Canada:Suicidal veterans on own if they leave military

Suicidal veterans on own if they leave military
Published Monday July 14th, 2008

OTTAWA - In the five years Fred Doucette has worked in the military's peer support program in New Brunswick, he has known 10 soldiers who have been admitted to hospital in Fredericton or Charlottetown after becoming suicidal.

Some tried to kill themselves. Others talked about doing it. They all survived.

But only two of them would have shown up in statistics kept by the Department of National Defence.

The other eight were no longer with the Canadian Forces by the time their mental health deteriorated that badly.

Earlier this spring, DND issued a background document on suicide in the Forces.

It highlighted the fact that suicide rates among Forces personnel have been declining for the past 12 years and are lower than those among the overall Canadian population.

That's accurate, said Doucette, "but they don't track the guys once they're out.

"When I think of my guys, some were only out of the military a couple of months before they tried."

Doucette is a former infantry captain who was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing atrocities in Bosnia in the 1990s.

He left the military on a medical release in 2002 after 32 years in uniform.
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