‘Friendly Giant’ The 90th Canadian Soldier Killed In Afghanistan Attack

A burly “mountain of a man” nicknamed the Friendly Giant became the second Canadian combat death in three days when insurgents attacked a remote outpost in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province on Monday.

Master Cpl. Erin Doyle was the 90th Canadian soldier to die since the Afghan mission began in 2002.

Chief Warrant Officer Chris White, who knew Doyle for five years, described the 200 lbs. man as a “barrel-chested kind of guy, the kind you’d “like to sit down and have a beer with.”

A second soldier was seriously injured in Monday’s attack and taken to the multinational hospital at Kandahar Airfield for treatment.

As many as 10 insurgents targeted the small base just before 6 a.m., taskforce commander Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson said.

Canadian soldiers returned fire and called for artillery and air support, he said, adding several of them were killed, others were injured, however, none were detained.

“Master Cpl. Doyle was killed while he was protecting his position and his fellow soldiers,” he said.

“The combat outpost was engaged in a classic sort of scoot-and-shoot  fashion and unfortunately Master Cpl. Doyle was killed by a direct hit on the outpost.”

Thompson said the outpost is strategically located in the heart of Taliban country and its soldiers engage insurgents on a daily basis.

It serves an important role, Thompson said.

“Largely to do what we can to increase the people’s confidence that the government is delivering services for them,” he said.

Just last month, an attack on a remote outpost in the mountainous northeastern province of Kunar left nine American soldiers dead and 15 wounded — the deadliest assault on U.S. forces in Afghanistan in three years. It was believed to be an attempt to overrun the small, newly built base.

But Thompson described Monday’s attack in Panjwaii differently.

“What they tend to do is fire a few harassing rounds and then they’ll disappear into the woodwork,” he said of the insurgents.

Although it can be one of the more perilous jobs for soldiers in Afghanistan, Thompson said leaving the base would be “surrendering it and the people to the Taliban.”

Doyle was a member of the 3rd battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based out of Edmonton.

This was his third tour in Afghanistan.

“Erin was a big, tough, mountain of a man who enjoyed the outdoors,” Thompson told reporters.

“He was a true warrior and just the person you would want beside you in a firefight.”

He leaves behind his wife Nicole and daughter Zarine. The family had no immediate comment.

White, the Warrant Officer, said Doyle’s experience having been to Afghanistan previously was invaluable to fellow non-commissioned officers.

“He’d been in contact before with the enemy so he knows what to expect,” he said. “He knows how to get through it and that sort of experience is very valuable for young NCOs.”

Calling him a loyal, dedicated soldier and real professional, White said Doyle wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere other than the front line.

White said he’ll never forget the time Doyle volunteered to dress up as Santa Claus at a children’s Christmas party.

“Unfortunately he seemed to scare more kids than he cheered up, but he’s a great guy. (He’s got) a real sense of humour.”

A statement from Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Doyle will be “remembered with the utmost gratitude and respect of this nation.”

“He was an exceptional Canadian and courageous soldier who died while bravely serving his country,” Harper said in the statement.

Monday’s attack happened just two days after Master Cpl. Josh Roberts was killed in a firefight in neighbouring Zhari district.

Roberts, a crew commander with 9th platoon, C Company, was sitting in the turret of his LAV III when he was shot during a skirmish with insurgents early Saturday.

The circumstances surrounding the shooting death, however, are under investigation.

While Canadian and Afghan security forces were engaging a group of some 15 insurgents during an operation, it’s believed a passing convoy guarded by private security may have also opened fire, accidentally killing Roberts.

But while the Canadian Forces remain tight-lipped about the incident now under investigation, U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes is shedding some light on what happened on that rugged tract of farmland Saturday.

The report suggests the convoy involved two different security companies including Compass Security and U.S. Protection and Investigations.

As they passed the firefight between Canadians, Afghan forces and insurgents, they too thought they were being attacked and fired back, the newspaper reported, quoting Maj. Corey Frederickson, part of a Canadian advisory team that trains and mentors the Afghan army in nearby Maywand district.

