Sgt Shane Stachnik Drive is named in memory of Sergeant Shane Hank Stachnik, Canadian Military Engineers, who was killed in September 2006, while serving in Afghanistan. The town of Waskatenau, Alberta, renamed 51st Street in his honour, in August 2012.
Shane Stachnik was born in Edmonton in 1975 and raised in nearby Waskatenau. He started his military service in 1994 with 8 Field Engineer Regiment, Edmonton as a Vehicle Technician and enrolled in the Regular Force a year later. Completing his Basic Combat Engineering training in October 1995, Shane was posted to 2 Combat Engineer Regiment, Petawawa where he served all 11 years of his Regular Force career.
Shane completed two deployments to the Former Republic of Yugoslavia (Bosnia) in 1998 and 2001 as a section member. Promoted to Master Corporal in 2002, he served as a Section Second-in-Command in both 23 and 24 Field Squadrons. He deployed to Afghanistan on OP ATHENA (Roto 0) in 2003 working in 24 Field Squadron Headquarters. Promoted to Sergeant in January 2004, Shane became a Field Section Commander in 23 Field Squadron. During a 45-day deployment to Sri Lanka as a member of Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team in January 2005, Shane was the Water Purification Unit (ROWPU) Section Commander and supervised the production of over one million litres of potable water to the local population. Shane deployed to Afghanistan on OP ARCHER Roto 3 in August 2006.
On 3 September of that year, four Canadian soldiers were killed and nine others wounded in heavy fighting during OP MEDUSA, an air and ground offensive against Taliban insurgents approximately 15 km west of Kandahar City, Afghanistan. Sergeant Shane Hank Stachnik, CD was among those killed.
