The government should now drop all charges, unless it cares to admit that what they are doing is a vendetta disguised as criminal justice.

Since I last wrote about the case of Australian whistleblower David McBride in Soul of Darkness back in August there have been some major developments to report on. Last Thursday a long awaited report of the findings of an inquiry looking into reports of possible war crimes committed by Australian SAS troops in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.

Soul of Darkness

https://onecalgaryvoter.com/2020/08/12/soul-of-darkness/

The Brereton Inquiry

In 2016 the Inspector General of the Australian Defense Force appointed a justice of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, Major General Paul Brereton, to head an inquiry that would determine the veracity of rumors surrounding possible war crimes being committed by ADF troops in Afghanistan. It was to be called The Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry, though it was more popularly known as the Brereton Inquiry.

Mandate

In the 2017-18 IGDAF Annual Report the focus of the inquiry was stated to be:

…an administrative process, not a criminal investigation. This process is intended not only to ascertain whether there has been misconduct, but equally to exonerate those who may be affected by unsubstantiated rumours and allegations.

As CDF directed IGADF to conduct the Inquiry, the Inquiry has powers to compel the production of evidence similar to those of a Royal Commission.

IGADF Annual Report 2017–2018

The following year, the Annual Report reflected that as of June 30th, 2019 the Inquiry was examining:

55 separate incidents or issues covering a range of alleged breaches of the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC), predominantly unlawful killings of persons who were non-combatants or were no longer combatants, but also ‘cruel treatment’ of such persons and

incidents relevant to the organisational, operational and cultural environment which may have enabled the alleged LOAC breaches.

 IGADF Annual Report 2018–2019

Findings

The final report of the Inquiry that has been issued for public release has had large portions of redacted, but a vast majority of its findings remain uncovered and they reveal reports of disturbing behaviour.

• The Law of Armed Conflict and International Humanitarian Law prohibit as war crimes the murder and cruel treatment of non-combatants and persons who are hors-de-combat (that is, outof-the fight because they have been seriously wounded, or have surrendered or been captured and are prisoners or ‘persons under control’), in a non-international armed conflict, which the war in Afghanistan was. Those binding international law obligations are implemented in Australian criminal law and they applied to all Australian Defence Force members on Operation SLIPPER. Australian Defence Force members were and are extensively trained on this subject, and the Inquiry did not encounter a single witness who claimed to be under any misunderstanding as to what was prohibited. Uniformly, everyone understood that it was impermissible to use lethal force against a prisoner (or ‘person under control’), or against a non-combatant.
• In 28 incidents the subject of detailed examination (and a further 11 which were discontinued), the Inquiry has found that rumours, allegations or suspicions of a breach of Law of Armed Conflict are not substantiated.
• However, the Inquiry has found that there is credible information of 23 incidents in which one or more non-combatants or persons hors-de-combat were unlawfully killed by or at the direction of members of the Special Operations Task Group in circumstances which, if accepted by a jury, would be the war crime of murder, and a further two incidents in which a non-combatant or person horsde-combat was mistreated in circumstances which, if so accepted, would be the war crime of cruel treatment. Some of these incidents involved a single victim, and some multiple victims.
• These incidents involved:
  • a. a total of 39 individuals killed, and a further two cruelly treated; and
  • b. a total of 25 current or former Australian Defence Force personnel who were perpetrators, either as principals or accessories, some of them on a single occasion and a few on multiple occasions.
• None of these are incidents of disputable decisions made under pressure in the heat of battle. The cases in which it has been found that there is credible information of a war crime are ones in which it was or should have been plain that the person killed was a non-combatant, or hors-de-combat. While a few of these are cases of Afghan local nationals encountered during an operation who were on no reasonable view participating in hostilities, the vast majority are cases where the persons were killed when hors-de-combat because they had been captured and were persons under control, and as such were protected under international law, breach of which was a crime.

