Death by misadventure (the death of Private Jake Kovco, Australian Army, Baghdad, Iraq)

The Australian ^ | 12th July 2008 | Dan Box

[naturalman1975]

AT 6.15am, Private Ray Johnson woke, pushed back his camouflage-print doona and got up. It was already hot, despite the constant, noisy work of the airconditioner above his bed. He showered and, when he got back to the room, woke the other two men sleeping in the bunks beside the door. They went quickly through their morning routine: wash, dress, webbing, weapons, helmet, out.

Sharing a space this small with two other blokes, each learned to live without getting on the others' nerves. It was just another day.

Another eight hours of guard duty, rotating around different positions at the Australian embassy in Baghdad, either singly or in pairs. There were no breaks, not even for lunch. Those men off duty would bring food for those standing guard. Wherever you got your food, you ate. Officially, everything was organised according to a weekly roster, but that wasn't set in concrete. Things got changed as soldiers were rotated back to Australia or to Rome for their 10 days' leave, or to bolster numbers for missions into the Red Zone. According to the roster, Private Jacob (Jake) Kovco should have been shadowing Johnson from point to point that day, but instead he ended up working with another soldier, Private Stephen Carr.

The two men saw each other a few times during the day. At 10am they were on duty together at the checkpoint on the road outside, where any approaching driver would stop while the soldiers searched him and his vehicle before waving him through.

[naturalman1975]

The Kovco case has inspired a bit of discussion here in the past, with many people alleging a coverup by the Australian Army of a suicide.

Both a military inquiry and a coronial inquest have found Kovco died of a wound accidentally inflicted while mishandling his sidearm.

[granite]

Damn, just damn.