“Their normal contact drill is that as soon as they get hit with something, then it’s 360, open up on anything that moves,” Frederickson said. “We think that’s probably what happened.”

The convoy allegedly continued onwards before it was stopped by Canadian and U.S. military officers in Maywand. Several Afghan security guards allegedly admitted opening fire on what they believed were Taliban but their stories changed when they were told a Canadian was hurt.

According to the report, they were threatened with arrest for lying but in the end there was little anyone could do but take down their contact information.

This was not the first incident involving private security and Canadian Forces personnel.

Canadian troops fired on a private security vehicle in Kandahar City in April, killing one employee and injuring three others.

The shooting happened as a convoy from the Canadian-run Provincial Reconstruction Team was departing Kandahar Airfield and spotted a vehicle moving at high speed. Fearing a possible attack, soldiers issued several warnings to stop in accordance with standard procedure but the driver failed to pull over.

The incident involved a company called Compass Security.

Soldiers also opened fire on a Compass vehicle in October 2007, injuring seven Afghans and prompting a review of Canadian convoy protocols.

Since 2002, 90 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan. Here’s  a list of the deaths:

2008

Aug 11: Master Cpl. Erin Doyle was killed early Monday when insurgents attacked a remote outpost in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province.

Aug 9: Master Cpl. Josh Roberts of the Second Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry is killed in a firefight with insurgents in the volatile Zhari District, west of Kandahar city.

July 19: Cpl. James Hayward Arnal was killed in Afghanistan after he was hit by an explosion during a night patrol in the Panjwaii district.

July 6: Pte. Colin William Wilmot was killed while on foot patrol in the Panjwaii district near Kandahar city.

July 5: Corporal Brendan Anthony Downey was found dead in an accommodation room. An investigation was launched to establish the circumstances of this incident. Corporal Downey was a Military Policeman from the Military Police Detachment in Dundurn, Saskatchewan.

June 8: Captain Jonathan Snyder, dies after falling into a well during a night-time patrol west of Kandahar.

June3: Capt. Richard Steve Leary is killed by small arms fire  during a foot patrol with Afghan forces in the Panjwaii district.

May 6: Cpl. Michael Starker is killed on foot patrol during an outing to meet with civilians in the Pashuml District, about 25 kilometres from his home base in Kandahar. Another soldier is wounded.

April 4: Pte. Terry John Street of Hull, Quebec perishes when his vehicle hits an improved explosive device in the Panjwaii district near Kandahar.

March 16: Sgt. Jason Boyes of Manitoba dies when an explosive device goes off while he’s on foot in the Panjwaii district.

March 11: Bombardier Jeremie Ouellet, 22, of Matane, Que., from 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, Shilo, Man., found dead in accommodation room at Kandahar Airfield. Military says death not related to combat.

March 2: Trooper Michael Yuki Hayakaze, 25, from Lord Strathcona’s Horse, Edmonton, killed by roadside bomb in Mushan, 45 kilometres west of Kandahar City.

Jan. 23: Sapper Etienne Gonthier, 21, of St-Georges, Que., near Quebec City, a combat engineer serving with 5ieme Regiement du Genie de Combat, killed in a mine-clearing operation when his light armoured vehicle was hit by roadside bomb in the Panjwaii district.

Jan. 15: Trooper Richard Renaud, 26, of Alma Que., a member of the 12e Regiment blinde du Canada, killed when the Coyote light armoured vehicle he was travelling in hit a roadside bomb while on patrol in the Arghandab district, north of Kandahar city.

Jan. 6: Warrant Officer Hani Massouh, 41, and Cpl. Eric Labbe, 31, of 2nd Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment, killed when their armoured vehicle rolled over in wet, rugged terrain southwest of Kandahar City.

2007

Dec. 30: Jonathan Dion, 27, gunner with 5th Regiment d’Artillerie legere du Canada from Val-d’Or, Que., killed when his light armoured vehicle struck a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

Nov. 17: Cpl. Nicolas Raymond Beauchamp of the 5th Field Ambulance in Valcartier and Pte. Michel Levesque of the Royal 22nd Regiment, killed when their light armoured vehicle hit a roadside bomb near Bazar-e Panjwaii.

