If I could add to that, as my colleague said, it's difficult to achieve and to get the research. One of the reasons that I see for this is that for the organizations—the military, the RCMP, firefighting—their mandate is to serve and protect. For the military, it's “mission, team, self”, with the self coming last. That's embedded in the culture. That's a part of that hypermasculine culture that is necessary in order for them to do their jobs. That is part of the buffer, but unfortunately it also prevents us from being able to go in and gather the research, because it can produce a culture where the focus is not on prevention and recovery. The focus is on getting the mission done or protecting the public.
When veterans, RCMP, or firefighters are unable to achieve or to live up to the same standard, they start to be on the outside of that culture, and that really begins their descent. They've already become injured before they've been identified, but when they can no longer hide the injury, they start to move out of that culture. They start to become alienated from the group that once helped buffer their symptoms. As they move out, you then start to see the effects of the occupational stress injury or the PTSD.
It's difficult for an organization such as DND to research and to protect people from getting occupational stress injuries when their focus and their mandate is on the mission, not on the protection. Obviously, there's life protection, but it's not keeping people from getting occupational stress injuries, because they're constantly under stress: their mandate is to achieve the mission.
What we see for veterans, particularly when they start to move out and often can no longer operate at the same high level of functioning, is that they're given roles or jobs that are far less than what they're accustomed to, and they already see themselves as “out”. Now they're the injured ones, and they're perceived—and seen in the culture—as the injured ones, which actually exacerbates their symptoms. They really need to begin to be treated right at that point, before they can actually leave the military and even apply for VAC assistance. I don't yet see these organizations and agencies being highly invested in helping their people identify their injuries and treating them before they've actually become problematic.