Canadian Forces Member Found Dead of Gunshot in His Room

Canadian Forces Member Found Dead of Gunshot in His Room

www.nugget.ca

A member of the Canadian Forces has been found dead of a gunshot wound inside a secure compound in the Afghan capital.



A military statement says the soldier serving at the International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul died shortly after 7:30 a.m. local time today.


The victim had been found seriously injured in his room an hour earlier and doctors were unable to save him

(visit the link for the full news article)

This story just broke,and few details are available right now.If any members find any other info please post it here.

www.nugget.ca
(visit the link for the full news article)

Nothing new to add other than enemy action has been ruled out.

Keep an eye on this link for news releases from Canada's National Defense.
www.forces.gc.ca...

And here's the link to the original release and may be updated.
www.forces.gc.ca...


I hate to say it, but suicide is much higher in the military than in civilian life on a per capita basis, especially in stressful environments like a war zone.

reply to post by anxietydisorder


Thanks AD.I have been too busy in the alien forum to look for more info.Much appreciated.

Ok here is some more info- remembering that this story is still just breaking news.
www.canada.com...

www.thestar.com...

communities.canada.com...

Three news stories that all say the same thing ------- NOTHING.......
Looks like they're keeping a lid on this one for now.

I have a good friend serving in Kandahar where this took place, I'll make some calls tomorrow and see if I can get any information. Time zones prevent me from calling right now.

I'll post tomorrow if I can find out anything.

reply to post by anxietydisorder


Yep.Nothing.Thanks AD,but I expect they will be keeping a lid on this for a bit.Depending on the circumstances of course.

The Canadian soldier who died this week after being found shot in his room has been identified as Maj. Raymond Ruckpaul.

Maj. Ruckpaul, 41, was an armoured officer serving at the NATO coalition headquarters in Kabul. He was previously based at the NATO Allied Land Component headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany.

Maj. Ruckpaul was discovered about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday after suffering a gunshot wound. Medical personnel tried to save him but he died around 7:30 a.m.
www.canada.com...

I made a call to the wife of a soldier serving in Afghanistan, and several emails have been swapped back and forth over this matter.

Word on the street is that this was a suicide, but due to the ongoing investigation people are being tight lipped about the whole thing.


EDIT: His photo has been released.



[edit on 30/8/2007 by anxietydisorder]

reply to post by anxietydisorder


Thank you from one AD to another.I tried again earlier this morning to get any info,but found nothing mentioned anywhere I looked.Thanks to your friends as well, and I hope her husband is one that comes home safe among many.

It looks like it's just us AD's that care about this issue.
It seems strange that this hasn't attracted more interest because I worry about every one of our soldiers serving over there.

I've put out some feelers in Kabul to see if I can get anymore information from other Canadians. If anything comes in ATS will be the first to know.

reply to post by anxietydisorder

Sad but yes.I believe many have become numb to it all.Perhaps because the soldier is Canadian, I hate to say it, makes a difference.Thanks again for your help AD, and keep me and ATS posted.

I want to share a letter from one of our soldiers that I received today.
In the end it deals with the topic at hand, and I need to vet a few lines of personal information, but this is right from the zone, sent today from Afghanistan.

English is not his first language, so forgive the mistakes, I'll cut and paste the letter as is and put xxxxxxxxxx in the parts I delete.

Hi xxx,

Nice to hear from you xxx, how's xxxx? Hope all is well.

Thing are busy here, in every sense of the word... Both sides keep each other busy...

