KEVIN NELSON
Civil engineer Kevin Nelson was interested in a challenge when he
joined DCC, and working overseas was something he’d always wanted
to do. “I just wanted to do my two cents to help Canada’s efforts in
Afghanistan, to feel I could contribute a little bit,” says the Technical
Specialist, Real Property Management. His six months in 2009 as
a Contract Coordinator at Kandahar Airfield included managing a
project to build a new Weapons Clearance Base – a U-shaped sandbag
structure, four metres square and three metres high, where soldiers
returning from missions would clear (unload and test fire) their
weapons to ensure they couldn’t accidentally be fired on the base.
“Even though I worked with the military here, it’s very different to
work on an active base in a war zone. Everyone is carrying a weapon,
there are missions in and out of the base every day, so these structures
were used daily,” Nelson says. “And they’re important, because in the
old ones you could see impacts from bullets.”
SHAWN HELMERSON
As the Site Manager at Kandahar Airfield between June and December
2009, Shawn Helmerson—now Technical Specialist, Program
Management—oversaw projects ranging from airfield construction for
helicopters to building accommodation, office and warehouse space.
Heat and sand were daily challenges, as were lengthy delays for local
workers and supplies to get onto the base. “There would be trucks
lined up for hours to get through the screening just to bring in a load
of gravel,” he recalls. The operational imperative to move quickly and
find solutions that worked on site, however, made it all worthwhile.
“Everything that we did there had an impact, and hopefully a very
positive impact, on the lives of the Afghan population,” he says. “Even
though I was managing