Evidence of meeting #37 for Veterans Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was team.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Royal Galipeau
Good morning. This is meeting number 37 for the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs. Today we have some distinguished guests.
I'd like to welcome Brigadier-General Kevin Cotten and Sergeant Jamie MacIntyre. They're going to talk to us about, and I have it in French—
The Nijmegen marches.
Members of the committee have been looking forward to this for a long time, and we thank you for being here.
Brigadier-General, the floor is yours.
BGen Kevin Cotten Brigadier-General, Department of National Defence
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
I would like to start off by thanking you for the opportunity to address you this morning.
Nijmegen holds a very special place in my heart, as it does in Sergeant MacIntyre's heart and for anyone who has actually completed the marches. We really want to thank you for the opportunity to come and share our experiences with you.
Here you can see a couple of people. You'll certainly recognize the one on the left. I want to say a special thank you to MP Lizon for inviting us to come to address the committee. The man on the right is actually a member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, Brian Macdonald, who is responsible for military affairs for the Province of New Brunswick.
Yes?
NDP
John Rafferty NDP Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
Do they have wristbands on in case they get lost as well as the...?
Brigadier-General, Department of National Defence
That's right. GPS, so you can find them.
Here's the outline. Basically, I'm going to cover the five Ws in a specific order. We'll get to that through each of these bullets. I welcome questions throughout, or if you don't mind, you can hold them until the end. Hopefully, I'll answer your questions during the presentation, but I'm happy to take questions anytime.
We'll start out with the where.
As you can see on the map, Nijmegen is a small city, really, with a population of 165,000, located in the southeastern part of the Netherlands. It is the oldest city in the Netherlands, dating back to AD 5, so there's a lot of history there.
Nijmegen wasn't the original host of the marches. It has moved around a bit throughout the Netherlands, but since the Second World War, the 1946 timeframe, Nijmegen became the main city hosting the marches, hence the name.
You will also see on the lower left corner the city of Lille, France, which is basically our airport of debarkation when we deploy to Europe for the Nijmegen marches. It puts us in very close proximity to Vimy Ridge, one of the highlights of our trip to Europe. It's only about 30 minutes away.
Now I'll move to the what.
Nijmegen marches originated in 1909 with the Dutch army. It was basically to provide physical fitness and endurance for the infantry. It evolved into the largest marching event in the world and is known as the Walk of the World. It includes 45,000 people marching from over 50 countries. That number includes about 5,000 military members from over 30 countries.
It consists of four consecutive days of marching. Each day, on average, is about 40 kilometres. You'll see that there are two different categories, both military and civilian. In the military, we are locked into a specific military route. We must carry weight, just 10 kilograms, and we have to start and finish with that weight, plus any other weight you might be carrying in terms of extra rations, water, and so on. Civilians have a choice of routes: 30, 40, or even 50 kilometres a day. You'll see people who are 60, 70, or 80 years old marching 30, 40, or 50 kilometres. I've seen a few of them actually wearing wooden clogs while marching those distances. I guess if you're comfortable with your footwear, it works for you.
Canada has been participating since 1952. Originally, our participation was based on our presence in Europe, out of Germany. Since we repatriated back to Canada after the Cold War, we've been deploying from Canada since then. My first year as the commander of the contingent was 2012, which happened to be the 60th anniversary of the Canadian Forces' participation.
The marches really are important to both Canada and the Netherlands. We have a very close relationship with the Netherlands. It basically hearkens back to the liberation of Nijmegen in 1944, and to the overall Netherlands in 1945.
Conservative
Brigadier-General, Department of National Defence
There's that link, the liberation. There's also a link due to a very special birth that occurred here in Ottawa in 1943, and I'll touch on that a little bit later.
There are over one million spectators who line the route during the marches there. It's an incredible event. It's a national holiday for that region. It's a party week for the people of the Netherlands. It's not so much of a party for the people who are having to march, though.
This photo illustrates the magnitude of the event, if you will. This is the final day, during the final victory march through downtown Nijmegen. If you can, imagine a five kilometre long route lined with people five and six deep, on the rooftops, on the balconies, all cheering as you march past. Both of us can attest to the fact that when the Canadian flag goes by, the cheers get louder. They have not forgotten what we've done for them.
