“I do feel I made a difference”
Keith Dyer
KEITH DYER
After four deployments to Afghanistan, including Camp Julien
in Kabul and Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar, retired DCCer
Keith Dyer still remembers his first impression of Kabul in 2003.
“When you see a city probably the size of Toronto, and there’s no
power, no running water, no sanitary lines or anything like that, (and)
this is how people have to live . . .” He quickly got to work managing
quality assurance and then supporting projects for the Civil-Military
Cooperation team—including repairing a school that had also been
a Russian dormitory. “Any building over there that was damaged was
gutted . . . it was totally stripped of wiring and piping and doors and
wood,” he says. The 10,000 square-foot school was refinished inside and
out and outfitted with new washrooms and a sanitary supply system,
allowing children, including girls, to walk from local villages to attend
classes in shifts. “I do feel I made a difference,” Dyer says. “Everything
I did over there I looked to with a positive attitude, and that’s why I’ve
gone back as often as I have. They’re good people.”
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NATIONAL DAY OF HONOUR — MAY 9, 2014