Court Martial Opens for General's Illicit Affair

A man who led Canadian troops in Afghanistan faces charges that he had an affair with a subordinate while stationed in Kandahar.

The Canadian Forces general who was kicked out of Afghanistan for allegedly having sex with a subordinate will appear at his court martial today. Retired Brigadier General Dan Menard was stripped of his command of Canada's contingent in Kandahar last year after revelations over a relationship with Master Corporal Bianka Langois. Military rules ban any sexual relationships between service members, even if they are married (which Menard is, although not to Langois, so...). Menard is facing charges that he had maintained a relationship with Langois between November 2009 and April 2010, while he was in command in Afghanistan, and that he tried to derail a military police investigation into the alleged affair. If convicted, Menard, who had been tapped as one of the Forces' leading minds, could face as much as two years in military prison and a “dismissal with disgrace” from service.