Since the sad days of WW1 the government of the day has recorded soldiers as shell Shocked,nowadays it is called Post Traumatic stress
Sadly they have done little to assist men and women returning from WW2, Korea, etc etc and now Afghanistan. Young men and women are daily facing pressures that they would not have to face at home. Despite the great work being done by our troops some men and women will / have returned with severe emotional difficulties. We do not have enough counsellors nor medically trained staff to help them. The most recent young man, to succumb to his personal demons was.Frederic Couture, who shot himself earlier this week at home in Roxton Pond, Que.Couture was 21 when he stepped on a landmine while on patrol in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar in December 2006.He was the first soldier from CFB Valcartier to be wounded there. Couture's left leg had to be amputated below the knee.
Early press reports stated that pte Couture was on a positive track having been fitted for his prosthesis..BUT Somewhere along the line he started to pull into himself, the military cannot provide for silence on behalf of the traumatised. They do their very best but help comes through talking with people. No one can make a person talk about their problems if they don't want to.
So it's difficult to make sure the mental health of our soldiers is up to par.
A recent military survey of returned soldiers found that nearly 400 of the 2,700 who had served in Kandahar may have come home with mental health problems.
The survey found problems ranged from post-traumatic stress disorder to suicidal tendencies, although high-risk drinking was the predominant problem.
Rob Tyler, a former infantry captain and psychotherapist, said soldiers often mask their true feelings.
A lot of these people are having night terrors, wake up sweating as they went back to whatever it was and relived it again, he said. Flashbacks during the day. A car backfires and to them it sounds like small arms fire.
George Dumont, a former soldier recovering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, said many soldiers try to deny their psychological suffering.
We are supposed to be somewhat invulnerable, invincible. And when you come to terms with yourself, realizing you're just a human being like everybody else, it's pretty hard to swallow knowing that all your friends will shun you and put you aside because you are sick.
Dumont also said there is little the military could have done to help Couture if he didn't ask for help.
This is yet another sad event from this Afghan conflict, we need to put more money and effort into helping these men and women.
On that note please go to Video on Demand section of Internet Guardian and click on view all videos .There you will locate 2 about driving in Afghanistan and places as dangerous. Put yourself in the boots of a soldier and see what you feel watching these videos. God Bless Pte Couture and all our men and women serving Canada whether Land,Sea or Air
Nil Sine Labore
Robby
