Page 45 - Biz X Magazine - June, 2014 Issue

HONOURING OUR SOLDIERS PERSPECTIVE: Bruce Moncur, Afghanistan Veteran Story and photos by Andrea Grimes, unless marked IN OTHER WORDS standing in front of a tank, August Kandahar, 2006 in Afghanistan. Finding A Way Photo courtesy of CPL Ryan Pagnacco. Back Home hey mean to “talk about it,” but they Tcan’t muster the strength to do so. It just re-opens too many old wounds. Military culture produces men and women that put the needs of others before themselves. Mission, readiness and success in the battlefeld drives soldiers to show no weakness while serving with duty, honour, strength and perfection. Since the frst strike in 2002, the Afghanistan military engagement (which lasted 12 years) took the lives of 158 soldiers. Additionally, more than 40,000 Canadians (from all walks of life) served in the Afghanistan mission in a number of capacities. too well what our soldiers are going through. battlefelds. Tey carry with them guilt, anger, At any given time, communities all across Back then, we knew who our enemies were. Not fear, and isolation; grief, moral injury, shame, Canada remember and cherish the act of bravery so with our soldiers in Afghanistan. Shortly and the feeling they don’t know who they are spent in the name of freedom. Whether kneeling afer my 19th birthday, I joined up – in 1943. anymore! Tey ofen don’t even recognize the side by side or standing shoulder to shoulder or I was full of piss and vinegar. I soon found out face they see refected in the mirror! Tey are hand in hand, comfort and support is ofered that going to war wasn’t all it was cracked up to wounded, haunted and tormented to the point to one other while honouring the memory, be. As my regiment was shufed from village of contemplating “ending it all” while trying sacrifce and courage of our fallen and those to village, I saw things all across Italy that so desperately to fnd those missing pieces of civilians who served to bring humanitarian aid riveted bone-chilling and relentless fear deep themselves. to an impoverished nation. within me. I was wounded carrying a fellow Our soldiers seldom talk about their For our soldiers struggling to fnd their comrade to safety. Tat memory haunts me combat experiences even amongst themselves – way back home, war never leaves. Raised from still. While recovering in England, I spent many those fears and feelings faced in the battlefelds the dust of distant battlefelds, combat stress long days and nights in never-ending, torment under the rain of gunfre – what horrors they and battle fatigue leaves our soldiers “outside agonizing over the horrors I saw, the friends witnessed – what emotions they are bringing themselves” with unquestionable scars that I had lost. Te luxury of peace was never within back home with them. To share their burdens undermines soldiers’ dignity and pride, costs my grasp. While I was laid up in that hospital with others and expecting society (in absence them their jobs, denies them the ability to bed struggling with an emptiness that gnawed of culture change) to understand, just doesn’t develop a livelihood; puts unbearable strains away inside of me, I realized that I was sufering happen for our soldiers ofen enough. on marriages, and permanently damages from PTSD. I thought that I would go out of At the age of 17, Windsor native Bruce relationships with their children. my mind.” Moncur enlisted with the Essex and Kent Teir lives begin to unravel through In recognizing Scislowski’s fears, a Scottish (EKSCOT.org) on June 26, 2001. discouraging attempts to achieve a quality of psychiatrist advised him to keep his mind Moncur recalls the day he enlisted. life they are so desperately trying to reclaim. occupied – to write about what he experienced “Originally I joined the reserves as a summer Tere is a name put to the face of this endless and what he was struggling with – to read – to job; I had told my dad about joining and found torment – “Operational Stress Injuries (OSI).” give himself the time to heal. Scislowski took myself at the recruitment centre that day afer It isn’t difcult to recognize. Our WWI and the doctor’s suggestions to heart. school. Because I was under 18, I had to get a WWII soldiers who “flled the ranks” (just for “At the age of 73, I wrote of my experiences,” parent’s consent. Te summer of 2001, I went the adventure of it) knew it as “shell shock.” he said. “My book, ‘Not All of Us Were Brave’ through basic training and graduated 19 days Local 90 year old Veteran, Stan Scislowski, was the therapy that I needed. If it wasn’t for before September 11, 2001. I still remember (acclaimed author, an astute military historian that doctor’s advice, I wouldn’t have survived being told that we were on standby to deploy and noted advisor to the History Channel on everything that life threw at me all these years. to war. Te events of 9/11 were a big reason the Italian campaign) has written numerous My advice to our soldiers, who are bringing for my continued service and eventual service articles on his WWII experiences serving with home things they don’t understand, is to open in the Afghanistan war. Te battle of Panjwaii the Perth Regiment (PerthRegiment.org) in up and talk about what is going on inside them. was the largest Canadian led battle since the Italy (Liri Valley and Gothic Line). To keep it all bottled up will drive them to the Korean War; the entire events impacted my life Dog Tags Graphic credit: © istockphoto.com/santi0103 During an interview with Biz X, Scislowski darkest corners and they will be unable to get more so than any other event. I can say without mentioned that he is a 15 year survivor of back up and on with their lives.” a doubt that the battlefeld experiences I did throat cancer and although two strokes put Years later, history repeats itself. For many experience have given me a new appreciation a damper on his public speaking tours, he of our modern-day career soldiers returning for perspective.” spoke passionately on his personal experiences home from their tours of duty, their lives begin From three separate enemy hits, Moncur struggling with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress to unravel even before they walk through the sustained shrapnel injuries to his head, back Disorder – as it was called back then). front door. Our soldiers who are struggling and buttocks with the head injury being the While leafng through pages of his many with Operational Stress Injuries spend a great most severe. As a result, he underwent two brain daily journals, Scislowski admitted “I know all deal of their days and nights returning to the surgeries and had 5% of his brain removed. BIZ X MAGAZINE • JUNE 2014 45 BizX2014June52.indd 45 2014-05-27 9:44 PM