The invisible injuries

by Rigger Tue 16 May 2023, 7:07 am

The invisible injuries: How are the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers recognized?

A veteran from Pierrefonds says he became unsure of himself, disoriented, and had nightmares: “You are telling them ‘I'm fine,’ but you’re not.”

Susan Schwartz • Montreal Gazette

Published May 13, 2023

Ivan Beaudry, a 43-year-old Pierrefonds father of three and a Canadian Forces veteran who deployed on six missions, including one to Afghanistan, recently received the Sacrifice Medal. The medal, which recognizes equally the sacrifice of physical or mental injury, was created to provide formal recognition for those who die as a result of military service or are wounded by hostile action.

The medal was announced in 2008 in the framework of increased casualties in overseas military operations, although eligibility goes back to 2001 and covers the length of Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan. By the end of 2022, 1,145 Sacrifice Medals had been issued.

Beaudry was medically released from the military in 2013 after having shown signs of post-traumatic stress disorder several years earlier. In many ways, being released made him feel “cast aside,” discarded. He struggled with what he perceived as the negative stigma of PTSD and it took him nearly a decade to feel well enough to apply for the medal. He has travelled a rough road — and says he is concerned that the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers is not always recognized.

He was 18 when he joined the Canadian Forces as a reservist in 1998 and was attached to the 712 Communications Squadron (later rebranded the 34 Signals Regiment). He went on attachments and postings to several units across Canada and deployed on missions as a signaller to Bosnia, to the Golan Heights in the Middle East and, in 2007, to Afghanistan. As a combat signaller in Afghanistan, he was with Charlie Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment at the forward operating base Masum Ghar in Kandahar Province and was responsible for radio communication while out on patrols with infantry soldiers.

Brigadier-General Patrick Robichaud, then a major, was the company commander. “He stood out,” said Robichaud, who pinned the Sacrifice Medal to Beaudry’s chest in an emotional April 30 ceremony at the 34 Signals armoury in Westmount attended by family, friends, fellow soldiers and dignitaries including two retired generals. Robichaud said he was “humbled” at being asked to present the medal.

“We are a small army, but a small army of amazing people — and Ivan was certainly one of those gentlemen,” he said. “He was a go-getter. He would go out and get the job done.”

In Afghanistan, Beaudry was armed and wore protective gear at all times. He was involved in firefights on patrols, and patrols in which vehicles were hit by rocket-propelled grenades; one time an RPG hit his tent at the base.

“When you think about combat, you think about the noises you make: the bang-bang-bang,” he said. “But there is another sound, the whizzing sound of somebody else shooting at you, that you don’t realize until you’re there.”

On his return from Afghanistan in 2008, Beaudry received his commission as a second lieutenant. But soon after completing the first phase of training at an air force base in Nova Scotia to be an air traffic controller, he began to show symptoms of PTSD.

“I started to become unsure of myself — which was out of character — disoriented and not necessarily communicating effectively,” he recalled. “Out of the blue, I started to have panic attacks and nightmares.”

He began to receive treatment at the operational stress injury clinic at Ste. Anne’s Hospital in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. He would do better for a time, then fall ill again.

“I feared being released — and that might have impacted my treatment,” he said. “How do you get better when you have that in your head? You are telling them ‘I’m fine,’ but you’re not.”

It had long been known that some soldiers and veterans had difficulty coping with combat injuries — it was called shell shock and, later, battle fatigue — but a more scientific examination of the subject began only relatively recently. The term “operational stress injury” was coined in 2001 by a Canadian Forces officer to describe a mental or emotional injury suffered by soldiers during operations — most commonly PTSD, major depression and generalized anxiety.

“An OSI is not visible, but it is an injury,” said Dr. Geneviève Richer, chief of medical services at Ste. Anne’s Hospital. She has worked extensively with veterans and, in recognition of her work, was nominated by the Defence Department as honorary lieutenant-colonel of the 2nd field artillery regiment in Côte-des-Neiges.

“You were not broken before, but you come back and you are broken from what you saw. You may have survivor’s guilt: You had to put your friends in body bags … it can be quite difficult, even if you are trained for this.”

An OSI can occur right after a traumatic event or, more insidiously, years later, she said: It can come back in the form of nightmares or be triggered by a smell or a noise so that the memories resurface and the soldier or veteran experiences physical symptoms. “Your heart will race, you become sweaty and you are fully adrenalin-flooded.”

If the condition is chronic, soldiers need to be medically released even if their physical integrity is intact because they may have trouble functioning. “It is hard for them … even if they know they can’t function,” Richer said.

“They feel robbed of their identity. Everything you were, everything you defined yourself as, everything you get up in the morning and have a purpose for is gone,” she said. “That is also a very hard thing to adjust to when you don’t have tools to forge for yourself a new life — without your complete integrity and your complete health.”

The sudden loss of identity is a major factor in suicides among military personnel, which occur at a higher rate than in the general population. The total number of Canadian military personnel who have died by suicide in the decade between 2010 and 2020 is 191; 158 service members were killed while serving in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014.

“A lot of veterans I know are having a hard time from Afghanistan,” Beaudry said. “They have a lot of anger, a lot of irritability and aggressive tendencies … and there is little recognition for veterans that their sacrifice was worthwhile.”

For him, the nightmares continued and he did not respond to medication to treat his injuries. His 2013 medical release meant no chance of returning to active service.

“Once you were unfit for deployment, they didn’t want to keep you,” he said. “It was the end of your career and you had to accept that. It was abrupt and nothing you wanted: ‘Thank you very much, but your services are no longer required.’ What are you supposed to do? You feel ashamed.”

“I was not in a good frame of mind — I could not even leave my house — and that took time to change.”

Only years later, in 2020 and after further testing, did he learn about the true scope of his injuries. In addition to PTSD, he had cognitive and auditory focus damage due to concussive blast exposure. Beaudry’s treatment continues and he receives a military pension.

He applied for the Sacrifice Medal as a veteran, but had only sketchy memories of incidents in Afghanistan in which he had been involved. With help from Robichaud, he qualified. “He knew I went out on foot patrol, he knew we were involved in firefights, he knew we were attacked,” Beaudry said.

In turning up to his medal ceremony, retired General Walt Natynczyk, former chief of defence staff and deputy minister of Veterans Affairs Canada from 2014 to 2021, and retired Lt.-Gen. Michel Maisonneuve, who was assistant deputy chief of defence staff and who advocated for veterans after leaving the army, “showed that they cared.”

“Receiving the Sacrifice Medal today and proudly wearing it on my chest has taken time,” Beaudry said. “I am thankful that I have overcome the negative stigma that I had about wearing it and talking to those who asked about how it was awarded.”

sschwartz@postmedia.com

Montreal Gazette