As Canadians pause to honour their war dead during Remembrance Day ceremonies Wednesday, they should also pay tribute to soldiers who have returned from overseas operations suffering from devastating physical and emotional injuries, and the families that must help them pick up the pieces, one former soldier says.
Retired colonel Patrick Stogran, who was appointed as Canada's first Veterans Ombudsman on Remembrance Day 2007, says soldiers returning from the First and Second World Wars, Korea, countless peacekeeping operations and the current mission in Afghanistan often suffer in silence when they return with what he calls "operational stress injuries."
Such injuries have left scores of veterans struggling with mental health issues, which has left an untold number living in shelters or on the street, he says.
"There are people suffering in silence today...people suffering from operational stress injuries, (and) the families that have endured the stresses of people who have come home from combat operations," Stogran told Canada AM on Wednesday.
"And not just Juno Beach and Dieppe and those kinds of things, but the so-called peacekeeping operations that we would send people over to. Yes there was a peace to keep but there was a war there and we've been suffering casualties for a long, long time, even though we haven't been in a war."
Stogran's job requires him to address concerns raised by veterans and their families and ensure they are being treated according to the Veterans Bill of Rights and the New Veterans Charter.
According to Stogran, Veteran's Affairs doesn't have exact figures on the number of homeless veterans, and must improve its efforts to reach out to the homeless community. Part of his mandate is to help address this issue.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Forces has made moves recently to improve its mental health programs for soldiers. In June, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walt Natynczyk announced a new awareness campaign that will allow soldiers suffering from mental health issues to get the help they need.
"If you have an issue, come on in," Natynczyk told a news conference. "Because we can provide the help."
The new campaign was prompted by the release of a Commons committee report on the effects of PTSD. The committee called on the Canadian Forces to erase the stigma often associated with mental illness in the military, and create a culture of openness around PTSD.
The committee also suggested the military perform an audit to identify any holes in the Department of National Defence's mental health system and provide more training for officers to identify the early signs of mental fatigue or stress.
But Stogran says attention must be paid to another group that suffers in silence, the soldiers' families, who not only wait at home and worry for their loved ones in the military while they are overseas, but must help them heal upon their return.
"When we would send our service personnel over to the Bosnias of the world, Rwanda, Cambodia, Somalia, you name it, it was the families that were suffering in silence," Stogran said.
"And I can say from my personal experience that the reason that I'm here today, the reason why I'm the person that I am today, is because I have a very strong wife, and my family was standing behind me and they deserve the same kind of gratitude that we give to our veterans."