It goes on further to state:

• The Inquiry also found that there is credible information that some members of the Special Operations Task Group carried ‘throwdowns’ – foreign weapons or equipment, typically though not invariably easily concealable such as pistols, small hand held radios (‘ICOMs’), weapon magazines and grenades – to be placed with the bodies of ‘enemy killed in action’ for the purposes of site exploitation photography, in order to portray that the person killed had been carrying the weapon or other military equipment when engaged and was a legitimate target. This practice probably originated for the less egregious though still dishonest purpose of avoiding scrutiny where a person who was legitimately engaged turned out not to be armed. But it evolved to be used for the purpose of concealing deliberate unlawful killings.

• In different Special Operations Task Group rotations, the Inquiry has found that there is credible information that junior soldiers were required by their patrol commanders to shoot a prisoner, in order to achieve the soldier’s first kill, in a practice that was known as ‘blooding’. This would happen after the target compound had been secured, and local nationals had been secured as ‘persons under control’. Typically, the patrol commander would take a person under control and the junior member, who would then be directed to kill the person under control. ‘Throwdowns’ would be placed with the body, and a ‘cover story’ was created for the purposes of operational reporting and to deflect scrutiny. This was reinforced with a code of silence.

VC winner could be stripped of medal.

War hero Ben Roberts-Smith could be stripped of his Victoria Cross along with dozens of other elite soldiers if they are convicted over ‘war crimes’ in Afghanistan

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8971801/War-hero-Ben-Roberts-Smith-stripped-Victoria-Cross.html

I can now identify the soldier I named as “Soldier B” In Soul of Darkness as Ben Roberts-Smith. He was awarded the Australian Victoria Cross in 2011 for actions during an operation in Afghanistan in 2010, actions that it has been alleged were war crimes. The allegations have not been proven in a court of law as of this time, in fact no criminal charges have been laid as yet. However Maj.Gen. Brereton did recommend that the Chief of the Defense Force refer a total of 36 matters to the Australian Federal Police for criminal investigation, which relate to 23 seperate incidents and involving 19 individuals including Ben Roberts-Smith.

Roberts-Smith will likely retain the VC throughout the investigation and any subsequent trial, however should he be found guilty he will no doubt be stripped of it. The unfortunate thing about this is that because of the actions of a few men, as many as 3,000 soldiers in the Australian SAS will lose some of their medals when the whole regiment is stripped of group citations earned between 2005 and 2016, as is expected.

A letter from 10 SAS operators.

A group of SAS operatives penned an open letter to the Australian public last week with the title “They Are Not One Of Us.” These are the men who volunteered to serve their country and to die if necessary to protect the principle of the rule of law under which their country was founded. These are people who live by a code and to not live up to it means that they are unfit to serve in the SAS. It is a reminder that they shouldn’t be coloured by the actions of a very small minority.

We are the soldiers, the ‘Operators’ as we are known, who have served or are continuing to serve in the Special Air Service Regiment.

We have decided to speak, as one, to the Australian public, who have trusted us and invested in us to defend our country for over 60 years.

All of us have been carefully selected for the privilege of serving our country in the SASR. Our government has invested millions of dollars of public money in each one of us to provide you with unique and specialised capabilities in the defence of our nation.

Our regiment is now the subject of the longest inquiry into allegations of war crimes conducted by the Australian Defence Force. Accusations and allegations of war crimes as well as failures of leadership cut to the very core of the SASR. Such actions go against the very purpose of who we are as an organisation, and against the very nature of who we are as individuals.

We are not indifferent to human suffering. We do not have a callous disregard for human life. We are, however, selected for our unwavering moral compass, on which we proudly hang our Sandy Berets. We are not out of control. In fact, we have spent the majority of our professional soldiering careers in the SASR drilling and exercising, specifically to avoid casualties among non-combatants.

We define SASR mission success by how precisely we can apply the minimum amount of force to achieve a desired strategic outcome with the absolute minimum loss of human life. This is evident in the tens of thousands of missions and programs we have carried out around the world.

