National Affairs

The week before he was killed by a Taliban sniper in Afghanistan, Cpl. Anthony

Boneca e-mailed friends to say, "It's so hot here now you can barely handle it. I know you're all watching the news and know what's going on here, but don't worry, I'll be okay."

Sadly, he wasn't okay. Only three weeks before he was slated to return home to Thunder Bay from his second tour in Afghanistan, the Canadian reservist became the 17th Canadian soldier to die in that country since 2002.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed what most Canadians must feel, offering our prayers for Boneca's loved ones and adding that "we stand proudly as a nation, knowing that his sacrifice was not in vain; that he laid down his life for the safety of citizens in both Canada and Afghanistan."

While most media outlets reported this tragic loss of life in a straightforward way, the Toronto Star, alas, opted to highlight comments of the slain man's grieving acquaintance - actually, the father of his girlfriend - who claimed Boneca felt "misled" by his mission.

According to Larry DeCorte - whose daughter Megan had planned to marry Boneca - the 21-year-old volunteer reservist didn't feel suicidal, but spoke to a priest to ask if talk of suicide would get him discharged.

"He hated it over there," according to DeCorte. "He was misled as to what was going to be there when he got there, and what he would be doing. He was very mad about that."

Boneca, of course, is not here to either confirm or deny this version of events, but it's a pity, given that he made the ultimate sacrifice, that this negative approach might come to characterize his service.

It's understandable that those who loved him are terribly upset. Who wouldn't be? But it's questionable journalistically to focus on such comments without at least having their veracity confirmed from elsewhere.

For one thing, it doesn't exactly square with Boneca's e-mail to his friends.

No doubt he was anxious to return home. Anybody would be.

But this notion that he was "misled," that somehow as a reservist he didn't expect to get in the way of real danger, also conflicts with reality.

Soldiers - both regular forces and reservists - do die in war. And Boneca, having already been to Afghanistan once, would have known there's a war going on there.

Brigadier-General David Fraser, the Canadian commander of the multinational brigade responsible for southern Afghanistan, also expressed his deep regret to a National Post reporter for the "tragic loss" of Boneca's life.

He said the corporal was "doing great work out there," adding that as a "team member" there is no difference in Afghanistan between Canadian reservists, regular force members and civilians.

And Bombardier Bill Hill, 26, a reservist from the Kenora-based 116th Independent Field Battery, an acquaintance of Boneca, also told the Post that, "Reservists are mixed in with everything in our battle group so everyone knows that this sort of thing can happen. We train the same.We have the same jobs. It's expected."

That, of course, doesn't make the reality any less tragic, but it certainly casts serious doubt on the notion that somehow the dead soldier was "misled" about what his role would be in that country.

As Canadians, we have every reason to be proud of the important - yes, heroic - work our forces are doing in Afghanistan in helping make the world just a bit safer for all of us, and a whole lot safer for the vast majority of Afghans.

But for me at least, the notion of focusing on some questionable claims from upset loved ones, serves only to besmirch the service for which Boneca gave his life.

It's not as bad as those cases of U.S. military deserters - celebrated in some circles - who fled to Canada and attempted to claim refugee status on the spurious grounds that, even though they volunteered for military duty, it wasn't fair that they ended up having to actually fight. Please.

Boneca too volunteered, along with every other Canadian fighting there.

He shouldn't be remembered as a malcontent, a man who felt "misled." Rather, to do him proper honors, he should be remembered by the words of his former high school coach and vice-principal Barry Quarrell - cited near the end of the Star story - as a man who "liked military strategy ... when he did go into the reserves, he really, really, loved it. He made a lot of friends."

Surely that's a far more fitting epitaph, not just for Boneca, but for all those brave Canadian men and women currently serving in that war-torn country.