Canada:Veteran with PTSD shares healing

On PTSD Patrol, we're always talking about the things that work. Well, here is one out of Canada from a veteran with PTSD.

Local resident inspires others battling PTSD with social media posts 
Vancouver Island Free Daily 
LIFE LINDSEY HORSTING
Jun. 14, 2018

It didn’t matter if only five people saw it, he felt a sense of power, being able to take control of a part of his life, that he felt had been suppressed for so long.“I wasn’t looking for validation, I was looking for a voice I never had,” Vaillancourt explained.

(Photo by Madison Simpson)

Patrick Vaillancourt knew he needed to talk about living with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression once he was diagnosed.  

Patrick Vaillancourt, a social media influencer, was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in 2015 while he was working in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Originally from Toronto, he entered the Forces at 17 years old, and said he was broken down and built back up in a way that was unfamiliar to him.

He was exhibiting drastic moodswings, sleep deprivation, was always angry, would cancel plans and isolated himself, and was lacking motivation.

It got to the point where his friend in the Forces told him it was time to get help, to this day he is very thankful for the push. “He is my guardian angel, he saved my life,” Vaillancourt said.

He received counselling through the Toronto Military Family Resource Centre (MFRC), an organization he volunteered with when he was younger, and the help was effective.

He was able to work himself back into the military system, but after counselling there was no follow-up from the MFRC and he was left to his own devices to deal with the depression.
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“If I Take My Life,“

‘If I Take My Life’: Veteran's suicide over weekend revives calls for 'epidemic' to be addressed
JESSICA LEEDER ATLANTIC REPORTER
HALIFAX
PUBLISHED 21 HOURS AGO

There is no public list of military members or veterans who have taken their own lives. Telling stories of suicide is a long-held taboo in society and journalism. But social media has begun to shift the conversation and increasingly, mainstream media are reporting newsworthy deaths.

George Curtis is seen in 2013. Mr. Curtis was plagued with the nightmares, anxiety, hypervigilance and suicidal ideations that were symptoms of his post-traumatic stress disorder. FACEBOOK/GEORGE CURTIS

George Curtis was a man born to help.

The Prince Edward Island veteran regularly went out of his way to visit ill friends in need of a boost, would quietly pick up a stranger’s restaurant tab as a kindness and to the exasperation of his former wife, was known to re-home spiders found inside rather than squish them.

Privately, though, Mr. Curtis was under a mental siege, plagued with the nightmares, anxiety, hypervigilance and suicidal ideations that were symptoms of his post-traumatic stress disorder. Over the weekend, it was discovered that the 47-year-old father ended his fight – and what he told friends was a too-long wait for residential treatment – when he died by suicide.

Just one day after discovering Mr. Curtis, who died at his remote camp on PEI, his family and closest friends are speaking out about his suicide and what they argue is a need to help other veterans struggling with PTSD and suicidal thoughts by publicly acknowledging when a soldier takes his or her own life.

“This shouldn’t be a hidden issue,” said Dennis MacKenzie, a veteran with PTSD in PEI who counted Mr. Curtis as one of his closest friends. Last month, through the non-profit group Brave and Broken, Mr. MacKenzie launched a social media campaign titled “If I Take My Life,“ which is aimed at creating awareness of the suicide “epidemic plaguing our veterans.”
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First Responder suicide shows when press leaves, the event does not

Death by suicide of paramedic who rushed to Quebec City mosque attack shines light on trauma risks for first-responders
The Star
By ALLAN WOODS Quebec Bureau
June 1, 2018

“They try to push through it. They go back to work and they push through it and they push through it and they push through it, until they can’t push through it anymore. That can be months or years down the line.” Dr. Jonathan Douglas

MONTREAL—In Lucie Roy’s retelling, the chain of events that led to her daughter’s suicide began with the burst of gunshots that killed six men and injured five others in a Quebec City mosque in January 2017.

Andréanne Leblanc, 31, was a paramedic who responded to the deadly Quebec City mosque shooting in January 2017. Her mother said the experience contributed to her suicide in March 2018. (FACEBOOK)

Andréanne Leblanc was on shift that Sunday night. She was one of the first paramedics to arrive at the bloody scene that greatly traumatized Canadians.

She and her work partner transported one of the victims to hospital. In the fear and confusion of that frigid winter night, as police hunted the armed and fleeing killer, they were told to prepare in case there were other victims.

Leblanc, 31, didn’t talk to her family about what she had experienced.

