THUNDER BAY - In the northern Ontario town where 21-year-old reservist Cpl. Tony Boneca will be buried later today, questions linger about the military mission for which he gave his life.
"The Canadian military since Korea has not had offensive action and I don't think the military is prepared for this," said Dennis Dacey, Cpl. Boneca's next-door neighbour in the middle class Thunder Bay neighbourhood where he was raised. "I think they're overstretched. And I think the reason Tony was in the front lines is because they didn't have people (in the regular service) to do it."
"The feeling is the boys shouldn't be over there anyway," said Lou Stepanic, a retired train conductor who lives in the same neighbourhood. "We support the military, but we don't support the action they're in now. There's nothing disloyal about that."
Since his death in a gunfight with Taliban insurgents eight days ago, people close to Cpl. Boneca have publicly expressed many of his misgivings about Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Friends say he hated his work there and doubted the military's preparedness.
Cpl. Boneca's father, Antonio, a retired bricklayer, issued a statement Tuesday contradicting those accounts, saying his son was a proud, well-trained soldier who was dedicated to a mission for which he had volunteered.
One of Cpl. Boneca's best friends, Cpl. John O'Connor, echoed that thought yesterday.
"He was probably one of our best soldiers," said Cpl. O'Connor, 24. "He was always excited, even for the crummy jobs. He was good for morale, because we do a lot of those jobs and we get bitter often, the older guys."
The two infantry reservists, members of Thunder Bay's Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, or "the Supes" as they are known, had travelled to the region in 2004 in what was Cpl. Boneca's first tour of duty. That tour consisted mostly of guard duty.
The circumstances were much different on Cpl. Boneca's second tour, which was due to end just three weeks after he was killed.
Cpl. O'Connor said the two men spoke as recently as three weeks ago.
"Things were getting pretty intense," he said. "They were working a lot ... and he was losing weight."
However, the young soldier said his friend's eagerness to return home, a fact many close to Cpl. Boneca have repeated publicly, is a natural feeling for soldiers nearing the end of their tour. "Everybody wants to get home," he said.
He also said Cpl. Boneca had lately given up dreams of joining the regular service. "He had money saved up, he was going to buy a house. He had a good plan. He liked it here (in Thunder Bay)."
Reservists, as opposed to soldiers in the regular force, must volunteer for individual missions.
At the full military funeral set to take place today at 11 a.m., Cpl. O'Connor will carry a formal white regimental belt that will then be presented to Cpl. Boneca's father.
Through a military spokes-man, Anthony Boneca and his wife, Shirley, asked the media to respect their family's privacy.
"They feel their heart is going to explode," said family friend Miles Stijepic. "Their lives will never be the same."
Outside the funeral home where Cpl. Boneca's body lay, a lone piper ushered in a steady stream of family and friends. Since last Wednesday's solemn repatriation ceremony at CFB Trenton, at least two members of Cpl. Boneca's unit have remained with the body at all times, officials said. Inside the funeral home, visitors wept as images of the man friends called "T-Bone" flashed onto a large-screen television. On a table surrounding the television were objects symbolizing some of the former high school quarterback's favourite pastimes: a fishing rod, a golf club, a guitar, a teddy bear, and, of course, a football. The young man's 19-year-old girlfriend, Megan, whom he reportedly intended to marry, wept quietly in a corner.
"He was a joy, more than any kid I can think of," said Mr. Dacey, the neighbour. "I'm becoming a bit of a grumpy old man, but Tony was so outgoing he would always come up to me and talk to me, or offer to help if I was shovelling the snow or something like that."
Cpl. Boneca is the 13th soldier to die in Afghanistan since February, when Canada switched its attention from the relatively benign Kabul to the violent Taliban heartland in and around Kandahar City, and the 17th since the country's first battle group was sent there in February 2002.
PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen
DATE: 2006.07.17
BYLINE: Lee Greenberg
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