FRONT LINES
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By Stephen J.Thorne
General takes a new approach
he chief of the defence staff has a theory: happy retirees make for more and better recruits. Appearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, General Jonathan Vance said recruitment, training and treatment of Canadian Armed Forces personnel is “at a turning point.” It has to be. “I think it’s a truism that if you leave well, content, satisfied and looking back on your career,” he said, “then you will provide more of a positive reinforcement to those who may wish to join. “If people don’t think that they’re being treated well, that we are not looking after them, then they won’t come and work for us and they won’t willingly risk their lives. If we
cannot attract and retain the talent we need, then we won’t have success on operations. It’s that simple.” Treating military retirees right is also the right thing to do, he added. “If our policies aren’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing, which is to properly support and administer those people who defend our country, then the policies need to change and we’re going to change them.” Canada has faced plenty of criticism over how it treats its veterans. Aside from the issues of longterm compensation for the ill and injured, retiring military members have been facing crippling delays in the transition between their military paycheques and their pensions. This came to a head with the story of retired air force sergeant
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Tricia Beauchamp, a two-time cancer survivor and single mother who was evicted from her home while she was fighting with bureaucrats for her military severance, pensions and benefits. Her case highlighted a military pension backlog that CBC reported peaked at some 13,000 files last year and prompted a flood of complaints. Vance told the Conference of Defence Associations’ annual symposium in February that he planned to change the way military careers are managed and concluded. Now he appears to be putting meat on the bones of that promise. “When I hear stories from my people about how they’ve gone for weeks or even months without the pension they’ve earned through their service, well, senators, disappointed doesn’t even come close to describing how I feel,” he said. “DND, the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs are working on converging these two systems. We have direction and intent from both of our ministers to close the seams and that’s what we will do.” Promises, promises. Forgive jaded veterans and prospective retirees if they claim to have heard it all before. But there are a couple of reasons why, this time, the promises to improve their collective lot might be different.
Cpl. Michael MacIsaac/Canadian Forces Support Unit (Ottawa)
DND
2017-05-25 2:01 PM
