Body of Canadian corporal airlifted out of Kandahar for final flight home
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Hundreds of Canadian soldiers and their allies gathered under a golden sunset sky to bid farewell to Cpl. James Hayward Arnal as he began his final journey home Sunday.
A flag-draped coffin was lifted onto a military plane during a solemn ceremony at Kandahar Airfield for the 88th Canadian soldier to die in the Afghan mission.
Arnal had left a lucrative career to join the Canadian Forces, had been to Afghanistan twice, and was already pleading with his superiors to be sent back for a third tour next year.
He was killed by a roadside bomb during a foot patrol in Panjwaii district near Kandahar city.
On his first tour in 2006, Arnal stood outside in the rain during a Remembrance Day ceremony and praised the courage of soldiers who lost their lives fighting tyranny.
"I hope they'll be remembered as brave people who stand up for things other people can't or are too afraid to," he said in an interview on Nov. 11, 2006.
On this Sunday it was Arnal's turn to receive praise for his courage.
"He couldn't wait to get on our current task force, and he was already trying to butt in line to get on the next tour," said his battle group commander, Lt.-Col. Dave Corbould.
"That's the kind of adventurous spirit and sense of duty he had."
"He was a key motivator - almost the glue of the platoon and the section - to which people naturally just joined on to."
Arnal had left a career in the information-technology sector to join the military.
It was another bloody day in Afghanistan, one that saw a number of accidental and civilian deaths.
U.S.-led troops and Afghan forces killed nine Afghan police, calling in air strikes and fighting on the ground for four hours after each side mistook the other for militants.
In a separate incident, NATO accidentally killed at least four Afghan civilians Saturday night. A NATO soldier also was killed in the east.
The two cases of accidental killings could further undercut popular support for the government and foreign forces operating here.
President Hamid Karzai has pleaded with the United States and other countries fighting resurgent militants to avoid civilian casualties.
As abhorrent as collateral damage would be in any culture, it carries a unique dimension in Afghanistan.
Under Pashtun custom, certain slights and offences - like the killing of innocents - demand revenge.
The Taliban have incorporated that cultural dynamic into their military strategy, which is why they frequently set up position among civilian populations and lure the coalition into attacking.
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