Zipperhead
Diamond Member
I am a retired Tank Commander from the Canadian Forces. I was deployed on 5 tours over 22 years. My last deployment was in 2007. On that tour I had a close encounter with a Toyota 1 ton packed with propane cylinders. Got away with only 40 something stitches and some burns. But it was really the end of my career.
The Army gave me a teaching job to finish out my contract, and after 3 years I found myself on the curb with no marketable skills, medical limitations due to my injuries, no plan of action and worst of all no mental ability to form an action plan.
DVA has helped me out abit by getting me an appointment at an Ocupational Stress Injury Clinic. They of course are over booked and will not be able to get to me for some time. I'm not in a happy place right now, and rejection (even temporary) is not my friend. Mean while the wife seems hell bent at getting my a$$ back out in the job place where it belongs. She doesn't understand, and I can't explain it.
My injuries have left me with shrapnel in my arm, hand and shoulder. I also have several disks prolapsed in my lower spine. Every day I am in some degree of pain (usually not serious) but enough to wear you down. It is a constant reminder of what I use to have before. I can no longer play the bagpipes (I use to compete) without pain, I can no longer take my son out in the woods without experiencing pain, in all I just sit on the couch and wish I wasn't.
Most of my fights since getting back have been with the Army Medical System. Not a good situation for someone looking for help. In the end I was released without even seeing a doctor. Wasn't nessicary acording to the Nurse. So after 22 years a Sargeant with a prolapsed disk, 2 colapsed disks, several non union fractures and multiple iron fragments though out his body was released as medically fit. DVA has given me an award of 38% for the physical injuries and has recomended me to the OSI Clinic, but I do not qualify for re-education as I was released Medically Fit. And then they wonder why we are mad and frustrated.
The Army gave me a teaching job to finish out my contract, and after 3 years I found myself on the curb with no marketable skills, medical limitations due to my injuries, no plan of action and worst of all no mental ability to form an action plan.
DVA has helped me out abit by getting me an appointment at an Ocupational Stress Injury Clinic. They of course are over booked and will not be able to get to me for some time. I'm not in a happy place right now, and rejection (even temporary) is not my friend. Mean while the wife seems hell bent at getting my a$$ back out in the job place where it belongs. She doesn't understand, and I can't explain it.
My injuries have left me with shrapnel in my arm, hand and shoulder. I also have several disks prolapsed in my lower spine. Every day I am in some degree of pain (usually not serious) but enough to wear you down. It is a constant reminder of what I use to have before. I can no longer play the bagpipes (I use to compete) without pain, I can no longer take my son out in the woods without experiencing pain, in all I just sit on the couch and wish I wasn't.
Most of my fights since getting back have been with the Army Medical System. Not a good situation for someone looking for help. In the end I was released without even seeing a doctor. Wasn't nessicary acording to the Nurse. So after 22 years a Sargeant with a prolapsed disk, 2 colapsed disks, several non union fractures and multiple iron fragments though out his body was released as medically fit. DVA has given me an award of 38% for the physical injuries and has recomended me to the OSI Clinic, but I do not qualify for re-education as I was released Medically Fit. And then they wonder why we are mad and frustrated.
