XPost: can.politics, edm.general, ab.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics   
   From: {~_~}@nyet.ca   
      
   He's gotten his use out of them in Afghanistan . . . now let them fend   
   for themselves.  Even when they can't.   
   ____________________________________________   
   The Canadian Press / thestar.com - Sun May 04 2014   
      
   Ottawa reneges on offer of extended leave to soldier with PTSD   
      
   Afghanistan veteran Kristian Wolowidnyk, who went public last fall about   
   his attempted suicide, is told by DND he no longer qualifies for   
   extended release program.   
      
      
   OTTAWA—National Defence has done an about-face and revoked an offer that   
   would have allowed a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder, who   
   spoke publicly last fall about his attempted suicide, the right to an   
   extended release from the military.   
      
   Master Cpl. Kristian Wolowidnyk’s story made headlines across the   
   country in November when it was revealed he tried to take his own life   
   after the army put him on the fast track for dismissal.   
      
   The military backed down after his case became public, but just last   
   week reversed itself and said he doesn’t qualify for the program.   
      
   He was given the latest news last Tuesday by officials at the Edmonton   
   Joint Personnel Support Unit, one of several centres across the country   
   designed to get injured and ill soldiers back to their units or — more   
   often — out of the military.   
      
   Wolowidnyk and wife Michele were told the offer for an extended release   
   under the Integrated Transition Program was withdrawn and that the base   
   surgeon had stated there was no medical reason why he couldn’t be either   
   working or in school.   
      
   Michele Wolowidnyk, in a letter to Defence Minister Rob Nicholson and   
   chief of defence staff Gen. Tom Lawson, says that the base surgeon has   
   never met her husband and she believes the department was just stringing   
   him along until the media attention died down.   
      
   The former combat engineer and Afghanistan war veteran is unable to   
   comment because, after all the public attention, he was compelled to   
   sign the Defence Department’s social media policy, which forbids him   
   from saying anything disparaging or critical of the military — and of   
   the joint personnel unit in particular.   
   ____________________   
      
   More at thestar.com:   
   A soldier’s tale: cross-country tour aims to raise awareness of PTSD   
   Canadian military faces wave of mental health cases, warns report   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)