Well, I would say that the gap has been eternal. You mentioned World War II and even, obviously, when we had veterans alive, World War I, right up to the former Yugoslavia.
I am actually surprised that we had any treatment program for people who came out of Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, and places like that. As we were quadrupling the operations we were conducting worldwide, we were dismantling the medical system and getting rid of all those kinds of things because of the pressures under which we came. So I'm absolutely amazed that we had any kind of treatment, and I know it wasn't very good.
We have done a lot of work since then. But as I said earlier, we're just coming out of a deficit. Actually, I think we've just gotten ourselves back to a level playing field, and it's going to take some more months and years to get and build the kind of medical system that can actually look after all the people and their physical injuries and wounds and mental injuries and wounds.
We have made some progress. From five years ago to two years ago to even six months ago, the progress has been dramatic. It'll be better six months from now than it is right now. I think a telling point is that we're actually getting veterans from those earlier campaigns now coming forward, because the stigma has been removed somewhat. They have confidence that they'll get treatment and will usually get the right treatment.
But that doesn't sort of cover the fact that we still have significant challenges. We don't have enough of the right people in the right places. In an organization of 87,000 people, you're still going to have people who view it this way as opposed to people who view it that way. And not all will have the same positive outlook that an injury is an injury is an injury, whether it's physical or mental. We work every single day to change that.
It's a slow process. But I think it has been an almost miraculous change in the last two or three years to be able to come to grips with a significant number of injuries and the larger number of mental health injuries or operational stress injuries or post-traumatic stress. I think the change has been dramatic, and we just want to keep building on that.
Every single day we are clearer in terms of how we want to approach it. We get better policies in place, and policies are important, because they allow the universal treatment of folks. Then we actually get all the pieces coming together in places like Edmonton, and in places like Petawawa and Gagetown, particularly. We know we've had some very unique challenges in those last two places.
So I don't make any apologies, Madam. We've done a massive amount of work. We've had great satisfaction, for the most part.
There are still people who have not been seen quickly enough. We perhaps have not helped identify quickly enough that they have a challenge, or perhaps we didn't recognize that. I don't ever say for a moment that there's not some guilt on all of us. All I can say is that the leadership is committed. We've put the resources into it. We really have. And this man here on my left has been doing that on our behalf and on behalf of the people there.
We still struggle, though, as you know, getting the right kind of experts in place and getting them to a place like Petawawa. I mean, I love Petawawa. Having done three tours there, I'd live the rest of my life there. But not everyone who has the kind of specialty we need wants to go to Petawawa or to Gagetown. So we still struggle somewhat with all these things.