You'll see the sign there, Via Gladiola. That is really in honour of the flowers that the spectators present to the marchers as we pass. You end up with an armful of gladioli by the time you hit the finish line.
I'll give little bit more on the when and a little bit more on the what.
The main event begins on the third Tuesday of July each year. For the Canadian contingent, it's preceded by a formal departure ceremony that we do at the Canadian War Museum. It's hosted by them and it has been for about the last 12 or 13 years.
We have a fair number of VIPs who attend. Normally, we'll have a reviewing officer in the form of the Chief of the Defence Staff. Two years ago, we had His Excellency the Governor General. We'll have the ambassador from the Netherlands, and senior representatives from the Royal Canadian Legion. A number of veterans also attend.
It's an opportunity to formally say good luck and send off the troops. We are also presented with a number of wreaths that we are expected to lay on their behalf, both in Vimy and in Groesbeek cemetery near Nijmegen.
On the Friday prior to the marches, we all get on an Airbus and deploy to Lille, France, arriving there either very late on Friday night or very early on Saturday morning, depending on the flight departure time. That gives us the day to visit the wonderful Canadian cemetery and the Vimy Memorial there. It is really something to see. If you haven't been there, I strongly encourage you, if you get a chance, to get over there to see it.
We have some time to actually visit the memorial. We do a battlefield tour there, go into the trenches and into the tunnels that they've maintained, and then hold a remembrance ceremony in the shadow of the Vimy Memorial, which again is a very powerful thing, particularly for a number of young Canadians who have never been there and who really do get to feel that link back in history to their forefathers.
Sunday and Monday are basically for acclimatization and preparation. We end up shaking ourselves out a little and getting our kit ready. We're very careful about weighing the sand that we're going to be carrying to make sure we're not carrying any extra weight. We also have an opportunity to visit the town of Nijmegen a bit, just to get familiar with the surroundings.
Tuesday kicks off the march. That's day one of the march. It happens to be the longest day. It's about a 44-kilometre day, so if you make it through the first day, the rest is a lot easier.
Each evening, for the VIP group and the contingent command team, there is a cocktail reception hosted by a number of different nations. You can imagine after you've marched eight hours putting on the uniform and your shoes and going to stand around for a couple of hours more, having a drink and a few snacks. It makes for a very long day, but it is certainly a great opportunity for networking with our other military contingents.
Wednesday is day two. You will see on the slide that I mention the Canada-U.K. reception. We work very closely with the British forces during Nijmegen. We share the burden of manning a number of rest points throughout the march. Each day there are two or three rest points along the way, and we share that responsibility with them. They bring their cooks and medics, and we bring ours as well, so we have a bit of synergy there in working with them. We also co-host a national bilateral reception that evening.
For me, Thursday is the highlight. It's probably the toughest day, but it's one of the most rewarding, because at the 30-kilometre mark of that 40-kilometre day we stop at Groesbeek cemetery and honour our war dead with a ceremony. There are over 2,338 Canadians buried there. That is probably the highlight of the march. Again, it's where you really connect. You're actually walking over the ground they walked over during the day, and being able to pay homage to them is a wonderful experience. The tough part is stopping after 30 kilometres, having a ceremony for about an hour and a half, and then getting going again for the last 10 kilometres, even though it's kind of downhill towards the end of the march that day. But still....
Finally, on Friday, the last day, it doesn't matter who you are; if you've made it to Friday morning, you're going to finish the march. You're walking on adrenalin at that point. The crowds are bigger. There is a party atmosphere going on, and you end up crossing that finish line in fine form. The highlight of that day is the medal ceremony, which occurs in the town of Nijmegen. As the contingent commander, I get to present the medals to those who have completed the march. Again, if you want to see some smiling happy faces, that's the day. I'll be showing you the medal up close a little later, but this slide shows what it looks like.
Saturday and Sunday are basically for a little bit of downtime and for medical recovery for those who have not fared so well, and it's definitely an opportunity for our troops to get out and see a little bit of the Netherlands. Some will hop on the train to Amsterdam. Others will go to Arnhem to visit the Airborne Museum there and to see the bridge. Others will just stay in the local area and relax, but it is an opportunity to put your feet up and enjoy a little bit of time in Europe.
