Fallen Canadian soldiers were eager combatants who died doing what they loved

Twenty-three-year-old Cpl. Andrew Grenon, 21-year-old Cpl. Mike Seggie and 21-year-old Pte. Chad Horn - all members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry unit based in Shilo, Man. - were due to return home shortly when they were killed in a direct attack on their armoured vehicle Wednesday.

In the back yard of a home still decorated with yellow ribbons in anticipation of a happy homecoming, Seggie's father and aunt wept as they looked through pictures of their son in his military gear.

"He is home - he's here with us now," retired master warrant officer Jim Seggie told her as he rubbed her back and tried to comfort her.

"I know," she said between sobs.

It was Grenon's second tour of duty in Afghanistan but friend Mateusz Kozakiewicz said he didn't want to be anywhere else.

"For most people, the military would be more of a career," Kozakiewicz told a news conference at CFB Winnipeg Thursday. "For him, it was a lifestyle. He was definitely a warrior at heart. It would have taken no less than an act of God to keep him from Afghanistan again. It was his war. It was the battle he wanted to fight."

That passion was echoed in a statement released by Grenon's family Thursday. Grenon firmly believed in Canada's mission and was doing "heroes' work," his family said.

In a poem Grenon wrote in November 2006, halfway through his first tour of Afghanistan, the soldier wrote of seeing "hate, destruction and depression," but also of seeing "love, warmth, kindness and appreciation."

"Why do we fight?" Grenon wrote in the poem released by his family. "Because, if we don't fight today, on THIS battlefield, then our children will be forced to face these monsters on our own battlefield. I fight because I'm a soldier. I fight because I'm ordered. I fight, so my children won't have to."

His enthusiasm for his duty dulls the pain of his loss somewhat but it didn't stop those who loved him from sitting down and weeping when they were told of his death, Kozakiewicz said.

Still, he said as soldiers, the mission continues. The wound he suffered during his tour of duty in Afghanistan and the loss of a dear friend won't stop him from returning to the war-torn country, Kozakiewicz said.

"We're trained to detach ourselves to a certain extent and carry on with the mission," he said. "Our motto is 'mission first' for the most part. There is a time for emotions and feelings but at the same time you have to stand up and say we have to carry on. We have to honour his legacy."

The death of Pte. Chad Horn was a blow but it has only strengthened Pte. Justin Bonneville's determination to do his first tour of duty in Afghanistan. Horn was there whenever anyone needed him and was friendly to the point of being a "little obnoxious at times," Bonneville said.

"He was an amazing soldier," said the 21-year-old. "I would not want anyone else beside me other than him at times."

Others remembered Seggie for his sunny disposition and positive outlook.

"He always seemed excited," said Pte. Cameron Skrypnyk, who knew Seggie for five years. "He never seemed down on himself or down on the situation. He always had a big smile on his face. Every new day was a good one for Cpl. Seggie . . . Mike Seggie wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. He knew full well the dangers."

The deaths of these young men have left their comrades with a bittersweet task. The first members of 2 Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry were to arrive at Canadian Forces Base Shilo in Manitoba in the wee hours Friday morning.

Residents have been putting up yellow ribbons for weeks along the main road in anticipation of a happy homecoming for troops, but the mood was muted by the sad news out of Afghanistan.

"We feel deep distress, sadness and regret by the fact that their lives ended far too early for our liking," said their commanding officer, Col. Andre Corbould Thursday in Winnipeg.

"Yet we feel great pride for having had such great Canadians serve among our ranks. We feel great pride because we know these fine men were lost to us on the battlefield doing something that they loved - soldiering."

The soldiers were on a security patrol when they came under fire from insurgents, Corbould said. Despite the casualties, Corbould said the soldiers quickly gained the upper hand and "immediately won the firefight."

Five other soldiers were injured, one of them critically.

"They went out on that patrol to help secure the area for their brothers in arms and so that Afghans would be safe," Corbould said.

Their caskets were put on a military transport plane on its way to Canada after being carried by 24 teary-eyed pallbearers at a ramp ceremony at the military base in Kandahar on Thursday morning.

The latest deaths bring to 96 the number of Canadian soldiers killed since Canada's mission to Afghanistan began in 2002.