I'm just getting into that phase right now. I'm currently in a phase called RTW, return to work. I was employed with Soldier On. I was the coordinator for eastern Ontario but I retired from that because I'm committed to the TPL adventure I'm about to go on. Then also I want to continue with my education and stuff. That's going to progress to my next career once I leave the forces.
I have some anxiety. For example, my leg, the C-Leg, the computer leg that I got from Ottobock out of Germany, is a $78,000 leg, and I very much thank all you taxpayers. I'm an active guy. I like to do a lot of stuff. I like to train. I do everything from renovating my basement to building fences to trekking, everything. So I'm aggressive with it. Right now I'm on a loaner because I killed the battery on it, and it's been sent back to Germany to get repaired.
I don't like to let weather hold me back from what I'm able to do. So a C-Leg, as great a leg as it is for walking and the technology that comes with it, unfortunately can't be exposed to adverse weather conditions, so I won't be trekking to the North Pole with this one. If I got it wet or exposed it to water in any sense, the microprocessor computer that runs the knee would short out and it's a $4,000 job just to repair it.
As I said, I'm in a comfortable bubble right now with the military because I have all these resources to help me continue to improve my own ability as far as rehabilitation goes. Once my time has come and I leave, if I continue to act like this and be this guy who loves life, am I going to be limited now through Veterans Affairs or any other program afterwards because there's a limit on how much money they can put out? This is where I have a bit of difficulty because some members in the system are abusing it. I don't want to say they don't deserve it but maybe they don't put forth as much effort as they should in order to be given one of these legs or something.
Therefore that money, $80,000, comes out of that pond, which means guys like me—and there are lots of guys like me—who want to have something that could benefit them and encourage them to progress further, now can't because of the almighty dollar.