Perspective

There was a going away party last week, which I did not attend, for a friend of a friend whos unit is headed off to Afghanistan. There is one coming up, which I will attend, for my extremely loveable friends Nick and Andrew. Nick is Russian, was on the wrestling team with me and loves wrestling. Andrew is tall, gawky, with ginger hair and an awkward demeanor. He was responsible for some of the best times I had in Drama. I write this because here in Canada, we recently reached 131 soldiers killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan.

The latest was Jonathan Coutourier from the VanDoos. That’s all I can tell you about him. He was un Québécois. From the thumbnail, I can tell you he had blue eyes, brown hair, and an innocent and surprised look on his face. I can’t tell you if he joked around in the back of the van. I can’t tell you if he always holds the door open for people and buys the entire sports team coffee. I can’t tell you if his hair stands up straight on end, that his nickname was Saskwatch, or that he liked to spend his entire drama class lying under the table.

One hundred and thirty-one

That’s the most of any NATO country (in Afghanistan), mostly because until recently, the American and British troops were highly concentrated in Iraq, with only a few deployed to Afghanistan, and other countries are deployed mostly in the much safer north, around the capital city of Kabul. We claim we’re going to change our mission next year, form combat to ‘peacekeeping’, whatever that means. How you can keep peace when there is no peace to keep is a question worth asking. Even doing nice things like building roads and wells, providing education and medical care isn’t a safe business in a country riddled with landmines and in the midst of a guerilla war. People will still die. Or perhaps we will be so afraid of the loss of life in the service of the mission that we will simply become accountants, witnesses of the horrors wreaked on innocents. I’m not a diplomat, nor am I a soldier. But I would like to tell you about a flag that stands on the wall of my history classroom. It is the only flag you will see that has poppies on it. Why? Because my teacher, a former military man, puts a poppy on the flag for every life lost in the service of the Afghan mission. He takes them off every Remembrance Day, and starts again. There are over thirty poppies on that flag now, and with the recent spike in violence it is hard not to see that number growing. And yet, as a country, we have become hardened to the loss of so many young lives. For other countries, who have lost 10 soldiers, or 20, the shock is still fresh, the national outpouring of grief still raw. Here, it has gotten so that the death of a soldier is no longer always front-page news, and the maiming almost never is. Soldiers fight and soldiers die. It’s what they do, what they have always done, and, until mankind figures out a better way to deal with it’s conflicts then throwing the blood of the young at it, it’s how it always will be. They fight for different reasons- for some, like Nick, it is because they are truly, intensely patriotic- some because it seemed like the natural route. Very few fight and die for King and Country, or to please a far off politician. We’ll never know what Pte. Coutourier fought for- what he believed or cared enough about to lay down his life. We can make a guess, and say it probably wasn’t the politician who lives to 100, or the general who dies in bed.

Rest in peace. Rester en paix.

First name Last name Rank Province Date of Death

Jonathan Couturier Private Quebec September 17, 2009

Patrick Lormand Private Quebec September 13, 2009

Jean-François Drouin Corporal Quebec September 6, 2009

Yannick Pépin Major Quebec September 6, 2009

Mathieu Allard Sapper Quebec August 1, 2009

Christian Bobbitt Corporal Quebec August 1, 2009

Sébastien Courcy Private Quebec July 16, 2009

Patrice Audet Master corportalQuebec July 6, 2009

Martin Joannette Corporal Quebec July 6, 2009

Nick Bulger Corporal Alberta July 3, 2009

Charles-Philippe Michaud New Brunswick June 23, 2009

Martin Dubé Corporal Quebec June 14, 2009

Alexandre Péloquin Private Quebec June 8, 2009

Michelle Mendes Major Ontario April 23, 2009

Karine Blais Trooper Quebec April 13, 2009

Jack Bouthillier Trooper Ontario March 20, 2009

Tyler Crooks Corporal Ontario March 20, 2009

Corey Hayes Trooper runswick March 20, 2009

Scott Vernelli Master corporal Ontario March 20, 2009

Marc Diab Trooper Quebec March 8, 2009

Dennis Brown Warrant officer Ontario March 3, 2009

Dany Fortin Corporal Quebec March 3, 2009

Kenneth O’Quinn Corporal Newfoundland and Labrador March 3, 2009

Sean Greenfield Sapper Manitoba January 31, 2009

Brian Good Trooper Ontario January 7, 2009

Gregory Kruse Sergeant Ontario December 27, 2008

Gaetan Roberge Warrant officer Ontario December 27, 2008

Michael Freeman Private Ontario December 26, 2008

John Curwin Private Nova Scotia December 13, 2008

Thomas Hamilton Corporal Nova Scotia December 13, 2008

Justin Jones Private Newfoundland and Labrador December 13, 2008

Demetrios Diplaros Private December 5, 2008

Mark McLaren Corporal Ontario December 5, 2008

Robert Wilson Warrant officer Ontario December 5, 2008

Prescott Shipway Sergeant Saskatchewan September 7, 2008

Andrew Grenon Corporal Ontario September 3, 2008

Chad Horn Private Alberta September 3, 2008

Mike Seggie Corporal Manitoba September 3, 2008

Shawn Eades Sergeant Ontario August 20, 2008

Stephan Stock Sapper British Columbia August 20, 2008

Dustin Wasden Corporal Saskatchewan August 20, 2008

Erin Doyle Master corporal British Columbia August 11, 2008

Josh Roberts Master corporal Saskatchewan August 9, 2008

James Arnal Corporal Manitoba July 18, 2008

Colin Wilmot Private Alberta July 6, 2008

Brendan Downey Corporal Saskatchewan July 4, 2008

Jonathan Snyder Captain British Columbia June 7, 2008

Richard Leary Captain Ontario June 3, 2008

Michael Starker Alberta May 6, 2008

Terry Street Private Quebec April 4, 2008

Jason Boyes Sergeant Manitoba March 16, 2008

Jérémie Ouellet Bombardier 1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery Quebec March 11, 2008

