A Canadian Forces sniper who set a distance record by killing an al-Qaida fighter from more than two kilometres away has quit in frustration and may go into mercenary work.
Master Cpl. Arron Perry made national headlines twice in 2002: the first was anonymous, after he shot an al-Qaida fighter in Afghanistan from 2,430 metres, a world record.
The second was public and ugly. Perry, 33, and a 13-year veteran, was accused of discreditable conduct after he allegedly cut the finger off an al- Qaida corpse, defecated on another and then had his picture taken with a corpse that had a lit cigarette hanging from his lips and a sign around his neck reading “F**k Terrorism.”
Now, had Cpl. Perry been thinking, he’d have burned those bodies and hung them from a bridge, or strapped explosives to his chest and taken out one of their schools- acts that, as we all now know, would have been seized upon by the Western media and broadcast to the world as sobering evidence of the futility of resisting the Canadian Armed Forces.
Good luck in your future endeavors, Cpl. Perry and congratulations to whoever is fortunate enough to acquire your talents.
Oct. 2006 update: Multiple media reports crediting Perry with the record turned out to be inaccurate. Rob Furlong made the shot, but desired anonymity. See this May 2006 Macleans article for the followup.
Actually, cutting off fingers is a bit tacky to say nothing about tarnishing Canada’s 100 year old reputation of peace keeping.(pssst… don’t tell the Devil’s Brigade about the peace keeping thing).
Rather than taking trophies, I think that our troops should be pinning Maple leafs to the bodies of the bad people of the world. Especially if our targeting and intelligence is good, (and I believe our guys and gals are pretty good in the recce end of things), the locals see we are getting the gangsters. Better than a playing card, as I see it. There are a lot of petty warlords and little militias, so we are gonna need a few bags sent over, pronto. These bags should go over with a big box of pins and ammo, and another with school supplies for as many kids as we can give to. Lets remember that the Afghans risked thier lives to support a democracy, even though most had not much, and continue to have not much. Thats more than can be said for most here in our own country.
Unless you’ve worn the uniform, unless you can say’been there, done that’ those of you who are knocking MCPL Perry and other military types just remember this. If it weren’t for those guys who are willing to put themselves in harms way, you wouldn’t have the right to anonymously kick the shit out of them on sites like this.To those who have’been there, done that’, I salute you!
Great work ,Kate!
I think leftists have the wrong perspective on war. They’re too polite towards the worst, most butcherous-of-innocent-civilians scumbags on the face of the planet. What is there to be gained in being polite towards dead terrorists? For heaven’s sake, it’s a corpse. A piece of meat. The terrorist-turned-corpse would not have accorded the lefties the same respect. In fact, they dismember their enemies and innocent civilians, living and dead. Removing a finger from the corpse of a worthless evildoer is not as bad as chopping off the head of a live innocent, particularly in front of the world.
Sometimes the lefties should bite their tongues if they have nothing helpful to say.
Sorry to crap all over those whose testosterone is overiding their rationale component, but the reported actions of this Master Corporal, if true, are contrary to the good order and discipline of the Canadian Forces. When did it become necessary to defile corpses of the enemy, as despicable as he may be, to prove ones capacity to excell in the profession of arms?
Sounds like he is a damn exceptional sniper who should reflect a tad on what it means to be a professional soldier in an army which follows the rule of law and some sort of reasonable set of ethics.
This is the kind of nonsense that led to the torture and murder of 16 year old Shidane Arone in Somalia. Unacceptable period.
And no, I don’t think the Airborne Regiment should have been cashiered by the Grits because of that incident.
Sorry Kate, I have enormous respect for you, but you are wrong on this one.
Perry is moving about on razors edge in a hell on earth. He knows the lights can go out suddenly at any second. ADRENALINE and other body chemistry pumping at blinding levels while not getting enough sleep but needing to be well rested to be fully sharp.
Stresses like these can cause bizzar things to happen as pressures cause one to seek release from impossible conditions.
Perry will wish he had not allowed himself to give into impulse later. He will look back and realize the action was a needless risk. Maturity will dictate doing the job with no wasted moves and no collecting of little tokens.
This was an ugly move, but not a war crime in any way. The real immature person was the numb nut who reported it.
The reporting serves no constructive use to mankind and is therefore pointless.
National Enquirer and Police Gazette reporters are a plague in this arena where young people are facing death as they fight robots under mind control that would destroy freedom. 73s TG
John the Mad said: “This is the kind of nonsense that led to the torture and murder of 16 year old Shidane Arone in Somalia. Unacceptable period. ”
But there’s no parallel whatsoever there. Arone was not a terrorist. Just a suspect of common theft. Indeed, what he got was way out of line. But come on, while I don’t mind if you think it’s unethical to crap on a dead minion of the devil, a dead terrorist, and it may well be, gimme a break. We’re talking about the remains of someone who wouldn’t give anyone any respect at all; rather someone who wants to kill and degrade all who are different, to hell with basic decency. So, I personally don’t have a problem with this particular sniper’s actions. Distasteful, for sure, but leave him alone- it was a complete evil scumbag. Have some contempt for Al Qaeda here as well, ‘kay?
