Veterans Affairs committee  My main take-away that I'd like you all to be aware of is that when you're medically released, you have at least a year to a year and a half of knowing this is coming, with time to prepare. That's plenty of time for Veterans Affairs to get in there, get involved, so that the day you release, you have medical appointments already set up with civilian doctors.

Veterans Affairs committee  That financial adviser should be provided as well. When I went through the process, I had to find my own financial adviser. I asked Veterans Affairs for recommendations, because I didn't know anybody, and they wouldn't give me recommendations. That should be provided.

Veterans Affairs committee  Can I jump in and answer that really briefly?

Veterans Affairs committee  Sorry; I just want to say something really quickly. At the Royal Military College—I was a graduate of 2011—there were two suicides in the last two weeks because of cadets not being able to handle the stress, because you're not taught enough when it's time to stop and drop the suck-it-up attitude and ask for help.

Veterans Affairs committee  For Send Up the Count, it's people not knowing how to access resources and not knowing what resources are available. By the time they come to our group and start asking for help, they're usually in pretty dire straits. They don't have anybody they trust to talk to about this. That's the main issue with Send Up the Count.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I can speak about that with some specificity, because I am going through it myself. In the Send Up the Count group, we do talk about the OSI clinics and the OSISS groups. We do have numbers and contact information for all of that in the big document I was referring to. Personally, I was referred to the OSI clinic in Vancouver and to the OSISS group last November, when I called my case manager and asked for help.

Veterans Affairs committee  I know in Send Up the Count, we purposely stay apolitical. We have no problem doing this kind of thing. I speak for myself, not for the membership as a whole. Send Up the Count was formed specifically because people were getting lost in the system and didn't know where to go. I'm the one in charge of maintaining this massive resources document.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's not a problem. Just to clarify, I actually don't get a normal pension. I didn't serve for 10 years. I served for seven, so that doesn't entitle me to any kind of pension. Currently, I'm on long-term disability for the first two years. After that, I'm really not sure what's going to happen or whether I'll be able to work.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's not a problem.

Veterans Affairs committee  Good morning. I'm Dana Batho from Send Up the Count, a Facebook group that was started in December of 2013 in response to a spate of military suicides, one after the other, just before Christmas. There are six admins. I'm the only one who's a veteran. I released in August of last year.