I am a retired soldier. In 1998, I buried two of my soldiers on the same weekend because of separate suicides. Along with being a retired soldier I am very good friends with one of Canada's most knowledgeable historians on World War One and I have read about thirty books on the subject. In addition to having read that many books on the Great War, I have also read a dozen or so books on World War Two, a few on Korea, a number of books on the both Gulf Wars and three on Afghanistan.
In addition to this post career reading I also trained a number of soldiers who were deployed to Afghanistan. And I also have a son and a nephew who have served in both the war in Afghanistan and the war that Justin Trudeau doesn't like talking about; Iraq.
With that in mind, I will point out that Post Traumatic Disorder was not identified until the early part of the 21st century, but it has been around an awful long time. In fact, I would hazard a guess that as long as man has perpetrated horrific acts upon one another, PTSD has existed. Basically, thousands of years.
I would like to know a few things about yourself and your father the sergeant. First of all, where did he serve? Secondly, did he give you this notion that Canadian soldiers are being taught to whine about PTSD? Or, as I suspect, is that your ignorance of the facts? I have met a few of those men's men who gripe about soldiers who come forward after seeing battle circumstances. My nephew has PTSD, he was in some of the bloodiest fighting in the Afghan war. He saw his friend vaporized by an IED and had to pick up what was left to take back to KAF. He then went out on a mission and took out the IED team.
Do you know how many Canadian soldiers were executed by the British military for what they called cowardice in the Great War? Now, in retrospect, we know that these men were not cowards, but permanently broken by the horror of war. Do you know how many of those 'men's men' went home after world war one, two, Korea, and suffered in silence, because that was what was expected of them? Do you have any idea how many became alcoholics, abusers, even killers? I bet you don't, because they were told to go home and carry on like nothing happened, but many of them suffered in silence and some simply took their lives or migrated to the Legion only to be regarded as drunkard vets living in the past.
I find your comments to be quite ignorant of the facts and I bet if your Sergeant Father were alive today, as I presume he is gone, he would probably be disappointed by such a short sighted uneducated comment. If you think I am being unkind, consider the alternative. I could be agreeing with you that your pop was a 'man's man' who did what had to be done and held those who complained after the war were weak or cowardly in contempt, but that would make him a sociopath or a bullsh*tter.
Have you ever served? Ever met the eyes of the children of one of your soldiers who didn't bother to whine, but took option two; which just happened to be the quickest. I find it rather disheartening when I hear civilians talking about the weakness of today's military. Most of these civilian complainers couldn't walk a mile in the shoes of a short order cook, never mind a combat veteran.
You should think before you say things, it does your father the veteran a great dishonor by slandering his brothers and sisters in arms.
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