Veterans Affairs committee  I didn't know what to put down or say, so I'm going to wing it. I have prepared a PowerPoint, which has not been translated, but I'll make it available to the committee afterwards. It goes into further detail. I was looking for a title for this, and I called it “My 14-year Suici

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll wrap it up quickly. I live like there's no tomorrow. I tried to get back with my family and it didn't work, which eventually led to three suicide attempts. The first was in 2010 in Iraq and another in 2013 in Tanzania, which was discovered by my work, which then fired me.

Veterans Affairs committee  I am.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's not the point I'm trying to get at, though.

Veterans Affairs committee  When a vet is in crisis, the 911 system that works for civilians doesn't work for the military. I'll give a clear example. I walked into the base Borden VAC office to get the disability claim I submitted in September 2015, and in fact I had a meltdown. I was angry and the woman

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm not the only one.

Veterans Affairs committee  Peer support works great when they're not cutting budgets for OSISS clinics, because the only place I go out sometimes is for a breakfast with the group in Borden.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't have any peers. When I quit drinking I lost all my friends. I've been out of the military for 14 years. Most of the colleagues that I worked with on contract are.... Most of them are dead. One is Australian, so I keep in touch overseas, but I have no friends. All my ammo-

Veterans Affairs committee  Informal home health care.

Veterans Affairs committee  The only time I really had it was in Petawawa and at my first post in Borden, where I was with the school and when I was with a service battalion, because we were very tight. When you're constantly on exercise working with people you know, you know how they tie their shoes. Then,

Veterans Affairs committee  Not as a private. As a private, you fall into a navy base where you have.... The rules are completely crazy compared to an army base. You can't wear work dress off base. If I got dropped off at the base hospital, which was off base, I had to Star Trek my ass over to the base or

Veterans Affairs committee  Only after my accident. It was a single-car accident. I was by myself. I had left the barracks. I don't even remember the accident because I have a scar here and I had a concussion. I just woke up in the hospital the next day. There were no cell phones. I had to find a bus to ge

Veterans Affairs committee  No. I went to Petawawa where drinking was part and parcel of showing your manliness. It is what it is. Friday afternoon was always a beer call in the MWO's office.

Veterans Affairs committee  That was an O group. That's where a lot more information was passed on than you could ever get out of anything. That was just part of the operation.

Veterans Affairs committee  It teaches you how to be a functioning alcoholic, where you can get up and be functional at 6 a.m. I turned that into a career, a career where, because I was a contractor, my drinking could go unchecked. In fact, they prefer it if you're drinking, because you don't realize what y