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From the National Post:
It‘s more than a little disconcerting that at the very moment this country is trying to decide if we should be putting our military in harm‘s way, André Marin, Canada‘s military ombudsman, is focused on the design of a company float during a 2PPCLI unit celebration last November. Only in Canada, I hear you say.
Let me start by declaring my bias. I‘m a retired member of the Princess Patricia‘s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). At present, the regiment has three battalions. 2PPCLI is located in Winnipeg and provided a large contingent to serve with its sister battalion, 3PPCLI from Edmonton, in Afghanistan last year. By all accounts, the public thought they did an outstanding job bringing much credit to Canada. 1PPCLI is also based in Edmonton.
In the mid ‘50s, our regiment started a tradition that marked the end of each battalion‘s touch football season. We called it touch football for liability reasons. In fact, it was usually full-blown tackle without equipment. As the Canadian Grey Cup was well-established, we decided to call our championship game, "the French Grey Cup," in recognition of our regimental colour which was adopted when we served beside the French army in their grey uniforms in the First World War. Along with the game, there was usually a parade where the soldiers designed their company floats, usually a total of five or six. In addition, a soldier from each company was made up -- either to look "ravishing" or more likely considering the gene pool, ugly. The "winner" was declared Miss Grey Cup and carried off the playing field by "her" fellow soldiers. Silly? Perhaps. Fun? Definitely. Traditional? Certainly.
The "problem" investigated by the ombudsman as a result of a single complaint, was the design of one of the 2PPCLI floats during last November‘s parade. On it, one of the contenders for the "Queen‘s" title was inside a mock jail pulled by a train carrying signs, "CT-01" and "Next Stop North Side." According to Marin‘s exhaustive and expensive investigation, CT stood for Crazy Train and the North Side referred to the medical location on the base where soldiers went for treatment of operational stress injuries. He concluded that the float mocked those who were stress casualties and clearly reinforced his personal opinion that the military was characterized by antagonism and a culture of intolerance toward soldiers suffering from stress disorders. He slammed the military for failing to conduct, according to subjective opinion, a thorough investigation.
The chain of command within the brigade and 2PPCLI has been quick to accept responsibility, which is what one would expect from military leaders even though there was nothing in Marin‘s report to accept responsibility for! Soldier‘s humour can be pretty black at times, but in this case it was pretty good; an upfront attempt to send a message to those soldiers who use feigned operational stress injuries to excuse their behaviour or seek medical release with compensation. Soldiers frequently recognize the difference between real and pretend stress injuries long before the experts. In the Israeli army, the buddy system is actually part of the diagnosis protocol. The Canadian eligibility criteria for stress disorder diagnosis is so broad -- erratic sleep patterns, recurring dreams, etc. -- that just about anyone who wants to can qualify. That naturally upsets the soldiers who have to pick up the slack for those feigned cases who take advantage of Marin‘s "touchy feely" philosophy. Four hundred combat soldiers are having fun and one complaint results in the mobilization of an overstaffed, overfunded and ever-growing ombudsman‘s office in Ottawa. Only in Canada, I hear you say.
Marin claims that as many as 20% of soldiers sent on overseas deployments suffer from stress injury on return. If that‘s the case, it‘s time to shut down the army because there is no way that we can maintain the deployments where we lose approximately 50% (80 soldiers) of those approximately 160 soldiers Marin predicts will be diagnosed with stress-related injuries after every unit rotation.
The good news is that the ombudsman is wrong and 20% don‘t suffer, otherwise we would have had no army left -- a decade ago. Some do suffer legitimate stress disorders. Fortunately, their numbers are small and every officer, warrant officer, NCO and soldier has the proper, supportive attitude towards their plight. To poke fun and embarrass those who are taking advantage of the system is something to be dealt with by the unit commanding officer and the Regimental Sergeant Major -- not delegations from Ottawa.
And no, don‘t cancel next year‘s parade. Regimental tradition is more important than a backhand slap from someone who has not walked the walk.
Maj-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, now retired, commanded UN troops during the Bosnian civil war of 1992.
