NATO Multimedia

“You need to be mentally alert. You need to be very observant,” says Canadian Army Private Eamon Fordham, a reconnaissance patrolman tasked with guiding friendly forces to their objective.

Private Eamon Fordham chose the hard path in the Canadian infantry – he’s a reconnaissance patrolman, tasked with scouting enemy positions and guiding friendly forces to their objective. It’s a job for which he’s uniquely suited – the forests of his native Canada are similar to those in Latvia, where he was deployed as part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup.

Footage includes shots of Fordham and his squad on patrol in Latvia.

VISUAL DESCRIPTION


Slow-mo shot: Fordham running towards camera with smoke grenade, cross-cut with quick shots of Fordham’s squad on patrol


TEXT ON SCREEN
RECONNAISSANCE PATROLMEN SCOUT THE BATTLEFIELD

TO GATHER INTELLIGENCE
AND GUIDE FRIENDLY FORCES


Various shots: Fordham’s squad on patrol


TEXT ON SCREEN
Private Eamon Fordham, Canadian Army

Various shots: Fordham using optics to scout troop movements, while making notes on paper

Various shots: Fordham’s squad pausing for a bearing check

TEXT ON SCREEN
PTE FORDHAM SERVED IN NATO’S BATTLEGROUP IN LATVIA

Drone shots: Fordham’s squad patrolling through the woods

Various shots: Fordham talking to Slovak infantry commander during Exercise Tomahawk Soaring.


###





AUDIO DESCRIPTION




--SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH)--
PRIVATE EAMON FORDHAM
“What it takes to be an ideal recce [reconnaissance] patrolman, you need to be mentally alert, you need to be very observant.










A recce patrolman’s primary task is reconnaissance. Commanders want to know intentions, habits. They don’t want to get into something that they don’t know the whole story on.



We don’t rush anything. Rushing, you’ll make a lot of noise, faster movement is easy to see.









In this battlegroup, we’ve done very well. The communication gaps are very minimal, surprisingly. We’re all the same. We’re all just a bunch of people doing the same job, we just do it under a different flag.”