This year, perhaps more so than in recent memory, when the 11th hour of the 11th day of this 11th month of 2015 strikes, we’d ask that everyone have a warm thought for Canadian veterans.
While Canadians have fought and died in theatres of war around the world over the decades, as well as during peacekeeping missions, returning Afghanistan veterans’ plight in regard to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has brought to light the debilitating effects like never before.
Regularly, it seems, there are reports of Afghanistan veterans displaying antisocial tendencies, or of them committing suicide after finding themselves unable to re-integrate into the society they left behind.
Clearly, not enough is being done to assist or rehabilitate returning veterans who have been tasked with performing as Canadian Army regulars under stress-inducing conditions.
If we demand men and women serve under the worst possible circumstances (i.e. dodging IEDs in Afghanistan) in the name of Canadians, we need to support them when they return by providing the greatest possible assistance.
This assistance, of course, includes medical services for the obvious injuries endured by veterans, but it must also include psychological support for the much less obvious mental torment and suffering deep in a person’s mind.
In the past, terms like “shell shock” or “combat fatigue” were used, dismissively perhaps, to describe what was clearly PTSD of a much greater order. One wonders, over all the years that Canadians with weapons in their hands have served, how many would have benefitted by more robust diagnosis and treatment upon return to their former lives.
Worse yet, the negative effects of PTSD extend far beyond the individual veteran; spouses, children, friends and family may all be affected negatively.
With any luck, Calgary Centre MP Kent Hehr, newly sworn in as Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence as part of Prime Minister Trudeau’s new cabinet, already has this issue solidly fixed in his radar.
But back to Remembrance Day.
In the past few years, attendance at ceremonies has been on the rise in the Bow Valley; possibly this is because of Canada’s participation in the Afghanistan conflict and, more recently, because of this country’s participation in Operation IMPACT against ISIS (Islamic States of Iraq and Syria) by the Royal Canadian Air Force.
We’d ask that residents take a few minutes out of their day to pin on a poppy, make an appearance at a cenotaph ceremony and observe the silence that befits the solemn nature of the day.
