War hits home

Pte. Christopher Deering, the son of Patty and Greg Deering, of St. Stephen, was injured in a bomb blast Saturday that killed three Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

Three killed, one wounded in blast
Saint Croix Courier
December 16, 2008

By KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca

ST. STEPHEN – An explosion in Afghanistan Saturday, Dec. 13, that claimed the lives of three soldiers stationed at CFB Gagetown in Oromocto and injured a fourth, has rocked the worlds of two local families.
One young woman is mourning the loss of her boyfriend of two years while a mother and father are anxiously awaiting news of their wounded son.
One of the soldiers killed, Pte. Justin Peter Jones, of Newfoundland, was the boyfriend of local resident Kayla Madsen, who is the daughter of Connie Madsen.
The injured soldier, Pte. Christopher Deering, is the son of Patty and Greg Deering, of St. Stephen. He is expected to make a full recovery from injuries he sustained during the same bomb blast that killed Jones, Cpl. Thomas James Hamilton, and Pte. John Michael Roy Curwin.
All four soldiers are members of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment. The vehicle in which they were travelling struck an explosive device on a road in southern Afghanistan.
Deering’s father said his son and the other soldiers were on patrol investigating a report that an improvised explosive device was being planted on a highway outside of Kandahar City.
His parents declined to reveal the extent of Deering’s injuries except to say they were multiple.
“They expect a full recovery,” said Greg Deering. “He’s got a lot of injuries, multiple injuries.”
“He’s had multiple injuries, there’s no question,” said Patty Deering.
She said the military has been incredibly helpful keeping the family informed of her son’s condition.
Mrs. Deering said that her son was scheduled to be evacuated from Afghanistan by air to a medical facility in Landstuhl, Germany on Monday, Dec. 15, around 6:30 p.m. AST. In Germany, Pte. Deering’s condition will be assessed by a United States medical team through various diagnostic tests, she said.
After the assessment, his parents say they have been told Chris will be sent to a hospital in the Atlantic provinces, and mentioned Halifax or Moncton as two likely choices.
“It depends on where his needs will be best met,” said Mrs. Deering. “I don’t think he’s mobile.”
Monday afternoon, Madsen was on her way to the Fredericton Airport and a flight to Toronto where she would meet with the parents of Jones.
“We’re going to Trenton tomorrow so they can bring back his body,” said Madsen.
The bodies of Jones, Cpl. Thomas James Hamilton and Pte. John Michael Roy Curwin, all from 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment based at CFB Gagetown, were scheduled to return home to Canada on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
Madsen said she last spoke to Jones Friday night, the day before his death.
“Just the way he was getting on, he obviously knew it was a dangerous mission he was going out on,” she said.
She said when she heard about the explosion and the deaths, “I had a bad feeling that something had happened.”
Madsen said she spoke with Jones’ family and asked that they call her with any news.
“His father called me and said he was dead,” said Madsen.
“I called up the military to see if it was true, hoping to God that it wasn’t,” she said. “They put me on hold, but I could hear them talking in the background saying ‘she already knows’.
“They came back on the line and said someone would call and explain what happened.”
Madsen said she was told officially that the vehicle in which the men were travelling ran over an IED, but she said she later spoke with one of the soldiers who had been with Jones.
She was told the soldiers were taking turns on who would get out of the vehicle and walk along the road, looking for IEDs hidden in culverts or other areas.
“So the boys got out of the vehicle, the LAV, but Justin and Hamilton and Curwin and Deering stayed in,” said Madsen. A LAV is a light armoured vehicle.
“If they were out of the vehicle they wouldn’t have got killed,” said Madsen.
Madsen said she and Jones were not officially engaged, “but that’s all we talked about.” The couple had been together two years and Jones had spent many weekends in St. Stephen with Madsen’s family and friends. Jones called her mother “mudder” in his Newfoundland accent, Madsen said, adding “we always had a laugh or two.”
Madsen said when Jones came home on leave Nov. 15, he gave her a little frog that was supposed to contain a ring. But he explained to her he hadn’t been able to find the lover’s knot he was looking for since they were only available in Dubai.