That seems to have been part of her nature.

Her grieving mother wants to draw attention to the mental health problems faced by her daughter and other emergency workers who work in difficult or potentially distressing conditions.
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Song for First Responders PTSD Winner ECM

Powerful music video earns Kevin Davison first ECMA win

Kings County News
Ashley Thompson
Updated: 5 hours ago

Tribute to First Responders - Official Music Video by Kevin Davison

KENTVILLE - Kevin Davison’s gripping music video offering a glimpse into the harrowing jobs of first responders has earned the local country crooner his first ECMA win.

Davison was nearly in a state of disbelief as he walked up to the stage at the East Coast Music Awards ceremony in Halifax May 6 to collect the hardware reserved for Video of the Year winner. “I was totally shocked,” he said in a brief phone interview May 7.

“I literally didn’t even have anything written down.”

A paramedic and volunteer firefighter hailing from Kentville, Davison was nominated for the video for When Those Sirens Are Gone – an anthem for first responders that has been heard throughout the world.

The video, directed by David Pichette, earned Davison a nomination in a category contested by some of the best in the business: Heather Rankin, Ria Mae, Rose Cousins and Wordburglar.
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Kevin Davison won his first East Coast Music Award May 6 as the successful nominee in the highly contested Video of the Year category.

Davison released a rough video of him performing "When Those Sirens Are Gone" on Facebook. What was meant as a message to his fellow colleagues that they were not alone in their struggles with PTSD, in just 3 months, has not only raised awareness but has caught the attention of hundreds of thousands on social media around the globe. 

PTSD Veteran "Helping people is what helps me"

'It controls my life': How a military veteran manages his PTSD by helping others
CBC News Canada
April 28, 2018

"Helping people is what helps me. So, this clinic, this is my medicine. This is what makes me better. That's where I draw my healing, my everything from."

Chris Dupee and his wife, Angel, founded Cadence - a health centre for first responders and military veterans. (Chris Dupee / Canadian Military Family)

Chris Dupee feels proud when he stares at his Canadian Armed Forces uniform, which he's framed and hung on a wall. It's what he wore during his eight-month tour of Afghanistan in 2008 — and he says it represents the pinnacle of his military career.

Not long after he returned to Canada, Dupee was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and was discharged just before he hit the 10-year mark.

Chris Dupee was on tour for eight months in Afghanistan in 2008. (Submitted by Chris Dupee) "When I look at my tour, I don't see anything negative. I was well-ready. I don't have those terrible, terrible memories that some people might expect out of soldiers. There were bad instances over there — there absolutely was. But that was part of the deal."

People might not always expect that reaction from someone whose military career has led him down a path of mental illness. And though it's been years since Dupee served, managing his mental health will be a lifelong journey.
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Front-line stress and trauma: are Island first responders prepared?
Oak Bay News
KATHERINE ENGQVIST
Apr. 28, 2018

“The one thing we’re not prepared for is how this job will effect you,” Savoia said, emphasizing a need for more pre-incident training. “PTSD strikes when you least expect it.”

Emergency responders carry a man to an awaiting ambulance after being extricated from his pickup truck, one of two vehicles involved in a collision along Highway 97B in Salmon Arm (Lachlan Labere/Salmon Arm Observer file)

Big Read: Industry leaders call for more pre-incident training

They’re first on scene and there when you need them.

But for public service members who dedicate themselves to helping others, sometimes the biggest challenge is taking care of themselves.

It’s a lesson Michael Swainson learned the hard way.

“A lot of people suffer in silence … First responders put everybody else first – that’s the nature of the beast – we’re really shitty at taking care of ourselves.”

Swainson worked in the Yukon for 25 years as a paramedic, emergency medical services supervisor and dispatch supervisor, firefighter, professional ski patroller, and a disaster trainer and evaluator. As a paramedic alone, he went on roughly 6,000 calls in Whitehorse. For that area it was normal. If he had been working somewhere like Vancouver, he said that number could have easily been double.

“For first responders it’s a conveyor belt of trauma, eventually you run out of coping strategies,” Swainson said.
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Nova Scotia Afghanistan veteran--died broken

Former soldier who died with woman in N.S. was 'broken' from PTSD: friend
The Canadian Press
by Michael Tutton
March 23, 2018

SPRINGHILL, N.S. — A former Canadian soldier returned from multiple tours in Afghanistan psychologically “broken” and struggling with post-traumatic 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.

