Buried beyond history

[maple_leaf_eh]

In 1974 a frag' grenade exploded in a pyrotechnics safety lecture at the Camp Valcartier army cadet summer camp. Six boys died and 54 cadets were injured. << http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10148751-as-you-were>>

It seems a long-service but disinterested Regular Force officer was in a rush to do anything other than teach cadets. Over a span of several days which included a live fire grenade range, crossloading of crates of dummy and live frag grenades, and arriving at the cadet camp. The investigation concentrated on finding out if one of the kids had brought the grenade into the lecture, with no regard for the grieving of teenage boys alone and away from their families. The kids were terrorized by the investigators, and extremely little information or reassurance about the accident. They were civilians wearing uniforms. Although not subject to the Code of Service Discipline, they were ordered not to talk or tell anyone.

The survivors carried tremendous Post Traumatic Stress into the adult lives. Some did not survive or thrive. Others became investigators. The result has only this year been recognition of the accident, the commissioning of a more therapeutic investigation and the possibility of survivors pensions.

I know three of the cadets, either as hometown friends or as reserve acquaintances. If I'd joined cadets a year earlier, I could have been in that lecture.