" .. Ignorance is bliss. They obviously have no idea or any clue what the hell is going on over there,"

Why do they not know ?? Because the media is an ass. Perhaps a liable ass.

Just read that, unreal.

Notice how the article dances around the reason for this cowardly attack? But his words are obvious.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=e7fd2b55-27b5-4168-97e3-3f557dcd45e0&k=12204

After serving eight months in Afghanistan, Master Cpl. Fitzgerald said, "not in a million years" did he expect to be jumped in a Morrisburg bar. He also never expected to be shown such disrespect.
"Ignorance is bliss. They obviously have no idea or any clue what the hell is going on over there," he said. "We weren't just sitting in a camp. We're getting shot at. People are dying. Buddies of mine I've seen get blown up. They really don't have any clue, and they don't know how lucky they have it here in Canada."

There'd better be charges for all involved. What a bunch of low-life sh*t heads.

Mind you they'll likely get a slap on the wrist given the history of our 'liberal' judges.

Just to clarify, here's the link I was reading.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=e7fd2b55-27b5-4168-97e3-3f557dcd45e0&k=12204

Aggravated assault will usually attract jail time. Even in the land of vanilla.

Sucker punch boy may find out why they call it "the slammer"

Quite a day. First the wisdom of Allen Varlaki 22 and now this "what kinda..." 21.

This is disgusting. Dion and Layton should denounce this attack.

Lets send them for a tour in sunny Afganistan.

Sentence them to wandering around Kabul with signs around their necks saying "Mohammed Sucks".

Is there a base anywhere near Morrisburg? Not too many years ago, a group of soldiers would have tried to hunt down the thugs (God help 'em if they were found) and would have at least dismantled the bar. Of course, if they went for that sort of retribution today, the soldiers would go to jail and the poor, misunderstood thugs would sue them.

curious; ill will wished upon the assailant, buuuutttt..... when I point out the local cops beat up a frail retired former naval officer, well, fffruupphhhh!!! outrage I say outrage !!!! to discredit our beloved constabulary, its an outrage !!!

so apparently if you got a badge and gun then anyone is a target and the republicanists say 'fair game all'

"Sentence them to wandering around Kabul with signs around their necks saying 'Mohammed Sucks.'"

I like that idea.

This is truly disgusting. Young and dumb and full of ... How on earth did we ever let our kids come to disrespect our soldiers? Whether we agree or disagree with the conflict they are involved in, they have made the sacrifice to defend our country. The field of battle, is not the soldiers choice. His/Her profession is to enter that field bravely and do the bidding of their seniors. It is the nobelest of professions, selfeless and honorable. I salute you Master Cpl. stand tall and proud.

I am sorry to say; this does not surprise me. Master Cpl Fitzgerald has something the spineless thugs resent and hate - honor, courage, integrety, and respect.

Schools teach boys to be girlie now and a man like Master Cpl Fitzgerald brings out all the resentment of what my parents' generation called 'hothouse panty waists'. They are cowards and they want everyone else to be cowards. The msm will probably not mention this because they constantly denigrate soldiers and bravery; PMSH will have something to say though - you can get the Prime Minister's statements and speeches at his website. Mr. O'Connor will have something to say too.
I hope those thugs get a taste of what they dished out - 10 fold - before they fall into the arms of a love- a - thug Liberano judge.

Just a drunk inexperienced young man.. we all were like that once.

I just hope the injuries aren't too serious. This is great "news" for our useless MSM, but I don't feel anything will come of it. The kid will appologise and the media will try to breath some life into a sad, nevertheless NON-story.

How about covering the foundations that have dropped off the radar?
Or what is Dingwall up to? I'D like to know...

I will be interested in seeing the names of these goons.

I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. A lot of people hate the troops. I've heard a lot of rubbish from people accussing the troops of being rapists, and murderers et al.

I'm sure with all of Layton and the left's insightment, those thugs thought they were doing a good deed.

As for Layton giving an apology? Check out the circled headline.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/151/419798875_0fb6ffcb38_b.jpg

They should be sentenced to 3 years in the military.

The army teaches self respect, discipline and grows you up.