“He was very romantic,” she said with a laugh. “He gave me a necklace instead and promised me when he came home he would marry me.”
Jones turned 21 on Nov. 24.
“It’s still hard to believe,” she said. “He’s been talking the past week now that he’s going to get out of the military.”
Madsen said she’s running the gamut of emotions from mad to sad and back to mad again.
“Right now, I’m more mad than anything,” she said. “It’s weird. He was my life and I was his. He’s made that awfully clear to numerous people. I keep getting messages and stuff.”
Both of Deering’s parents said it was hard not being with their injured son and as of Tuesday morning they were making travel plans.
Greg Deering said his son is “seriously injured” and did not want to comment further.
Master Warrant Officer Douglas Libby, of the 1st Canadian Field Hospital unit at Petawawa, is home from Ottawa visiting his parents in Old Ridge. Libby is the former company sergeant major of the military hospital in Kandahar.
He said Deering is in excellent hands whether he has been treated by Canadians or Americans in Afghanistan.
Libby said trauma casualty care personnel or a medic travels with each patrol in the field.
That person would have provided the initial first aid after the explosion, said Libby, and called for either an airlift or a road move for the injured soldier.
Injured soldiers are taken to the nearest medical unit where an assessment would be done on the extent of injuries and a decision made on whether surgery is necessary.
The wounded are then transferred accordingly.
“Sometimes members are transferred to an American facility (in Afghanistan) if it is closer,” explained Libby.
He said the weather plays a major role in that decision, with the frequent sandstorms at this time of year, as well as what gun fights or fire fights would be raging in the area.
Once a wounded soldier is treated at a forward operating base (FOB), he or she is airlifted to another medical base where life saving surgery or surgery to save limbs is performed.
Cosmetic surgery or further surgery to aid in rehabilitation takes place at Landstuhl, Libby said.
Libby said the military frequently flies family members to be with their injured loved ones.
He said one could perhaps read between the lines if the military has told Deering’s parents to stay put for the meantime.
He said Deering’s physical injuries would heal in time, but said the mental trauma Deering has suffered from being injured in a blast that killed three comrades will need attention too.
Deering is a 2006 graduate of St. Stephen High School and was active in wrestling competitions throughout his middle and high school years.
His mother thinks the close family type atmosphere of the wrestling community is what prompted her son to seek a further feeling of brotherhood in the armed forces.
She said she and her husband tried to dissuade their son from joining the military, saying try university first.
Deering went to the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton for a year, but really made up his mind to join the armed forces.
“He felt drawn to it,” said Mrs. Deering. “We had a plan all ready for him. He just didn’t bite,” she added with a laugh.
“Christopher is doing what he wanted to do,” she said. “It really is a calling.”
The Deerings have two other sons, Jeremy, 24, who lives in Ottawa, and Nicholas, 21, who lives in Fredericton, neither of whom is in the military.
It was about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, when two military personnel showed up on the Deering’s doorstep in St. Stephen.
While Mrs. Deering agreed that it was a terrible feeling to see the men at her door, she stated.,“My gosh it could have been a hundred times worse.”
“My soul, we’re lucky. We get to still have him.”
She said she never in her dreams expected to have to go through something like this.
Mrs. Deering said the military support for her family during this ordeal has been second to none.
“The communication is just incredible, they are so supportive,” she said.
She and her husband appreciate what they have described as the incredible support they are receiving from friends and the members of the community.
“I think it’s just incredible how many people praying, and are continually asking how they can help,” said Mrs. Deering.
New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham issued a statement on the death of the soldiers from Gagetown. He said it was with great sadness that he learned Sunday morning of the deaths of three soldiers who were members of a Quick Reaction Force with the Canadian Forces’ provincial reconstruction team.
“They were killed ensuring that the way was clear for their fellow soldiers to continue to help the people of Kandahar and province to rebuild their communities and their lives,” said the premier.
“Their sacrifice will not be forgotten.”