and is happier in Afghanistan than waiting at home.
"It's almost easier to be here with him and understand what he's going through then to be at home and not know what's going on. I think that makes it easier to cope."
Black has had one close call of her own.
"I had a suicide bomber go off and detonate himself about 50 metres away from me and that was the closest I've been to death since I've got here," said Black.
"You hear the loud bang and you see the big explosion. You don't know if you're being attacked, if there's mortars coming down so the first thing that goes through your head is where is cover?," she added.
The happy couple say they intend to remain in the military and Gadway said there's nowhere else he'd rather be right now.
"This is the only thing I wanted to do. I was chomping at the bit ever since I joined the military to come over here in this particular role," Gadway said.
"I guess it's just a double-edged sword -- she's happy that I'm happy but I'm sure she worries. I try not to let her know what I'm doing."