Michael Hayakaze Trooper Alberta March 2, 2008

Étienne Gonthier Corporal Quebec January 23, 2008

Richard Renaud Trooper Quebec January 15, 2008

Eric Labbé Corporal Quebec January 6, 2008

Hani Massouh Warrant officer Quebec January 6, 2008

Jonathan Dion Gunner Quebec December 30, 2007

Nicolas Beauchamp Corporal Quebec November 17, 2007

Michel Lévesque Private Quebec November 17, 2007

Nathan Hornburg Corporal Alberta September 24, 2007

Raymond Ruckpaul Major Ontario August 29, 2007

Christian Duchesne Master corporal Quebec August 22, 2007

Mario Mercier Master warrant officer Quebec August 22, 2007

Simon Longtin Private Quebec August 19, 2007

Jordan Anderson Corporal 3Nunavut July 4, 2007

Cole Bartsch Corporal Alberta July 4, 2007

Colin Bason Master corporal British Columbia July 4, 2007

Matthew Dawe Captain Ontario July 4, 2007

Jefferson Francis Captain New Brunswick July 4, 2007

Lane Watkins Private Manitoba July 4, 2007

Stephen Bouzane Corporal Newfoundland and Labrador June 20, 2007

Christos Karigiannis Sergeant 3Quebec June 20, 2007

Joel Wiebe Private Alberta June 20, 2007

Darryl Caswell Trooper June 11, 2007

Darrell Priede Master corporal Ontario May 30, 2007

Matthew McCully Corporal Ontario May 25, 2007

Anthony Klumpenhouwer Master corporal Ontario April 18, 2007

Patrick Pentland Trooper April 11, 2007

Allan Stewart Master corporal Brunswick April 11, 2007

David Greenslade Private New Brunswick April 8, 2007

Kevin Kennedy Private Newfoundland and Labrador April 8, 2007

Donald Lucas Sergeant Newfoundland and Labrador April 8, 2007

Brent Poland Corporal Ontario April 8, 2007

Christopher Stannix Corporal Nova Scotia April 8, 2007

Aaron Williams Corporal New Brunswick April 8, 2007

Kevin Megeney Corporal Nova Scotia March 6, 2007

Robert Girouard Chief warrant officerNew Brunswick November 27, 2006

Albert Storm Corporal Ontario November 27, 2006

Darcy Tedford Sergeant October 14, 2006

Blake Williamson Private Ontario October 14, 2006

Mark Wilson Trooper October 7, 2006

Craig Gillam Sergeant Newfoundland and Labrador October 3, 2006

Robert Mitchell Corporal October 3, 2006

Josh Klukie Private Ontario September 29, 2006

Glen Arnold Corporal Ontario September 18, 2006

David Byers Private Ontario September 18, 2006

Shane Keating Corporal Saskatchewan September 18, 2006

Keith Morley Corporal Manitoba September 18, 2006

Mark Graham Private Ontario September 4, 2006

William Cushley Private Ontario September 3, 2006

Frank Mellish Warrant officer Nova Scotia September 3, 2006

Richard Nolan Newfoundland and Labrador September 3, 2006

Shane Stachnik Sergeant Alberta September 3, 2006

David Braun Corporal Saskatchewan August 22, 2006

Andrew Eykelenboom Corporal British Columbia August 11, 2006

Jeffrey Walsh Master corporal Saskatchewan August 9, 2006

Raymond Arndt Master Corporal Alberta August 5, 2006

Kevin Dallaire Private Alberta August 3, 2006

Vaughan Ingram Sergeant Newfoundland and Labrador August 3, 2006

Bryce Keller Corporal Saskatchewan August 3, 2006

Christopher Reid Corporal Nova Scotia August 3, 2006

Francisco Gomez Corporal Alberta July 22, 2006

Jason Warren Corporal Quebec July 22, 2006

Anthony Boneca Corporal Ontario July 9, 2006

Nichola Goddard Captain Alberta May 17, 2006

Matthew Dinning Corporal April 22, 2006

Myles Mansell Bombardier British Columbia April 22, 2006

Randy Payne Corporal Ontario April 22, 2006

William Turner Lieutenant Ontario April 22, 2006

Robert Costall Private Ontario March 29, 2006

Paul Davis Corporal Nova Scotia March 2, 2006

Timothy Wilson Master corporal Alberta March 2, 2006

Glyn Berry Diplomat Wales January 15, 2006

Braun Woodfield Private Nova Scotia November 24, 2005

Jamie Murphy Corporal Newfoundland and Labrador January 27, 2004

Robbie Beerenfenger Corporal Ontario October 2, 2003

Robert Short Sergeant New Brunswick October 2, 2003

Ainsworth Dyer Corporal Quebec April 18, 2002

Richard Green Private Nova Scotia April 18, 2002

Marc Léger Sergeant Ontario April 18, 2002

Nathan Smith Private Nova Scotia April 18, 2002