Canada Faces Scandal Over Military Suicides Too

Secret military suicide report blames soldier
The Canadian Press
By Murray Brewster
March 12, 2015

The 1,434 pages contain little analysis of what the military did to help him, blaming his suicide on the end of his relationship with his common-law spouse and his addictions, which it attributed to the break-up of his parents.

A photo of Cpl. Stuart Langridge is seen along with his beret and medals at a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Thursday October 28, 2010.
Adrian Wyld Canadian Press

OTTAWA – A previously secret military investigation into the suicide of Cpl. Stuart Langridge blames not only Langridge himself for the tragedy, but also his biological parents, who divorced when he was five.

The board of inquiry report released Thursday was written nearly six years ago, a few months after the 28-year-old was found hanged in his Edmonton barracks.

National Defence had refused to release the findings to his parents, one of the reasons his mother Sheila and stepfather Shaun Fynes complained to the country’s military police watchdog.

It dismissed what he witnessed Bosnia and Afghanistan as not relevant to his mental health, even though he told military doctors it bothered him.

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‘They took our son away': The Canadian military’s war against a dead soldier’s family
National Post
Published Thursday, March 12, 2015

It’s hard to see Sheila Fynes as threatening.

The diminutive 67-year-old has a pleasant demeanour and likes to serve homemade cookies to guests.

But for some in the Canadian Forces, she became one of the most hated individuals in the country.

Fynes’s crime was that she wouldn’t shut up. She, and her husband Shaun, refused to stop speaking out about the suicide of their Afghan veteran son, Stuart Langridge. For seven years they continued to ask embarrassing questions and push for accountability from the Canadian Forces and military police.

In response, some in the Canadian Forces conducted a behind-the-scenes smear campaign. In more than 25 years covering the military, I’ve never seen such a vindictive attack.

The catalyst was a two-part series in the Ottawa Citizen in June 2009 which detailed the roadblocks the couple faced in trying to uncover answers about their son’s death.

Langridge, a model soldier and veteran of Bosnia and Afghanistan, was suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder when he killed himself at CFB Edmonton in 2008. He had attempted suicide five times before his death.

His parents claimed he was dismissed as a drunk and an addict and ill-treated by his superiors.
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Afghanistan War Memorial Brings Memories Back For Chaplain

YELLOWKNIFE VIGIL ‘BRINGS IT ALL BACK’ FOR MILITARY CHAPLAIN
Yellowknife News Canada
OLLIE WILLIAMS
FEBRUARY 7, 2015

Things like the vigil’s opening ceremony are a reminder of that great support network we have, and give us a chance to grieve and honour at the same time, so you don’t keep the feelings all inside.

When Major Darren Persaud stood in front of plaques at the Afghanistan Memorial Vigil in Yellowknife, he saw more than faces.

Sadly, the military chaplain – after three tours of Afghanistan – knew many of those commemorated by the plaques only too well.

Here, as told to Moose FM on the day of the vigil’s opening ceremony, is how Major Persaud reflects on what the vigil meant to him.

I’ve served for 12 years. I was in Afghanistan in 2004, 2008 and 2011, with the Air Force, Army and special forces.

When I look at a lot of the faces on the plaques at the vigil, I either was with them, or part of the chaplain team that would notify their families when they passed away overseas.

It’s really hard to even begin to talk about it.

I think, over time, I got better at coping with talking to the families. Not that it’s ever easy, but you really have to understand how to take care of yourself by creating a great support network, which I’m very thankful to have – be it other chaplains, social workers, the medical professional or other soldiers themselves. It’s so important for us.

Things like the vigil’s opening ceremony are a reminder of that great support network we have, and give us a chance to grieve and honour at the same time, so you don’t keep the feelings all inside.
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Canadian Terrorist Attacks Prove Love Stronger Than Hate

What will it take for terrorists to understand they cannot defeat love? How dumb are they? How do they waste their days hating so much instead of enjoying the emotion of love, experiencing tenderness, along with everything else that makes life worth living?