Sept. 24: Cpl. Nathan Hornburg, 24, with the King’s Own Calgary regiment, killed by a mortar shell while trying to repair a Leopard tank in southern Afghanistan.

Aug. 29: Maj. Raymond Ruckpaul, 42, died from a gunshot wound in his room at the headquarters of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Kabul. He was an armoured officer based at the NATO Allied Land Component Command Headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany.

Aug. 22: Master Warrant Officer Mario Mercier, Royal 22nd Regiment; Master Cpl. Christian Duchesne, 5th Field Ambulance unit, both based in Valcartier, Que., killed when light armoured vehicle struck by roadside bomb after battle for strategic hill west of Kandahar city.

Aug. 19: Pte. Simon Longtin, 23, of Longueuil, Que., on Montreal’s south shore, a member of the Royal 22nd Regiment, killed when his light armoured vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city.

July 4: Cpl. Cole Bartsch, Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe, Pte. Lane Watkins and Cpl. Jordan Anderson, all of 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton; Master Cpl. Colin Bason, a reservist from The Royal Westminster Regiment based in New Westminster, B.C., and Capt. Jefferson Francis of the 1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery based in Shilo, Man., killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city.

June 20: Sgt. Christos Karigiannis, Cpl. Stephen Frederick Bouzane and Pte. Joel Vincent Wiebe, all of 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb near a forward-operating base at Sperwan Ghar, west of Kandahar.

June 11: Tooper Darryl Caswell, 25, of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, killed when an improvised explosive device detonated underneath his vehicle north of Kandahar City.

May 30: Master Cpl. Darrell Jason Priede, a combat photographer based at CFB Gagetown, N.B., killed when a U.S. helicopter was reportedly shot down by the Taliban in Helmand province.

May 25: Cpl. Matthew McCully, 25, a signals operator from 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Headquarters and Signals Squadron based at Petawawa, Ont., killed by an improvised explosive device in Zhari district.

April 18: Master Cpl. Anthony Klumpenhouwer, 25, of Listowel, Ont., died after falling from a communications tower while on duty with the elite Special Operations Forces Command, conducting surveillance in Kandahar City.

April 11: Master Cpl. Allan Stewart, 30, and Trooper Patrick James Pentland, 23, both of the Royal Canadian Dragoons based in Petawawa, Ont., killed when their Coyote vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.

April 8: Pte. Kevin V. Kennedy, 20, of St. Lawrence, Nfld., Sgt. Donald Lucas, 31, of Burton, N.B., Cpl. Aaron E. Williams, 23, of Lincoln, N.B., Pte. David R. Greenslade, 20, of Saint John, N.B., Cpl. Brent Poland, 37, of Sarnia, Ont., all of Gagetown, N.B.-based 2nd Battalion, RCR; and Cpl. Christopher Stannix, 24, of Dartmouth, N.S., from the Halifax-based Princess Louise Fusiliers, killed when their armoured vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the Maywand district.

March 6: Cpl. Kevin Megeney, 25, of Stellarton, N.S., a member of 1st Battalion of Nova Scotia Highlanders, killed by accidental shooting at NATO base in Kandahar.

2006

Nov. 27: Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard, his battalion’s regimental sergeant major, and Cpl. Albert Storm, both of Royal Canadian Regiment based in CFB Petawawa, killed when suicide car bomber attacked their Bison armoured personnel carrier on outskirts of Kandahar City.

Oct. 14: Sgt. Darcy Tedford, based at CFB Petawawa, and Pte. Blake Williamson from Ottawa killed in ambush west of Kandahar.

Oct. 7: Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson of Royal Canadian Dragoons, based in Petawawa, Ont., killed when his armoured vehicle hit by roadside bomb in Panjwaii district.

Oct. 3: Sgt. Craig Gillam and Cpl. Robert Mitchell of Royal Canadian Dragoons, based in Petawawa, Ont., killed in series of mortar, rocket attacks just west of Kandahar City.

