Evidence of meeting #84 for National Defence in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was families.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Cpl Glen Kirkland
In 2007, I was Shilo's 2 PPCLI top soldier, and now I'm a drain on the military. That's the way it makes you feel. We call them “numpties”. I wasn't a bad soldier. I was decorated.
So what are my arcs? There's a very fine line between what I can say and what I can't say. I have to speak strictly about my personal experiences. I can't speak on behalf of any other soldiers, no matter what they've told me.
Liberal
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
That's how you interpreted what your commanding officers asked you to say today.
Liberal
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
All right.
You're not in uniform today. Is there any particular reason?
Cpl Glen Kirkland
I knew that if I came in uniform, there would be even more backlash. So I thought, hey, this is a way to.... I'll just kind of walk a fine line, and...I'll wear my medals.
Liberal
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
Did anybody tell you that if you came here in uniform there would be problems?
Cpl Glen Kirkland
No, but I did hear with other soldiers...so I wanted to avoid that issue.
Liberal
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
Does your appearance here today jeopardize anything with respect to your status in the JPSU or your discharge?
Cpl Glen Kirkland
I feel like I'll be more of a target now to be released. So yes, absolutely.
If you're in for 10 years, you're entitled to a partial pension. If you're in for 10 years, then you get this partial pension and it's indexed.
It's not MP money, right—
Cpl Glen Kirkland
—but it's corporal money, which is okay.
My biggest goal was to try to get to my 10 years. This is just going to put a giant target on my back, but again, I wouldn't have missed.... I couldn't miss it. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
Liberal
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
Are there any other potential consequences with respect to a premature discharge—5(f), as you call it?
Cpl Glen Kirkland
Yes, 5(f) is.... It would be devastating, just because I have a long, rich military history. It would be....
Yes, it would be absolutely devastating.
Liberal
Cpl Glen Kirkland
With regard to my insulin, I don't know; they didn't relate my diabetes, or my diabetes-type symptoms, to it, even though it happened at the exact same moment. Veterans Affairs didn't say, “Oh, that's what that is, that's exactly from that explosion”, even though the minute I got blown up was the minute I got symptoms.
If I got released and that wasn't covered, I would be paying $1,500 every month to stay alive. That's for my insulin; that's how much I go through.
Liberal
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
So your eyes are injured. Your ears are injured. Your brain is injured; your brain doesn't tell your pancreas how to work. You have a PTSD diagnosis but no treatment. And you've got burns and shrapnel.
Liberal
Liberal
John McKay Liberal Scarborough—Guildwood, ON
I don't know, but....
And yet, what's counterintuitive is that you look quite healthy.