We are all singularly bound by the principle of “truth in reporting”. This principle underpins our single most important regimental capability: long-range surveillance and reconnaissance. Truth in reporting enables the SASR to act as the operational eyes and ears of the Australian Defence Force and the Australian government. Without truth in reporting, we are nothing.

As early as 2006, it was our commitment to truth in reporting that instigated what has now resulted in the four-year-long Brereton inquiry into allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan. Truth in reporting is why we speak up then and now.

The matters before us are of an extremely grave nature, and we accept that the impact of the Brereton inquiry may adversely affect former and current serving members and their families, as well as our strategic relationships with other coalition forces around the world. Whatever the outcome, we prefer our regimental history to reflect hard truths over comforting fantasy. If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth.

We also believe that the same principle of truth in reporting should be embraced by the media, so as not to unduly impugn the reputation of the SASR as a whole, or inadvertently imply improper behaviour committed by former or current serving members. Equally, we applaud accurate portrayals of misconduct provided it is supported by appropriate context and evidence.

Just as we embrace truth in reporting, we demand our leadership to do the same. Leaders are bound in their duty to convey what we have seen and reported and we hold them to the same standards to which we hold ourselves.

We hold our leadership to the same unforgiving standards to which we hold our teams, and ourselves, individually. It is our relentless pursuit of individual and organisational excellence that defines us as an organisation and a regiment.

We lead by example. On combat operations, we were forced to sacrifice many of our technological advantages over highly adaptive adversaries who knew no rules or bounds. We accepted continually shifting goal posts and decisions made by governments in the absence of a defined campaign outcome in Afghanistan. We begrudgingly accepted these strategic decisions while attempting to effectively operate in an environment characterised by uncertainty, danger and our own casualties.

We are not war criminals, nor have we ever set our morality aside. We are professional volunteer soldiers who frequently upheld the values of the Australian Army during a 10-year expeditionary campaign in the Middle East, despite the absence of any clear definition of victory.

We believe in the same legal principles that underpin the very fabric of Australian society, something that we have sworn to defend with our lives.

We support the removal from the regiment and legal prosecution of anyone found guilty of breaching the laws of armed conflict, the Geneva Convention or the rules of engagement. We outright reject and despise criminality in all its forms, especially in the context of soldiering. We support unbiased investigatory due process, the rule of law and the burden of proof. There is absolutely no place in the ADF, least of all in the SASR, for any individual who believes they are untouchable or above the law.

Having had full legal representation, should it be proven that any former or current serving individuals within the SASR have acted outside the law or the expected standards and behaviours demanded of an Australian soldier, we underline that we will wholeheartedly support their prosecution and removal from the regiment. They have acted against everything the SASR fights and stands for. They are not one of us.

We are committed to accepting the outcomes and consequences of the Brereton inquiry and to action its recommendations. Then we will return to the shadows where we belong. We do not seek to be glorified for our actions or demonstrating our moral courage. We only seek the validation that truth in reporting is who we are and what we do.

We are proud of the internal examinations into our regiment that have highlighted a culture of toughness and professionalism of the extraordinary men and women who do extraordinary work under extraordinary circumstances.

We are the tactical, operational and strategic eyes and ears for the ADF and the Australian government, with strategic and innovative capabilities to reach out and strike our adversaries when required.

We are soldiers, we are professionals, and we are Australians. We are committed to upholding the values of the Australian Defence Force. We believe in truth in reporting, moral courage and constant vigilance from the shadows in defence of Australia.

We are the SASR. Who Dares Wins.

They Are Not One Of Us
https://www.smh.com.au/national/they-are-not-one-of-us-sas-soldiers-condemn-war-crime-perpetrators-20201116-p56ezv.html

So what of David McBride?

As of November 21st David McBride has had criminal charges pending against him for 626 days. That’s one year, eight months, and fifteen days that he has had the spectre of a lifelong prison sentence weighing on him. And for what exactly?

For having the temerity to think that he could call out senior military officials and politicians for their criminal behaviour? Or perhaps it was because he was going to ruin the good thing that they had going for themselves. With Rules of Engagement that weren’t entirely clear to the troops in the field, and so many blurred lines surrounding who is a combatant and who isn’t they set themselves up for success in a rather devious way.

