Canadian Soldiers told to "suck it up" with PTSD

Soldiers Fighting Secret War
April 9, 2008

Psychologically wounded troops told to 'suck it up'

By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU CHIEF

OTTAWA -- A prevailing "suck-it-up, soldier" attitude in the military prevents many Canadian troops from getting the help they need for psychological war wounds, a victim's mother told MPs yesterday.

Ann LeClair said when her 24-year-old son Cpl. Travis Schouten returned from Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder, he was told to "suck it up" and get back to work. The Sarnia woman shared her family's living nightmare of fear, bizarre behaviour and a suicide attempt with the Commons defence committee studying the PTSD issue.

"I'm appalled that this attitude continues and is rampant in the military," she said after the closed-door hearing. "It isn't at the top levels. The top levels of administration seem to have very well thought-out plans, but the difficulty lies in that there is no measurement to show that this will go down through the chain of command."

LeClair said her son and many other soldiers like him received inadequate psychiatric care for battle scars. Services and attitudes vary from base to base, and soldiers are often met with disbelief.

Schouten said it never crossed his mind that he would return home from Kandahar so psychologically scarred.
go here for more
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2008/04/09/5234471-sun.html

Looks like there are ignorant Neanderthals in Canada too. Is any country developed enough to understand science to the point where these people would be too embarrassed to say something so stupid as this? Evidently not.