Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 28, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press monday August 28, 2006 winnipegfreepress.coma3 top news As anxiety ebbs Joy flows relieved families Welcome Home weary soldiers by Gabrielle Giro Day t hey walked off the plane with stoic expressions Fol lowing a 25-hour flight but 80 Canadian soldiers return ing from Afghanistan soon melted when they greeted their loved ones on Manitoban soil. The weary cab Shilo based troops who have suffered a series of blows since May with three of their comrades killed have been overseas for seven months. Yesterday afternoon soldiers relieved spouses children and parents welcomed them Home. You have to not pay attention to the news said Jocelyn Pachal 28, who trembled with anticipation As she stood wait ing for her husband with their two children Braeden 3, and 11?month-old Sydney at 17 Wing Winnipeg. The Young Mother said she found herself increasingly agitated As anticipation ramped up for the return of her husband sgt. Parnell Pachal. The soldiers arrived in Winnipeg around 6 . Yesterday followed by a roughly three hour bus ride to cab Shilo near Brandon where we were Many soldiers families also waited. More than 2,000 Canadian troops Are worried currently stationed in Afghanistan. But we prayed there have been 27 deaths since Cana for him. A deployed soldiers to the country in 2002 ? almost a third of them in the last its hard for month. The kids time waiting at the end goes by slower said Pachal adding she sought they Don to Refuge at her parents Carberry farm to understand keep herself occupied in the final Days hell be Back before her husband returned. Her father 73-year-old Art Linke and the stood near the retired Farmer wiping weeks feel his eyes As his son in Law rushed to embrace his family and shoo away like years Media. we were worried but we prayed for ? Art Linke him said Linke. Its hard for the kids they Don to understand hell be Back and the weeks feel like perhaps time crawled even slower for spouses and parents after the difficult news of the last month. Of eight Canadian military deaths in Afghanistan in the last month two deaths were of cab Shilo based soldiers Cpl. David armoured vehicle they were travelling in was involved in Braun 27, and master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh 33. Traffic Accident in Kandahar. The majority of soldiers returning yesterday Are members troops said they were still mourning for their Canadian of the second battalion Princess Patricia a Canadian Light comrades who died in Battle albeit often privately. Infantry 2ppclito which Braun and Walsh belonged. Emotionally the deaths Are pretty draining said Mas troops returning to Manitoba Are also from the first regi Ter Cpl. Jay dance who added soldiers had a five Day Sto overment Royal Canada horse artillery 1rcha. In Cyprus to decompress before they reached Manitoba. In May 1rcha capt. Nichola Goddard was killed by the one of my Good friends died Over there soldiers were shrapnel of a rocket propelled grenade fired by Taliban insure injured and paralysed said sgt. Kevin Gregory who Joyful gents. By clasped his 27-year-old wife Barb Gregory and three year she was the first Canadian woman killed in action since the old son Tyson. Second world War and the first female combat Soldier killed they re heroes. I just feel sorry for their on the front lines. In March master Cpl. Timothy Wilson and Cpl. Paul Davis. of 2ppcli died from injuries sustained when the Light forces ease Security checks on potential recruits military overwhelmed by number of investigations by Terry Pedwell Kandahar Afghanistan ? military investigators Are trying to determine Why Canadian soldiers mistakenly shot and killed what May have been an afghan secret police officer in a week end of violence. It was just one of a number of investigations that have overwhelmed Canada a National investigation service within the past two weeks forcing the arms length body to bring More Foren sics experts into Southern Afghanistan. Canadian soldiers killed an afghan police officer and injured four others saturday in one of two apparent Friendly fire shootings. The shooting was in self defence said nato after a truck carrying armed men approached a Canadian artillery position about 25 Kilometres West of Kandahar. The men were in an unmarked vehicle in Plain clothes said col. Fred Lewis the Deputy commander of Canadas nato contingent in Southern Afghanistan. Neither their vehicle nor their imme Diate appearance readily identified them As police said Lewis who added that several warning shots were fired at the vehicle sparking a shootout with the men when they returned fire. Secret police nato and Canadian officials could not confirm reports from sources yesterday that the men were members of Afghanistan a notorious secret police and intelligence service the National directorate of Security ads also known As Amani Yat. Ads operatives rarely Wear uniforms and often travel in unmarked vehicles. About 40 minutes after the initial shooting a motorcycle carrying two peo ple approached the same Canadian artillery position at High Speed military officials said. The canadians once again opened fire after warning the Driver several times to Stop injuring both motorcyclists. They too were later discovered to be afghan police officers nato said. There were no Canadian casualties. Nato later apologized for the shoot ing incidents but maintained that Cana Dian soldiers acted according to their training. Now under scrutiny by both Canad an and afghan officials the weekend shootings have added to what was already a Large workload facing Cana Dian forces forensic investigators. The National investigation service Nis team was to be beefed up from just two investigators to five. Saturdays shootings took place just Days after a Canadian Soldier shot and killed an afghan boy and injured a teenager after a Canadian Convoy was struck by a suicide bomber. Nis investigators were probing the boys shooting but also a fatal traffic Accident in which a Canadian Soldier died As Well As the shooting death of another Canadian at the hands of one of his colleagues. ? associated press by Alison Auld Halifax ? the Canadian military has relaxed some of the background Security checks it does on potential recruits and is considering easing others As it tries to Speed up enrolment and meet ambitious recruitment targets. The military recently received an exemption from the Treasury Board that allowed it to shorten the period of time it covers when doing an applicants Back ground Check according to defence department officials. For example a candidate who would be granted secret level clearance once had a background Check done that went Back 10 years. Checks now Only cover the last seven years. The majority of people in the forces receive confidential level clearance which previously required a Check of the last 10 years. The exemption has Cut that Check by half Down to the last five years. Its an acceptable risk Given the num Ber of clearances we do . David Shuster a Security officer in the defence department said of the policy change that has been in effect for months. Obviously we be got a really big Chal Lenge Here because we want to increase recruiting yet we Don to want to increase the level of risk in bringing people in the military has also relaxed another Security probe it does that can cause lengthy processing delays for applicants who have spent time outside Canada according to a newly declassified Docu ment obtained by the Canadian press under Access to information legislation. The report signed by Canadas top sol Dier Gen. Rick Hillier recommends easing assessments of recruits who have been in the United states the . And the original 16 nato countries prior to applying to the military. Shuster said those reviews can add months or years to the screening process because they have to solicit help from officials in the country where the applicant spent time. But he downplayed con Cerns that limiting the checks could Compromise Security. We want to be Able to do As much recruiting As we possibly can but at the same time we Don to want to accept More risk than already exists right now he said in an interview. So there a a bit of negotiation going on to make sure we Don to accept too much ? Canadian press Hawaii cruise North americas first Choice for travel since 1967 ;