DINAH FRANKLIN: ‘Soldiers killed while on duty are only one of the costs of battle on our soldiers’

‘STRESS DISORDER, DEPRESSION TAKE A TERRIBLE TOLL’

ON CANADIAN FORCES SOLDIERS

 

I have been sitting at the kitchen table crying, unable to move past the story of Stuart Langridge and his family (July 4).

It is a terrible tale of tragedy and familiar story of failure of the Canadian Forces to look after the soldiers in its care.

I, too, am a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and depression. 

I, too, was let down by the agency that should have shouldered responsibility after I was involved in a severe act of violence while working as a nurse.

Now that I can look back on it, I realize I did my job well, saving the life of the nurse being attacked.

But for many years I was in and out of hospital, frequently suicidal.

PTSD and depression are unforgiving illnesses.

They can be, and far too often are, fatal.

I was fortunate that I did not turn to alcohol or drugs.

That is what makes you want to die – the feeling that there is no hope, no way out of the nightmare.

You feel alone, even though there are people who love you and care about you.

Even though I had an excellent psychiatrist and doctor, it was difficult to find someone who could undo the death grip PTSD had on me.

We were fortunate to find a psychologist who could.  

After years of being lost to my family, I have returned, though the battle is not over.

The incompetence and neglect that [Cpl.] Stuart Langridge’s family experienced is unforgivable.

It is a shocking story of how Forces personnel who have PTSD are not getting the help that they need and deserve.

Unfortunately, the soldiers killed while on duty are only one of the costs of battle on our soldiers.

 

Dinah Franklin

Nanaimo

 

[CCC reprint: Victoria Times Colonist, July 11, 2001, page A13]