As I mentioned in my opening remarks, many veterans drop out of the process and sometimes end up on the street. Some go through a divorce and lose custody of their children. Others do the irreparable: they take their own lives.
I personally experienced this situation last winter when I was asked to support a veteran from the Montreal area. I had started the process, but given the holidays and the COVID‑19 pandemic, we were told that the process would be long.
Shortly thereafter, the veteran's spouse called me to tell me that he had found her dead in the bathroom; she died by suicide.