Yes, sir. Thank you.
It's the quantitative burden of mental illness. Mental illness affects anywhere from one in four to one in five Canadians in their lifetimes according to the Mental Health Commission of Canada. So it's purely the math.
We experience a similar prevalence of mental illness in the Canadian forces. The one study we have from 2002 shows double the risk of depression in Canadian forces members related and unrelated to military operations. So from the pure quantitative perspective overwhelmingly we have a far greater burden resulting from mental illness that we have to treat that's not related to combat or deployment operations.
There is an increased risk, proportionately, among those who do deploy to operations, particularly operations that involve the risk factors of combat and risk to life and threat to not just themselves but particularly, as you described, the inability to respond when atrocities are being committed. So there is a general consensus in the mental health community that the risks of being deployed in operations where you have rules of engagement and a mandate that permits you to intervene when innocent people are being harmed is somewhat less stressful than being deployed in operations where rules of engagement are imposed, for example by the United Nations authorities, in order to maintain a neutrality and the perception of neutrality; that is more stressful on soldiers who are prevented from intervening except where their own personal lives are at risk.
So that was a major stressor for people who deployed in operations in the 1990s, particularly where the rules of engagement were very difficult. One particular case for example is the Dutch commanding officer of the battalion at Srebrenica. That was the Dutch battalion during Bosnian operations that was charged with the protection of the Muslim population that was subsequently massacred when the Serb army arrived. That individual was directed... It is well-documented that many people at that time suffered mental illness as a result of their inability...in fact, their direction not to intervene.
So you are absolutely right, the inability to intervene when atrocities are being committed against innocent people is an extreme stressor.