It’s all about the popularity.

For any state that is at war one of the most important things to have is popular support for said war. One way that this can be achieved by appealing to and exploiting a nations sense of loss in the wake of the death of a soldier. It can at times unify a people to rally behind the troops to avenge those killed in action. These are also opportunities for politicians to exploit the situation for their political benefit. Being seen greeting a casket at the airport with a grieving family or showing up at a funeral can work to bump up a politicians popularity and polling numbers.

The other thing that any country loves to have are war heroes, especially ones awarded with the highest decoration there is to offer them as in this case with the Victoria Cross, perhaps the most prestigous of awards for valour and gallantry in the world. Once a hero has been made everything possible must be done to maintain the image and persona, because maintaining the myth is good for the public’s perception.

As a result the “hero” is able to get away with a lot he wouldn’t ordinarily be able to. For instance all Australian special forces operations were monitored from above using drones to a provide live video feed to commanders and others. It has been alleged that Roberts-Smith would tell a Brigadier to ensure that no drones would by overhead during any of his operations. It seems incredulous to me that senior commanders would not have been aware of what Roberts-Smith was up to.

As legal officer McBride was able to see what had been going on, and after noticing patterns in what he was seeing he took what he found to the authorities. For two years he tried his best to get someone at any official agency in Australia to act on what he found, only to be told that you can’t charge the government.

Time to dismiss the charges.

The findings of the Brereton Inquiry do nothing but exonerate David McBride. They back up what he had been saying the whole damn time, and for his troubles he has had the pleasure of having the government throw its weight against him in an attempt to punish him. They couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to silence him so they wanted to lock him away instead.

There is no reason for the government to pursue this case against McBride now, other that to try to wield the law like a sword against a citizen when it should be there as a shield.

It is my most fervent hope and expectation that the next article I write about David McBride will be when all the charges against him are dismissed and he can live out his life a free man.

Other Sources

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7019615/afghanistan-inquiry-calls-to-drop-prosecution-of-whistleblower-david-mcbride/?fbclid=IwAR20tov5bHTa0ZRhaGeuBLo2GUmX74pS6XzbezVZ7gAwQC1O1Wqc6UGe4kA

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp2021/Quick_Guides/BreretonInquiry

Veteran John Kennedy, Assistant Operations Manager of the Veteran’s Association Food Bank in Edmonton.

Originally broadcast November 13th, 2020.

Assisant Operational Manager Vet John Kennedy, updates us on the progress he and Operational Manager Bruce Given have made in the past three weeks to ready the building and fill the foods bins for the curbside and official opening of the new Veteran’s Association Food Bank in Edmonton…which is already well on the way to helping other veterans.

$6,300 needed for isolation therapy tank.

Isolation tank for Brain injury PTSD rehab

Chris, my husband of 17 years and best friend is a retired Canadian Armed Forces member who also served as a Firefighter with many overseas tours. Unfortunately he has suffered many concussions and many injuries related to his job including TBI, PTSD, auditory processing disorder and CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). There is no cure and no medication for CTE…no magic pill, only therapies to try to cope daily.  Isolation tank therapy has been shown to bring down the symptoms of the injuries.  He has had measurable relief from the therapy tank but unfortunately the closest tanks are 2 hours away and due to Covid there is a chance that this will be closed again due to outbreaks.  There are limited hours as well which makes accessing these tanks very difficult. This is also expensive and not covered by Veterans Affairs.   Having a home unit of this tank will enable him to use this daily to help with the overwhelming and negative brain activity. Noy to mention the added time away from home and daughter to travel back and forth. We have sold what can be sold in order to purchase a unit for the home.   As we sell things we are updating what us left to go to get this therapy for him. We appreciate every penny donated.