On Monday we are back on the plane heading back to Canada. It's a very full 10-day program. We jam-pack it full of activity. It's very worthwhile.
While we're there, we are accommodated in a Dutch military camp on the edge of the town of Nijmegen, which sprouts into a temporary home for those 4,000 to 5,000 military members who are there for the marches. There are rudimentary, austere conditions. As you can see on the slide, it is a modular construction. We have sleeping, dining, and ablution facilities, and some office space as well, and our entire contingent of 200-plus will sleep in that one accommodation.
On the next slide, I'll show you what the rooms look like. It's not the Hilton. It has a number of bunk beds for 6 to 12 or 14 people per room. You will notice, as the slide shows, that the walls on the side do not go all the way up to the ceiling. There is an open top, which means that you hear everything up and down that whole building. You can imagine, with 250 people, the snoring and other sounds that you might have to hear. Thankfully, by the time you finish marching each day, you're so exhausted that you'll sleep through pretty much anything.
I don't know, Laurie, if you can remember Keith Jones' snoring.
Conservative
Laurie Hawn Conservative Edmonton Centre, AB
Oh, yes. Earplugs were not a luxury; they were a necessity.
Brigadier-General, Department of National Defence
That's right.
They are fairly austere conditions, but they certainly meet the need for what we need while we're there. It really does bring the teams closer together, because they're in close quarters and really getting to know each other.
Now I'll move on to the who.
The size of the Canadian contingent will vary from year to year. The year that I commanded, 2012, was a big year because of our 60th anniversary. The total size was 270 people.
The command team is small, made up of four people. There are also 14 to 16 teams with 11 people each.
The marching teams, as you see there, are formed from across the country. We have army, navy, and air force representation, both regular force and reserves, and we try to cover geographically every region of Canada each year. You can imagine there's quite a bit of competition to bid to get a team into this. We'll have about 30 teams apply for these 14 to 16 spots.
There are a few extra marchers. We do have a number of VIPs who accompany us. We have a few sweepers who come along the back trail to make sure they're picking up anybody who is having any difficulty. In particular, we notice they end up helping Americans, who don't seem to train as well as we do for this, and the British occasionally as well.
There's quite a large contingent of support staff. We basically have to bring a whole bunch of things to make ourselves almost self-sufficient, so you'll see quite a few medical staff, some public affairs people, and photographers to capture what we do. We have a padre there to bless our feet before we step off each morning. He blesses the soles of our feet—excuse the humour. There are a number of cooks, canteen folks, supply people, drivers, and general duty personnel.
Finally, we had the pleasure of the central band being with us in 2012. To have live music particularly during that victory parade in that last five kilometres leading our contingent through the streets of Nijmegen is just an incredible thing.
This is just a quick slide on VIP participation. I'm just covering through 2011 and 2013. You can see the then defence Minister MacKay on the right with our contingent sergeant-major Chief Warrant Officer Jones. So he did come over for a visit and he did march one day with the contingent.
In terms of the send-off parade, as I said, the Chief of the Defence Staff and the Dutch ambassador—again some very senior folks—come to wish the troops well before we head out.
There's a small list there of VIP marchers, members of Parliament, and there are at least two in the room here with us today: Laurie Hawn and Mr. Lizon. Blaine Calkins has been with us. I marched with Randy Hoback one year, and as I said, an MLA from New Brunswick as well, Brian Macdonald.
Defence and VIP guests as well march with us. David Jacobson, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada, did the full march with us. We've had directors general and directors from Veterans Affairs helping to cement our relationship with that department and to help them understand better who the clients are that they're serving and some of the challenges that we go through from a physical perspective.
We bring a few honorary colonels over as well. We had Honorary Colonel Ryback and Honorary Colonel Rolingher. These folks are great connections with local communities. They support our reserve units very strongly, and we're happy to have them come along.
We also have a representative from the Legion. That person is selected by the Legion. The first year I think what happened was that their primary candidate had to withdraw about six weeks before the march, so they pulled another guy in at six weeks, and that guy had to train like crazy to get ready to go, but he did complete the marches. He was hurting a bit by the end, but he did do it.
