Pro Patria

Babble on.

Military service is a dangerous job, for infantry more than any other branch. They know that going in, and every one of them is a volunteer. That doesn't make it any less difficult when we lose one.

My condolences to the families of those Canadian soldiers involved in a serious vehicle accident while patrolling in Afghanistan yesterday: Pte Paul Schavo, Cpl James Edward McDonald, Cpl Shane Dean Jones, Sgt Tony Nelson McIver, who were all injured, and especially to the family of Pte Braun Scott Woodfield, who died in the accident. My heart is also with 2RCR, their extended family.

Pro Patria.

Babble off.

Update: Col (R) Howie Marsh, a well respected Canadia defence analyst, rebuts some of the speculation that the rollover was caused by a design flaw.

To put this matter in context, the LAV III has had very few rollovers per million kilometers of fleet usage; probably less, in fact, than a typical SUV.

This is a tragic accident. But from a systemic point of view, events such as this one can be reduced, but never completely eliminated. As I said, soldiering is a dangerous profession.