I would say for sure in the past, but right now.... When I was still in the forces, as I said in my opening statement, it was documented by a Canadian Forces health services psychologist that I had suffered a serious physical impact from the mental trauma that I dealt with.
VAC does not want to accept that it's linked, that there's a linkage with physical trauma, and I see that more as an issue from VAC's side. My sense, as I was leaving the military, was that the military is more accepting of mental trauma than VAC.
My diabetes was a factor in my medical release—that's for sure—but at the time, I was in no way penalized by the forces due to the fact that I was diabetic, other than the fact that I was released. I don't dispute that it was a factor, because I could no longer meet universality of service, and I do believe in that principle: Every person in the military has to be able to serve as required by the Canadian government. I do accept that.
It did lead to my medical release, at least partially. There were other physical problems that related to my career that were unrelated to mental trauma, but that was part of my reason for being released.
I think it's really on VAC's part to be more aware of the linkage. When I put my claim in to VAC, they basically denied it. They said there was no linkage.