After all, it’s war…
Perry will wish he had not allowed himself to give into impulse later. He will look back and realize the action was a needless risk. Maturity will dictate doing the job with no wasted moves and no collecting of little tokens.
————————————————- sarge thinks mature introspection is a bit beyond this lad.sarge remembers
when all them american boys came home from the nam ith severe mental problems. the ones who couldn’t find honorable release as members of the LAPD shooting unarmed black men, sometimes killed or maimed others, but more commonly, killed themselves via violence, suicide or drug abuse. this boy will come home with some problems. god help him and those that will live in his proximity. you armchair warriors make sarge want to puke. and
miss kate, it aint the same as shooting gophers ya know. you could try shooting a few liberals and shitting on them to test my theory, if ya like.
Look, *if* the allegations are true, then it’s a shame that the Canadian Forces are losing a magnificent shot, but the kind of ghoulish behavior has no place in modern warfare, where the PR war often has as much impact as the shooting war.
It worries me a little to see so many people using the “reverse chickenhawk” argument here – as long as there is civilian control of the military, we civilians have the right to insist that certain basic standards be met.
John the Mad said: “This is the kind of nonsense that led to the torture and murder of 16 year old Shidane Arone in Somalia. Unacceptable period.”
“You want the TRUTH, you CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!”
(I hate quoting Hollywood)
This li’l thief as he says, was the equivilent of a mature 40 year old in a country where the life expectancy is less than fifty.
School stops at grade 5, and off you go to work, with or without balaclava, and gloves.
Breaking into an armed, military installation is a bad idea any time, but when the soldiers feel they are targets 24/7, a stranger is percieved a threat and ripe for elimination. Shidane Arone (YOUR HERO) gets to meet his maker, before you, ain’t that too bad!
Fine looking trophy though!
Result: no more threat.
As you were, get some sleep, there’s more danger to deal with at sunrise.
Armchair generals, never have to face those conditions do they?
That was Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men” in the classic witness-stand scene, wasn’t it, Eastern Paul?
It’s a great line to use when dealing with the weak-stomached, intolerant left. We should start using it a lot!
Eastern Paul:
I’ve worn the uniform. I remember the destructive impact of what happened to Shidane Arone on the morale and pride of the people serving in the Forces I love.
Don’t you bloody well give me that armchair general bullshit. Arone was 16 years old and stealing stuff from the camp. He was arrested and was in the custody of Canadian Forces personnel. We have regulations (Queen’s Regulations & Orders) about how we treat prisoners. Those regulations are not optional guidelines.
Matchee, Brown and some other f***ups,decided it was okay to torture Arone for several hours until he died. The men who did that are unfit to look a real soldier in the frigging eye. They disgraced themselves, their regiment and the uniform of their country.
You may think that what they did was some sort of manly thing. It was murder. That is the truth and I can handle it. What you can’t handle is having the lie exposed.
I want our soldiers tough, smart, and professional and cutting off fingers and crapping on corpses is none of those.
I’m proud of how well our snipers and our soldiers perform/ed in Afghanistan. I haven’t changed my mind about that.
Sorry your feelings were hurt.
Rough play I guess.
Some university colonel had to make an example of these boys. Couldn’t keep it in house..had to make a federal case out of it.
Bull fucking shit. Some team spirit he instilled.
The weenie.
When you hunt HUNT.When you are armed and trained FOR COMBAT, you don’t practice your social work! Letting your guard down means a ride home, your LAST one.
That’s what wrong with this polically correct world we endure today. Trained for one job, but ass gets fried if some “shirt” doesn’t get it.
I don’t think I want to waste any more time converting you…fine then, believe what you want.
Eastern Paul:
My feelings are intact. I just got angry, is all. I suspect if we had an opportunity to sit and have a beer we’d work it out. I totally agree with what you say about combat not being social work and if you read my blog you’d know how angry I get about political correctness. I’m a great admirer of the New CDS and his reaslity check for the public. We agree on all of that stuff, I think.
No one wants weenies hauling weapons around in a place like Afghanistan. But we’re not talking about that in this case. Desecrating the bodies was degrading to him and unnecessary to accomplish the mission. I don’t care much what happens to terrorists, or the Taliban.
I also agree it should never have come to charges. Where the hell was his sergeant major? He should have dealt with it before it ever got that far.
John the Mad:
I sometimes get a bit…ummm..dramatic?
I guess we’ve come to an understanding…cheers!