What is Fratricide?

What an ugly word. Fratricide is the bland new catchword (yes I meant bland) that means ‘friendly fire.’ It is also a word that means heartbreak for the Costall family. It means that Private Robert Costall from Thunder Bay, a good guy and a heck of a ball hockey player has been taken too soon at only 22 years of age. His widow, Chrissy Costall and their 1-year-old son must now carry on without him.

I really hope that the investigation is wrong and that it wasn’t ‘friendly fire.’ I hope for this for many reasons. Anyone that knows a little about armed conflict realizes that fratricide is a potential hazard but that doesn’t help those that must deal with the aftermath.

Obviously the worst part of this whole thing is the effect on Pte Costall’s family. Whether or not this blows over in the next few weeks or if it sparks a debate between parties across the political spectrum is unknown at this time, but the family will continue to suffer long after the inevitable investigations come to a conclusion.
The impact from this incident will primarily be the public outcry for our forces to withdraw from Afghanistan. (See my previous rant about Afghanistan for more details) No one wants people to suffer or die and this cannot break our determination to do what is right. We are there for a good reason, one that is misunderstood but necessary nonetheless.

Another factor that can’t be avoided is the rehashing of the Tarnak Farm incident. The poor families and the comrades of those that were killed will be forced to relive this nightmare again. The optics of this must look bad for the US military also, which may possibly lend credence to the voices trying to pressure the Bush administration to enact an exit strategy and implement it quickly.

The bottom line is that this horrible tragedy somehow seems worse in light of the fratricide investigation and I shudder at what the coming days and weeks hold. Lets try and temper the rhetoric we hear with what is most important in all of this. Somewhere a 1-year-old boy lost his Dad and our nation lost one of its finest citizens. Until next time remember….