By Bryn Levy

Saskatoon vet reacts to 16th soldier suicide of 2014

Dec 13, 2014 | 7:46 AM

A Saskatoon veteran said the latest suicide by a Canadian soldier is another example of the failure to look after a group of people who deserve better.

Cary Tarasoff was discharged from the Canadian Forces in 1990, after injuries sustained during training in the late ’80s were found to make him unable to continue serving.

When he learned of the death of Cpl. Scott Smith this week at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, he said the first thing people need to know is that the numbers aren’t what they seem. Smith’s death is the 16th recorded suicide of a Canadian soldier in 2014. Tarasoff said that number is low because the only ones being counted are men who serve in the regular forces,  discounting reservists and women in what Tarasoff said is a ploy to make a dire situation appear better.

“People’s lives are in the balance here, they’re dying and it’s not just the 15 or 16 or whatever. It’s probably 30 or 40 or 50 or 60, because if you start adding all the reservists who went to Afghanistan and you start adding all the females in the regular force,  I know at least two that have died,” he said.

Tarasoff said he can understand why so many soldiers seem to keep the trauma they’ve experienced bottled up  — he said soldiers are people who solve problems for others and often don’t feel comfortable discussing their own.

GST Holiday

Federal government's two-month GST holiday begins

12h ago

Imminent need

Council set to discuss possible location for homeless shelter on 15th Street

18h ago

International Spotlight

P.A.'s Howe one of 4 Sask. born players named to Canada's World Junior roster

Dec 13, 2024

He said soldier suicide is something that’s affected him personally, one of his friends from his early days in the Canadian Forces took his own life after multiple tours in Bosnia and Afghanistan. He said he talks to his friend’s family every Remembrance Day.  

“They have no idea why he did it. There was no note. There was nothing,” he said. Describing his friend as ‘the rock of the unit,’ he said it’s clear that soldier suicides are about more than just previously existing mental health problems.

“That he could get to such a point to take his own life makes all of us vulnerable, no matter how strong we think we are,”  he said.

Tarasoff said that as a peacetime veteran, he feels conflicted about speaking out on issues that affect what he called ‘real’ veterans — those who served in combat.  But, he said that with so few serving or ex-soldiers willing or able to talk, he feels compelled to do what he can.

“This is the group of people we put in and say ‘you have to go in, even if they’re shooting at you. You can’t wait back. You have to go in there and you have to be in there all day long while being shot at’ and so I think we (should) put the greatest emphasis that we’re going to take the greatest care of them. And we don’t. We just don’t.”

Tarasoff, pointing out that he himself isn’t affiliated with any political party or union, said the only hope he has is that the situation might begin to change with the upcoming federal election.

“When it comes (time) to vote, maybe? But there will be so many other issues that it will get mixed up and bled through. It won’t just be a single issue,” he said.

news@panow.com 

On Twitter: @princealbertnow