Afghan Horror and the Death of Private Couture

A lot of bloggers were writing today about the latest horror story out of Afghanistan. How Stephen Harper's Cons lied to us.

And about the shit, the blood, and the boots.

I think we call this the banality of evil. I have to walk through blood and fecal material, so I need better boots. This is the road to Nuremberg, folks. And this is being done in our name. Everyone happy to sit here quietly and be a "Good Canadian"?

But I thought I'd write about a smaller but no less tragic story.

The death of Private Couture.















He was the first soldier from CFB Valcartier to be wounded in Afghanistan. So when he came back to Quebec he was a home town hero.

Even though he had lost his leg, he seemed happy, proud to have served his country, and confident that everything could still be like it once was.

"My life is not finished. I'm going to have a prosthesis," he said. "And all the things that I was doing, I'm going to do it in the future. It's not because I lost a foot that I can't do anything."

But when his optimism subsided...














And he was alone in his small town...depression set in.

"We are supposed to be somewhat invulnerable, invincible. And when you come to terms with yourself, realizing you're just a human being like everybody else, it's pretty hard to swallow knowing that all your friends will shun you and put you aside because you are sick."

And although people knew something was wrong.

In his home town of Roxton Pond, neighbors said they were shocked to hear about Couture's death, although some said he appeared to be having a hard time and hadn't left his home in a while.

Because he didn't ask for help...he didn't get any.

His condition should have been closely monitored because ....as I pointed out in this post.... Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can take while to develop.

But it wasn't... because as the video in that post shows... the Canadian Armed Forces don't have nearly enough resources to deal with the magnitude of the problem.

So when Heritage Minister Josée Verner says this:

.... the Canadian military offers all possible support to soldiers returning from Afghanistan."

She's either lying .....or doesn't know what she is talking about.

Which is par for the course when it comes to this crazy government....and our chickenhawk Generals. They'll say ANYTHING to please the Americans.... and put lipstick on this pig of a doomed mission.

But we deserve better. The Afghan people deserve better.

And so did Frédéric Couture...

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P.S. Suicide isn't just a problem for soldiers who have been to war...it's an epidemic.

And when Josée Verner was asked by a French reporter why our army doesn't monitor the health of our veterans she replied: "Nous ne sommes pas la police."

"We're not the police."

Which I guess says it all...