Soldier slid into depression after overseas tours: stepfather

OTTAWA – The stepfather of a soldier who killed himself after two tours overseas is telling an inquiry that the young man slid into depression after getting home.

Shaun Fynes says Cpl. Stuart Langridge lived a soldier’s life, worked hard and drank hard.

But Fynnes is telling the Military Police Complaints Commission that Langridge went beyond self-medication with alcohol into marijuana and cocaine.

Fynes reserves his harshest criticism for the military, which he says punished the young soldier for his illness.

He says Langridge ping-ponged between a civilian medical system that didn’t want to deal with him and a military system that didn’t know what to do.

The commission is investigating a complaint that military police carried out a biased investigation into Langridge’s March 2008 suicide in an effort to whitewash the military