Call me a skeptic but is Mike Blais selling out veterans?

Right on guy's ! Well said by all !

TEEN, Recon very well put, and to the point. I did have a long response rags but , my view has already expressed as the above. Now while you read, a lot of us on here yes are EX Infantry, now if we thought we were any better than the next soldier, because of being on the front line or assuming we were any better than the next soldier, than we would not be here trying to help all regardless of what trade, rank, time in, gender, and more important how they became disabled means nothing, the fact they were injured is what counts and how do we help period. Now myself being ex grunt and being narrow minded, then I would have to tell my old man hey your injuries are not as important as mine as you were not in combat. Now how the hell would I look this man in the face, knowing he did 38yrs and 22 of those years as a CWO, SIGS , with many tours, and held every command position as a CWO ? and we talk regularly and at 76 yrs ,old school hard ass, He sees no difference all equal. He always says to me NO AND PROMOTE YOUR MENS WELFARE, then ends that statement by saying it does not end when your out of the military, wise old bugger and so true.

Now ref to your comment on Mike Blaise, non combat injury, you may be correct on that, but what I can tell you for fact it was a SDA injury, how do I know I was on the same tour as mike 1984, when it was so bad he had to be flown to Germany. Now some may agree or disagree with the way mike helps us and that's up to each to decide, but here is an ex grunt who was released due to injuries is trying to help all vets, not just some.

.......... Rags ,

I think I can assume that ... YOU ... are NOT ... An Infantry Warrior !

Am I Correct in my assumption ? ...... Because , we in The Infantry World , have the Highest Regard for all Support trades , wether you are in Training or , At War , they are there to Support us , & Without them we would not function as well as we do , Nor , would we have the Confidence to do our job as well as we do without their Support .

..... We are all a " Spindle in the Wheel " , & when each one becomes Twisted , or , Broken we momentarily become Weaker & Less Confident until they're replaced , Sent back , & Taken Care of .

...... We all have a " Moral Duty " here to help each other , even if " YOU were NOT " a Front Line Warrior who in my opinion if Severely Disabled due to Combat deserves 100 % of all Benefits , wether Training Or Combat ! we all Deserve Benefits as Applicable to our own Personnal Injuries .

...... BTW ..... A lot of Deseases are Caused including Cancerous Ones from " Exposure to Chemicals " while on Tour ....

Do Not Judge each & every one on here without living the Life of that said Individual , I know Cooks attached to us in Bosnia , who you might say were always back in HQ. would never see Combat ..... BUT ! some of them did in Bosnia , as they delivered food to Troops out on Recce's & ended up getting Caught in Ambushes , having to Fight their way through to Survive another Day & Feed the Front line Troops , They too in my Mind " Earned " their Warrior Badge !


For Country
Retired Army MasterSniper
Dave Fitzpatrick
Family of .......7........ Get r' Done Bye's !

Sorry Rags but your explanation is pure bunk! You obviously have not studied the history of the Legion and why it is being run by civilians.

The Legion after WWII had the exact same way of thinking you have right now. They would look down their nose and say the same crap..."You weren't in combat! So how would you know what injuries mean?!?!?"

So their arrogance in thinking their statis of veteran put them at the top of the ladder is the exact same reason they are at the bottom of the ladder today when it comes to advocating! Why? Because why would I want to join an organization that belittled my status as a veteran?

Oh and just so you know I was a Generator Technician with the Engineers, an Air Force Engineer, and I got my injury in the Gulf War when I was attached to the 1 Cdn Field Hospital. My civy equivalent job was to make sure the hospital, full of civys disguised as CF doctors, had power so they could operate on the combat guys like you who got shot. Which makes me wonder would you have survived your combat injuries if the civy's were not in the field with you?

We have enough damn problems fighting to get any injured veteran to be treated the same and we sure as hell don't need one of our own to downplay what we did in the CF and belittle our injuries.

I agree you's deserve more support. but i dont agree that the rest of us should collect welfare instead of va. sisip wont live up to their contractual obligation and we dont qualify for workers comp so what is the final solution you tell me before i vote you to the head of the table.

