Eddison is among seven members of the Second Battalion of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment heading to Afghanistan by May 15 in the next rotation of Canadian troops.
Task Force 1-10 was originally scheduled for a six-month deployment, but the soldiers have been put on notice the tour has been extended. Eddison doesn't know exactly how long, but believes he could spend as much as eight months in
Afghanistan.
Heading to the war-torn south Asian country along with Eddison are Cpl. Brian Pinksen and Sgt. Steven Smith of Corner Brook; Cpl. Matthew Janes, Cpl. Jordan Dober, Master Cpl. Chris Mahoney of Stephenville and Cpl. Adam Paul, of Grand Falls-Windsor.
Eddison will be stationed in Kandahar with the provincial reconstruction team.
His main job will be watching for dealing with threats to the security of the team as they go about the business of helping the Afghans take care of themselves. Part of his duties will include helping civilian-military co-operation officers and talking to local people to see what is needed.
For the past year he's had a 10 kilometre run every Wednesday. Intense physical training was par for the course.
There was training on the weapons they'd be using and there was training at Fort Irwin in California where there is a training camp especially for soldiers headed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
There are people there who speak the languages they'll encounter on their tour of duty in Afghanistan.
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"You get a firsthand feel of what it's going to be like over, the language barriers and looking out for stuff," Eddison said.
"They had it set up with Hollywood special effects. If a bomb went off, there'd be an explosion. Rockets would fly across the sky."
There was a lot of "worst-case scenario" training so the soldiers would have a taste of what could happen in case they hit a sticky situation.
The senior soldiers he talked to, who were in Afghanistan before, told him the training helps because you don't have to think much about what to do, because the training shows you what needs to be done.
When he came back from a weekend of training in December 2008, he said part of who he is would have a hard time letting a friend go into harm's way alone.
When Pinksen signed up to go to Afghanistan on this tour, that helped seal Eddison's decision to go.
His parents, Wanda and James Eddison are naturally worried for their son.
Justin is nervous about going over there, but the training has given him confidence.
There's always the possibility of death in a combat zone and he accepts that risk.
"We knew what we signed up for," he said. "I had it in my mind a long time back."
