Top special forces commander fined

By Lt.-Col. David Lafreniere (ret’d)

Canada’s top special forces commander has been found guilty for the unauthorized firing of his assault rifle while visiting troops in Northern Iraq.

Last week, Major-General Michael Rouleau took responsibility for his “negligent discharge” at his court martial, which is a military trial. The court martial imposed a $2,000 fine on the combat veteran for his error, which occurred when he was arranging his equipment in preparation for going into a forward trench position.

The error occurred when Rouleau was loading his rifle and a single bullet was fired into a safe area.

“As a soldier and as a special operations assaulter, the only acceptable standard of care with a weapon is error-free,” said Rouleau in a statement released by the military.

One former special forces soldier, who shall not be named said, “I think soldiers respect it when a leader admits they messed up. It’s leading by example.”

The soldier, who hopes to return to special operations duty, said a negligent discharge can occur when the trigger is pulled accidently and unknowingly, causing the weapon to fire unexpectedly.

“It doesn’t happen as often as it once did with today’s level of training, we focus a lot on soldiers’ weapons handling skills,” he said.

Private Joseph Daoud, a 20-year-old rifleman with the Essex and Kent Scottish, a reserve infantry unit based in Windsor, said a negligent discharge is “firing your weapon without being told to.”

Daoud has not seen anyone have a negligent discharge in his one and a half years of military service. The only one he has heard of was Rouleau’s.

“Our training really makes sure our weapons handling is second nature,” said Daoud, who believes the military will treat a private and a general in the same way when an incident like this occurs.

“Rouleau handled it responsibly. He came out right away and sought and accepted the consequences and I am confident that my leaders would handle it the same way,” said Daoud.