I grew up with some hoods (fortunately my parents got us out of that area as fast as they could). They were into drugs, intimidation, stealing - they were going downhill and they were completely screwed up - although I did not know it at the time. They were coerced by their parents and the police to go into the army.
They were older than me - but I met them a few years later. Everything was 'Yes Sir, Thankyou Ma'am'. They were clean shaven - no faggy earrings - no drugs - a few pints of Canadian once in a while - they were educated - had skills - had self-respect and confidence - were in excellent shape and stood tall. A complete transformation.

The left is becoming ever-more insane, stupid, ignorant, hateful... and violent all the time.

Rather than launch into the rant herein, I'll link y'all up to my own post about this. That'll say what I'm thinking. It might be too harsh for this blog, I'm afraid.

http://thecanadiansentinel.blogspot.com/2007/03/leftists-attack-beat-war-hero-from.html

I say what I said because of valorous warriors like Collin Fitzgerald, who put their lives on the line so we can all enjoy the liberty of saying what we want. Even if it offends some folks, and, believe me, I do say some things that'll offend some folks in my post, but which critically need to be said- as we can very well see now.

The problem is with the mentally-disordered, hearts-full-of-hatred left.

The left is becoming ever-more insane, stupid, ignorant, hateful... and violent all the time.

Rather than launch into the rant herein, I'll link y'all up to my own post about this. That'll say what I'm thinking. It might be too harsh for this blog, I'm afraid.

http://thecanadiansentinel.blogspot.com/2007/03/leftists-attack-beat-war-hero-from.html

I say what I said because of valorous warriors like Collin Fitzgerald, who put their lives on the line so we can all enjoy the liberty of saying what we want. Even if it offends some folks, and, believe me, I do say some things that'll offend some folks in my post, but which critically need to be said- as we can very well see now.

The problem is with the mentally-disordered, hearts-full-of-hatred left.

Words fail me. And since it isn't November 11, the media couldn't care less.

In response to the lead question, a hero remains a hero even when bloodied by cowards. Similarly, a coward remains a coward even when his identity is shielded by the police. Thank you for your service MCpl Fitzgerald.
Cheers. Eric

Morning all, I think we find that this has nothing to do with politics rather some idiots that were drunk and jealous of the attention that might have been being shown to a brave Canadian. How I long for the good old day when a bunch of us soldiers would of gone for a beer to good old Morrisburg and sorted this out. Seen it happen in Edmonton and in Oromocto, where CFB Gagetown is located, was actually quite funny, as the little corrective action was ending the police separated the combative souls outside in to two groups, wished the military personnel a good night and sent them on their way and charged the other group with causing a disturbance and public intoxication.

Ref to Zog. I can remember a similar incendent in Halifax when I was MUCH younger. A sailor got the *&^% beat out of him while the local constab watched. His shipmates heard what happened and took it into their own hands. He was on the Bonnie at the time so he had about 800 shipmates. They took the part of town it happened in apart.

Next day the mayor is in the Admiral's office complaining loud and long. The Admiral's response? "The next time your police stand by and watch one of my sailors get beat up, I will turn the entire fleet loose on your city"

Navy/police relations improved rapidly after that...........

If only his regiment could get away with that in today's world.

Looks like we have a real true Canadian SCUMBAG.
That scumbag has a name and we better make it infamous.

Whether he gets jail time is a crap shoot with our lenient Courts. Police get their crooks and the Courts send them to the comforts of home.

this story did not appear in CBCpravda , they are waiting for a statement from Mama Khadr. She has not got back from her taxpayer funded trip to Toronto to talk on the telephone to her "detained son"

Media-conditioned quislings...after all they were only displaying their twisted take on "Canadin Values" as filtered through the partisan liberal media. I bet CBC's kiddie news-J, George Stroumboulopoulos would be proud of these groupies

But as sure as they thought it socially appropriate to disrespect valor and the armed forces, they were conditioned into it...political partisan conditioning is pervasive in Canadian culture and media...it is our worst national personality flaw and an insideous one.

