MCpl. Franklin had no intention of leaving the military. He returned to work in September of 2006, six months after losing his legs, and began logging half-days with his old ambulance unit, expecting to use his field experience to teach soldiers about the bloody realities of being a medic at war.
His expectations did not mesh with opinions in his unit. "They wanted me to shred paper and move books around the library, basically disappear from the front lines," he says. "I wanted to teach tactical medicine."
Last year, he was offered a job at the Canadian Forces medical school, but not as an instructor: They wanted him to work as a security guard.
This seems to be a common theme; the soldiers with the most direct tactical/operational experience being pushed into a position where their knowledge goes unused...
Reference; Jody Mitic: Probably has the most 'hands on' experience in tactical recce and sniper skills and could be employed to teach theory, at the very least.
Reality;
Inside the offices of the Royal Canadian Regiment sniper unit, Master Corporal Jody Mitic spends most of his day alone. Occasionally, other soldiers will poke their heads through the office door to say hello, or to let him know that they've shovelled his driveway.
Sitting at a wooden desk typing e-mails on an outdated PC, he's the only soldier here dressed in civilian clothes.
How is he being employed? Is he being employed effectively? Could he be employed in a manor that both benefits the unit/CF as well as give him a sense of usefulness?
"I don't know how long I'll be here, because I'm not deployable," he says. "I'm kind of in the way."
This doesn't sound like a soldier who feels he is being employed efficiently and effectively. Perhaps I am wrong... But I know that feeling and I can see it in his eyes and hear it in his words (video).
(His unit) has offered him a role teaching reconnaissance and sniper courses in the meantime.
I really, really hope this pans out for him... This is exactly how he should be employed; teaching the next generation of snipers and soldiers. (or even working with standards to improve, in any way, training plans.)
"You'd hate to think that a medical unit doesn't understand what it's like for someone to return to work with these kinds of injuries, but obviously that was the case," (MCpl Franklin) says.
Again... I know this feeling. Is this the best way to employ this member? Especially a member who has very very 'hands on' experience with the most important and relevant techniques used in operational first aid... I gotta tell ya, if I were deploying again, I'd want this guy teaching me everything he knows about combat first aid...
"If they're employable in part, even if they don't meet the universality-of-service standards, they could be retained," says Mr. Wenek, the military's condition-of-services director. "And that's largely a result of the fact that we're short people so we have to make use of all the skill sets that are available."
Those who can't; Teach. Wounded members still employed are the perfect people to forge new skill sets in their peers.
A rifleman with Bravo Company before his injury, (Mike Barnewall) was now moved to an operations and training unit, where he organized schedules for shooting ranges and oversaw the resources necessary to keep forces primed for action, a clerical job normally filled by a healthy soldier.
"I didn't want them to just make something up for me. That's bullshit," he says. "'If there's no work for me, I'm not coming to work,' is how I thought of it."
Again, I know how he feels. Showing up to "busy work" makes you feel like a useless lump just consuming space. Until I was given my current position, I pretty much sat around in the OR answering phones (I don't like answering phones...). I was happy it was only half days and I was pushing to go back on medical leave 'cause I was bored and felt like I was doing nothing useful. At least now I feel like I'm benefiting the unit (somewhat) as the Unit Recruiter...
Pte. Salikin's biggest fear remains that without the army he is useless, unemployable. "That's pretty much what I thought of right away and ever since," he says. "Especially in infantry, we don't have a whole lot of marketable skills out in the real world."
A very good point was brought up to me, the other day, by an Airborne vet I met at my gym; "Now that your injured, how easy do you think it will be to get a job?"
I didn't think it would be a huge issue. For now, I'm still employed by my PRes unit, but if I wanted to make a career out of the forces, it wouldn't be in the PRes... So, I'll eventually have to get a civilian job or CT (which may be hard with a PCAT).
He made another good point; "If you're looking for a job with benefits, you'll have to submit to a medical, or submit medical files... this may hinder employment as most employers won't want to hire a health insurance liability." He had gone through this when he was released from service due to an injury sustained from a jump.
Now, how does this relate? "Especially in infantry, we don't have a whole lot of marketable skills out in the real world." + Medical Insurance liability = reduced chance of civilian employment. And as much as there's legislation and laws regarding discrimination, unless a potential employer comes right out and says "we're not employing you 'cause you're going to cost us money thanks to your extra holes or lack of limbs" you can't really prove much. That's just the reality of it. All they have to say is "We'll let you know." then they don't... pretty simple.
Although some soldiers may find it hard to believe, the private sector is beginning to take note of injured personnel and to offer them jobs outside the military.
In his e-mail to The Globe and Mail this week, Gen. Hillier writes, "If they decide that a civilian career is what will work best for them, then we have great partnerships with private companies, and the public sector and working with Veterans Affairs to make that transition as seamless as we can.
