Hello, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to come to speak to you and to the committee today.
I am Master Corporal Nachuk. I joined the regular force in 1996. I am a signaller by trade, and that gives me an opportunity to deploy and work with several different units within the military.
I have had several tours. I have been to the Golan Heights and worked on both sides, in Syria and Israel. I've had three tours to Bosnia and Afghanistan. My latest return was in September 2008, when I returned from my last tour in Afghanistan with 2 PPCLI.
I'm not 100% sure where to begin. There is a lot of information I want to pass on to you.
About a year after I returned from Afghanistan, in July 2009, things really went bad for me. That's when the total effects of what was later diagnosed as PTSD really struck home. I was taken to the emergency room on July 29, 2009, after my first suicide attempt. That's when I began seeing mental health people at CFB Shilo. They did their testing and realized I had what they classify as OSI, operational stress injuries. That encompasses a major depressive disorder, which I've been diagnosed with, as well as PTSD, anxiety, and anger issues.
Within six months I was taken to emergency four times for suicidal threats and attempts. Once I started working with the mental health unit on base, it took a few months to be able to go in. After I was referred to the OSI clinic at Deer Lodge Centre in Winnipeg, it took several months for me to get to see them, at which point they did their initial assessment. They discussed whether or not to take me on as a patient. About a week later, they decided that they would, but it took several months for me to get my first appointment. In total, it took approximately six months after they recommended that I go to Deer Lodge Centre for me to actually start my treatments with the civilian psychiatrists and specialists.
During that time, I met Mr. George Leonard in the fall of 2010, partway through my treatment. I met him because my OSI doctors started mentioning dogs. I was telling them that I didn't have a dog and I noticed that when my friend came over with his dog I found myself more relaxed, and that opened up the discussion of the benefit of dogs. I got hold of George and found out a little bit about the program and took it upon myself, knowing I needed additional help and tools along with my therapy treatment and medication.
I'd like to read a letter from my doctor, which explains a little bit about how the dog actually assisted me at that time. This letter is dated May 14, 2012, a little after I had done my treatments. It goes as follows:
MCpl. Nachuk engaged in psychotherapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder from August 27, 2010 to June 01, 2011 at the Occupational Stress Injury Clinic in Winnipeg, Manitoba. During the time of therapy, MCpl. Nachuk met his dog Gambler. They entered into the Manitoba Search and Rescue Association (MSRA) Elite Service Dog Program. A significant component therapy for MCpl. Nachuk was to actively work against the tendency to avoid social situations and to acquire emotional regulation skills. With the aid of his dog Gambler, MCpl. Nachuk successfully engaged in the exercises of therapy that required him to place himself into settings in which he felt anxious. Gambler helped decrease the need for hypervigilance by providing a sense of protection for MCpl. Nachuk. The presence of Gambler assisted in helping regulate M/Cpl Nachuk's intense emotional response to triggers by providing...a more flexible thought process in order to challenge emotional responses with more functional cognitions. Caring for his dog Gambler, has provided MCpl. Nachuk with a renewed sense of purpose and motivation. In addition to experiencing a decrease in symptom intensity, MCpl. [Nachuk] has experienced an increase in self confidence and improved mood.
I fully endorse individuals establishing a service dog relationship to help achieve the goals of therapy and to maintain gains made in therapy.
That was from my therapist, Chris Enns, at the OSI clinic in Winnipeg.
I've also given the clerk several independent statements. I had Gambler on a career course with me in Kingston just recently, which I would not have been able to attend if I hadn't had my dog with me.
Those statements are provided to you as well.
I thought it was possible for me to get extra help by getting a canine because of the documentation I had read on them and on how they help. I know the British and Americans have been using them with their soldiers for a number of years now. In my opinion, medications will help dull the sense of your PTSD, but the dog actually helps in the treatment of it. The dog will force you to engage in conversation. It forces you to get out of bed in the morning, to get out, because you must take care of that dog. The dog takes the focus off of you. I know many of you may think that it must draw more attention to you when you go out, but that's not the case. When we go out, we feel everybody is staring at us and watching us. Now when we go out with the dog, that attention automatically goes right to the dog, and you see and hear so many positive remarks. That forces us to engage, and it also gives us a sense of protection.
Before I got the dog, I could not spend more than 10 minutes in the mall. For you that are aware, I was in Shilo, which is about a half-hour ride from Brandon. Every time I needed to get groceries or anything like that for daily living, I had to drive a half an hour into town. I could not accomplish my daily tasks of getting groceries, food, or anything like that because after 10 minutes, I would become very angry.
I will always remember one particular event. I saw a small child, maybe five or six years old, in the bulk candy section. The kid had his mouth full of candy. I just snapped, and I yelled, "Does candy taste good?" I was all about the rules and regulations and safety. Where are your parents? Why are you doing this? That's how I would become so angry. Having Gambler took that focus away from me. It made me more relaxed.
When I mentioned to the medical doctors on base that I was thinking of getting a dog, I was told, “You can barely take care of yourself. How are you going to take care of a dog?” That belittled me even more, and it's actually the dog that's taking care of me, not me taking care of the dog.
When I first started working with the dog, because it was a new thing to the CF, I was faced with a lot of problems on base. I was threatened with medical release. I was told to contact the JPSU myself to see if there was an opening there and if they could take me on. When I didn't do that and I was back in the office again, I was punished for not going to the JPSU to see if they could find a spot for me.
That is not a soldier's job. It is the chain of command's job to try to place a soldier, not the job of a soldier. I felt as though I was being penalized and segregated because I wanted to use this other tool available to assist my well-being. I had to take care of myself.
My dad always told me to watch out for number one.
Well, in 2010 I went from almost being released from the military to starting to work with the dog. I was then posted to Gagetown, at which point, in 2012, in my last session, I was ranked within the top 10 out of 187 regular force master corporals.
The point I want to bring home is that we cannot lose hope for the soldiers if they have a problem with PTSD. They're not forgotten problems. We have to give them every opportunity. We fight for this country, and I'm really hoping that the country will fight for us and give us just another tool that we need for this.
A member sent me an e-mail after the show aired on W5, and it broke down his costs for medication. In one year alone, medication was almost $24,000. In the month of October 2012, his meds cost $4,000. Out of that $24,000, roughly $18,000 was paid by our group plan. I am not sure who picks up the remainder. What we're asking for and what I would like to see is a public announcement made by the CF saying that this program is supported by the CF. Until that happens, I firmly believe there are many members out there who are going to fear to come forward; I know that, because it happened to me. We had a lot of people coming up for this. We need to show them that we are supporting them.
I ask you: please, give us all the tools that we require.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
