I wouldn't change what they wanted me to say. They wanted me to say that it was a hazing and that I would heal. They wanted me to say that it was a misunderstanding and it wasn't a criminal act.
At that point, I looked back on my life and realized that I should have just shut up. My life would have been a whole lot easier. I don't know if I would still be alive today, because it probably would have happened again. Once you invite abuse into your life, it just continues to happen. Even though I was a strong-minded 19-year-old woman—I was just a fresh, new adult—I left out of fear that I was going to die.
At the same time, the criminals who perform these acts know that if something back then happened off base, it's early in your career, so the chances of your following up within the Canadian Armed Forces are very slim. They target young women who are entering basic training because they know they're not going to have any ability to prosecute or get benefits. There's no reason for us to stick around. We're easy targets.
Honestly, to be very frank—and I hope this doesn't give people any hard feelings—people should look at National Defence as one of the largest human trafficking rings out there, because they get away with it.