Tributes to Canada Soldier as Shaken Parliament Returns to Work
NBC News

Sweet tribute: Pittsburgh NHL fans sing 'O Canada' after Ottawa shootings
While courage is required to serve in the military, even a bully has some sort of courage but his love is for himself alone. To risk your life serving your country, it requires courage but above that, it requires being selfless. It is love for those you serve with causing you to put your life on the line, knowingly risking everything for the sake of someone else. That is something terrorists will never understand and will never, ever be able to defeat.

They can claim they are doing it for "their people" but then they would not be killing their own or putting their lives on the line so they can kill off more of those they see as enemies. They can claim they are doing it for "religious" reasons but the truth is, they use it and hide behind it.

They do not seek better lives for their own families or anyone else. They thrive on hatred and anger, feeding off fear but even as they do cause some to be afraid, they never win. Even with your fear, even in your emotional pain, you still refuse to surrender to it.

Most of the time after PTSD has set in while deployed, you do not allow yourself to suffer or feel it. You keep going until all those you are with are out of danger. Then and only then do you focus on yourself. That requires love in the purest form. A love that seeks nothing for yourself.

These are horrible times but there have been horrible times before. Each time during the history of civilization, those horrible times only came to an end when good people stood up against bullies and terrorists and said they would not surrender, refusing to allow them to take away all that is good in life.

Soldier's suicide note withheld from family for 14 months

Soldier's suicide note withheld for 14 months
By Murray Brewster
The Canadian Press

He had five — possibly six — previous suicide attempts.

OTTAWA – A Canadian soldier’s suicide note was withheld from his parents for 14 months by military police in what Cpl. Stuart Langridge’s stepfather calls a calculated deception.

Shaun Fynes, in his second day of testimony before a public inquiry, said he believes his son’s last communication was kept back to protect the military.

“My son had (post-traumatic stress disorder), he was in pain and he couldn’t take it anymore,” Fynes testified Thursday. “That was the truth of that note and that was part of the coverup.”

The Canadian Forces National Investigative Service says it held on to the note because it was evidence in an ongoing investigation.

It acknowledges 14 months does not represent “expeditious” handling of the note, but has never explained why it needed to keep it beyond the first few days of the investigation.

“I am left to conclude it was not inept and it was a very calculated deception designed to protect the uniform from embarrassment,” Fynes said.

The family has never received a formal apology regarding the note, although the military has conceded it was wrong to withhold it.

Fynes says when the family did finally receive the note, it was a photocopy, and they had to demand the original.
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Canada:PTSD pushes care to breaking point

Too many stressed soldiers slip through cracks: report
The Canadian Press - OTTAWA


Too many stressed soldiers slip through cracks: report
2 hours ago

OTTAWA — Some Canadian Forces personnel who suffer from operational stress injuries are not being diagnosed and are not getting the care and treatment they need "to continue to be contributing members" of society, says a report by the military ombudsman.

The assessment, obtained by The Canadian Press, says 18 of the 31 recommendations made in a 2002 report on operational stress have not been fully implemented, including the appointment of a national co-ordinator for issues related to operational stress injuries.

More needs to be done to prevent soldiers, sailors and air crew from falling through the cracks, Ombudsman Mary McFadyen says in the followup report being released Wednesday.

"Clearly, the environment in which Canada's military has been operating in recent years has changed dramatically," she says in the 62-page report. "With the mission in Afghanistan, the level and intensity of combat operations have increased substantially. . . .

"A significant number of soldiers are returning from overseas deployments suffering with mental health issues. . . . It has also become evident that the Canadian Forces and Canadian Forces members are strained almost to the breaking point."

"Injured soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen who have served their country with courage and dedication are slipping through the cracks of an ad hoc system.

"The consequences for individuals who fall through the cracks are often devastating and long lasting."

Mental-health caregivers from virtually every military establishment pointed to myths, and stereotypes associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and other operational stress injuries as persistent problems, McFadyen says.

