On the eve of her death, Captain Nichola Goddard knew she was facing one of the biggest dangers of her life. She was tired -- as tired as every other soldier who pulls long hours on the job -- but she was filled with excitement.
She was embarking on one of the most arduous battles of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan: a crucial fight to break the Taliban's grip on a strategic district at the western entrance to Kandahar city. She knew it could determine the fate of Afghanistan's second-largest city, which has been increasingly vulnerable to attack from a heavily armed gang of insurgents to the west.
Within 24 hours, Capt. Goddard, 26, was dead. She is the first Canadian female combat soldier killed in battle.
"There was a firefight out there," said General David Fraser, the Canadian officer in charge of the multinational brigade in Kandahar, "and some time during the firefight she was killed."
In Shilo, Man., yesterday, her husband Jason Beam said that she "loved her job. . . . She was glad to be in Afghanistan."
As a forward observation officer, Capt. Goddard's job was to call artillery fire on enemy targets. It was a risky assignment, one of the most dangerous in the artillery, but she was known as a strong leader who inspired loyalty and courage among the soldiers of her unit.
"They would do anything for her," said Captain Harry Crawford, her friend and a chaplain at Camp Nathan Smith, the Canadian base on the outskirts of Kandahar. "The soldiers knew her. They would follow her into hell and back."
Capt. Goddard was killed in an intense firefight with up to 200 Taliban insurgents near Panjwai, about 24 kilometres west of Kandahar city, where hundreds of Canadian soldiers were supporting Afghan security forces in one of the largest Canadian operations yet against the Taliban rebels.
"This was a big operation and she wanted to be part of it," said Capt. Crawford, who had talked to her on the eve of the battle. "It was something she looked forward to doing. She knew it was dangerous, but she was excited."
Capt. Goddard, of the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery based in Shilo, Man., died at 6:55 p.m. local time yesterday. The exact details of her death were still unknown last night as soldiers prepared for the fighting that was likely to erupt again today when dawn broke.
She was the 17th Canadian soldier to be killed in Afghanistan since 2002. One Canadian diplomat also died.
Female soldiers, according to Capt. Crawford, bring everything that a man brings to the army -- and something more. "She was caring. She wanted to define the position for a woman. She wanted to bring the best of both worlds. She was tough but fair, and she wanted to make sure she cared for her soldiers."
She knew she was a pioneer in the army. "She was, in some ways, a pathfinder," Capt. Crawford said. "There's not a tremendous number of women in her role or above, and she embraced it.
"There are just not a lot of women in the combat arms or the officer ranks. She was unique in that way. She was well aware of the risks over here, and yet when any mission came up, there was no chance that she would duck her responsibility or be hesitant."
Canadian military spokesmen said a "significant number" of Taliban rebels were killed in the operation by the Canadian and Afghan forces. They said the operation was succeeding in getting rid of insurgents who were harassing Afghans in the district.