Dana Lee Draper

Also known as “Sensory Deprivation Tanks”, they are used in a therapy called Floatation REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) or simply, floating. People float in 93 degree water that has been saturated with epsom salts and the lid of the tank closed, ideally resulting in complete sensory deprivation. Appearing in the mid 1950’s the tank’s current design was made in the 1970’s but then went out of therapeutic use because the design of the tanks would leave many feeling confined or claustrophobic. This is why people who suffer from anxiety or claustrophobia should these things into consideration beforehand as floating might not be appropriate for them. Floating made a resurgence about a decade ago with the appearance and popularity of commercial “floating centres” where customers pay for float sessions ranging from 45 to 90 minutes in length.

It has been used in the treatment of such things as anxiety, depression, and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Chronic quinoline encephalopathy, or quinism, is considered an acquired brain injury (ABI) which happened as the result of a drug or other chemical as opposed to an injury caused by physical trauma. There does appear to have been some success with this therapy, Dana Lee Draper has said that it makes a significant improvement in the quality of her husband’s life whenever he floats.

References

Examining the short-term anxiolytic andantidepressant effect of Floatation-REST

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5796691/pdf/pone.0190292.pdf

Floatation therapy for brain injury?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/floatation-therapy-brain-injury-dr-david-berv/

The veteran that got left behind.

Master Corporal (retired) Charles Scott served his country for 11 years including deployments to Bosnia and Afghanistan. One year following his release he was diagnosed with PTSD related to his service in Asia, and he was also suffering the effects of quinism because he was administered mefloquine while he was in Afghanistan.

Before he was released in 2008, a note was placed on his file indicating that he was at high risk for PTSD. This note was never followed up by anyone and his file sat unlooked at for years. In November of 2018 a Veteran’s Affairs case manager was finally assigned to the file, however unbeknownst to Scott this person had left VAC and his file was again misplaced.

Earlier this year he launched a suit against the government and he tells Marj all about it and his fight with the system in this episode.

Stephen Beardwood on why it is so important to attend a PTSD Clinic if you have been diagnosed with a TBI, PTSD or mefloquine poisoning.

Stephen Beardwood from Veteran’s House Charity discusses why it is important to attend a PTSD clinic whether you have been diagnosed with PTSD, a traumatic brain injury (TBI), or mefloquine toxicity.

He also provides some helpful advice and tips for navigating through the medical system when you have quinism.

I need your input for a story I am working on.

I am looking specifically for Canadian Forces veterans who have had any type of negative interaction with police during the course of a “welfare check”. I am looking to hear from as many veterans as possible, so please spread the word with your networks.

I will also be contacting Veteran’s Affairs Canada for information and input, as well as a number of police agencies and mental health advocates across the country for this story. I hope to get as clear a picture of this situation as possible by gathering as much information as I can about it.

You can remain completely anonymous if you so choose and you send your experiences to me on my secure encrypted Protonmail account derekrbodner@protonmail.com.

The following is from a Facebook post made by the esteemed Canadian veteran’s advocate Lt. Wolf Wm. Solkin on Sept.29th. It still applies today.

Subject: Re: A FESTERING FLAW IN THE CORONAVIRUS OINTMENT OF OVERSIGHT

Of late, both the public and social media , have paid avid attention to various aspects of COVID-19, including its egregious effects, mitigating measures, and foreboding forecasts. And rightly so, as this deadly disease could, if not soon controlled , destructively damage our way of life, for decades to come.

In that frame of reference, I find it essential to draw specific attention to one singular situation which, if not rapidly rectified, will well vitiate, if not fully erase, all the efforts now in place to prevent potential outbreaks of the virus.

I refer to the fact that employees in nursing homes/CHSLD facilities and the like ( notably orderlies, who are in constant and direct contact with their often helpless charges), cannot be compelled to take tests for the presence of COVID-19, unless they first show signs of being symptomatic.