This seems like hope on the horizon for those who want to/have to move into the private sector and I'm glad to hear this is happening. But...
"I have a degree in long-range shooting and sneaking up on people," he says. "I don't think that's going to get me too far with any Fortune 500 company."
What about those who still feel they can contribute?
"I'm an infanteer and I want to stay an infanteer." - MCpl. Mitic.
But for him, what would it mean for his injuries to have a purpose? He talks about Canada's role in Afghanistan, but then admits that his own ability to remain a soldier would help give context and meaning to his loss.
"I'm good at my job," (MCpl. Mitic) says, looking down past the tattoo to where his feet used to be. "I was. I might be again."
This is how a lot of us feel. Speaking from my own experience; I want to stay in the forces, even if it's 'just' the PRes. This article concentrates on the Reg F and doesn't really reach the PRes members who are in the same boat... the biggest difference; Injured PRes members
have to return to the civilian work world from whence they came no matter what. The biggest down side; a lot of wounded PRes members really can't go back to what they were doing before they left for Afghanistan. I worked in a machine shop before I deployed... there is no way in hell I could go back to that. I couldn't stand on concrete for 8 to 10 hours a day... and since I've been 'out of the loop' for 2 1/2 years now, I have lost touch with the skills I had fresh out of college (which are hard to get back when you don't have access to a CNC or Manual milling centre or lathe.)
Either way, injured members of both PRes and Reg F want to feel useful...
Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate all the efforts the CF had gone through to keep us employed, but there are days when I feel like I'm just 'marking time' until something else happen. I don't mind my job in the unit; recruiting does make me feel useful to the unit, but I feel that I could contribute more with my experiences. The biggest issues with this are; 1) I'm not qualified to instruct, so all the knowledge in the world wouldn't be useful as I'm not "qualified" to pass it on. 2) I'm not "fit" to work with the rifle company. 3) Nothing I know fits into the training plan of a PRes unit (or so I've been told). So, for now, I will do my job to the best of my ability until something else happens (marking time).
What this article tells me is that there is a very useful resource available to the CF that is going unused. Soldiers like MCpl. Mitic and MCpl. Franklin want to and are able to contribute in their trade, if nothing else, in knowledge and training... and yet, they either release because they feel they have no future or they sit in a "make work" job and hope and wait for something better. For a military that stresses "lessons learned" (at least in operation), this just seems like a waste.
I'm glad to hear some of the wounded are being offered civilian employment and awesome opportunities for retraining and re-education (myself included), but for those of us who would still like to carry on in the forces, it just seems like we're being pushed into a corner until we can be pushed out the door (that may just be my take on it...)
I'll tell you this from the view point of a wounded soldier; not being able to do what you were once able to do makes you feel absolutely useless. Being handed a job for the sake of keeping you working (make-work jobs) makes you feel like a useless burden. Sitting around waiting for something to happen makes you feel useless... and feeling like everything you've gone through, all you've experienced and all you've learned is useless information thanks to your injuries and restrictions makes you feel incredibly useless and unappreciated. This really wears on the soul after a while... and sometimes this feeling of uselessness results in a very grim reality;
Late last year, Private Frederic Couture of CFB Valcartier provided one chilling glimpse of what it can be like when that capacity is gone. Having stepped on a land mine nearly a year earlier, leaving him with one leg amputated below the knee, Pte. Couture killed himself in November in his Quebec home.
"I'm 21 years old and I've lost my foot," he screamed at the time of his injury. "What am I going to do now? What do you think I'm going to do?"
I've come to terms with my 'daemons', but there are many out there who have a very tough time dealing with this loss of 'capacity'.
10 to 14 Canadian soldiers commit suicide each year (
Article link)
March 03, 2008
The Canadian Press
MONTREAL
A Montreal newspaper reports that in the past decade, the Canadian military recorded between 10 and 14 suicides a year among its troops.
Montreal La Presse reported yesterday that 132 soldiers have committed suicide since 1997.
At least four soldiers committed suicide while serving in Croatia, Bosnia or Afghanistan. The majority of the deaths occurred after soldiers returned from missions abroad.
How many of these 132 soldiers have come home wounded (physically or mentally)? And how many have felt useless because of it?
I just hope the members interviewed and reported on in this article are getting all the help they need, and are being employed in the most productive and useful way possible, weather by the CF or otherwise.
As much as I piss and moan, I do understand the bigger picture...
"That might not mean everything the soldier wants, but it's something," (MCpl. Franklin) says. "The army is trying. They may not be doing it right, but at least they're trying."
I would say I hope they perfect the system some day, but at the same time I hope they don't have to...
Just some food for thought. Sorry about yet another marathon post.