"The negative stigma associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and other operational stress injuries remains a real problem at a number of military establishments across the country," she reports. click link above for more

Two Canadians hurt during outpost attack in Afghanistan

Two Canadians hurt during outpost attack in Afghanistan
Tom Blackwell , Canwest News Service
Published: Sunday, September 28, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Two Canadian soldiers were hurt, one of them seriously, when Taliban insurgents attacked an outpost west of Kandahar City on Saturday with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

One of the soldiers has been released from hospital, and the other is in stable condition but will be transferred to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

"I just came from speaking with him. The soldier is in very good spirits," said Colonel Jamie Cade, deputy commander of Canada's mission in Kandahar. "He's going to be OK."
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linked from ICasualties.org

Security contractors questioned following death of soldier

Security contractors questioned following death

By Murray Brewster, THE CANADIAN PRESS




OTTAWA - They are often a ragtag band of locally hired guns.

Many are known to have a drug problem.

The vast majority of them are illiterate and slap on a uniform after receiving what can only charitably be described as cursory instruction in military tactics and the handling of an assault rifle.

In Afghanistan, they are called private security contractors, and their possible role in the death of Canadian soldier last weekend was under increasing scrutiny Monday with experts accusing the federal government of not heeding warnings raised last fall.

"In a lot of instances we have this picture of private security as Blackwater-types, ex-navy SEALS, but a lot of the contracts in Afghanistan, as I understand them, are with local Afghan companies," said Dave Perry, a defence researcher at Dalhousie University's Centre for Foreign Policy Studies in Halifax.

The Canadian army is investigating whether shots from an Afghan private security contractor led to the death of Master Cpl. Josh Roberts in a confused firefight in the volatile Zhari district over the weekend.

Details of what happened are unclear.
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Linked from ICasualties.org

Master Cpl. Joshua Brian Roberts dies after friendly-fire

Death of Canadian soldier highlights chaotic security situation in southern Afghanistan
By Drew Brown , Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, August 11, 2008
(See video at end of story)

MAIWAND, Afghanistan —The shooting death of a Canadian soldier this weekend provides a grim example of how chaotic the security situation can often be in southern Afghanistan.

The soldier was mortally wounded Saturday morning in Kandahar province when Afghan private security guards opened fire indiscriminately after Taliban insurgents attacked a nearby group of Canadian troops, according to coalition military officers.

The shooting occurred in the Spin Beer district of Kandahar province, about 20 miles west of Kandahar city, said Maj. Corey Frederickson, part of a Canadian advisory team that trains and mentors the Afghan army in Maiwand district, about 45 miles west of Kandahar.

According to a statement issued late Saturday by the Canadian Defense Ministry, the soldier was transported by helicopter to Kandahar Airfield but died on the way.

The Canadian Defense Ministry identified the soldier as Master Cpl. Joshua Brian Roberts. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Manitoba.
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Canadian soldier, non-combat death in Afghanistan

Canadian soldier found dead at undisclosed Middle Eastern base


KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A Canadian soldier was found dead in the sleeping area of a Middle Eastern military base.

The death of Cpl. Brendan Anthony Downey, a military policeman based in Dundurn, Sask., had been declared non-combat-related even before investigators arrived at the base.

The Canadian base in the Arabian desert offers logistical support to the military operation in Afghanistan.
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UPDATE
Canadian soldier found dead at Middle Eastern base a 'committed patriot': family
20 hours ago

DUNDURN, Sask. — The family of a Canadian soldier who was found dead at a Middle Eastern military base Friday describe him as a "committed patriot" who joined the military in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The military is investigating the non-combat-related death of Brendan Anthony Downey.

Downey, a military policeman based in Dundurn, Sask., was posted to a little-known Canadian base in the Arabian desert that offers logistical support to the military operation in Afghanistan.

A statement released by his family on Sunday says he was overjoyed to hear of his wife's recent pregnancy, and he will be sorely missed by his wife, his two-year-old son and the rest of his family and friends.

Downey will receive a military tribute and his name will be added to Kandahar Airfield's memorial for 85 other soldiers and one diplomat killed during the Afghanistan mission.

His death is the mission's 11th non-combat fatality.
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jf-QchKwTIXKBXOTwvlcKjL7QiAQ