FOR FALLEN FRIENDS
This weekend’s Canada Army Run is a chance for wounded warriors, veterans and civilians to join forces.
Master Cpl. Chris Downey still remembers the deafening sound of the explosion that killed his best friend on a bomb disposal mission several years ago in Afghanistan.
Downey was part of the disposal team that was hit by an improvised explosive device buried in the ground. “The flash was so fast that when it hit all I remember after the IED went off was complete silence. I couldn’t see anything,” said Downey, 32, about the May 3, 2010, explosion that killed Petty Officer Second Class Craig Blake. Downey was just three metres from Blake.
“I was burning from the most intense heat I’ve ever felt. I thought I was going to burn to a crisp. Every muscle in my body tensed up. The next thing I know I hit the ground hard and all the noise kept rushing back. From that moment it was just about survival,” said Downey, who lives in Ottawa.
He was severely injured but alive when the surviving members of the team picked him up, placed him on a stretcher and then onto a helicopter that carried him back to base. He was wounded by shrapnel. He was badly burned on his thighs and received cuts to his upper body, face and thighs. He also suffered a collapsed lung, a shattered jaw and broken right hand. He lost part of his upper lip, all of his front teeth and his right eye. And he would suffer two aneurysms.
Downey and Blake were the only casualties on the mission. Three years after the deadly explosion, it’s still hard to come to grips with what happened, he said.
“You have to soldier on, and being around other people that have experienced, not your situation but situations in the same aspect, that is why it’s so important. These people understand better than anybody else just because they have walked that line.”
He thinks about Blake often. He was, Downey says, an “unbelievable” person and a good friend.
“He was 10 years older than me and probably in better shape than all of us.
“He was huge in his community of Halifax, an amazing father, and we had worked together for almost a year in pre-deployment training.
“We shared the job of the guys who don the (bomb) suits.”
In 2009 Downey and Blake participated in the Canada Army Run, and after Blake’s tragic death Downey vowed to participate in the run every year in honour of his good friend.
This Sunday will see Downey’s fifth Army Run, which has attracted about 22,000 participants.
Downey, who, when this interview took place was in Norway training for something called the Walking With The Wounded Challenge to the South Pole, said he looks forward to the Army Run every year.
He has personally benefited from the two charities that the Run supports, Soldier On and the Military Families Fund.
“The run is one of the recovery goals that I look forward to every year. It’s been super important to my recovery,” said Downey, who will talk about his experience in Afghanistan at the Run’s pasta dinner evening.
“Just from the get-go these two charities have shown me so many more people that are more injured than me and who are doing amazing things, so I just think, nothing can stop me, either.
“Just being able to hang out with other people that have suffered similar events or seen things just makes you feel that you belong.
“You are never judged around these people.”
Downey will leave town right after the Army Run for Cold Lake, Alta. where he will continue training for the South Pole walk.
This effort will bring together wounded veterans from the Commonwealth, the United States and the United Kingdom in a race to the geographic South Pole.
Prince Harry serves as patron and will be part of the expedition.
As part of his training for the 16day, 335-kilometre Pole trek, Downey has been in the Norwegian mountains hiking, pulling sleds loaded down with weights and cross-country skiing, all with the goal of simulating conditions in the South Pole.
“You have to be physically ready for this challenge because there are enough other conditions you need to worry about, so you have to be sure that your physical fitness is not one of those concerns,” said the fivefoot-10, 170-pound Downey.
“I’m having the time of my life doing this training,” said Downey.
His team has also trained in Colorado, London, England, and Iceland.