I was an OCdt at RMC during Gulf I, and a bud got his uniform spat on in town by some granola-eating, picket-carrying shrub. Our Wing Commander got up at lunch in the mess the next day and said that while he understood that we were all right in the middle of mid-term exams, he'd appreciate it if we'd take a couple of hours off that night and head into town - in uniform - for some peaceful, pleasant recreation. Take in a movie, play a game of pool, go out for dinner - anything, just show a presence. The entire college (those not on duty) turned out, and reminded Kingston in an inoffensive way, a way that wouldn't bring disrepute on to our unit, that we were there.

There were no fights that night, but there were no more hassles for anyone in uniform for the duration of hostilities either.

The attack did get front page coverage in the Ottawa Citizen (Morrisburg is fairly close to Ottawa so it's sort of a local story--and CFRA has been all over it). However no story in the Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star or on the CBC and CTV websites (as far as I can see). Canada.com does have it.

Am I being too cynical, but might there not have been national coverage if Master Cpl. Fitzgerald had attacked a civilian?

Mark
Ottawa

Actually NP does have it on the site, but they are part of the canada.com world.

I think it's important to get the names of these rogues out in the public. Not for retribution, but so that anyone that wants to hire one of these punks knows who they are hiring. And for anyone that wants to hire one of these punks, the public will know what kind of company hires people like that.

Damian....do you remember the Base Commanders experiment in Moose Jaw? The mayor of the day was really being a pain concerning the jet noise. Moose Jaw is home to basic jet pilot training as well as the Snowbirds. The mayor made some loony comment that closing down the base would not effect his community economically at all. The Base Commander of the day paid all his pers in 2 dollar bills and the base support services bought everything it normally bought thru invoice with 2 dollar bills. Once the town was awash in two dollar bills the mayor rather quicky retracted his statement.
The point is...there will always be detractors of the military but they are in a small minority. That rat faced little shite that attacked MCpl Fitzgerald is such a person and is a coward,,,and he will always be a coward.

From cfra.com

"Tuesday, March 13, 2007
War Hero Jumped by Cowards in Hometown
Madely in the Morning - 8:10am - Mark Sutcliffe speaks with Master Corporal Collin Fitzgerald, in Trenton, and his mother, Arlene, in Morrisburg. Master Cpl. Fitzgerald, who recently returned from Afghanistan is recovering after being in a fight in a Morrisburg bar this weekend. He says he was jumped from behind, knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked on Saturday morning. Fitzgerald suffered a broken foot and needed 10 stitches to close a cut. Ontario Provincial Police have charged a 21-year-old Morrisburg man with aggravated assault. The OPP continues to investigate.

Fitzgerald was awarded a Medal of Military Valour for braving enemy fire from the Governor General last month."
mp3 (click here to download)
------------------------------------------
http://tinyurl.com/yr9rss

I hadn't heard that one, Odie - great story!

The point is...there will always be detractors of the military but they are in a small minority. That rat faced little shite that attacked MCpl Fitzgerald is such a person and is a coward,,,and he will always be a coward.

+1

Who jumps a guy from behind and then questions his courage?

The dirty no good thugs should be sent to prison and be made to pay his hospital bill from their own pockets and then have their hands amputated

The sucker punchers probably had to wait the 20 minutes for the fourth guy to show up, before they jumped the Medal Of Valour soldier from behind.
Eastern Ontario votes liberal/dipper.
Socialists use the collective against the individual.
Chicken shit cowards all!

50 some years ago young thugs terrorizing downtown Edmonton turned their attention to molesting Armed Forces personnel. One night a group of soldiers dressed in civvies took to the streets and beat the crap out of some of these hoods. End of story. Oh, and by the way, the police were conveniently absent.

Darrell... you can rest assured part of the reason the guy's name is being withheld is exactly to protect him from a sh!t stomping.

And doesn't it say it all that the soldier was hit from behind? Friggin' cowardly attackers.

Am I being too cynical, but might there not have been national coverage if Master Cpl. Fitzgerald had attacked a civilian? -Mark Collins

--As I say in my post today, what if the person attacked was a homosexual or a Muslim?