I am a long time resident of Ste. Anne’s Hospital, whose several hundred occupants include aged Veterans of various wars, alongside a major majority of “civilian” patients. Some days ago, a nurse on my floor was found to be “ Positive” for the pestilence. and almost immediately certain preventative protocols were put into place: all staff were obliged to wear gowns, gloves, masks and shields when in contact with patients, and to completely change into fresh PPE [Personal Protective Equipment] outfits, before being with another patient. As well, all employees were “invited” to be tested, BUT, as one senior staffer said to me, they cannot “force” them to take a test, unless they are already symptomatic (which, in my view, is too late, by half).

I expressed my surprise and dismay at what I deem to be a potentially fatal flaw in the protective system, and decided to make further (written) objection and inquiries to an even more senior member of our CIUSSS hierarchy of head honchos, who simply( in both senses) replied that “We are not in a position to obligate testing of the staff”, and did not elaborate further.

How is it, I wondered, that we can compel complete PPE for employees, and yet stop short of making testing mandatory, when the latter is so essential and fundamental in its nature ? My further ferreting appears to favour the provisions of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which is, at the top bureaucratic level, deemed much too sensitive and sacrosanct to be meddled with. If that be the case, (and so it seems to be), then certainly our most basic “Right” is that of life itself, and, under the current circumstances, should, inarguably, take precedence over other and more minor rights, such as invasion of privacy and the like.
As well, do we patients not have an inherent right to know if any member of our staff has been tested, and with what result, and then the right to refuse service from any employee who declines being tested ?
We are, without a doubt, in a state of war against an implacable and ruthless foe, and wartime is no time for niceties. And that stance stands, whoever or whatever is , at the root of this malignancy.

This farce must be forced to a finish, if we are not to add considerably to the count of infections, illnesses, and unnecessary deaths.

Wolf Wm Solkin
President, Ste. Anne’s Hospital Veterans’ Committee
President, Hopital Ste. Anne Comite’ des Usagers
Patient No. 55350

A message from the man who conceived of OpBeacon, Philip Brooks.

Greetings from Haliburton Ontario and the site of the Fourth Annual Operation Beacon #OpBeacon. As we prepare to pause and honour the fallen we have lost, this vigil is a remembrance of the fallen who yet survive but now must live each day injured, sick and suffering. Canada’s scale of injury compensation was poor before they cut it nearly in half in 2006. Valid injury and disability claims routinely arbitrarily denied.

Op Beacon is also a signal to remember the survivor spouses, children and parents – the families who carry Remembrance Day with them every day. In our schools, places of worship, groceries stories and malls they walk among you. Not just the families from the fields of Europe or in the East or of the 158 soldiers and professionals we lost in Afghanistan but the families of the many soldiers we have lost since they came home.

We have no military or veteran hospitals in Canada. Civilian doctors are not trained or prepared for military injury. We are different in many ways.

There used to be military hospitals across the country at every major base plus National Defence Medical Centre. All gone. There was no preparation of the civilian Provincial medical authorities and no assistance to the thousands of injured veterans who have to find their own doctors and figure out their own injuries to even start the laborious, difficult and arbitrary Veterans Affairs claims system.

Our injury pensions were unilaterally and arbitrarily taken away without a single whisper of debate by Parliament in a hidden act of legislative trickery in 2006.

We suffer unchecked aggressive clawbacks of our benefits from the government and from private insurers. Our inured and disabled in service, people hurt on duty for Canada, lose their earned retirement pensions that they saved for their whole working life while they were still fit and able to earn a living. Now taken as an insurance clawback. They don’t do that to the police or to firemen. Or politicians who get disabled at work. Just your military professionals who have no union and no independent bargaining or advocacy organization.

The reason we have veteran homelessness and distress and suicide is because we have been systemically cut off from the entitlements and respect we deserve. By a growing and bloated make-work insurance empire at Veterans Affairs feeding off your tax dollars. It is government job crafting at the veterans expense. It is not necessary and it is harmful to your Veterans.

Our survivors, the precious families and loved ones of the colleagues we have lost to duty… they suffer as well. Our survivors have had entitlements taken away and are subjected to the same rude and abusive insurance behaviours as our Veterans.

