Canadian soldiers who are thugs should be dishonourably discharged

A court in Paphos, Cyprus fined and released two Canadian soldiers on March 5th 2008 after they admitted to attacking a British man outside a pub in a coastal resort town. The soldiers, on leave after a combat tour in Afghanistan, avoided jail after pleading guilty to assaulting a 31-year-old Briton early March 1st. The court fined Guillaume Simon, 25, $3,000 for causing bodily harm and Matthew Louis Pelletier, 30, $750 for common assault. A Canadian Forces spokesperson said the soldiers, based in Rimouski, Que., and Gagetown, N.B., respectively, paid the fine and would remain on the Mediterranean island for the time being.

The two soldiers are among hundreds of Canadians spending a few days in Paphos to "decompress" – a military term for readjusting to civilian life after serving in a combat zone.

James Sanford, a British resident of Paphos, suffered cuts and bruises after being confronted by the two men who made un-welcomed advances on his wife. The two soldiers crossed the street to where Sanford and his wife where, one put his hand around her and spat at her feet. After an exchange of words, Simon hit Sanford on the head with a bottle. He ended up with 12 stitches on his face and his left eye was badly swollen.

When I served in the Canadian Navy in the early nineteen-fifties, I was serving in HMCS Ontario. Our cruiser was doing a tour of South America and after we docked in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay, one of our seamen stabbed a citizen of that city. The citizen didn’t die but he was hospitalized. The seaman was arrested by the police and charged. Later our ship left without the seaman and our next destination was Rio deJaneiro. I don’t know what happened to him after we left. I can only presume that after the Uruguans finished with him and he returned to Canada, he was dishonorably discharged from the Navy.

That is what should happen to these two thugs that assaulted James Sanford.

A Canadian can be accepted in the Canadian Armed Services if he has a criminal record, providing the crime he was convicted of isn’t too serious. Assault causing bodily harm is far too serious a crime to ignore when considering an application for service in the armed services. Common assault isn’t, however, considering the fact that these two thugs committed the crimes they were convicted of in another country, thereby besmirching the good name of Canada, I think both men should be dishonorably discharged.