0:06 Meet David, a 21 year old infantry soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces. He's been in the military for a year. The main reason why David Ammonia decided to join was because he saw the benefits they were having in his home country of the Philippines. He remembers seeing them helping out with humanitarian aid when he was just a young boy. Looking back on that moment, he still remembers thinking that he would not settle for anything less than being a soldier. He was seven years old when he moved to Canada. 0:36 You know, there's lots of stuff going around the Philippines of people may have heard. But yeah, I mean, just a bunch of army dudes walk up in uniform, just helping other people, you know. It doesn't have to be extraordinary, like all you know, doing battle, you know, and all that. But just normal stuff, you know, just to get people going on with their day. 0:55 Ammonia was working in a glass factory before becoming a soldier. He says when he first submitted his application, he wasn't sure if he was going to hear anything back from the recruiters. 1:05 Honestly, I didn't really expect it. I was doing my papers, not knowing because I heard the process. You know that but I mean, I just threw it in. Then one day, they randomly called me up like, hey, you're in. 1:32 One of the duties Ammonia has to keep up with as a soldier is making sure his boots are polished at all times. Sometimes he will spend four hours on them. When they are finished, the boots should be so shiny that you can see reflection in them. 1:51 See the boots that give us we have to keep polished at all times. Regularly, we would polish them here. And then even though we're not going on what we call parades, where we have to march on them. They have to be up to standard with a keeping a shine, keeping it ready to go whenever they need us to. But they don't have to part of them or think of it. You're on let's say you're in front of a group of guys who are in front of a group of you know, 200 other people and you know, yours would stand out compared to the rest of them if they're not shiny enough so. 2:30 Right now, David lives in the military barracks in Shiloh, Manitoba. It's a big change from the city of Manila in the Philippines where he grew up. Ammonia says he remembers it was crowded and dirty. Now he lives in a one strip mall, two gas station town with just the bare necessities. It's a little like a university dorm inside his living quarters. The shower stalls in the bathroom are all lined up next to each other and painted a sickly dark green. The windows in the stairwell have bars across them and give the impression of a prison. His room is plain and there is no real sense of who lives here. It could be anyone but Ammonia doesn't seem to mind his living situation. 3:15 Oh, personally, I'm gonna live here for a while until I can afford to get find a house or rent a house or something like that. Like I said, we have the necessities with we got. So bathrooms are fine i mean they're they have hot water which is nice. If you want if you want privacy, keep your door closed more or less. But yeah, it's I mean your to even like 200 guys with you. You know, if you want to hang on find someone to talk to stop that. 3:49 Although the training was hard now he has a lot of spare time on his hands. Sometimes he finishes the day at 12. Some days they tell him not to bother coming in. Every Friday is an early day. The job that they are trained for is battle and here in Shiloh, Manitoba. The only real battle is the one on Ammonia's TV screen. A lot of his time is spent in his room playing war video games. 4:21 Release, that's cool. Killer, whatever. 4:25 Honestly, video games has has been with me since I was a kid. So you know, I've always liked playing video games. I don't know if I will go out of it, but who knows. 4:44 One of the people David works closely with is Samuel Elslim who was also his fireteam partner. 4:50 Your team partner is kind of like your buddy rely on in situations. It's let's say like a co worker but a lot closer to them than coworkers. A battle buddy or fighting partner, you know, the insides and outsides of the lives. Everything about them, you know, getting ready for work and stuff in the morning we would make sure that each of his weapons laid out properly beds are made the way they're supposed to be made. We have a lucky for the day. He's always there to make sure I'm good to go and other people do not just your fighting partner, he's looking out for everyone else. 5:34 Gokru says when it comes down to doing what they may eventually have to do face real battle, he knows Ammonia will have his back. 5:42 I know he can get me out of it. If I was ever shot and I couldn't walk, he didn't get me out. I know that. 6:01 Despite the dangers ammonia is looking forward to when he gets the opportunity to be deployed. That's his job he says. Otherwise, it's like practicing your entire life for a game you never get to play in. In Toronto, I'm Melissa Verge.