During the marches, we have a number of visitors who come to see us as well. I'll just mention two other people who aren't on that list. Minister Alexander and Minister Leitch both completed all of the training. They were both parliamentary secretaries at the time. They managed to squeeze it into their busy schedules, but the week before we deployed, there was a cabinet shuffle and they were appointed ministers and did not get to go, after marching about 1,000 kilometres in training. They were very disappointed, but I think very pleased at the same time since they were getting cabinet appointments.
Conservative
Brigadier-General, Department of National Defence
Apparently not. They don't know what they missed.
Finally, here's the why. Here you'll see a list of objectives. I'm going to cover them all in a little bit more detail in a minute.
First of all is fielding a first-class contingent. It allows us to showcase the Canadian Forces to an international audience. We are in fact ambassadors for Canada there among a very grateful and gracious host nation. We meet with a lot of local people and we get to meet a lot of our counterparts in the other military contingents.
Second is ensuring successful completion by all the marchers. This is a very tough physical, mental, and emotional challenge.
The only way to be successful is to train for it, so we teach our members that by training and working together as a team, they can overcome any obstacle. I think Sergeant MacIntyre will talk a bit more about that later from his perspective.
This enhances the relationship with the Netherlands, which is again a very special relationship. There will be more on that in a few moments.
Commemoration is a key part of our visit to the Netherlands. We have this beautiful ceremony at Vimy Ridge. We also honoured the dead in Groesbeek cemetery. In the past year, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, our folks were allowed to visit the Menin Gate for the last post ceremony there.
I mentioned enhancing the partnership with Veterans Affairs, and engaging with VIP marchers and visitors again to familiarize them with who our Canadian Forces are and what we do.
Finally as a complementary add-on in 2012, we decided to bring a team from our Soldier On program. It had not been done before, and in fact we're the only country that's had an entire team of recovering ill and injured guys complete the march as a team. That was a great compliment on their road to recovery. Sergeant MacIntyre will talk more about that in a minute.
I'll do a quick summary of each of those objectives along with some photos, starting with “A First Class Canadian Contingent”. At the top left you can see our Chief of the Defence Staff Tom Lawson inspecting the troops at the War Museum during our send-off parade. His comment to me afterwards was that he didn't see very much extra weight on any of those folks. Marching many hours every week certainly has benefits in terms of weight loss and maintenance of very good physical fitness.
In the lower left you can see me and MP Lizon on the dais. Each morning as all the contingents leave the camp, they give an official salute. We were on the dais receiving that salute. It's really the kickoff of the day. We had a very specific Canadian way of kicking things off. The whole camp heard us when we left. I'll talk about that at the end of the presentation.
In the lower right you can see the Soldier On team proudly holding a combat boot in a glass case. That was the award for the team that embodied the spirit of Nijmegen. For very good reasons, as you'll hear, that team certainly impressed all of us.
In the top right you can see one of the teams returning to the camp. We always pay compliments to the guards at the camp who are our hosts, so that's what the salute there is about.
What does success look like? As I said, at the end of day four, we stop on the edge of town. We drop our packs. We change at least our uniform shirts so we have a fresh uniform. We put on our berets. We hold a medal ceremony at which each of the teams is presented with its individual medals for successful completion and a team medal if it has completed it.
I want you to have a closer look at the medal. You'll find that people march for different reasons. One of the reasons is certainly the medal, which is a tangible sign of their success. The other part of the success is the—
Brigadier-General, Department of National Defence
KNBLO is the association that actually organizes the march. I can't remember what it specifically stands for.
You can see in the photo in the top right that it is really the high point: everybody's on the highest emotions; the crowds are cheering and we know we've completed our four days of marching. The victory march is essentially a bonus five kilometres you get to do on top of your day of marching, but you don't even feel it because it's just such a great thing.
I talked about our relationship with the Netherlands. In the top left you'll see me standing there with the deputy head of mission for the embassy here, Rochus Pronk. I have yet to convince him to join us on the march. He's actually sending one of his staffers this year: Wendy Sewell is coming to join us on the march. Hopefully. she'll be able to come back and tell him what a great deal it was.
