I'll make a comment first, and probably my colleagues will want to add something too.
Certainly in terms of caregiving, when the new Veterans Charter was written it was intended to cover some of those gaps that were present in the old system. Again, Don makes the quip many times, and I'm going to share it because I think it does illustrate the culture, which is if we wanted you to have a wife we would have issued you one. So often the wife is the caregiver. That was a very poignant description for me when I first heard it.
I've visited bases with Colonel Ethell and others and talked to family members. I visited seven bases while I was on VAC-CFAC. It was patently obvious at that time before the new Veterans Charter--because I visited MFRCs, I met with spousal groups--that the spouses were feeling very disenfranchised and not in the loop. They were given as much support as possible in the MFRCs--and don't get me wrong, those are wonderful organizations--but they were still saying the same thing: that they are secondary citizens and do not feel they have a place at the table.
You are right on the money: it's a very stressful role, and when they were stressed out they felt they had to struggle to find the help. The MFRCs do a fairly good job serving members, but once the person becomes a veteran they're out of that system and then it becomes extremely difficult to get the kind of support that's needed.
VIP, as Don already mentioned, has improved things, because there are built-in opportunities there to support the caregiver, but it still has a way to go. Again, I think it is that bureaucracy and getting it organized quickly enough so the caregiving individual knows they really are cared about and they are equally important because they are supporting the individual who has been through such a traumatic experience.
Would you like to add something here, Don?