The Veterans Transition Network (VTN) honoured a group of military and emergency services personnel last week. Each of us has walked the front line of human conflict, despair, death, injury and war.
We survived and came home. We looked unscathed but we had been wounded.
We were honoured for our courage in facing the toughest adversary - operational stress injuries hidden inside of us. Rather than engaging in destructive behaviour that would harm ourselves and our families, we choose to honestly explore the mental baggage and emotional dragons that had come home with us from war with peer and professional support over a 12-day period.
The Royal Canadian Legion was the earliest supporter of this revolutionary program, which originated with Dr. Marv Westwood at UBC in the late 1990s, long before much of anything formal was available to help a veteran with PTSD.
Our Ladner Legion was an early generous supporter of the VTN and I took part in it in 2011.
It's a mistake to think the Ladner Legion is simply a place for people to socialize.
Our guest speaker, Senator Romeo D'Allaire, reminded us the Legion, when no one else cared, kept his veteran father alive and their family relatively intact.
When you buy your poppy this year, remember the work the Royal Canadian Legion still does with a generous donation.
Jim Short can be reached at [email protected].