There are over one million Canadians of Dutch heritage—I'm sure Mr. Stoffer's familiar with that—here in Canada. That's a huge number. You're also certainly familiar with the Tulip Festival as a sign of thanks from the Dutch for what we did for them during the Second World War. But a little known fact is that, according to 2011 figures, the Netherlands was the second largest source of foreign direct investment in Canada, at $56 billion. They were also our sixth largest merchandise export market, at $5 billion, in 2011. We have very close ties from a trade perspective and a military perspective, and certainly in terms of a common heritage.
In the lower left corner, you will see members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 005 colour party. They are one of five Legion branches in continental Europe. They are very proud to come out every year to support us at the Groesbeek cemetery event. They also do a number of other commemorative events around the Netherlands.
In the bottom centre, you can see one of the grave markers at Groesbeek cemetery. Again, 2,338 Canadians...there are 2,617 people actually buried there. There are a number of others, British, a couple of Polish soldiers, and a few others from a number of other nations.
On the right, a little known fact is that the Dutch flag is the only foreign flag to ever fly over the Peace Tower. That was in 1943, on the birth of Princess Margriet. As you might recall, the royal family left the Netherlands at the beginning of the Second World War and came to Canada. Princess Juliana was pregnant at the time, and she gave birth to her daughter in Ottawa. Another little known fact is that the maternity ward at the Civic Hospital was temporarily deemed extraterritorial by the Government of Canada so that Princess Margriet would have Dutch citizenship. It was a temporary measure, to make sure that she was a Dutch citizen.
With regard to commemoration, as the number of our wartime vets sadly continues to decline, the importance of commemoration is on the increase. We take advantage of every opportunity while we're there to commemorate the fallen. In the top left is a young civilian. That's Shawn MacDougall from Veterans Affairs, who is the director of privacy and access to information. He had no idea what he was getting into when he volunteered, but that man had tears coming down his face when he marched in on the fourth day. There he is laying a wreath on behalf of Veterans Affairs at Groesbeek. On the lower left, you can see the colour party.
The top right is Chief Warrant Officer Keith Jones. He was my contingent sergeant-major. He's the senior non-commissioned member who accompanies the contingent and the guy who makes everything happen. I think he has completed 14 Nijmegen marches now, and he'll be going on to 15 this year. He loves walking. I think it's a bit of an addiction for him. I've told him to get counselling, but it doesn't seem to be working. He just retired last year. He's now in New Brunswick, and he's still marching down there. He's going to be coaching a team from True Patriot Love this year, so he's going back as a civilian. This time he'll be staying in a hotel with a spa, not in our austere conditions, so I'm not sure how he's going to adapt to that. He'll still be snoring, though, I'm sure.
Again, the partnership with Veterans Affairs is very important. As we all know, there have been some challenges with the care for our ill and injured. Making sure that there is transition from service in the Canadian Armed Forces to Veterans Affairs is a very important thing. The more that they understand what we do and who we are, the better they can serve us. We do share, in terms of commemoration with them, and again, in offering the senior leadership the opportunity to march with us. Similarly, participation in the march and visits by influential Canadians help to familiarize them with who we are and what we do.
On the top left, again that's Captain Macdonald from New Brunswick. He is a retired captain from The Royal Canadian Regiment. On the lower left is a retired sergeant and Legion representative, Chris Blondin. On the lower right, again you see young Shawn MacDougall.
On the upper right is Honorary Colonel Sol Rolingher, from 1 MP Regiment in Edmonton. Sol has a heart of gold. He's one of the most committed, toughest guys I've ever met. He was 69 years old, I believe, when he attempted the marches with us. Sadly, on day three, I had to order him off the march for medical reasons to avoid long-term injury to his feet. If I hadn't done that, he would have marched on to day four, no doubt about it. Sadly, he had to withdraw that day. It shattered him at the time, but, again, to have completed three days at his age in the conditions that year—the temperatures were very warm, as I recall, and it was quite a tough march.
Conservative
Brigadier-General, Department of National Defence
Unfortunately, he did not get the medal.
The guy in the centre needs no introduction. I think you all know him. He's one of our biggest marching fans and supporters.
Again, thank you, Monsieur Lizon, for inviting us here.
I would like to turn the floor over to my colleague, Sergeant MacIntyre, to speak for a couple of minutes on his experience. He can talk about this great group of people.
Sgt Jamie MacIntyre Sergeant, Department of National Defence
Thank you, sir.