Our treatment of inured Veterans is shameful. It is just as bad as the open secret about our abuses in our senior care and long term care homes. An outrage that was known by all levels of government but just allowed to continue for years… until your military professionals got deployed at home and found the third world conditions right here.

Call your MP and tell them to grant the veterans claims and shut down the rampant insurance company abuses at Veterans Affairs. We need a culture change at VAC. A big one.

Thank you for remembering those who serve.

Fish Creek Provincial Park that is.

As an ambassador for this year’s Field Of Crosses Memorial Foundation’s fundraiser Exercise Freedom Together, I’m throwing a challenge out to all the people I know who are physically able to, to walk, run, or bike 3k and then post a selfie with your hand over your heart on social media usingthe hashtag #Exercisefreedomtogether. Today I walked a 3k route in Fish Creek Provincial Park in Southwest Calgary (by the time I was finished and back at home again I had walked over 9k from beginning to end.

Fish Creek Park

Fish Creek Provincial Park is the second largest urban park in Canada and ranks as one of the largest in North America, at over 3,300 acres, and it is less than a kilometer from my home base. All together it has almost 120 km (nealy 75 miles) of pathways, 66 km (just over 40 miles) of which is paved.

Votier’s Flats to Bebo Grove

I selected a location that was 3k away from where I had entered the Park at Votier’s Flats, a place called Bebo Grove.

Starting Line – Votier’s Flats

The Finish Line – Bebo Grove Day Use Area & Stormwater Pond.

For those wondering what ‘Fat Biking” is, think mountain biking only with huge, fat tires. When these things are coming down the pathwahy it literally sounds like a one-ton pick-up truck is heading your way. Great for the unpaved trail network and during the winter time.

The Challenge

Get together a group of up to 5 people to make a $25 donation to the Field Of Crosses Memorial Foundation. I know a lot of people who like to walk in groups, so the next time you go out for your daily exercise, please remember to #Exercisefreedomtogether.

#Exercisefreedomtogether

With your host Marj Matchee.

As I began entering the world of this advocacy a year and a half ago I would quickly learn what some of the hot button issues were, and this particular one is high on the list. The blowback I got after the first time I wrote about reopening the Somalia Inquiry told me that I had just opened up a big and shitty can of worms. People became quite passionate in their views that it should just be left alone, and that we needed to just move on.

Well, I was just as passionate in my response to them, pointing out that it was necessary to reopen the Inquiry for two primary reasons.

First and foremost we owe the truth to history. There is important, relevant testimony that will remain missing from the historical record unless the Somalia Commission of Inquiry is reseated to hear it.

The second reason is spelled out in this statement from the Executive Summary of the commission report:

Some suggestion has been made to this Inquiry that mefloquine caused severe side effects, including abnormal and violent behaviour, among some Canadian Forces personnel in Somalia. We were not able to explore fully the possible impact of mefloquine. This would have required additional hearings dedicated specifically to the issue, which time did not permit. However, we report here our general findings about mefloquine and its possible impact on operations in Somalia. It is clear that mefloquine caused some minor problems in Somalia, as might be expected from a review of the medical literature. We learned of several incidents of gastro-intestinal upset, vivid dreams, nightmares referred to by soldiers as “meflomares”, and inability to sleep following the use of this drug. Side effects — or at least the minor side effects, and possibly also the major side effects — appeared to be most pronounced in the 24 to 48 hours after taking mefloquine. If mefloquine did in fact cause or contribute to some of the misbehaviour that is the subject of this Inquiry, CF personnel who were influenced by the drug might be partly or totally excused for their behaviour. However, for reasons described more fully in Chapter 41, we are not able to reach a final conclusion on this issue….

It is evident that further investigation is warranted before any firm conclusions about the role of mefloquine can be drawn.

Executive Summary of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Deployment of Canadian Forces to Somalia
http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2015/bcp-pco/CP32-66-1997-eng.pdf

Not letting this go.

This is non-negotiable and it will not be going away. The truth needs to be put on the record. It’s time to reopen the Somalia Commission of Inquiry.

#VeteransMefloquineRally2020 #Inthistogether #quinism