Troops Protecting Opium Fields
in Afghanistan
Please read the story from The Canadian Press copied in its entirety below and I will have more comments to follow:
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Published: April 22, 2019 - 4:19 PM
OTTAWA — Canada’s war in Afghanistan ended five years ago but the price of that effort continues to grow.
Newly revealed figures show the number of veterans from the war in Afghanistan receiving federal support for mental-health conditions nearly doubled between March 2014 and March 2018.
The figures are in a report obtained from Veterans Affairs Canada through access-to-information legislation and underscore the enduring toll the war has taken on the mental health of many military members who served there. They also highlight the importance of adequate mental-health services for veterans, which successive federal governments have sought to address over the years with mixed results.
The report was provided to former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould in January upon her appointment as veterans-affairs minister, a post she held for only a few weeks before resigning amid the SNC-Lavalin affair.
According to the document, more than 6,700 military members who served in Afghanistan received disability benefits for mental-health conditions in March 2018 — an increase of nearly 3,200 from the same month in 2014.
In both cases, the vast majority of those receiving benefits for mental conditions were struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder “directly related to their service in Afghanistan,” according to the report.
In fact, PTSD was found to have been the top medical diagnosis for Afghan war veterans applying for assistance, as compared to hearing loss and ringing in the ears for service members who had not deployed to Afghanistan.
More than 40,000 Canadians served in the 13-year Afghanistan mission, which began with fighting the Taliban after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and progressed to trying to stabilize and rebuild the war-torn country.
That means nearly 17 per cent of all Canadian military personnel who deployed to Afghanistan have received federal assistance for psychological trauma sustained during the war.
*******************Greencrow says: What a lot of bureaucratic malarkey! Of course, if the government were to tell me that I was eligible for monthly benefits for the stress of the job I held for eight years...removing children from parents in highly volatile circumstances. Then going though months of court proceedings including testifying and drafting complex court documents. Visiting children in foster homes and making sure their needs were met...well, I would certainly not turn it down.
But, I'm sure there are many more people who held down much more stressful jobs than I did for longer periods of time...without disability allowances afterwards. Yes, we all know that "War is Hell!" But these individuals weren't drafted...they knowingly joined the army, knowing that they could be sent into dangerous and soul-searing situations.
Perhaps I should have more empathy and compassion for individuals who went somewhere where they were not wanted...where they were considered the "Invading Enemy". Where they were instructed to shoot at indigenous citizens of that country--who were targeted with Western bullets, bombs and incendiary devices...merely for attempting to protect their lands, resources and culture from sure destruction and defilement. Perhaps these Western individuals didn't know beforehand that they would be polluting Afghanistan with depleted uranium weaponry for 400 million years...which will result in generational contamination [cancers] and birth defects.
No doubt, it's traumatizing to see your fellow soldiers shot by indigenous warriors defending their lands...it's even more traumatizing to see your fellow soldiers shot by other Western soldiers in episodes of so-called "Friendly Fire"...which happened so many times in Afghanistan.
I was traumatized myself by the events of the night of April 17, 2002, that occurred just outside the Kandahar, Afghanistan air base. Two American jet fighters, flown by navy reservists, who were flying wildly off course for no apparent reason, decided to swoop down low over some Canadian soldiers who were doing night time live fire exercise near an abandoned farmhouse called "Tarnak Farm". Four Canadian soldiers were killed and several more severely injured by the two bombs dropped by the American reservists. Seconds after the US reserve pilots dropped their bombs...they were informed by their control tower superiors.... "You're cleared...self-defense."
It was the "Tarnak Farm Incident" that made me very cynical, not only about the Afghanistan war and the reason for it [the 9/11 atrocity false flag] but about the US government and the military industrial complex in general. I was never the same after that event. I questioned everything and doubted everything. Perhaps the military has become, like so many large enterprises these days...a corporate welfare bum....bleeding the public dry.
Perhaps, based on my lingering anger and burning cynicism resulting from the Tarnak Farm Incident.... I, too, should apply to the government for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder disability benefits.
from Greencrow As The Crow Flies http://bit.ly/2UNka5E
Breaking News: More than 6,700 Canadian veterans from Afghan war receiving federal assistance for PTSD...Say What?! - News Paper
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