...they are the 300 drivers, mechanics and maintainers and convoy escorts of what's known as the National Support Element -- the logistics arm of the Canadian Forces -- here in Afghanistan. If it is probably true that they didn't sign up for combat, combat is what many of them nonetheless have found in this dangerous, volatile country.

...

For the maintainers, job No. 1 is to fix things on the 800 vehicles, thousands of guns and weapons, high-tech geegaws such as night-vision sights, scopes, radios and cell and satellite phones used by the Canadian battle group -- and fix them fast, usually on the fly in the field, and sometimes working at night by the "red lights" that can't be seen by the enemy.

"These guys can fix anything," says their boss, Lt.-Col. Conrad. "And they're ferociously proud -- what they hate the most is leaving something on the battleground. They'd rip up their underwear to fix that LAV," the Light Armoured Vehicle that has performed so heroically in Afghanistan.