Where It's Due

Canadians have turned from simply not thinking about the Armed Forces to viewing them anew as vital to the needs of the country. The reality of a sometimes-hostile world, after the euphoric reaction globally with the dissolution of the USSR and the almost-universal weakening of Communism as a state ideology led too many of us to believe that peace was finally attainable. The military no longer needed to absorb a large proportion of Canada's thought and treasury.

Of course Canadians always paid tribute to the veterans of wars past, when Canada and its military acquitted itself courageously and honourably in just wars that halted the spread of totalitarian governments planning to assume control of world power. And then we were plunged into matters of aiding the United Nations in its bid to become the world's official peace-maker through conflict resolution and moral 'suasion. Our much smaller, less-adequately equipped military made do.

Then came the transition from peace-keeping modality to actual re-engagement in combat when the Balkans became a vicious battlefield, and further along when conflict in the East resulted in a powerful conflagration within North America itself. As a member of NATO what else could Canada honourably do than begin the agonizingly slow process of re-equipping itself, and increasing the number of its recruits?

And now there are new veterans, representing combat in Bosnia-Kosovo, in Afghanistan. Men and women whose active duty on those war fronts resulted in life-altering wounds that left them without limbs in injuries severe enough to require amputations. Not all of these servicemen and women were prepared to leave the military, and they were assured that after rehabilitation and training they could remain to do service in administrative or training roles.

Those who decided to remain within the military rather than be discharged into the general population to look elsewhere for meaningful employment, anticipated a continuance of their military careers in streams other than those they were trained for. The trouble with that is the Armed Forces have a 'universality of service policy' that mitigates against streaming servicemen into administrative positions if they are not fit for military duty by being deployed on missions.

That policy requires that military personnel be fit to perform military duties, being physically capable of being deployed. Chief of military personnel insists the Canadian Forces is not forcing soldiers out of the military, nor have they "directed the release of any wounded Afghan veteran at this time." Reality seems to be pointing otherwise, as there is a current case of a veteran who was retrained as an intelligence analyst in the Forces, but who appears now to be in the position of being eased out due to the universality of service policy.

The number of wounded veterans wishing to remain with the military, is relatively small, under 40 individuals. As long as they are willing and capable of being re-trained and placed in fundamentally useful positions where they can continue to serve and to be proud of the contribution they can continue to make to the military and to Canada, the Forces should be agreeable to maintaining their positions.

There are also useful alternatives for the provision of employment opportunities that should be brushed up for those wounded veterans who agree to leave of their own stated volition. They should be in a position to receive re-training, they should be receiving assistance with job searches, and priority referrals for public service positions commensurate with their training should be part of the package.

Human beings, and war-wounded veterans of the Canadian Forces are not to be deemed disposable when their usefulness is considered to have evaporated through the hard knocks of service and duty.