I got to march with the Soldier On team in 2012. That's a picture of our team. I was joined by other ill and injured Canadian members, men and women across Canada with visible and non-visible injuries.
Everybody had their own obstacles to overcome in order just to volunteer to come out to this event. Some people were reluctant even to leave their house.
I'm an amputee so I have a very similar condition to Dale up there, completely different, but very similar, so doing the training and stuff for me was like, man, am I really going to be able to withstand marching this distance? But I always had good teammates, and if I looked at Dale, he was still going, so I was still going to go too.
Everybody had various different obstacles they had to confront and overcome just to get to Nijmegen to start the marches. Our team was a really great team. The whole team started and completed together, so all the members of our team did complete it and did get the medal.
In the end it's just so empowering to all of us ill and injured soldiers. You get there. You see everybody else, all the other teams. Our team was a really strong team as well. We completed. We didn't lose anybody so it's very empowering and it helps you accept your new normal. You're just another soldier and you're marching.
Being given the opportunity to go to Nijmegen, and face your fears and your personal obstacles was just an amazing opportunity. I met some people for the first time and we did some of our training marches here. When I talked to them at the end of the fourth day, I saw the way that people interacted with others—their attitudes and their emotions—was so vastly different and had improved so much.
We had people who were very introverted and did not want to speak to anybody, but I can tell you when you're marching for eight hours with somebody, you can eventually pull something out of them because you have to talk about something to keep your mind off marching.
It was a really great bonding experience. It was one of the highlights of my military career. It was an excellent opportunity for all ill and injured soldiers.
There's a nice picture of me.
Thank you.
Brigadier-General, Department of National Defence
It was a great opportunity to bond with the people as well. The Soldier On experiment that year was successful.
The model we're moving to now though is to get Soldier On program members embedded in the teams from the various bases and wings from their local area, so they're able to train and march with their own teammates for the whole training period, as opposed to coming together a couple of times throughout the training period. We'll see how that works out this year.
There's one more person I'd like you to hear from before I wrap up. The then U.S. ambassador David Jacobson who marched with us in 2012 made an unsolicited video. He wanted to express his feelings right after the marches.
Could I ask you to play that, please.
[ Video Presentation]
Money can't buy that kind of public endorsement. You can see the benefit of the veterans independence program, VIP, that we tried to introduce, with I think some great success.
That pretty much wraps up the presentation.
You saw the boots and the helmet which mark the entrance and exit to the camp. It is much larger. Every day we marched through and came back and you are really happy to see that at the end of the day. The road is about a kilometre long, and you can see the boots and the helmet welcoming you back to the camp after another long day on the road.
Again, thank you very much for the opportunity. Sergeant MacIntyre and I will be very pleased to take any questions you might have.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Royal Galipeau
Thank you very much, Brigadier-General and Sergeant.
It was not only a learning experience for me, but also very moving.
I'll open the floor for questions.
Perhaps I'll give the floor to my vice-chair, Peter Stoffer. I'm sure you feel the emotions I felt.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Yes, it was great.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all very much for coming.
General, have you ever had the opportunity or ability to possibly entertain bringing those soldiers with service dogs to the Nijmegen march? I'm thinking of the dog now, because you have to be cautious, and a lot of people would be concerned about the health of the dog as well. Now that a lot of the servicemen and servicewomen have post-traumatic stress disorder and have service dogs, have you thought there's some opportunity for a possible march with them at any time?
Brigadier-General, Department of National Defence
I have not. I would think one of the big challenges with that, sir, would be the congestion on the roads. They're very conscious of the number of people on the road at any one time. They do not allow bicycles. They do not allow even—there was one exception made for a wheelchair. A Dutch soldier was wheeled the whole way by his teammates. There are cobblestones. It's very crowded, very congested, and very noisy.
I think it would be a real challenge for a service dog to participate in that, if they were allowed. I'm not sure the organizers would allow that.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Thank you.
I want to personally thank you and Sergeant MacIntyre very much for your stamina and courage. That's not an easy thing to do even for regular able-bodied people, but for an amputee to do that is really quite remarkable, and you should be personally congratulated for your efforts. It shows, as the ambassador said, that if you can do it, there's no reason anybody else....
I congratulate all of you for that, and good luck in the future as well.
Conservative