For the first nine months post-injury, I had an assisting officer. It bounced between a couple of different guys because initially we got a member who was from the reserve world who came and catered to Maxine at the time. He was way outside of the circle of knowledge in terms of what needed to be done with respect to the responsibilities and rules of the assisting officer, the AO.
We had to fire him and another fellow only because they weren't doing their job, unfortunately. Ensuring that the individual is properly trained and up to date or current with his roles and responsibilities, and with his accountabilities to us, I think that's paramount. You have to make sure those guys have that.
As for the case manager, she didn't come into the picture until I got back up into the area. As I mentioned earlier, living down in Cambridge, you're outside of that unit bubble as a regular force member. All the major bases are out in the sticks. They're in isolated areas. Being out in Cambridge, well, there's a bit of a disconnect going on. It's a six-hour drive. You can't always pick up the phone and call your CO or commanding officer at the time to say that you have a problem with it, even though he said you could, because he has his own responsibilities and stuff.
When Tanya came into the picture, it was really nice to have that involvement. Initially, at the beginning over the first month or two, it was pretty heavy. She was there most of the time. Again, that was because I had moved up to Petawawa, so we were able to develop a closer relationship. As my recovery and rehabilitation progressed, we started weaning away from each other and going from maybe a twice a week to just a once a week. Now we're only getting together maybe once every two months.
When I was having my renovations done on my home, she and I were together like this, because there was a lot of stuff, a lot of admin stuff, that I wasn't familiar with. I'm an infanteer. It's not that I'm a dumb infanteer, but it's just not my role, right? I just didn't understand it, and it was really nice to have her there on hand when I needed her.
Every case is different, you know. You have some guys who are missing both legs, or three limbs, or four limbs, and maybe their amount or their necessity is a little bit more in demand than for a guy like me. For the most part, I had a good relationship, but it was nice to have her there once I got to Petawawa and all those amenities were available for me.