Imagine, for example, ordering your lover to stay behind and buy the rest of the unit time to retreat. Feelings of affection, love or even jealousy can make it hard for even disciplined warriors to fight together as a coherent, efficient machine. The emotional bonding that typically accompanies physical intimacy compromises objectivity, creating inappropriate (for war-fighting purposes) bonds between members of a unit, to the detriment of the unit as a whole.

This even applies to married couples who might happen to both be in the military and find themselves at the same operational posting during wartime. Menard’s failure was in directly breaching military discipline, which expressly forbids any sex while on operational deployment, with zero exceptions. It is not because he betrayed a spouse - Langlois is just as guilty of that as he (she was fined and reprimanded). Menard’s conduct fell far short of that admittedly idealized standard. Though it’s understood that no human being is perfect, no one must try harder to achieve perfection than those who would command others to die. At any time, he could have given orders that would have sent our soldiers into danger, or put civilian lives at jeopardy. He was entrusted with the lives of almost 3,000 Canadians, and thousands of American and other allied troops that operated under Canadian command in Kandahar. Menard’s behaviour in Afghanistan was unacceptable, especially given his esteemed position. The rich boss and comely secretary is a cliche for a reason.īut the military is different.

In virtually every other work environment, an older man and a younger female employee having sex would be worthy of arched eyebrows and perhaps watercooler gossip, but little more. Many did not see why the general’s decision to begin an extramarital affair with a subordinate, Master Corporal Bianka Langlois (who was also married), was a problem. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

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