Traumatized
Former soldier returned from Afghanistan pschologically “broken” and struggled with PTSD, say family and friends
A former Canadian soldier returned from multiple tours in Afghanistan psychologically “broken” and struggling with posttraumatic stress disorder, friends and family said Friday after his body was found with the remains of a woman who had been living with him in a rural Nova Scotia home.
Jason Hill of North Bay, Ont., said he grew up with Marc J. Poulin and that his childhood friend and former neighbour had told him after returning from three infantry tours in Afghanistan that he was traumatized by deaths and violence he witnessed overseas, which returned to him in nightmares.
Hill said the other person who died, Jennifer Lynne Semenec, was also from North Bay and had been living with Poulin for a relatively short period of time. He said they had moved to the Nova Scotia town together.
The RCMP said the bodies of the 42-year-old man and 45-yearold woman were recovered from the small house on a dead end street in Springhill following a “suspicious fire” at the residence Tuesday. Police have not released the causes of death, but say they are not looking for any suspects.
Hill said before Poulin served overseas he was constantly smiling and friendly, but by 2010 after his last tour of duty in Kandahar, Afghanistan, he was withdrawn and posted on social media about his trauma.
“He was openly sharing his struggles dealing with PTSD on Facebook and how the system wasn’t open to him,” recalled Hill, 42. “We knew he came back broken.”
A spokeswoman for the Canadian Forces said Poulin was a master corporal who served from January 1999 until he was released in February 2013, after being deployed first to Kabul and then twice to war zones in Kandahar, Afghanistan. She did not reveal the reason for his release.
His last tour was to Kandahar from April to November 2010.
The military said Poulin served as an infantryman, a field engineer and as a combat engineer, spending most of his career with the 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment in Petawawa, Ont.
Poulin’s wife, Shelley Foster — who Poulin left last year — told the North Bay Nugget that Poulin “was different after he returned from duty,” and that he was plagued by “illness and its demons.”