MEDIA CATCHING ON TO ABUSE

This is an e-mail I sent to Kathleen Harris ( kathleen.harris@sunmedia.ca ) the Sun Media group in Ottawa on 9 April:

In your article 9 April, it was finally brought up that there is problems with the way soldiers who are injured are perceived by their chain of command.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you could only see the attitude towards those who have been injured in Canada on "normal" duties, it would make you sick to your stomach. I have personally witness harassment, sexual assault, and abuse of authority. As the clerk for SPHL, the sub-unit where most injured soldiers are sent to recover, I was told stories of racism, abuse, false convictions, and being called "sick, lame, and lazy", a term for injured soldiers.

Keep going hard at this Kathleen. Dawn Black, a Member of Parliament, is getting to the system and with every day will uncover the mess that we have been exposed to. If you need quotes or opinions on certain things, I will gladly give them. I too have been "screwed over" by supervisors and middle managers and Commanding Officers who were trying to keep their hands clean in order to move up that ladder of success. I prefer to get my hands dirty and for my candor, have been moved out of their harms way 4 times for sticking up for our soldiers. Two of the people I had to stand up to have been awarded the Member of Military Merit medal and one other supervisor was promoted 10 months after she sexually assaulted me.

Don't forget, 9 April was the date that Canadian Soldiers solidified this country's independence, the battle of Vimy Ridge. If only they could see us now and have a say.