It wouldn't really be retirement, I suppose, if you did.
In any case, let me say that one of our early witnesses talked about the rate of mental illness and injury for those serving in Afghanistan and compared it with the rates for other countries also involved in that war, the U.K. and the U.S. If I recall the testimony properly, we sat in between them in terms of the rate, with about 40% of our soldiers returning with some kind of mental injury or illness. I think for about 20% it was PTSD, and for another 20%, depression was the diagnosis.
The other thing we've heard, and I think you've provided this testimony again today, is how unpredictable treatment and cure is, if I can put it in those terms, that these things can reoccur years later and that they're also very difficult to get over in the first place.
One other piece of testimony to which I want to get your reaction was from Rear-Admiral Andrew Smith. He talked and you've talked today about the universality of service, but he talked about the health and well-being of the Canadian Forces members. He talked in these terms:
That includes a whole-of-government approach to ensure that those who serve their country and are called upon to serve with unlimited liability are provided with the care and support they and their families need in the unfortunate event that they become ill or injured. This is the social contract.
I have a really difficult time squaring that testimony and the Canadian Forces universality of service standard with this notion of care and treatment of our soldiers. Frankly, I'm angered and outraged by the application of that standard to the soldiers, who we ask to go into horrifying circumstances—terrifying circumstances—and who come home with injuries. We saw this last week with the two witnesses.
I'm wondering whether you have any response to that position. I think I've heard you try to square it today in financial terms, but this is not a social contract, from my perspective. If it is, it's an extremely one-sided social contract, when we talk about unlimited liability and the horrific experiences that these folks have had and the injuries that have been placed upon them.