Marc J. Poulin is shown in a handout photo provided by his friend Jason Hill. A close friend of Poulin, a former soldier who died along with a woman living with him in rural Nova Scotia says he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after coming back from Afghanistan "broken."
THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Jason Hill

“...your demons were so loud that you couldn’t hear how much everyone was trying to help you and be there for you. I’m so sorry that you let them take over.” Kyle Taylor

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-year-old 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.”
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Canada:Firefighter treated for PTSD and seizures

Fort McMurray firefighter battling little-known condition brought on by extreme trauma
Doctors accused Nathan Koops of faking his seizures before it was finally diagnosed as PNES
CBC News
By David Thurton
Posted: Jan 19, 2018

Nathan Koops would convulse violently in front of his wife, their five-year-old son and newborn daughter.

One seizure struck while Koops was walking home with son Owen from the grocery store. It left him paralyzed on the sidewalk as Owen ran home to get help.

"Everything in my body wanted to move inwards," Koops said. "My arm would move in. My arm would curl in and the muscles would contract. My leg would do the same thing. My body would arch. And it felt like it would be pushed past its bounds."

Along with these sudden seizures, Koops had begun to be tormented by panic attacks, night terrors and head jerks.

The 32-year-old was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but a therapist suspected he also suffered from a condition not known to many professionals — PNES, or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.
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Afghanistan Veteran: PTSD Almost Killed Me

When I came home from Afghanistan, my PTSD almost killed me. Then I discovered the magic of cannabis
Toronto Life

Chris Dupee
December 22, 2017

"I took a job as the company’s Ontario representative. We provided relief to 1,500 veterans—including me. I took cannabis capsules daily. And while they helped me pick myself up, I needed my family’s love to feel whole again. A year and a half ago, after many apologies and a lot of tears, I moved back in."

I hardly knew anything about the military when I enlisted 12 years ago. I couldn’t have told you the difference between the army and the navy, let alone the order of military ranks. But I always wanted to help people, and fighting for my country seemed like a good way to do that. For years, I bounced from base to base, learning basics in Quebec, doing drills in Alberta, jumping out of planes in Trenton. The training was relentless but rewarding. Finally, in 2008, my unit was deployed to Afghanistan. I said goodbye to my wife, Angel, and our three little girls, knowing it could be the last time I saw them.

When my tour ended, my unit went to Cyprus for what the military calls “decompression.” We rode Sea-Doos by day and partied by night. Doctors warned us about the possibility of PTSD, but most of us were too hungover to care. Besides, I thought, I was fine. None of this applied to me. read more here

Full Honors for Firefighter

Richmond firefighter who died of work-related PTSD to get full-honours funeral

Global News

Jon Azpiri

December 17, 2017

Parker hopes that the memorial will pay homage to Kongus’ contributions to the community and raise awareness of the issue of PTSD in first responders.

Hundreds of firefighters and other first responders from across the country will gather in Richmond on Monday to honour a firefighter who died of work-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Capt. Donald “Bryan” Kongus, 44, died in August. IAFF Local 1286, the Richmond firefighters’ union, and his family asked to delay his memorial until WorkSafeBC could determine what caused his death.

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Canada Wants to Expand PTSD Coverage to Nurses

Ontario wants to extend PTSD coverage to frontline nurses

Ottowa Citizen

Joanne Laucius

December 15, 2017

The Ontario Ministry of Labour wants to extend “presumptive” post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) legislation to include up to 140,000 frontline nurses.

If the proposal becomes law, it will cover the nurses for “stress and impairment to functioning,” including painful flashbacks, nightmares, outbursts and thoughts of suicide and guilt or sadness following a traumatic event.

There are up to 140,000 frontline nurses in Ontario. SUNMEDIA

“With the new proposed presumption, once a frontline nurse is diagnosed with PTSD by either a psychiatrist or a psychologist, the claims process for WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) benefits will be expedited, and nurses will not be required to prove a causal link between PTSD and a workplace event,” said the ministry in a statement.

In April 2016, Ontario passed the Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act, creating the “presumption” that PTSD diagnosed in first responders was work-related — so covered workers do not have to prove the link between their work and PTSD. 

The act covered about 73,000 first responders in the province, including police officers, firefighters, paramedics, corrections workers and dispatchers. But nurses were not included, sparking an outcry from the group.

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Vietnam Veteran and Wife Died Suspected Murder-Suicide

Police say Kingston couple died in murder-suicide
Ottawa Citizen
Ian MacAlpine
Kingston Whig-Standard
December 6, 2017

An elderly couple shot to death in Kingston’s west end have been identified as a 76-year-old Vietnam War veteran and his 78-year-old wife.

