KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Friends, family and comrades of Bombardier Karl Manning were struggling to understand why such a well-liked, professional would have wanted to take his own life.
“A unit is a family,” said Maj. Vincent Giroux, the battle group’s battery commander. “I think (why) is the question everybody is asking. His family, Canadians in generals, friends who knew him. We would like to know why and what happened.”
Comrades and friends gathered to pay their respects to Manning in front of the Canadian memorial at Kandahar Airfield on Sunday.
Many of them expressed utter disbelief at his death early Friday at a forward base in the volatile Zangabad area, southwest of the provincial capital.
“It is still a shock for us,” said Giroux, who was Manning’s commanding officer.
He and other soldier painted a picture of a confident, easy to approach man who was recently eager to demonstrate his skills to American soldiers who are flooding into his remote outpost in anticipation of the Canadian pull-out.
At 31-years-old, Giroux says Manning was mature and not afraid to speak his mind.
“He was impressive, a friendly guy (and) a team worker,” Giroux said following a brief memorial Sunday night.
An investigation is underway, but his death is believed to be a suicide, as military police have ruled out foul play and enemy action.
Master Warrant Officer Ghislain Angel, the battery sergeant-major, says he was woken up early Friday with the news and, at first, thought it was joke.
“I was totally shocked,” he said. “He was always smiling. He was always coming to us to talk us and give us a lot of information, even about his personal life. He was a very great soldier.”
Angel readily admitted his description was not of someone who would take their own life, a fact he was acutely aware of and couldn’t explain.
“I don’t understand it either, sir.”
Manning’s father Reginald Manning told Quebec newspaper Le Soleil was also refusing to believe his son committed suicide, saying he communicated regularly with Karl. The elder Manning told Le Soleil Karl was fine and that had just bought a house and he had plans of marriage.
When The Canadian Press called Manning’s parents’ home in Chicoutimi, Que. on Sunday, a man who identified himself as Karl’s brother also didn’t believe it was a suicide.
“We think it’s not the case but we don’t know all the details,” said the man, who refused to give his name.
“He (Karl) had a lot of projects and he was about to get married.”
The body was discovered by fellow soldiers early Friday.
Manning, who was near the end of his tour, was an artillery soldier operating the radar at a remote base in western Panjwaii.
He’d been there for six months as part of the 1st Battalion Royal 22e Regiment battle group.
The death is the second of the year, and the first for the Canadian mission in Afghanistan since March 27. That’s when Cpl. Yannick Scherrer was killed by an improvised explosive device southwest of Kandahar city.
If ruled a suicide, Manning would become the fourth soldier involved in the Afghan mission to have died by their own hand overseas