MCpl. Josh Roberts - 2 PPCLI - Sat. Aug. 9 2008

[Bruce Monkhouse]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/02/22/8483476-sun.html
Family seeks answers at military meeting

By RENATO GANDIA, SUN MEDIA

The Calgary Sun   

Beth Figley, the mother of a Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan, is searching for the truth behind her son's death and she may find the answer on Wednesday.

Following media reports, including one by the Sun's Michael Platt last week, officials with the National Investigation Service are meeting with the family of Master Cpl. Josh Roberts, 29, killed in a battle last August near Kandahar City.

"I'm hoping that we will be able to reopen the investigation," said Figley in a telephone interview from Dalmeny, Sask., near Saskatoon.
The soldier's father, Calgary resident Brian Roberts, will be at Wednesday's meeting with NIS Major John Kirschner, as well as a warrant officer.

"Hopefully we'll find out what we're looking for," said the older Roberts.
"I hope this meeting is going to clarify everything and this should be the end of it."
Grieving family members of the soldier have been pushed into a whirlwind of doubt when they were told what they say were conflicting reports by military officials.

Roberts was shot by an Afghan insurgent, said a report from the Department of National Defence.
Before the report became public, Figley was told by military top brass that her son was involved in a firefight and was killed by Compass Security, one of the Afghan-run companies used to guard construction sites.

Then, the family got a hold of a news video recorded just after the Aug. 11 battle.

It shows Canadian and U.S. soldiers interrogating the heavily-armed security contingent, with one frustrated American sergeant saying they can't get a straight answer from the evasive guards.
Later on, Roberts' family received an unsolicited call from one of his comrades saying the shooting was recorded on helmet-mounted cameras but the footage was erased because it was too gruesome.

Figley said she's also still waiting to receive an autopsy report. She added the process unnecessarily subjects families of soldiers to Access to Information red tape.

 

[geo]

"I'm hoping that we will be able to reopen the investigation,"
"Hopefully we'll find out what we're looking for,"
"I hope this meeting is going to clarify everything and this should be the end of it."

While I would truly hope that this meeting will provide closure.... it won't.

MCpl Roberts was killed during a firefight with insurgents.
He died at his position - maning his weapon & doing what had to be done.
There was lots of lead flying in every direction that day & there are as many opinions of what happened as there were troops on the ground.

I am confident that neither CF or ANA troops were responsible for his death... however, beyond that, who knows ? I believe it is better to presume that it was TB insurgents at the other end of the bullet VS a CF comrade who suffered a negligent discharge.

Rest in peace Josh!

 

[Stauds]

I know for fact Josh WAS killed by insurgents. I could go into further detail, but my last post in this thread does a decent job of explaining it. I'm sick of this "debate" and controversy over events. All of it stems from people who weren't there, and had no idea what happened, and came up with their own version of events. There's controversy about how short the NIS investigation was... Maybe their investigation was pretty simple, and that's why it didn't take long?

Also, about the article in Bruce's post mentioning the video. I don't think anyone would have done any different.