A disturbing trend since 2010 warns of “significantly higher” suicide rates among the 40 thousand soldiers who were deployed to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014.
Andrew Garsh, who spent 12 years in the military, suffered severe brain trauma after a car bomb went off in front of the vehicle he happened to be in.
Garsh says it had a devastating effect on his life as he isolated himself from the people he worked with, broke off all communication and even driving to the base where he worked would cause him to break out in a sweat from anxiety.
Garsh was eventually diagnosed with a seizure disorder, got the help he needed and recovered.
Author Sally Armstrong argues the Canadian soldiers who served in Afghanistan improved the lives of women. The wearing of the niqab by women is seen by some as a sign of oppression. Armstrong who has written a lot about women in Afghanistan hates the niqab but adds, like Voltaire, she will defend the right of women to wear it if they so choose.
The niqab turned into a major election issue in Quebec but, in the end, Armstrong says it’s not up to us to tell other people what they should wear.