Of course the MSM would be all over it. The left, the Libs, the NDP... there'd be calls for more hate crimes legislation and funding for gay and Muslim special interest groups, for taxpayer-funded national advertising against violence against these specific, special, precious folks, etc., etc... it'd go on for years and years...

But for a war hero, they're largely silent.

That is proof that their values are NOT Canadian values. We know what Canadian values truly are, and they're NOT the values of the left!

Morrisburg is in Dundas County. A very old, very deep Conservative stronghold. They do not vote Liberal or NDP.
This is my turf and Kate is right. I'm guessing these guys will wish they were in remand.

I met Collin at the Shilo Base when my wife and I traveled there for my son's 30th birthday.

He and my son were best buddies at Shilo(he turned Collin into a Rider fan) but are now stationed in Quebec and Ontario.

Collin is one very fine young man with a winning personality and a great sense of humour, and I wasn't surprised to hear he had been awarded the medal for bravery,he's just that type of outstanding individual.

I certainly hope that retribution comes to the lowly cowards who did this terrible, despicable thing to someone who these low-lifes can't even imagine being like.

"Eastern Ontario votes liberal/dipper."

Ya'd better check where the blue seats are ... In most of EO, the Cons could run a cow and get elected !!

Don't worry, these guy's will get their due...if the coppers haven't beat everyone to it !!

My immediate reaction when I read the news of the beathing was "Holy Sh=t, are those guys ever going to get thumped." I can't imagine not hunting the people that did it to "one of mine" if I was in the area. The thought has not even passed my mind that they'll get out of this intact, but then maybe I'm old and live in the past.....maybe not.

Pat

If an Afghan prisoner gets a bruise, it's front page. One of our own heros gets shitstomped in his hometown....nothing.

Seems to me that the justice system in Ontario will probably do this injustice. I think an appropriate punishment would be to give these urchins a choice: A very harsh prison sentence upwards of ten years, or four years service in the army. I can only imagine the glee on the face of the Drill Sargeant having these gentlemen in his command with the knowledge of what they have done.

I am sorry to say; this does not surprise me. Master Cpl Fitzgerald has something the spineless thugs resent and hate - honor, courage, integrety, and respect.

And, they outnumbered him too.

Same old same old. These idiots could care less about the issues of the day; they just want some excuse for their drunken behaviour. When I was posted in Toronto during first Gulf War, we were not allowed to travel to work in uniform, because of "incidents."

Many of the posters are right, this things has been going on for a long time. I remember a local MP, Kaplan I think, had a bold plan to close CFB Toronto (funny how Libs plans for military are often to deprive the military of support - after all Chretien used a $billion of taxpayers' money not to buy helicopters)and the frustrated Base Commander remarked that this guy should come in for a briefing on the scope of support CFB Toronto provided. Alas, it was closed anyway, so the base with the largest scope of support in Canada had its responsibilities shifted to Borden as second line support and recovery. Plus ca change.

Mst Cpl Collin Fitzgerald was on 580CFRA this am... for a link to the 15 min interview, click here

He speaks about the circumstances leading to his medal, and the attack Sunday morning.

Mst Corporal Fitzgerald was on 580CFRA this am. For a link to the 15 min interview, visit my site
rideaureflections.blogspot.com.

He speaks about the circumstances leading to his medal, and the attack Sunday morning.

CTV has it up now, but CBC hasn't.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070313/ottawa_soldier_070313/20070313?hub=TopStories

Darrell: a fictionalized recounting of that incident is in H.F. Woods' The Private War of Jacket Coates. (From memory: "They did not realize that we wore the most efficient weapon for face-to-face fighting ever devised, the 1935-pattern web belt.")

Shamrock: smartest comment of the thread. "These idiots could care less about the issues of the day; they just want some excuse for their drunken behaviour."

The comment from cconn rang a few bells. First...

I have a profound respect for our forces serving

to-day.

Back in the seventies some of those who joined did so to avoid trouble. I considered joining just because there were not a lot of jobs of interest in Ottawa in 1972.

Just my two cents...this sounds fishy... more like a... well you're back....remember me....remember the car you wrecked....my stereo you stole...

