Canada suffers another loss in Afghanistan
Posted May 4, 2010 05:22:02 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Another member of Canada’s military has been killed in Afghanistan.
Petty Officer (second class) Douglas Craig Blake, 37, died Monday afternoon after an improvised explosive device detonated about 25 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City.
Brig-Gen. Dan Menard, the commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, says the Simcoe, Ont., native was returning to camp after successfully disposing of another IED when the blast went off.
Blake, a husband and father of two, had just arrived for his first tour in Afghanistan a few weeks ago. The CBC reports he was serving with the Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic, based in Halifax.
Menard says he was a compassionate leader nicknamed the “Poker Pirate” because of his love of the card table who had adapted “effortlessly” to land-based operations.
Blake’s is the first Canadian death in Afghanistan since April 11, when Pte. Tyler William Todd was killed in a roadside blast while on a foot patrol southwest of Kandahar City.
The latest death brings to 143 the total number of Canadian soldiers who have died as part of the Afghan mission since it began in 2002.
