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Afghanistan 2009

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« on: April 26, 2009, 12:58:16 pm »

  Canadian soldier found dead at Afghan base
 
 
By Brian Hutchinson, Canwest News ServiceApril 24, 2009 5:30 AM



KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Tragedy found its way inside this sprawling military base with the unexplained death of a female Canadian officer.

The body of Maj. Michelle Mendes was discovered inside a sleeping unit here late Thursday afternoon. She died from what military authorities would only call a non-battle injury that did not involve enemy action.

An investigation into the unusual death has been launched but few details are being given at this time.

"Our thoughts are with the family and friends of our lost comrade. Our primary focus at this time is to provide the best possible support to the family of our soldier and to her colleagues,” said Maj. Mario Couture.

Mendes, 30, was a member of Canada’s Task Force Kandahar headquarters.

She had served previously in Kandahar. According to previously published news reports, she was in the area of a September 2006 friendly-fire incident that came during Operation Medusa, a major Canadian-led battle against Taliban insurgents that took place in the Panjwaii district west of Kandahar city.

Then a captain, Mendes was among 11 Canadian soldiers who were returned to Canada after the friendly fire incident, which saw an American aircraft mistake a group of Canadians for the enemy. It opened fire, killing Pte. Mark Graham and wounding approximately 36 others. The Canadian military has not identified what physical injuries if any that Mendes suffered then.

Canadian Forces personnel spent Thursday evening trying to reach the deceased soldier’s next of kin.

Mendes, who hailed from an area near Wicklow, Ont., was based in Ottawa before arriving here. Once members of her family were located and made aware of her death, information about the fatality was made public.

A 2006 story that appeared in the Colborne, Ont., Chronicle just days before the launch of Operation Medusa described her as a married officer with a master’s degree in international affairs from Carleton University in Ottawa.

The newspaper noted that she had opted for a career in military intelligence. “I was thrilled,” the newspaper quoted her mother, Dianne Knight, as saying. “It’s right up her alley. She spends the majority of her time reading and analyzing things, and she’s so good at it.”

Maj. Mendes is the third Canadian soldier in three years to die within this heavily fortified base, which houses and supports some 15,000 NATO-led troops from different countries.

In March 2008, the body of Bombardier Jeremie Ouellet, 22, of Matane, Que. was discovered inside his sleeping quarters at Kandahar Air Field. The Canadian military did not disclose the cause of his death.

Almost exactly a year earlier, 25-year-old Cpl. Kevin Megeney of New Glasgow, N.S., died in what authorities called at the time a “friendly fire” incident.

Another Nova Scotian, Cpl. Matthew Wilcox, 23, was later charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and negligent performance of duty and now faces court martial. Pre-trial arguments were heard in the matter earlier this year.

Two other Canadian soldiers deployed in the region also died from non-battle injuries. In August, 2007, Maj. Raymond Ruckpaul, 41, died from a gunshot wound to the head sustained in his quarters in Kabul, the Afghan capital. His death was eventually declared a suicide.

And in July 2008, the body of Cpl. Brendon Downey, 36, was discovered in the living quarters at Camp Mirage, a military base in the Persian Gulf that Canadian troops use as a staging area before air deployment to Afghanistan.

The nature of his death was not disclosed.

A small number of deaths from accidental injury has occurred outside the confines of Kandahar Air Field since Canadian troops deployed here in 2006.

Fatalities inside the base are more unusual, and, in a sense, more disturbing, as they do not do not involve enemy participation, and they are not necessarily the result of an accident.

Whatever their cause, these casualties are subjected to intensive inquiry by Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, a unit that examines serious incidents involving Canadian Forces members either in Canada or abroad.

Death by suicide is now a concern. It is well known that many Canadian soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress related to their deployment to Afghanistan and other theatres of conflict. Figures released last year by Veterans Affairs Canada indicate that more than 25 per cent of 1,300 soldiers who had already served in this country described some symptoms of the disorder.

Other Western armies with men and women fighting overseas now ask their troops to confront stress-related issues and to look out for each other’s mental well-being.

Posters have appeared recently on a British military base near Basra, Iraq, urging members to recognize problems and to request help if necessary.

According to a British report, one poster reads “Never let your mate fight alone. Worried about someone in your team? Be willing to listen. Not all wounds are visible.”

The posters went up after three British soldiers on the base killed themselves, all within a ten-week span. Last week, an American soldier in Kabul took his own life.

As is tradition for all Canadian soldiers who die here, a ramp ceremony for Mendes will be performed at Kandahar Air Field and a memorial plaque in her honour will be placed at a shaded cenotaph. A Canadian flag flew at half-mast beside the cenotaph on Friday.

Mendes is the 118th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan since Canadian troops were deployed here in 2002, and the second Canadian female soldier to die here this month. Trooper Karine Blais, 21, was killed and four other Canadian soldiers were wounded when an armoured vehicle in which they were travelling was struck by a roadside bomb north of Kandahar city.

The military funeral for Blais takes place at 10:30 a.m. Friday in St-Edouard Church in Les Mechins, Que.
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