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Private Sébastien Courcy Killed in Afghanistan - 16/ July/ 2009

Strike said:
Mods:  Can we please change the date in the title?  I know I'm a little out of touch, but pretty sure today is the 16th.
Hi Strike
He died 16 July Local time (It was 15 July in Canada when he passed).  I believe that the time listed was ~ 0600 local.

:salute:
 
The subject repatriation is scheduled for 1400 hrs local Sunday, 19 July 2009, on the east ramp at 8 Wing Trenton
 
Canadian Soldier Remembered as Courageous, Selfless

Ottawa Citizen: July 17, 2009
Matthew Fisher

Excerpt quoting American Admiral Mike Mullen: "The Canadian forces have been remarkable," the admiral said. "That is not just what American soldiers have told me but what other forces have said, too."

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Canadian+soldier+remembered+courageous+selfless/1800920/story.html


Condolences to the family, military family and friends of Private Courcy. :cdn:
 
Media Advisory
Our Fallen Soldier Returns Home
LFCA MA 09-14 - July 17, 2009


OTTAWA – Our fallen soldier, Private Sébastien Courcy from 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment based in Quebec City, Quebec, returns home to Canada Sunday.

Where:  8 Wing, Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario.

When:  Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.
What:    At the request of the family, media will be permitted on the tarmac.

Present to pay their respects will be the Minister of National Defence, The Honourable Peter MacKay, Chief of Defence Staff, General Walt Natynczyk and other dignitaries.

Pte Courcy died while conducting operations in the Panjwayi District. The incident occurred approximately 17 kilometres south-west from Kandahar City at around 6:00 a.m., Kandahar time, on July 16, 2009.

Pte Courcy was serving as a member of the 2nd Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment Battle Group.

-30-

Note to Editors/News Directors:

Interested media may contact Captain Mark Peebles, 8 Wing/CFB Trenton Public Affairs Officer, who can be reached at (613) 392-2811, ext. 2041, or at: peebles.m@forces.gc.ca

For general queries, please contact the Media Liaison Office at 1-866-377-0811 or 613-996-2353, or on weekends 613-792-2973.

For flight information, please contact the Air Passenger Terminal at 1-800-487-1186.
 
Rest in peace Private, you have done your duty. My condolences to your Regiment, family, and friends.Ubique :cdn: :yellow:
 
rip pte courcy-you will not be forgotton
condolences to family,, comrades.. and friends...

                              scoty b
 
Bon retour.  Welcome home.

Je me souviens.
 
Mountaintop blast left Canadian soldier dead, military says

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/mountaintop-blast-left-canadian-soldier-dead-military-says/article1223897/

Dene Moore

Kandahar, Afghanistan — The Canadian Press Last updated on Sunday, Jul. 19, 2009 04:12PM EDT

The Canadian soldier killed during a counterinsurgency operation last week stepped on an explosive before being thrown off a cliff edge to his death, military officials disclosed Sunday.

Initially, with the operation still under way, they would only say that Private Sebastien Courcy, 26, died after a fall from “high ground” during the mission in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province.

In fact, Pte. Courcy “stepped on something that exploded” as his team made their way to a vantage point on Salavat Gar, a mountain overlooking the village of Nakhonay, south of Kandahar city, said Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Patrick, chief of operations for Task Force Kandahar.

Lt.-Col. Patrick said it remains unclear whether the explosion was the result of a freshly planted IED or an old land mine, an ever-present threat in the war-ravaged country.

But the operation that cost Pte. Courcy's life – dubbed Operation Constrictor IV – uncovered four bomb-making factories, dismantling an “assembly line” of the Taliban terror network, Lt.-Col. Patrick said after the three-day operation was complete.

A massive cache of weapons was also seized, including 50-calibre machine guns, bazookas and suicide vests, as well as chemical accelerants, home-made explosives and thousands of yards of commercial-grade detonation cord.

He said soldiers also found epoxy and ball bearings, which are glued to bombs to create deadly shrapnel.

“We removed hundreds of IEDs from the battlefield, premade, a substantial quantity of weapons, a huge amount of ammunition … but more importantly, the ability to manufacture the things that hurt us the most – IEDs,” Lt.-Col. Patrick said.

He said there were suspected insurgents detained and some killed, but he would not say how many. He said they will be turned over to Afghan authorities to face trial.

Most of them fled the path of Canadian soldiers, and there were few engagements with Taliban, he said.

“They'll be back,” Lt.-Col. Patrick said, but they “are not coming back today or tomorrow.”

He said the plan is not to occupy the village, but to disrupt insurgents and take their munitions out of circulation.

The operation “hit the jackpot on the disruptive effect,” he said.

A ground crew left Wednesday and took up position in a nearby town – a “feint” meant distract the insurgents. The next day, helicopters delivered two companies of infantry to the area around Nakhonay, effectively surrounding the town.

Nakhonay has been a staging area for Taliban attacks in Kandahar city, he said.

Lt.-Col. Patrick said the operation was not aimed at hunting down insurgents, but in disrupting their activities and seizing their weapons. In that sense, it was one of the most successful single operations conducted by Canadians in Kandahar, he said.

Canadians hadn't been in Nakhonay for two years, and the village is near the border of the Dandh district, where there is an ongoing effort to rebuild and develop communities in order to convince locals to shun the insurgency. Military and Afghan officials unveiled a model village project in the town of Deh-e-Bah earlier this month.

Lt.-Col. Patrick said they also wanted to get the weapons out of circulation ahead of elections next month.

Patrick said about 50 Taliban had turned the village of about 2,000 into a staging point for terror attacks in the city.

“The people had be living with this sort of Taliban occupation for a while,” he said.

Pte. Courcy was the 125th Canadian soldier to die as part of the Afghan mission is back in Canada.

His remains of Pte. Sebastien Courcy arrived back in Canada Sunday. Defence Minister Peter MacKay and General Walt Natynczyk, Canada's chief of defence staff, were among those on hand to pay their respects at CFB Trenton, east of Toronto.

Captain Mark Peebles says a group of civilian and uniformed personnel met the military transport as it landed before Pte. Courcy's flag-draped coffin was carried to a waiting hearse.

The hearse is part of a convoy en route to the coroner's office in Toronto along a stretch of Highway 401 that's been dubbed the Highway of Heroes.
 
He that may fight, heal him.
He that may fight no more, give him peace.
 
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