Veterans Affairs Committee on March 12th, 2015

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Thank you very much, Admiral.

Mr. Rafferty.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, gentlemen, for being here today.

Let me begin with Mr. Gray and a question about military personnel when they are getting ready to transition out of service. We've heard witnesses in our last session and for the last year talk about all the services that are available in the military before people leave. The thing that strikes me, and that struck me earlier, is that they always talk about these services being optional, or that members are being encouraged to seek the services of a psychologist, for example, or whatever the case may be.

It strikes me, as I listen to your presentation, that I wonder if some of these services that DND says are offered to help with the transition should be compulsory. Almost all them quite frankly seem to be optional, where the members are encouraged to be part of them. I wonder if they were compulsory and members had to make sure that they spent a certain amount of time with a psychologist, or if members had to make sure that they attended the group sessions for transitioning out, and the various things that are available.... Would you agree with me that perhaps they shouldn't be optional or encouraged, and that the members should have to be part of this to help their transition?

[Capt(N) Perry Gray]

One problem is that you have to understand the pre-release procedures. In some cases, unlike mine, the person is just getting out on a voluntary basis, so doesn't take advantage of all these optional services. My release was a medical release. Therefore my transition team worked through the former National Defence medical centre here in Ottawa. So, yes, I was screened by a psychiatrist.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Let me just ask you, Mr. Gray, about people who release on their own and don't take advantage of these services. I would suggest there are some who later need the services of Veterans Affairs, who perhaps have transitioned out on their own, but really, they should not have transitioned on their own. In fact, they should not just have been encouraged to be part of these transition programs, but actually should have been part of them.

[Capt(N) Perry Gray]

As I said, that's part of the problem. DND doesn't have the resources to screen everybody, as you suggest, simply because you're talking of tens of thousands of people who would have to be screened medically. It's hard enough to get screened if you are a medical case. There would have to be a significant increase in resources, and that would mean taking resources from other sections within National Defence.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Resources aside, do you think there would be value in that, and making sure the resources are there?

[Capt(N) Perry Gray]

Given my experience with OSI, yes, because in many cases people don't start to exhibit an OSI until much later, and it could be triggered by any number of things. Based on medical professionals' experience, up to 25% of the serving military, both regular and reserve, could experience an OSI anywhere from minor to very severe conditions.

Again, that has to be done in pre-deployment and post-deployment screening, as well as pre-release screening. That's a pretty comprehensive program you're talking about.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

I guess my question was triggered by your implying that it's pretty clear that not everyone who is leaving has an opportunity to even talk to anyone before they leave.

[Capt(N) Perry Gray]

As Mr. Laidler mentioned in the first session, there's still that machoism: “I don't need help because I'm okay.” How do you break that syndrome?

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Hence, my suggestion of making it compulsory and to make sure they speak to the right people before they go....

Did you want to say one last thing before I go to Mr. Smith?

[Capt(N) Perry Gray]

No. I'm finished.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Gray.

Mr. Byrne or Mr. Smith, you see and probably talk to lots of people who are just leaving the service and are interested in using Monster. Because you see lots of them, in what ways do you think the preparation of members to leave the military before they use your services could be improved so that there's a seamless move to post-secondary education or whatever the case may be, but also a seamless move to use your services and use them well? Are there any suggestions you might have on how the preparation of members could be improved?

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

One moment, please. Mr. Rafferty stretched out that question so much, you have 10 seconds, but I'll give you 30 seconds.

[Scott Byrne]

There are a number of organizations, like True Patriot Love and Canada Company, that do provide the basis for getting people ready for transition, but unfortunately, it's after they leave.

The skills translator is one of those tools that we can use to help augment the services that are already out there. The prior transition is something we've taken a look at. However, fiscally right now it's not something that I believe we could handle economically for the government, so we have basically wanted to augment by using the skills translator.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Mr. Opitz.

[Ted Opitz, Conservative, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

To our witnesses, thank you all for being here today.

Thank you, Admiral. I think many of us have served with outstanding individuals in the United States armed forces of all elements. I certainly have.

I'm just looking at your Military.com site. It's a very good portal, I see, and I'm looking at the military translator right there. It seems to be a very useful device.

On Monster Canada and the way you work together, Admiral, let me start with you. There are a lot of different groups in the States, and of course, having just recently got out in 2011, you have seen first-hand some of the issues with veterans in the United States. I think they are having a very difficult time, given the number of veterans. Obviously, there's a lot larger volume of them than in Canada, in many respects.

Can you talk briefly about some of the issues that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is having with veterans right now?

[Adm Greg Smith]

Much of the same discussion I heard this morning.

The issue of individuals who need real services, medical services, is being addressed in a more holistic way today than it has been at any time in our past. There is no question about it. What we still have a difficult time doing is taking care of all the elementary needs to support their becoming just another citizen in this country, where they can extend the value they have earned and the skill they have developed in the military, and translate that into something that matters in civilian society. People want to succeed; they want to succeed while they are in uniform, and they want to succeed while they are in civilian life. What we lack is that ability to really help them get over that hurdle, taking, say, five or six years of military experience and helping them find how they can best fit into civilian life, helping them translate those skills and skill sets. That's one area where, again, we thought there was a great need and we filled that void with the military translator.

[Ted Opitz, Conservative, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

There are a lot of common challenges.

In the U.S., in terms of Monster and other things, are you familiar with The Flag and General Officers' Network?

[Adm Greg Smith]

This assignment that I have today was because of that.

[Ted Opitz, Conservative, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Admiral Carey and.... He's a good friend of mine, by the way.

[Adm Greg Smith]

That's right.

[Ted Opitz, Conservative, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

That's good to hear. You have that at The Flag and General Officers' Network level, but do you have things that you push down to junior officer troop level?

[Adm Greg Smith]

Again, that's the problem.

In society today, obviously from a business point of view, people use all kinds of networks to find good-quality employees. A lot of our folks are in those networks. Again, they're there and they're struggling trying to figure out how to explain who they really are and what they did. If they use the translator, it gives them a stepping-off point to be able to really begin to have that conversation.

[Ted Opitz, Conservative, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

Something like the concept of leadership is translated into the concept of management.

[Adm Greg Smith]

That's correct.