What Is Tom Lawson's Major Mental Malfunction?

Canada's chief of defence staff is about to retire, apparently due to terminal hoof-in-mouth disease.

Air force general, Tom Lawson, brought a shitstorm down on himself explaining away the sexual assault problem within the Canadian Forces by claiming soldiers are "biologically wired" that way.  It's sort of a predisposition thing. They're rape-oholics, more to be pitied than condemned.

You might have thought the Twit in Chief would have kept his head down and just rode out his final days in command, preparing to collect his gold-plated pension and getting ready for the gravy train of post-retirement defence industry consulting.  Apparently not.

Tom, it seems, couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a total asshole of himself before returning to the civilian world.  That came in the form of a letter Tom wrote to the grieving mother of a young soldier who took his own life upon his return to Afghanistan.  Tom's letter advised the boy's mom that the medals her son had been awarded posthumously were undeserved.

Sheila Fynes' son, Cpl. Stuart Langridge, 28, was found dead in his Edmonton barracks in 2008. Two years later, the Afghanistan war veteran was given the Sacrifice Medal and a Memorial Cross.

...in a four-page letter sent to Fynes on June 22, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson wrote that a board of inquiry report concluded that "Langridge's death was not attributable to military service."

"This would normally have precluded his eligibility for the Sacrifice medal and any other benefits," Lawson wrote in the letter.

"As you know, the Sacrifice Medal and the Memorial Cross were presented almost one year before (the board of inquiry) final report was approved by Gen. Natynczyk," he added.

...On Tuesday evening, Lawson tried to clarify his letter in a voice message left for Fynes.

"The medal that was given to your son and the cross to you, they were given with full honours and full respect ma'am and I certainly hope that's the way you see it," Lawson said on the recording.

However, Fynes' lawyer says that it's too late for apologies.

"The damage has been done. It's a gallon of acid that's been thrown in the memory of Stuart Langridge," said retired colonel Michel Drapeau.

The soldier's family has been locked in a lengthy and public battle with the Canadian military over questions surrounding Langridge's suicide.

Voicemail, Tom, are you shitting me?  Take early leave.  Go on a nice, extended holiday.  Whatever you do, just shut the fuck up.  You're embarrassing this country and shaming the armed forces.  Just because you answer to a total jerk is no excuse for you to act like one.