“A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living. Today’s military rejects include tomorrow’s hard-core unemployed.”
John F. Kennedy
In the ’70s my best friend and I decided to join the Canadian Armed forces and fight during the cold war years. I always loved war movies especially John Wayne flix. In the movies, his characters always stood up for what was right.
My ship HMCS Qu’Appelle
My moral center came from the men I admired in the movies, my own father just wasn’t around. I actually am thankful for that. I always wanted to fly but ended up joining the Navy. After months of training, and passing all the security classifications, I became a radio operator.
I served primarily on the HMCS Qu’Appelle. I did a month on another ship during a refit. Refit is where the government decided to save money. Instead of buying new ships, the old ones were stripped down and refit with new wiring, insulation, and equipment. The insulation used was asbestos. I was exposed to a lot of it.
The only reason I mention it now is because I may still die as a result of service to my country. The diagnosis is not confirmed yet, I am having difficulty with the medical profession in Alberta. The difficulty is getting the tests done that I need to confirm. Recently I stopped at Peace River Hospital ER. I saw a most disgusting doctor who was convinced I was drunk and refused to give me any of the tests I needed doing. I don’t drink I don’t drug, but that day I was having problems with dizziness and a problem with my speech and memory, was it related to a recent head injury, was I having a small stroke. I won’t know because I was refused medical care. He was more interested in giving me a police-style sobriety test. That doctor seemed to think it was funny and had a ridiculous smirk when I asked clearly if he was refusing to do the tests. I found out the cost of one of the tests was 2$.
Definitely the kind of man you want ahead of you running into a battle, not behind you.
A few days later I have met a new doctor and some tests have been ordered, and this one actually heard something in my lungs. Ironically I may not be able to get to one of the tests on Friday.
The dizziness caused a fall and I may have a fracture in my elbow, I may not be able to finish the work on my van in time for Friday. It doesn’t matter there is too much snow in my driveway for my old van to get out. If I did make it out I wouldn’t be able to get it back into the driveway.
The really fun part I need to chainsaw wood, dizzy, short of breath and with a fractured arm. I will splint up the arm best I can and do what needs doing, as always.
My shortness of breath and dizziness may be related to my years in the military. I have read about other Canadian sailors suffering the same fate. Some made the news others didn’t. If I get the cancer caused by asbestos it is a death sentence, no cure.
Am I bitter about that? No, I am proud I served. I did some good things, saved lives, most I can’t talk about. As cliche as it sounds, still classified.
I love my country, dislike the federal government, I dislike how veterans are treated here. I am very disgusted that since my term in the service the government now has made a decision not to supply flags for the funerals of veterans. I am also disgusted about how I was treated by Revenue Canada and how they tried to bankrupt me and leave me homeless and without food right after a car accident permanently disabled me. They seized money that was a disability payment. That is against their own rules, but they did it anyway.
I was forced to go on welfare, and they told me that the disability money that rev can seized was income I was told that they would only give me two hundred dollars a month to live on. Go ahead try to do that. It was a concerned AISH worker that made a call to the ministry before that was straightened out.
Then comes my AISH application I was denied because I had pissed off a doctor, he falsified documents to Aish told them I wasn’t even hurt. I had to wait 7 months for an MRI to prove I was hurt. Later using the freedom of information act I got a copy of a diagnostic report that clearly stated that my back injury was getting worse and needed attention. That doctor knew that. True story. More about that and other times I was denied medical here, and the worst part not even a complete list. Check that story here.
Later I check his review on the internet and found many other horror stories about him. My neck and back were broken as well as my wrist and left knee.
When you see a Veterans license plate or remember today, have some respect, like most Veterans, we were all willing to fight and die for our country and our flag. And a lot of us did and many more will die in the service of our country in the future. So take a minute and remember.
So you know I never considered myself a hero, just a man that did what needed doing during the time I served.
UPDATE: I checked my driveway this morning Nov 11. My driveway is usually cleared by our county and I have met the driver of the snowplow (grader in this country) a few times. I appreciate the work that they do. A few years ago the top of my driveway was only done on one side and again today the same on Veterans Day. What it means is, I have to back my vehicle into my driveway three hundred feet down from the corner.
I had spinal surgery from a car accident that happened just a mile from here. I have a titanium plate and a bone fusion in my neck between c1 and c2 (called a hangman’s fracture), range of motion in my neck is limited, backing up that distance in the winter is an impossibility for me. The last time this happened the county fixed it right away for me. I appreciated that.
This is the area I either used to back in or back out
there must be a new grader operator usually more of my drive gets done than this. I can do some but not as much as I use to before I was disabled. The shortness of breath and dizziness just complicate things. Even chopping wood is very difficult.
I just had a conversation with the public works manager. I got very strange hostile answers to my driveway situation. One answer was my driveway shouldn’t have been done at all. That there were other priorities. It would take a grader ten seconds to fix. After looking at the list of people that worked in that department I understood better. There was the name of someone that had tried to cause problems for me before when I had a small business.
The world is full of petty tyrants that use their positions to hold power over others. I guess to make themselves feel superior. I guess no one told them that there are no superiority complexes only inferior complexes.
The fractured arm and tests will have to wait. I didn’t mention to the PWM I was a veteran, I don’t want special treatment for something I was proud to do. The fact that I mentioned I was disabled and had a possible fractured arm should have been enough. But It was not.
I just rebooked my test at GP hospital. The earliest I can get in is Jan 16, 2020. There is only one hospital that does the test. As I understand it there used to be more but due to cutbacks, that has been discontinued in other centers near here.
I had a visitor today an 85-year-old farmer who was smart enough to not drive his car down the driveway. Instead, he parked his car on the road and had to walk down the driveway, and he had to back his car all the way to the corner to leave. He didn’t have good words to say about that, I won’t repeat them here.
A few hours later he came back, with a tractor. I wish I would have known before I had to change my appointment. I am thankful he came. 
At least now I have a better chance to get to the hospital and have my arm x-ray. I just have to survive another two months. Maybe by then, my driveway will become a priority.
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