Kingston Police vehicles block access to Graceland Avenue in Kingston, Ont. on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017. Police were called to the area after reports of a man with a gun inside. When police entered they found an elderly woman dead and the elderly man with critical injuries. ELLIOT FERGUSON / ELLIOT FERGUSON/WHIG-STANDARD

On Tuesday morning, Kingston Police received a 911 call from a distraught man who said he had a handgun. Shortly after receiving the call, patrol officers and emergency response team members entered the home on Graceland Avenue to find Steven and Glenda Spetz upstairs with gunshot wounds.

Glenda Spetz was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband was taken to hospital, where he later died.

Kingston police said on Wednesday that the man was responsible for his and his wife’s death.

Neighbour Zdenka Ko, who has lived on the corner of Graceland and Lincoln Drive for the past 24 years, said on Wednesday she knew the couple as friendly but private.

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RCMP Cpl.Trevor O'Keefe Kindness Remembered

Woman saved from domestic violence by Cpl. Trevor O'Keefe helps raise thousands in his memory

CBC News

October 11, 2017

O'Keefe took his own life last month after a lengthy battle with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the weeks since his death, other officers suffering from PTSD have spoken up about the battle they endure outside of work hours.

Family members of RCMP Cpl. Trevor O'Keefe were in Clarenville on Wednesday for a walk to raise money for the Canadian Mental Health Association. (Stephanie Marsden)

Fourteen years after RCMP Cpl.Trevor O'Keefe helped her escape domestic violence with her three children, Donna Hancock wanted to help his family.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people assembled in the streets in Clarenville to walk for the beloved officer, who took his own life Sept. 11.

Together, they raised $8,326 for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

"Trevor helped me out over a decade ago when I had a very difficult time in my life," Hancock told CBC's St. John's Morning Show. "I left a very abusive relationship with three small kids. Walking back and forth to work, he always checked in on me."

The walkers were led by a police car, fire truck and ambulance. Several police officers took part in the walk, including coworkers of O'Keefe.

Members of the O'Keefe family — including his parents, Pierre and Biddy, and children, Liam and Melissa — were in attendance.

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RCMP Cpl. Trevor O’Keefe Lost Battle With PTSD

Family, friends, colleagues honour Cpl. Trevor O’Keefe

The Telegram

Tara Bradbury

September 15, 2017

An honour guard of more than 100 officers — RCMP in red serge, RNC, firefighters, correctional officers, sheriff's officers, paramedics, veterans and others — formed two lines leading from the steps of Saints Peter and Paul church in Bay Bulls Friday afternoon.

RCMP Regimental Sgt. Major Doug Pack (on steps) salutes as cross bearer Craig Follett leaves Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Bay Bulls on Friday following the funeral service of RCMP Cpl. Trevor O’Keefe, who died Monday. RCMP officers salute as O’Keefe’s remains are carried out of the church behind Follett, O’Keefe’s brother-in-law.

Unmoving in the hot sun, they saluted as Cpl. Trevor O’Keefe’s funeral procession passed them, headed towards the cemetery.

In front in a black vehicle were the funeral directors with the urn carrying the RCMP officer’s remains. Next was the car carrying O’Keefe’s parents.

As they passed, his father Pierre (Perry) gave the saluting officers the thumbs up and a strained smile.

Earlier, during the funeral service, Perry told the congregation he had a message he wanted to get out.

“If you or someone you know is suffering emotional distress of any sort, tell someone. Don’t bottle it up.”

O’Keefe, a 17-year veteran of the RCMP, died by suicide at home in Paradise Monday afternoon, after a battle with what his family says was post-traumatic stress disorder. He would have turned 48 next week.

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Canada Motorcycle Rat Rally Honors Those Who Serve

Rat Rally motorcyclists take part in annual memorial ride

Chronicle Herald News Canada
Tina Comeau
September 3, 2017

One speaker was Bob Grundy, the founder of Rally Point Retreat in Sable River, Shelburne County. The retreat offers veterans and first responders suffering through the collateral damage of traumatic events a quiet, safe and relaxing environment. PTSD, Grundy said, should never be fought alone.

For another year, motorcyclists taking in the Wharf Rat Rally in Digby made the trek to Hebron, Yarmouth County, in a memorial ride that included a ceremony at the Afghanistan monument at Maple Grove Education Centre

As the hymn Amazing Grace was played on the bagpipes, a motorcycle engine rumbled to life.