Get the emotion out of the conversation and look at best solution. After we have it working right then we can argue about who gets to play gin rummy at the head table.
By the way on the issue of wrote the blank cheque......Some of us had it cashed! Since we are the only ones that had to pay ya might want to let us speak first...not just only us, But just first.

Let me put it into perspective. Would I rather have Mike Blaies Infantryman (Ill non combat injured) or Mcpl Franklin medical corp (Combat wounded) speak for me at the head table? Remember only one seat better get it right so who is best to talk to Government about veteran wounded support? I dont care that he is not a Combat trade I care he is at the core of the suffering and can speak and knows. The rest of the Sick, Injured can take a second to shut up and sit back and wait there turn. after all we appear to be forgetting the whole dame thing called veteran is about fighting in a war and getting wounded and supported.....the rest of the sick and ill is just a side bonus that was put into the program because we figured our that the job is really harsh and we should support the injured and ill because of that.....well specific jobs are really harsh 75% of the jobs in the CF are as easy as any civy task so for them this whole argument and extra support is truly just a huge lottery win that is a extra because they happen to wear the CF badge. So this whole argument rather then being about YOU look at it from the perspective of why we are all here and why we are all conserned for guys like Maj Campbell, Mcpl Franklin......and too many others. Last and least is the poor soul that has MS not caused by the CF or there tours. or the hockey player with the bad hip that never deployed. Get your heads on straight as to what this is all about.

Rags

Well, in my books a vet is a vet, but there is always unfortunately going to be a few that perhaps feel they are a bit more of a vet because they were shot at, or this or that. There are many circumstances to being a VAC client, no being shot at thank Christ is not the starting point. There are so many situations and variables that we in my humble opinion need to support the best ne soldier concept. I am not a fan of the term combat vet, even though I was one, I have and will continue to fight for veterans no matter where they served because the real facts are we all bleed veteran red! I also agree that the Legions need to haver military veterans runny them but the facts are there are not enough that want to take on the job. One thing is for dam sure, the majority of civvies, no matter who will never understand what it is like to be a veteran. It seems there are a lot of folks out there that downplay where we are, in the end it really upsets me that no matter what these politicians are doing or saying, we are the ones marking time.

Did you ever here a WW2 vet complain a Korean war vet complain or think their better than any non combat vet i never did  and i grew up around them what i was taught its all one big team no body does it alone. somebody back in canada supplied you's with some thing to help you's do the job. ration's. bullets. clothing. mail and now they dont deserve the same rights if injured while doing that.I guess they better join a union to protect their civil rights, sorry no rations till next week closed weekends.

Got to agree with you czerv. I don't like seeing vets categorizing veterans on their injuries either. I have a hard enough time trying to stop this kind of categorizing with VAC I don't want to have to start trying to stop veterans from doing the same.

We are all the same...ONE VETERAN!!!

Looks like 'divide and conquer' is working?

Combat vet, base wog vet, airborne vet, leg vet, where do we draw the line. I know what you guys are saying. You talk about all the splinter groups that have formed because of the legion. This forum is for all vets but some seem to divide us. We all wrote the blank cheque when we joined. Every soldier, seaman or airman donated a pound of flesh or more to his or her country. Some literally and some figuratively but we all paid some price that led to our disabilities. I have a nephew that worked in the desert out of a sea container. His job was to "splash" targets. He never saw combat but he is still messed up cause of all the people he killed. I was retired when the afgan shit show started but many times I wished I was over there with my brothers and sisters in arms. Not wanting to start anything just putting it out there. I respect the "combat vets" you guys did our country proud but we must not have two lines on pay parade.

lol agreed

Robbie,
Yup sorry was your thread went sideways.......Mike selling out Vets? No..... I dont agree with most of what he says but he is speaking from his heart and trying to do the right thing in relation to his view of the problem and solution. The issue with him and others is this thing called "Get Our Voices Heard" because we dont trust agree or like the Legion as real vets....ie Combat Vets dont run it anymore. Mike is just trying to be heard and that ends up having to work with in a system that at times makes ya appear to be selling out to some.
 We need to rain in all these organisations and speak from one soap box. The Legion is that soap box but first we have to dump all the loosers at the top and ensure wounded vets who can speak and lobby are at the top. Legion need to make a bylaw change to ensure only a Vet who is injured holds the senior positions. After all how can a civilian understand our system more important how can a garrison soldier truly understand a wounded veteran. Is this far no is it right yes.

