He tells the stories of The Invisible Injured
CHERYL CLOCK
POSTMEDIA NEWS
As an historian, he usually studies people who have long since been dead. The Invisible Injured, Psychological Trauma in the Canadian Military from the First World War to Afghanistan, by Adam Montgomery (McGill-Queen’s University Press, $34.95). Available online at Amazon.ca.
But in Adam Montgomery’s latest book, (McGill- Queen’s University Press, $34.95), he drew from the experiences of real people with lived history as he wrote about psychological trauma in the Canadian military.
The book is a five-year project undertaken by Montgomery, a freelance writer and a Niagara Voices columnist for who specializes in military and medical history. He examined the trauma called “shell shock” during the First World War, “battle exhaustion” during the Second World War, and PTSD — post-traumatic stress disorder — that started to be recognized in Canada in the 1990s.
While he relied on archives, letters and original-source documents to understand trauma during the World Wars, his most telling research was found in lengthy conversations with the more than 10 veterans who served in peace- keeping efforts in such places as the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Haiti and Cambodia. All missions Canadians embarked on after the Cold War, he said.
Ordinary soldiers, who have experienced extraordinary emotional trauma.
“First and foremost, my goal was to put some of these names into the history books. The people who tend to go unnoticed in history,” he said.
Where military history books dwell on the lives of generals and political types — a “great figure” history — Montgomery wanted to share the narratives of the everyday soldiers who opened up to him with their stories of PTSD.
“To write a history that allowed the people who normally go unnoticed to be put into the book was very rewarding,” he said. “To give that perspective from the ground.”
Montgomery’s interest in military history began as a young boy. His grandfather, who died when Montgomery was a teenager, was a veteran of the Second World War.
“Like a lot of his generation he came back very changed,” said Montgomery.
He remembers his grandfather as a quiet man who never spoke to him about the war. Privately, he was plagued by nightmares and spent a lot of time at the legion with his buddies.
“That generation, they avoided it (talking about the war) because they didn’t want to be seen as weak,” he said.
Montgomery’s interest in the human mind and how it deals with extreme circumstances pushed him deeper into the psyche of the traumatized soldier.
What he discovered was an eager willingness to tell their stories. “They’re on a mission to demonstrate that what they’ve gone through is not just in their heads,” he said. “It’s not being faked. It’s not for personal gain.”
What surprised him is the amount of time they put up with symptoms of PTSD before seeking help. Some, a decade or more.
“Many had no idea what was going on,” he said. “They chalked it up to physical injuries. A lot said it’s the stress of the job. I’m training too hard.”
Beyond documenting an historical truth, he hopes his book encourages more conversation about mental health and the military.
“The government only really cares about this issue in relation to the public’s interest in it. How engaged the public is,” he said.
“Whenthecamerasareon,they’re promising money, they’re saying we’re tackling the problem.
“But when the cameras are off and the attention is somewhere else, then it’s back to business as usual.” Trusted by 120,000 Homeowners like you since 1990