Both were a soothing sound.

For another year, motorcyclists taking in the Wharf Rat Rally in Digby made the trek to Hebron, Yarmouth County, in a memorial ride that included a ceremony at the Afghanistan monument at Maple Grove Education Centre.

Flags flapped in the wind as members of the Maple Grove and Yarmouth High Memorial Club formed an honour guard along the sides of the school driveway.

Then — and you could hear them before you saw them — a steady stream of motorcycles arrived.

“Sweet in pride, bitter in the knowledge that sometimes it means they’re not going to come back the same, whether they’re soldiers, sailor, aircrew, police, firefighter or EMS. People who put on a uniform to serve others put themselves in harm’s way and often carry a weight that stays with them forever.” Bob Grundy
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Why Aren't Canadians Focusing on Their Own Veterans Committing Suicide?

I am on vacation/staycation and this was not a great way to wake up this morning. My email opened with a link to a report on the "22 Pushup" stunt and I debated on opening it or not. Now I wish I just trashed it.

This is from Canada. Pretty much shows that it is easier to just do what is popular than do what works. Hillbilly Burlesque will feature this "22 Push Up National Challenge." 

"PUSHUP CHALLENGE: Country singer-songwriter Jessie Tylre Williams will be entertaining July 22 at Memorial Park during the 22 Push-up National Challenge. Williams, known for the album This Road, says she’s just as happy working with Manitoba Pilates, Advantage Conditioning and other fitness centres to start conversations going about post-traumatic stress disorder, and to eliminate the stigma attached to it."

But those are not the numbers of veterans killing themselves in Canada. Those are the "reported" numbers of veterans committing suicide in the US 2012 VA Suicide Report. 

The other thing that no one is talking about are the ages of the veterans committing suicide. I actually read news reports with "22 a day" and post-9-11 veterans. Well here are the facts on that.

You would have known that if reporters managed to add in facts when they do articles on something as serious as veterans surviving combat but not able to survive long after the danger to their lives was supposed to have ended.


This stuff does not work and the folks behind it make no attempt to even claim to be doing anything about changing the outcome on US veterans committing suicide. They are all about talking about the "problem" they felt no need to become educated on. Ya! In other words, like the Lifelock commercial, they are not going anything about the problem, they are monitoring it. They are not even really doing that when it seems they must have forgotten there is an actual report about the number they raise money to make people aware of.

To read it being spread out in Canada, as well as other nations, proves that too few are actually taking any of this seriously enough and reducing lives down to number that are not real.

Canada has a lot less veterans to worry about, so maybe their numbers are just not as headline grabbing as the US.

At least 54 Canadian military members have committed suicide since 2014 was a headline from the beginning of 2017 but in 2016, there was this report.

Suicide toll reveals how system failed Canada's soldiers and veterans

The 31 fallen are part of a larger troubling statistic. A continuing Globe and Mail investigation has uncovered that at least 70 soldiers and veterans died by suicide after returning from the Afghanistan operation – nearly one-third higher than the 54 revealed by the newspaper one year ago.

Apparently Canada isn't sure about how many veterans they are losing to suicide. This is all very depressing since Canada has taken the lead on treating their police officers and firefighters for PTSD, far beyond what the US has done.

Reminder, those are percentages, and not numbers from the VA on that chart. Notice how much they have changed? That is because they really haven't other than the rate of female veterans is higher now than it was in 2001.

Why do the challenge to raise awareness when no nation has actually lived up to the fact they were challenged when the first reports came out? 

Shelley Marshall Toronto's Mental Wellness Loft Being Forced to Move?

Mental Wellness Loft in Leslieville is being forced out by its landlord
Since March a tight community has been built around the loft
CBC News
By Ieva Lucs
Posted: Jul 09, 2017

A purpose
To keep the loft running Marshall raises money by touring with her one-woman show Hold Mommy's Cigarette, a play that advocates for suicide awareness. Marshall's father died by suicide when she was seven and she attempted suicide herself 17 years ago. It's her goal to get people talking openly about suicide and depression.

"It's not like I'm trying to go out and save someone's life, but to just be a vessel to guide them in a direction. It just gives me purpose and value," said the artist.

Marshall said she has hundreds of letters from people who have been positively affected by both the loft and her work.