It‘s more than a little disconcerting that at the very moment this country is trying to decide if we should be putting our military in harm‘s way, André Marin, Canada‘s military ombudsman, is focused on the design of a company float during a 2PPCLI unit celebration last November. Only in Canada, I hear you say.
Let me start by declaring my bias. I‘m a retired member of the Princess Patricia‘s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). At present, the regiment has three battalions. 2PPCLI is located in Winnipeg and provided a large contingent to serve with its sister battalion, 3PPCLI from Edmonton, in Afghanistan last year. By all accounts, the public thought they did an outstanding job bringing much credit to Canada. 1PPCLI is also based in Edmonton.
In the mid ‘50s, our regiment started a tradition that marked the end of each battalion‘s touch football season. We called it touch football for liability reasons. In fact, it was usually full-blown tackle without equipment. As the Canadian Grey Cup was well-established, we decided to call our championship game, "the French Grey Cup," in recognition of our regimental colour which was adopted when we served beside the French army in their grey uniforms in the First World War. Along with the game, there was usually a parade where the soldiers designed their company floats, usually a total of five or six. In addition, a soldier from each company was made up -- either to look "ravishing" or more likely considering the gene pool, ugly. The "winner" was declared Miss Grey Cup and carried off the playing field by "her" fellow soldiers. Silly? Perhaps. Fun? Definitely. Traditional? Certainly.
The "problem" investigated by the ombudsman as a result of a single complaint, was the design of one of the 2PPCLI floats during last November‘s parade. On it, one of the contenders for the "Queen‘s" title was inside a mock jail pulled by a train carrying signs, "CT-01" and "Next Stop North Side." According to Marin‘s exhaustive and expensive investigation, CT stood for Crazy Train and the North Side referred to the medical location on the base where soldiers went for treatment of operational stress injuries. He concluded that the float mocked those who were stress casualties and clearly reinforced his personal opinion that the military was characterized by antagonism and a culture of intolerance toward soldiers suffering from stress disorders. He slammed the military for failing to conduct, according to subjective opinion, a thorough investigation.
The chain of command within the brigade and 2PPCLI has been quick to accept responsibility, which is what one would expect from military leaders even though there was nothing in Marin‘s report to accept responsibility for! Soldier‘s humour can be pretty black at times, but in this case it was pretty good; an upfront attempt to send a message to those soldiers who use feigned operational stress injuries to excuse their behaviour or seek medical release with compensation. Soldiers frequently recognize the difference between real and pretend stress injuries long before the experts. In the Israeli army, the buddy system is actually part of the diagnosis protocol. The Canadian eligibility criteria for stress disorder diagnosis is so broad -- erratic sleep patterns, recurring dreams, etc. -- that just about anyone who wants to can qualify. That naturally upsets the soldiers who have to pick up the slack for those feigned cases who take advantage of Marin‘s "touchy feely" philosophy. Four hundred combat soldiers are having fun and one complaint results in the mobilization of an overstaffed, overfunded and ever-growing ombudsman‘s office in Ottawa. Only in Canada, I hear you say.
Marin claims that as many as 20% of soldiers sent on overseas deployments suffer from stress injury on return. If that‘s the case, it‘s time to shut down the army because there is no way that we can maintain the deployments where we lose approximately 50% (80 soldiers) of those approximately 160 soldiers Marin predicts will be diagnosed with stress-related injuries after every unit rotation.
The good news is that the ombudsman is wrong and 20% don‘t suffer, otherwise we would have had no army left -- a decade ago. Some do suffer legitimate stress disorders. Fortunately, their numbers are small and every officer, warrant officer, NCO and soldier has the proper, supportive attitude towards their plight. To poke fun and embarrass those who are taking advantage of the system is something to be dealt with by the unit commanding officer and the Regimental Sergeant Major -- not delegations from Ottawa.
And no, don‘t cancel next year‘s parade. Regimental tradition is more important than a backhand slap from someone who has not walked the walk.
Maj-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, now retired, commanded UN troops during the Bosnian civil war of 1992.
