I don't imagine most Members think about their demise. There are times, no doubt, when we do, often after the fact. Something along the line of "My god, what was I thinking?". There were situations that would send a freezing chill down my spine, probably going to domestic at a House Trailer more than anything else. There is little doubt that that was the result of a debriefing/analysis of the Lidstone and Brophy murders that I saw when I was but a Summer Student. I can still see the photos of their bodies in that trailer in my mind. It left an impression that has never left.
But I don't think that we generally sit and wonder if we will die at work, and how that will come about. We don't ponder if we will be gunned down at morning coffee, shot by a suspect who is "just going to get a gift for his daughter" (which is what took place with Lidstone and Brophy), or chased and gunned down by someone we were pulling over for not having their headlights on.
The truth is, that members killed on the job, are most likely going to be killed in a car accident. Our roll of honour covers many deaths in all manner of ways, from the member killed driving, to the bizarre death of Sgt Ralph Donaldson, who drowned when his boat was attacked by a herd of Walrus.
The Haitian earthquake has added one more name to that roll, and we await word on the fate of another member, missing and possibly also killed. Sgt Mark Gallagher's body was found in the collapsed home he was staying at while he worked in Port-au-Prince in Haiti. One of the four Canadians (so far) to have died amongst the 50,000 estimated killed in the earthquake. Superintendent Doug Coates, also a member of the International mission, is amongst the missing.
Sgt Gallagher is no doubt very familiar to Nova Scotians, he was a public spokesman for the RCMP there for a number of years. I don't have to look very far for a connection with him, I know his successor at the media relations job who worked up here before I retired. He had just recently flown into Haiti, and spoke to his wife a half hour before the quake hit, saying he was tired and was going to have a nap.
International missions always bring their dangers. Mark Gallagher went because he wanted the challenge. Despite the dangers and hardships that international missions often bring, you'll find no shortage of members looking for those challenges. Many more members apply for them than there are positions available. I've known members that have gone on them, dating right back to our first one, Namibia. A troopmate of mine spent at least one tour in Haiti. I have friends who were profoundly effected by their tours in the Balkans. I longed to go on them, investigating the genocide in Rwanda was the top of that list. But circumstances, and commitment to family kept me from applying to any of them.
Mark Gallagher, and perhaps Doug Coates as well, fully expected to return home from his mission in Haiti. He felt it was a job worth doing, enough so that he left his family and familiar comforts to do it. He was aware that it would involve privations, and probable dangers. But I imagine that when he laid down for his nap an earthquake was one of the furthest things from his mind. He is the first RCMP casualty on an International mission, the result of a terrible, devastating event. His death, certainly only one amongst 10s of thousands, is as tragic as the others, but brings this event even closer than before.
He cared enough about Haiti to give his time, and eventually his life, for the opportunity to help. Please take some time today to give to one of the many organizations that are on the ground trying to help, such as the Red Cross, or the International Medical Corps. Do it in Mark Gallagher's memory, or just because it is the right thing to do. Hell, do it to spite Pat Robertson. Help mitigate this tragic disaster, help a country whose people just can't get a break.
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Poignantly written, Clare.