[kEiThZ]

i think a better name would contain "ultimate sacrifices". that's worth more than "hero" and pretty much explains the topic. now, should it be "route of", "highway of", "path of", etc.? whether a soldier died in a heroic act, a victim, etc, one thing is certain; when you sign up to fight, you know there's a higher than usual risk that you might die. and that is an ultimate sacrifice - knowingly putting yourself in death's way for your cause.

I am of the opinion that they should have kept the name consistent. This is Miller politicking. For what reason, I don't know. It's an alternative designation, a nickname essentially. So why not keep it consistent?

And really, does it even matter, now that the coroner is moving out of downtown? Unfortunately, we'll still have Canadians who get killed in foreign service, making that fateful trip long after Afghanistan. Except, they won't be going down the "Route of Heros"? So why not just extend the designation along the 401 in the future and leave the DVP alone?

 

[Mapleson]

Does anyone actually call the 401 the MacDonald-Cartier Freeway? If you gave directions by it, would people know where you meant?

By making the 'Highway of Heroes' an offical monicer, it allows people to identify the segment of road in question. If I say "I'm going to stand on the Highway of Heroes" people will understand where you mean and what you mean to do. If you say "I'm going to stand on the side of the 401" people wouldn't know where or why you'd be doing it.

Anyone who sacrificies their life in the service of others is a Hero. Whether it's Taliban gurillas fighting for their families and way of life or Canadian peacekeepers in Israel. I don't matter who or what you die for, but that you are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. Lesser sacrificies can make you a hero, but death makes you a martyr.


On a related note, you can't get into the CF if you are homopathic. They have very strict mental health screening processes. A friend of mine and I applied 5-6 years ago. He got in and is now a Captian. I didn't get in due to a history of major depression.

The fact that we are charging a Canadian Forces Captian with murder for shooting an injuried enemy combatant. If you can't even shoot someone who was shooting at you five minutes ago, why would malicious murder slip by unpunished?

Military training and disciple is meant to overcome the natural hesatency to killing another living human. There is no tolerance for mental perversion.


I'm not against the slight change in the name because it marks the different highway. HoH for 401, RoH for DVP. There is as much reason to change the name of the route as there is for the 404/DVP change. If might be politicking, but if we accept it at face value as honouring the dead, any short-term political advantage won by it will be outweighted by the public respect for these men's and women's lives and deaths.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

On a related note, you can't get into the CF if you are homopathic. They have very strict mental health screening processes.

don't want no quack homopaths in the military. you can't treat a bullet wound with a (1/1,000,000,000,000) dilution of lead.

 

[kEiThZ]

The fact that we are charging a Canadian Forces Captian with murder for shooting an injuried enemy combatant. If you can't even shoot someone who was shooting at you five minutes ago, why would malicious murder slip by unpunished?

Well put. And the Captain in question, and the other officers he had accompanied and their Afghan interpreter had all attested to the fact that if Capt. Semrau did commit the offence in question it would have been a mercy killing, since the injured insurgent clearly was not going to make it and was in a lot of pain.

Rules are rules though. And violations of the ROEs can lead to murder charges even if what you did may make sense to you.

 

[nfitz]

... if Capt. Semrau did commit the offence in question it would have been a mercy killing, since the injured insurgent clearly was not going to make it and was in a lot of pain.

Wow ... so you are condoning murdering someone in cold blood?

 

[kEiThZ]

Wow ... so you are condoning murdering someone in cold blood?

Of course not, I agree with the decision to charge him. If he has violated the ROEs, he should be punished.

But you should note it's actually happened before where enemy personnel in severe pain, with severe injuries will sometimes ask to be put out of their misery. I don't agree with mercy killings. Nor are they allowed. But I do understand, that it takes a lot to walk away from another human being, crying and screaming in pain.