On July 3, 2009 the Canadian military came within a heartbeat of losing its future leader.

That was the day a powerful Taliban roadside bomb detonated beneath the light armoured vehicle behind the one carrying then-Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance.

Vance was standing in the rear air sentry hatch and saw, as the debris and dust cleared, the lifeless body of a member of his personal detail, Cpl. Nick Bulger, in the other vehicle.