Then you could determine whether that needed to be extended or whether the debriefing was enough. But again, some of the people I read in my literature review said that even witnessing 9/11 on the television changed everybody, because trauma changes who we are. It changes whether we feel safe in the world and whether we feel our families are safe. So being over in Afghanistan or Bosnia, or any of those places where there is trauma, does change who we are and our perception of our world here.
Whether that's going to become an operational stress injury or not, we don't know. It might happen 18 months after they're home, but at least if they were screened or had the opportunity to explore the fact that it's normal to have this traumatic experience change how you feel about who you are in the world and how safe you and your family are, then it would also open the door to the possibility of seeking help in the future. It's just about giving them the opportunity to be self-reflective and to do an assessment of how their life has changed, and then I think they probably would be more likely to seek support if they needed it—and certainly the family would.
One of the things I heard from the families was that the pieces of information might be coming through the door, but they're not making their way to the partner, whether because the information gets recycled in the trash or because of denial on the veteran's part, who says, “Oh, that doesn't apply to me.” Who knows what it is? It's unfortunate. Again, it was frustrating, because I knew the people at OSISS were willing to offer support. I was frustrated with the trauma treatment centre, because of the need to get a referral, but OSISS was there, and these veterans didn't even know what OSISS was, let alone that they could access support.