Veterans Affairs committee  Nobody likes red tape, and I believe both DND and Veterans Affairs are making every effort to make this as simple a process as is humanly possible, for the good of the member.

Veterans Affairs committee  God bless you.

Veterans Affairs committee  The other aspect is, of course, excellence in leadership. Often PTSD is a product of soldiers, sailors, and air personnel feeling they're not properly led. We certainly have solved that riddle.

Veterans Affairs committee  Unfortunately, I will have to give my answer in English. It is a bit too technical for me to explain in the language of Molière. First of all, because of the way we train our soldiers, sailors, and air personnel today, the training is so real that we've been able to reduce a lot of the trauma that our troops are facing, simply because they have anticipated the kinds of environment and threats they would be up against.

Veterans Affairs committee  Veterans Affairs certainly wouldn't use any of them.

Veterans Affairs committee  They're regulated, and we have many people who are trained who are regulated as well. Many of them train in the United States at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes. There's a list of clergy and religious leaders across the country who can be called upon by Veterans Affairs to minister or provide religious and spiritual support to veterans, no matter what their faith or lack of faith is.

Veterans Affairs committee  No, sir. Many of them do.

Veterans Affairs committee  They are generalists, by and large.

Veterans Affairs committee  No.

Veterans Affairs committee  We have many Canadian Forces chaplains who have masters degrees in counselling, mostly from the University of Saint Paul, that we use in a specialized ministry.

Veterans Affairs committee  There will be no full-time chaplain at the strategic level. That chaplain was handling the veterans pastoral outreach program. I believe, to be fair to Veterans Affairs, the two chaplains who held that position did such a good job that they worked themselves out of a job. We'll see.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you. Honourable members of Parliament and of this distinguished and critical committee, I am Brigadier-General David Kettle, Chaplain General to the Canadian Forces. It is a great honour and privilege for me to be here this morning to speak in support of our veterans. It is the mandate of the Chaplain Branch, on behalf of the chain of command, to provide effective religious and spiritual support to our men and women in uniform and their families throughout Canada and around the world.