For an example the CAV used to be a voice cause it did not like what the Legion said now there is 50 other voices none have any power as we are too split. CAV as in all orgs is finished so they dont speak for anyone anymore....better beat it back to the Legion if ya want to be heard. 

I was a legion member till the civilians started to take over and non combat vets started running the show. Maybe time to rejoin to be heard.
Rags

Just a few words to express my point of view on the issue, it is just my opinion not meant to show any negativity towards anyone just the way I see it.

I will start with by explaining the difference between civilians who are injured on the job, and seek to get benefits from their injury- and those who are cf members who are injured during their time while serving their country, and seek benefits for their injuries.
There is a big difference between the two, and I will explain why.
A civilian who gets injured is to seek benefits for their injuries from whatever benefits their employer provides to them.
A cf member unlike it's counterpart civilians are in a totally different category when it comes to benefits from their injuries.
A cf member is unique in a way that does not compare to any civilian job, the job comes in a form of land, air, and sea.
The duties of "ALL" cf members is to answer the call to serve their country any day, at any time 24/7 365 days a year.
These duties include being ready and able to serve out any order given to them, which includes "COMBAT" among others.
We all fall under the same umbrella, regardless of what trade we are in.
Given the fact that civilian duties are not requested to answer the call of service, to include combat, it is for this reason that comparing benefits between the two is just not conceivable, it is like comparing apples to oranges, they do not compare to the duties and responsibility that all cf members do.
When a civilian gets injured their benefit package from their employer covers them.
When a cf member gets injured, they are looked after by the government, the reason for this is that the cf member is on full time duty, even though they maybe off home or on leave, they still have to answer the call when it comes.
That is why we have things like DVA to look after those who " serve our country " when one puts on the cf uniform he or she is now serving their country.
That is the difference between the both.
With respect to being injured on the job in the cf, you are serving, therefore you are entitled to receive the benefits provided equally across the board, some maybe injured worse then others, the benefits received will adjust for that, but we all fall under the very same umbrella, so receiving DVA benefits are definitely in order.

With respect to benefits provided to combat veterans versus non - combat veterans, yes it is true that those who are actually in the front line in combat may have more injuries then those who are non - combat, the duty of "ALL CF MEMBERS" do not change, we all fall under the same umbrella, which is being able to answer the call regardless of trade, combat - or non - combat.
It also could be viewed as different trades doing different jobs with all the very same objectives, it is a family organization that works for the same result, trains for the same results, supports for the same results.
Putting combat benefits into a different category then non - combat would be like saying those who on the front line are the only ones required to answer the call of duty, however, if this were to happen, those non - combat injured Veterans better not be required to sign up to answer that call, which in this case would put those veterans more inline with their civilian counterparts with respect to receiving benefits.

Bottom line, we cannot compare what members of the cf do, to what civilians do, we are all unique in what we do in serving our country, we "ALL" deserve the same benefits, we all deserve the same respect, we need to make sure that all Veterans are given the same deserving dignity that comes from any injury while serving our country.

Don't know where your original question went Robbie,

but...

RcnRetired, Rags, and BigRex. 
 
All of you make valid points. Rags, I agree pretty much with Rcn's Black and White. It exists and happens. Forget the sprained ankle while playing badminton off duty on a pmq.
But do not overlook the grey, it definitely exists, happens, and needs looking into.
 
Waaay too many different scenarios and variables.
 
Furthermore, one would hope the GoC has a safety net to catch the grey areas for a veterans benefit.
However, I believe the GoC also uses grey area’s to their advantage.
 
i.e. Grey area’s = policy documents = loopholes.
Case in point. The 3 “D”s… esp. the Deny one…
 

Just my opinion. Pinger.