Life on the camp here is not that much exciting per say... there are hardly any vegetation around here... lots of sands... the sand is like extremely fine sifted flour... at mid morning it looks like we have fog but it is actually dust floating around... at one end of the camp there is the open sewage system are for some reason every time the wind blows we are graciously reminded to eat less spices in our foods... nobody belie that the engineers did put much thought into it when they built this system... we have running water but not recommended to drink it... so I consume an average of 10-15 bottled water per day... temperature is sweltering at mid-day... I sleep in a big tent that they call a weather haven... got lucky and scored a real used bed frame to put my newly recycled mattress... my space in the corner of the tent is about 6 x 8 feet... I also scored a lateral filing cabinet with a locking bar so I don't have to live in barrack boxes... I got the internet installed in my room but the speed of it is like sucking molasses from a tinny straw... and half the time it is down... I also scored a TV and DVD player that I put on top of my filing cabinet... I got the cable hooked up at the same time as the internet so I can watch TV or a DVD in between the loading of the pages on the internet... I am ever grateful that we have AC in 98% of all buildings especially the sleeping quarters...

My Internet email address:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My job here is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in Kandahar xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. The bottom line is doubled faced: firstly we have to support our troops and on the same token stimulate the economy of a war-wrecked country. We have to take in consideration that they do not have much to offer here so we stimulate them with blue-collar services like all kinds of vehicle rentals or employment of cleaners, carpenters, interpreters, jack-of-all-trades and masters of none...

Quality hasn't been in their vocabulary for a very long time... At one point we bought furniture and the quality was so bad that you had to be careful when you used it... like wood chairs could collapse on the first sitting... since then we realised that they were not fabricating anything and buying the cheap stuff from China... so now we are educating them on business practices that are more than a hand shake... furniture quality has improved.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have been here for over xxxxxxxxxxxxxx now and we have two aholes throwing big rockets at the camp... twice they came close...less than a km each from where I was at the time... both times I heard the launching, the whistling by and then the big thumps... sound of gun fire is a normal thing around here... either from the camp range or outside the wire...

We have a Tim Horton, Green Bean coffee shop, Burger King, Subway, just to name the big names serving out of truck trailers or Atco trailers... there is about 5-6 more places like one sit in restaurant... Tim Horton's staffs have their serving caps made out of cammo colours... I'm going try to score one if I can... there is no metal coins on the camp... we have pogs (round plastic token) with a coin value printed on it... the currency is US dollars...

no Wal-Mart's... many dining cuisines (hard shelters and canvas tops)... Food is good most of the time...

I heard same minus the name of the officer in Kabul... many rumours... no confirmation to date... don't know him.

I can't say anything related to location, military/civil physical assets of any kind in use for theatre and/or personnel or personal info related to the mission.

I put the bold on that one line because it's related to the topic of the thread, and I asked him about the possibility of a suicide.

I needed to xxxxxxxxxxxxx some parts of the text for personnel information or security.
I think you'll understand the necessity of that during a war.

But that's a letter from a Canadian soldier serving on the front today.



Edit: I needed to




[edit on 31/8/2007 by anxietydisorder]

This is getting more confusing.

CH News just reported that the bullet that killed him originated within the camp.

Does this mean that he was shot by someone outside his room.



I'm hoping for more information direct from Kandahar if I can get it.
I'll keep pressing the issue until we have an answer.




Edit: You know me, I always need to edit.

[edit on 31/8/2007 by anxietydisorder]

reply to post by anxietydisorder

Sounds odd.I get CH news up here in North Bay too but I didn't watch it last night.A bit of dis-info going on there?

reply to post by anxietydisorder

AD, I would almost say that letter deserves a thread of it's own.None of us realize what life is like over there,whether deployed for 6 months or longer, it sounds very rough. Thank you for that, and keeping us posted. My brother in law is based in Petawawa, and is due to go back to Afghanistan in /08.Iam very fearful.

Originally posted by AccessDenied

AD, I would almost say that letter deserves a thread of it's own.

Almost, but not quite.

In reality, it's just another letter from some service man doing his duty.
I just happen to know this one, and care for him deeply, and his wife is living day to day while he's off Canadian soil, and so are all the others that care for this man's well being.

He chose to be a soldier, but I fear that governments think of him as expendable.:shk:

reply to post by anxietydisorder

Absolutely,AD.Expendable.Sad but true.