Jason Marshall transformed the top of the space (top) into the Mental Wellness Loft into a home for him and his wife Shelley (bottom). (Shelley Marshall/submitted)

The Mental Wellness Loft, a free space in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood open to the public as a creative sanctuary from the stresses of everyday life, is being forced to close its doors.

The centre is also Shelley Marshall's home.

The artist, writer and mental wellness advocate, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and stays inside for days a time due to anxiety, started afternoon drop-in sessions there earlier this year because it was her dream to create a space to help people just like her.

Participants can do yoga or paint, sing and dance, or just watch episodes of Nurse Jackie.

But now, the lease has expired and the landlord has asked everyone to leave.

Marshall's husband Jason renovated the stark white space on Carlaw Avenue himself. He started by building a stage (a must-have for his performer wife) with a lighting grid and sound system. Next was a bathroom and kitchen so the two of them could live there comfortably. Overall they spent $25,000 remodeling the space.
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"No training in the world could get you ready" for coming home

So many times we ask "why" when something like this happens. The question we avoid all too often should be asking why is it still happening? How many more years will it take, how much more money will have to be spent, before we see the truth? How many times will we send them into combat because they are willing to die to save others, only to let them what it did to them alone?

"Many times, the platoon set out at 2 a.m. and was in position by dawn, the call to prayer echoing across the desert. When prayer ended, the soldiers attacked. The 24-year-old rifleman’s job was to hunt down and kill the Taliban. He also carried the wounded on stretchers and collected corpses – arms, legs and heads – and put them on vehicles to take to an Afghan police station."

“No training in the world could get you ready for that,” said Mr. Trotter.

Lionel Desmond (front row, far right) was part of the 2nd battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment, based at CFB Gagetown. Here, he is shown in 2007 in Afghanistan’s Panjwai district, in between patrol base Wilson and Masum Ghar.

TREV BUNGAY/FACEBOOK/THE CANADIAN PRESS

And now the story of what happened along with the question that there may never be any answers to.

What happened to Lionel Desmond? An Afghanistan veteran whose war wouldn’t end

No one knows for sure why, 10 years after serving in Afghanistan, Lionel Desmond took a gun to his wife, his daughter, his mother and then himself. But an investigation byLindsay Jones sheds new light on the pressing need to better understand soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder – and to find ways to support them before it’s too late.
read the story here

This happened in Canada but it happens here too. It happens all over the world when we refuse to see that the men and women risk their lives because they care more than the rest of us do. Maybe that's the point. We care enough to write a check or pass something along on Facebook. The thing is, the participation trophy we get for doing something making us feel good isn't keeping them alive. 

Veterans Are Homeless in Canada Too

VETS Canada puts boots on the ground to help homeless veterans
Calgary Herald
Alanna Smith
Published on: May 14, 2017

Shortly after the brief interaction, Lowther and his wife began VETS Canada in 2010, on a mission to raise awareness and end homelessness for veterans. In 2014, they were awarded a contract by Veterans Affairs to be an approved service provider for veteran outreach.

A sharp contrast between military service and civilian life is leaving some veterans vulnerable to homelessness.

That’s why the Calgary division of VETS Canada is offering ground support during the second-annual Coast to Coast Tour of Duty, in which volunteers walk the streets in 17 Canadian cities to locate and aid homeless and at-risk veterans.

“I think they just want to feel like part of our society and feel proud about what they have accomplished in the forces. That’s what it’s all about, making sure they are taken care of and that they know we appreciate everything they’ve done, not just once a year on Nov. 11, but all year round,” said Steve Gilliss, lead of Calgary’s VETS Canada chapter.

When a volunteer locates a veteran who has accepted help, they are immediately moved off the street to a motel or hotel. Then they are given a needs assessment, which identifies when they served and what social programs they might be entitled to, including benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada.

The veterans are also connected to health care, mental health representatives and addictions support, if needed. Volunteers also offer support in finding employment and housing options.
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Canada VA Office Reopened After Three Year Wait for Veterans

Veterans Affairs office re-opens in Windsor after 3-year wait 
CBC News 
Posted: Apr 21, 2017

Veterans had to go to London for help before office opened

A new Veterans Affairs office officially opened Friday to meet the needs of about 2,700 men and women who served as soldiers. (Stacey Janzer/CBC)

Veterans in Windsor no longer face a two hour journey to voice their concerns and access services.

After three years, a new Veterans Affairs office officially opened Friday to meet the needs of about 2,700 men and women who served as soldiers.

The federal government has hired 15 people to work at the office.
go here for more