It just sounds wierd...his response.. not to have more witnesses ....etc...

jw

"Just my two cents...this sounds fishy... more like a... well you're back....remember me....remember the car you wrecked....my stereo you stole..."

Wow...Just how you came to this conclusion is beyond me.
BTW: I was one of those who avoided trouble by joining the forces in the 70's, so what? The armed forces gave me discipline, structure and responsability, rather than jail time for being a thug. Do you think that the armed forces allowed me to continue my delinquent ways, hell no.
I have also served in the first Gulph war and received four medals for my services of sixteen years.
Needless to say I take offence to your snide remark about you respecting the military of "to-day".

Thank you glenda.

John Weller: I doubt that. It's a possibility there was some history, but it doesn't really fit. Fitzgerald is six years older than the accused. They probably didn't know each other; wouldn't have been in the same school at the same time, hung in the same places, etc. Low probability.

how to write a story for CBCpravda.

pick out some key words.- abuse, critics say, but, however, compensation, forprofithealthcare.

pick out some key victims - women, children, immigrants, natives, the khadr family.

pick out some protaganists Dr. suzuki, Al Gorecle, Borat Dion

pick out an antagonist GWB, Stephen Harper, Albertans,Americans in general ,Catholic church.

make up $hit and put it in a story.erase out any inadvertant words like Islamic,

change scary words like terrorist to insurgent, protestor, opposition or dissident.

For anyone interested in what MCpl Fitzgerald (and others) were recognized for:

http://www.gg.ca/honours/decorations/mv/index_e.asp

Master-Corporal Collin Ryan Fitzgerald, M.M.V.
Shilo, Manitoba and Trenton and Morrisburg, Ontario
Medal of Military Valour

Master-Corporal Fitzgerald deployed with 5 Platoon, B Company, 1 PPCLI Battle Group in Afghanistan. He is recognized for outstanding selfless and valiant actions carried out on May 24, 2006, during an ongoing enemy ambush involving intense, accurate enemy fire. Master-Corporal Fitzgerald repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire by entering and re-entering a burning platoon vehicle and successfully driving it off the roadway, permitting the remaining vehicles trapped in the enemy zone to break free. Master-Corporal Fitzgerald’s courageous and completely selfless actions were instrumental to his platoon’s successful egress and undoubtedly contributed to saving the lives of his fellow platoon members.

I bet these punks were probably jealous that MCpl Fitzgerald did something decent and is admired for something more than wearing his pants around his knees, flashing bling and listening to gansta rap.

Problem child = What I want I take, what I dont I break.

[Angus Young]

cal2: THAT ABOUT COVERS IT!

CBC finally has the story, you need to keep drilling down through the 'more Canada headlines' links to find it.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/03/13/soldier-beaten.html

The un-named alleged perp:

Travis Baldwin, 21, of Morrisburg, has been charged with aggravated assault. Police say they are considering charges against three other men.

And a little spin to go with it:

Baldwin's mother told CBC News on Tuesday that Fitzgerald has blown the incident out of proportion and misrepresented himself as an innocent victim. She said Fitzgerald and his friends were the ones who provoked her son and the other men.

interesting info about this Travis Baldwin. Seems like he is a jr B hockey player. This is from his bio:

Name Travis Baldwin
Hometown Morrisburg, Ont
Birthday June 12 1985
Height 6'
Weight 215 lbs
Fav. Music Rap
Fav. Food anything
Future Goals Bus Driver (seems like a real winner)

JCP, I almost didn't find the CBC item. Indeed, one has to really, really look hard. Took them a really long time to get around to doing the article, too!

And I note that the last paragraph isn't a direct quote, but the reporter's own words. Hard to trust a reporter's interpretation of what folks say. A good reporter would make sure he/she gets and uses a direct quotation, else they'll be suspected of spinning the story.

I see Travis Baldwin's favorite food is "anything". Good. I understand they serve pure crap in prison!

multirec...
When I was in my late teens early twenties I had stuff ripped off, I hung with people who other people were afraid off, who got robbed, who used drugs. I used the 1970's as a reference for my age.

No problem with joining up to avoid trouble, no problem with being a thug. Obviously things went well for you.

I never said the military did no good for people.