Sept. 29: Pte. Josh Klukie of First Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ont., killed by explosion in Panjwaii while on foot patrol.

Sept. 18: Pte. David Byers, Cpl. Shane Keating and Cpl. Keith Morley, all of 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based in Shilo, Man., and Cpl. Glen Arnold, 2 Field Ambulance, based in Petawawa, Ont., killed in suicide bicycle bomb attack while on foot patrol in Panjwaii.

Sept. 4: Pte. Mark Graham, based at CFB Petawawa, killed when two NATO planes accidentally strafed Canadian troops in Panjwaii district.

Sept. 3: Sgt. Shane Stachnik, Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, Pte. William Cushley and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan, all based at CFB Petawawa, Ont., killed in fighting in Panjwaii district.

Aug. 22: Cpl. David Braun, based at Shilo, Man., killed in suicide bomb attack in Kandahar City.

Aug. 11: Cpl. Andrew Eykelenboom, 23, of Comox, B.C., stationed with 1st Field Ambulance, based in Edmonton, killed in suicide attack.

Aug. 9: Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh, 33, of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Man., killed by apparent accidental discharge of rifle.

Aug. 5: Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt, 31, of Loyal Edmonton Regiment, killed when large truck collided head-on with his G-Wagon patrol vehicle.

Aug. 3: Cpl. Christopher Reid, 34, of 1st Battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, killed by roadside bomb. Three other members of same battalion killed in rocket-propelled grenade attack by Taliban forces west of Kandahar: Sgt. Vaughan Ingram, 35, Cpl. Bryce Keller, 27, and Pte. Kevin Dallaire, 22.

July 22: Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, and Cpl. Jason Warren, 29, of Black Watch, Royal Highland Regiment of Canada, based in Montreal, killed when car packed with explosives rammed their armoured vehicle.

July 9: Cpl. Anthony Boneca, 21, reservist from Lake Superior Scottish Regiment based in Thunder Bay, Ont., killed in firefight.

May 17: Capt. Nichola Goddard, artillery officer based in Shilo, Man., with 1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, killed in Taliban ambush during battle in Panjwaii region. She was first Canadian woman to be killed in action while serving in combat role.

April 22: Cpl. Matthew Dinning of Richmond Hill, Ont., stationed with 2nd Canadian Mechanized Brigade in Petawawa, Ont., Bombardier Myles Mansell of Victoria, Lt. William Turner of Toronto, stationed in Edmonton, and Cpl. Randy Payne, born in Lahr, Germany, stationed at CFB Wainright, Alta., all killed when their G-Wagon destroyed by roadside bomb near Gumbad.

March 29: Pte. Robert Costall of Edmonton, machine-gunner, killed in firefight with Taliban insurgents in Sangin district of Helmand province.

March 2: Cpl. Paul Davis of Bridgewater, N.S., and Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson of Grande Prairie, Alta., killed when their armoured vehicle ran off road in Kandahar area.

Jan. 15: Glyn Berry, British-born Canadian diplomat who had served with Foreign Affairs Department since 1977, killed in suicide bombing near Kandahar.

2005

Nov. 24: Pte. Braun Woodfield, born in Victoria and raised in Eastern Passage, N.S., killed when his armoured vehicle rolled over near Kandahar.

2004

Jan. 27: Cpl. Jamie Murphy, 26, of Conception Harbour, Nfld., killed in suicide bombing while on patrol near Kabul.

2003

Oct. 2: Sgt. Robert Short, 42, of Fredericton, and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger, 29, of Ottawa, killed in roadside bombing southwest of Kabul.

2002

April 18: Sgt. Marc Leger, 29, of Lancaster, Ont., Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, 24, of Montreal, Pte. Richard Green, 21, of Mill Cove, N.S., and Pte. Nathan Smith, 27, of Tatamagouche, N.S., all killed when U.S. F-16 fighter mistakenly bombed Canadians on pre-dawn training exercise. Eight other Canadians wounded in friendly-fire incident.