An unnecessary tragedy
LETTERS
Re: PTSD suspected after Afghan veteran, wife, daughter and mother found dead, Jan. 5
I am a veteran and, like many before me, I left the military broken.
Like Lionel Desmond, I served at CFB Gagetown and I sought help there for PTSD.
The first time I asked for help was at the base hospital. I told the social worker and the MD that I was suicidal; their response was to send me home with an appointment to come back in a week.
Two months later, I had not received the help I needed and my superiors were not assisting me so I tried to take my own life with a mixture of pills and alcohol. I am extremely happy that a friend found me that night, lying on the floor dying, and acted to save my life.
My attempted suicide led to me being posted to the Joint Personnel Support Unit ( JPSU). This was also the last unit Lionel Desmond was posted to during his time in the military. There I found another fight I was not expecting. And I believe that Lionel Desmond, like many others, found this same conflict there. I was made to feel useless, incapable, worthless, and a drain on the military.
The only person who ever said any of these things to me was the commanding officer of the JPSU at CFB Gagetown.
No one else said to me that I was any of those things; in fact most people at the unit were excellent and tried their hardest to help you.
Despite their efforts, my superiors could only spare 10 minutes a week for me — 10 minutes a week for someone who had recently tried to take their own life.
When I left the military, Veterans Affairs Canada ( VAC) was not able to help me either, mainly for the same reasons, as they lacked the capacity to properly look after all the injured veterans.
I remember receiving a letter from VAC in which they denied my suicide attempt had occurred. I became outraged and began attacking furniture. This is the only time I have seen my wife cry out of fear, something I have vowed never to cause again. However, every time a piece of mail from VAC arrives at our door my wife be- comes fearful, something many other spouses have told me they experience as well.
So why do veterans take their own lives or attempt to? I can’t answer that for everyone, though I can for myself. I no longer felt like anyone cared and I couldn’t handle the mess my life had become.
Yes, I have family and friends who love me, but I alienated myself from them, a common symptom among those suffering from PTSD.
There is no easy solution to veteran, police, and first responder suicides. My belief is that the first step is to treat us more like people when we seek help.
The other aspect of helping those with PTSD is more front- line workers, and less red tape. VAC case managers are the backbone of the organization, and yet I constantly hear stories of bitterness and hatred towards veterans or the system for which they work. The bureaucracy does not help and it drives many a veteran mad trying to navigate it.
If these aspects are not changed, I fear that the number of veteran and first responder suicides will only increase.
Matthew Kane, Navy Lt. ( retd.), New Westminster, B. C.
Re. ‘ I will fix it,’ ex- soldier said before killings, Jan 6
“The system failed him” has become a sorry cliche. Several systems failed veteran Lionel Desmond. But didn’t someone, before discharging this veteran with a history of PTSD and post-concussion trauma, think to ask if he kept guns in the family home?
I bet he would have answered the question honestly, and the RCMP could have become involved.
So, let’s add the grotesquely inadequate gun control system in this country, that Harper, Toews and Blaney worked so long and so hard to weaken.
Say it: gun control is an urgent issue, a national security issue, a public safety issue, a veterans’ issue, an indigenous and northern communities issue, and above all, a women’s issue. This mass murder, likes two recent ones in Saskatchewan, one each in Alberta and Ontario, all of which had mainly female victims, only underlines that.
Ron Charach, Toronto