Ex-warrant officer Matt Stopford has suffered since his duties in Croatia, including the loss of vision in his right eye. The Canadian military thinks a soldier debilitated by mysterious ailments was not a victim of possible PCB-contaminated sandbags while peacekeeping in Croatia, but was being poisoned by his own men. Stopford, living alone in Peterborough, says the letter, delivered by Capt. Stopford, once a super-fit soldier with no history of malingering or medical problems, is a physical wreck following duty in Croatia. His stomach is a mess, he bleeds from the rectum, his bones and joints constantly ache, he's gone blind in his right eye, and has difficulty breathing.
Some days are worse than others, but all are bad.
An excellent soldier, and a fine man. Michel Drapeau, former director-general of DND's Executive Secretariat, says in 34 years in the military he's never seen anything like this. The letter is also an indictment against the soldiers of his platoon. It is simply astonishing that the Provost Marshal would make such allegations in a letter while a criminal investigation is under way in what's a case of attempted murder. It is so totally ludicrous that I decided to go public.