Cpl. Shaun Fevens said when a roadside bomb ripped through the light-armoured vehicle he was riding in west of Kandahar City, it felt like he was surrounded by water.
"When the blast hit, I didn't go unconscious," said Fevens, who described his recovery from the Easter Sunday blast that killed six of his fellow soldiers.
"The pressure of the blast was like jumping into a deep pool of water. It was bright, so I couldn't see anything, and psychologically my ears had shut off. You can hear stuff, but it's not clear."
Fevens returned to Nova Scotia on April 13, five days after the blast, but spoke publicly for the first time on Wednesday at an informal news conference in Halifax. He waited, he said, out of respect for the families of the other soldiers.
Fevens was the most seriously injured of the four soldiers who survived, suffering a broken ankle and leg, burns, and shrapnel wounds in his wrist.
With great composure and with his girlfriend at his side, Fevens recounted the events of April 8.
"As we were rolling, we just came across an obstacle we normally come across everyday. This time we crossed it and we just didn't have as much good luck as we normally do. We struck the IED and that's what caused the destruction."
Cpl. Brent Poland, Master Cpl. Christopher Stannix, Sgt. Don Lucas, Cpl. Aaron Williams, Pte. Kevin Kennedy and Pte. David Greenslade were killed instantly.
Fevens said he knew his colleagues had died before he was rushed away in an ambulance for treatment.
"I could see the back of the LAV, and it was pretty obvious what had gone on. I heard it on the radio -- just sitting in the back of the ambulance -- and the medic actually quickly shut it off."
Fevens was the most seriously injured of the four soldiers who survived, suffering a broken ankle and leg, burns, and shrapnel wounds in his wrist.
But being one of the few soldiers trained in advanced battlefield first aid, Fevens was able to instruct another survivor how to bandage his leg, which was bleeding profusely, and how to check the seriousness of his wounds.
"If it didn't happen that quickly, I don't think it would have been a life-or-death matter, but definitely early and initial first aid, I'm sure it helped me in the end," Fevens said.
"I said that to myself right from the start, that if something does happen or when it does happen, I would be calm."
His quick thinking and calmness under pressure is what doctors say will help him as he continues to recover.
"He's young, he's healthy and he's extremely motivated and determined," said base surgeon Lieut.-Cmdr. Roxanne Cooper. "And I think all of those things bode very well for him to have a very, very good recovery. Whether it's going to be 100 per cent it's difficult to say, but I see no injuries that he's not going to be able to recover from."
Fevens underwent surgery in Afghanistan to stabilize him before he was transferred to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
He has since undergone more surgery and physiotherapy in Canada.
In terms of any psychological trauma, Fevens says the memory of the men he called his brothers is what keeps him going.
"The only way you can actually be a soldier or to be true to your brothers, is to soldier on, once something like this happens."
In fact, Fevens said if it weren't for his injuries, he would return to war-torn Afghanistan in a heart beat. He said his support for the mission has not wavered, and that his tragedy is just part of the job.
"I'm a soldier, so if the government says we're in Afghanistan, then I'm in Afghanistan. I support the mission, and I did see the good, I've seen all the good we're doing there."
He said he plans to remain in the Armed Forces after he recovers, but will continue his career in the air force.
"It's not because of these injuries. I was in air cadets since I was 12, and I thought then I was going air force. Of course, I got the infantry in my head."
With reports from CTV Atlantic's Chantelle Jones and the Canadian Press