I don't see how what I said dis-entitles me from
respecting to-days military serving in an active war zone. People who sign up now have to have a different perspective on world affairs than we would have had in the 70's ...no?

Please don't take this the wrong way. I just don't see how I

At the age of 54

To infer that all service

Yeah, this has been going on for a long time. I myself have been attacked by civilians on a couple occasions, and it usually happens in small towns near military bases, especially around training bases. Part of it is that they're small towns, and there's very little for the local late-teens population to do but get drunk and pick fights. The second problem is women. I've never lived in a small town near a base, but I can imagine how frustrating it must be when every night in the bar, three quarters of the women go home with army guys. So, you know, I can't really blame them TOO much...but we always make sure it's taken care of. The military is not above the law, so we'll generally let the cops handle it, but if the local police don't do anything about it, or if the incident was especially brutal, we take care of it on our own.

The one thing I never really noticed until now is that you'll rarely see a one-on-one fair fight any more - they usually jump us from behind, and they always outnumber us. That's really interesting, although not too surprising. Most of these guys are cowards.

"His/Her profession is to enter that field bravely and do the bidding of their seniors."

This kind of reasoning was rejected at the Nuremburg trials. Soldiers have some moral responsibility. Not that that has anything to do with the present case. I'll withhold judgment till I find out what happened. There was a bar fight. I'm not going to assume that because one of those involved is in the army, he's an innocent party. Nor am I assuming him guilty. I don't like to make judgments like this without some kind of evidence.

BTW, those of us who oppose the Afghanistan "mission" don't believe that "the troops" are "fighting to defend their country". That doesn't mean we wish them ill, however.

John Weller, I'm sorry if I came across a little rude, I took the "to-day" phrase the wrong way.
I do agree, today's military does in fact different circumstances than you or I did. The military rescued me out of a bad situation, and for that I'll always be grateful.

CBC had the story on the National and showed the soldier, with his stitched eye and broken foot. Witnesses said he was jumped from behind, and he said he never saw the attackers. The cowards mother said that the soldier provoked him. Wonder how many other times his parent's have got him out of trouble over the years. Apparently the soldier was alone. Wonder if the coward knew who he was attacking was a hero, or just thought him a stupid guy who joined the army.
Why is layton so concerned about how prisoners are treated in afgan. Does he not realize that every prisoner captured by cdns was trying to kill a cdn soldier, and had probably killed many civilians before being captured. Maybe Jack should volunteer to go over there and take charge of these lovely, cuddly, do no harm, prisoners.
Wonder how long he would last.

To the commenters suggesting that these punks would benefit from military discipline:

The modern volunteer professional militaries of Western nations are quite selective nowadays and likely wouldn't accept any of those jump-from-behind punks. Most of them likely wouldn't even make it through Basic Training.

What they want are the Collin Fitzgerald types, people of character and potential, worth the investment of time and training.

They DON'T want those who are likely to be deficient soldiers/sailors/airmen, chronic discipline problems and unsuitable for any kind of reliable work performance, even less likely the combat valor shown by MCpl. Fitzgerald.

I see your points Dave.

Too bad though that drunk and disorderly young men can't be assigned to a few years of marching in formation coupled with regular breaks of scrubbing pots and washing toilets.

I guess 'Beetle Bailey' type soldiers are not wanted at all anymore.

Gotta love the CBC spin--"She said Fitzgerald and his friends were the ones who provoked her son and the other men."-----
That statement could possibly make some readers assume that his "friends" were military personnel, and imagine the scene as a bunch of "army thugs" terrorizing the bar patrons.
In one of the articles regarding this story, and on the ctv interview--MCPL Flitzerald states that he was meeting his fiance and soon to be brother in law at the local. He was introduced to some folks there as being the recepient of the medal of valour, and a hero. (--that would probably be the reason for the "what kind of a f------ hero are you now" comment.)
He then sat down at the table alone - thats when the guy came up behind him and cracked his head open with something sharp. --the most cowardly thing about this is that the blow to the head probably rendered him unable to react, and then they proceeded to beat him, fracturing his nose, foot in 3 places, and blackening both his eyes.