A B.C. father says the loss of his soldier son to a freak accident in Afghanistan will haunt him forever.
"Of course I grieve," David Snyder told 麻豆影视 from his home in Penticton on Sunday about the death of Capt. Jonathan Sutherland Snyder.
"Of course I will have a hollow in my being forever."
Capt. Snyder -- of 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton -- died Saturday night during a foot patrol in the volatile Zhari district west of Kandahar City.
The area is dominated by grape fields. Wells, known locally as karizes, are found in the area. They tie into underground irrigation ditches and can be quite deep.
Snyder fell into one. Rescue personnel extracted him and rushed him to the military hospital at Kandahar Airfield, but doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
Although Snyder would have had night-vision goggles, the well's opening would have likely only appeared to be a shadow to him.
When speaking to reporters, Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson said the well could have been as deep as 20 metres.
Thousands of fellow soldiers attended a ramp ceremony for Snyder Sunday night. His body is currently in transit back to Canada.
"It's about hazard and chance, and unfortunately there was an accident -- and he died," David Snyder said.
The former reservist also said: "War is stupid. Everybody knows that. Everybody knows that. Well, no they don't. The politicians don't know that."
He also told The Canadian Press that he supported his son and the military, but not the Afghanistan mission.
In Halifax, Anne Snyder, the dead soldier's mother, said her son had always aspired to join the military and believed his work in Afghanistan was helping move that troubled country forward.
"If anything ever happens mom, don't feel badly for me, I'm where I'm supposed to be," she said, quoting her son in a recent phone conversation.
Snyder is also survived by a brother and his fiancee.
"Capt. Snyder will leave an indelible mark on this unit and I'm sure on the Afghan National Army," said Col. Jean-Francois Riffou on Sunday.
Snyder worked with the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT). Riffou heads the OMLT program.
"He was a professional. He was quiet. He was always looking out for his men. And he was always looking out for the Afghan soldiers and taking all means available to see that they improved."
Maj. Robert Richie, who commands the OMLT in Zhari district, also praised Snyder's abilities, pointing to his work during a recent firefight.
"Because of his heroic leadership under intense fire, there are many Canadians and Afghans who are alive to fight tomorrow," he said.
Taylor in Afghanistan
Scott Taylor, publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine, told Canada AM on Monday that people in Afghanistan province think NATO should be there.
However, they do doubt the strategy, he said.
Taylor just returned from an unembedded, two-week trip to Afghanistan where he talked to a range of people.
"The two main things they're looking at are the corruption inside the Karzai government ... and the fact that these guys (Taliban militants) are coming in from Pakistan," he said.
Corruption hurts because locals see NATO as propping up a bad government, Taylor said.
He described seeing Afghan police "literally robbing beggars in the street."
There was also support for taking the fight to the militants in Pakistan, he said.
However, Pakistan is resolutely opposed to foreign troops operating on its soil, although it has been suspected of giving tacit approval to the CIA to attack Taliban and al Qaeda targets with missiles launched from Predator drones.
"People were saying if we continue on this present path, NATO can't win this campaign," Taylor said.
Many NATO partners are seen as just putting in time and doing the minimum, he said.
Some reconstruction work is taking place in Kandahar province where Canada operates, "but it's at such a snail's pace that people are losing hope," Taylor said.
Canadian military officials have said they hope to step up the pace of reconstruction in the coming months.
With files from The Canadian Press
