Paul Franklin lost both his legs in an explosion while serving as a medic in Afghanistan. But he's determined to be just as much a soldier as he was before.
The military shares the hopes expressed by Franklin and other wounded returnees. But the Canadian military is learning as it goes when it comes to dealing with the largest number of wounded soldiers since the Korean War.
"Whatever the guy wants, he gets," Franklin said. "And that's the great thing about what the military's doing right now is that it's all about funding, and they're just willing to help fund these guys.
"We want to make sure that it works. That every patient gets exactly what they need to get to the next level and that includes good wheelchairs."
When a soldier is wounded, the first visitor is usually a military chaplain. But the ranges of services also includes emergency babysitting or helping with domestic work like a leaky roof.
Even strangers provide comfort. A quilt is provided to the family of every killed or wounded soldier.
"They prepare a quilt where each patch is prepared by a different quilter from quilting guilds across the country, and there is a patch on the back of them which is signed by the chief of defence staff," said Col. Jerry Blais, the director of casualty support management.
Lt. Col Bill Moore, who commands CFB Petawawa, is proud of how the army and civilians work together.
"The sooner we can get the soldier back to his colleagues, to his familiar work space, it greatly assists his recovery and rehabilitation and reintegration into the work force, because the aim always is to bring the person back to full, healthful recovery, back to their original duties," Moore told CTV Ottawa.
Canadian Forces policy is that everyone must be physically fit enough to be deployed. Obesity can be as much a barrier as wounds.
But not everyone will make it back to their prior position, even after military efforts to restore the soldier's health over a three-year period. So the Canadian Forces will try to help in finding another job. The military job searches for its ex-soldiers with companies such as Bombardier.
"We actively job match with an excess of 300 civilian employers to try to find jobs that are within the scope of what the individual is prepared to do in civilian life," said Blais.
Senator Colin Kenny, who headed a committee on reintegrating wounded soldiers, said: "There are places in the Canadian Forces for everyone who has been wounded and we should find a place for them."
Former soldiers receive a pension and severance pay, and go to the head of the line in public service hiring. Veterans Affairs Canada also runs several support programs.
And remember that care isn't just for the wounded. Anyone injured or ill in the military gets the same treatment.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Norman Fetterley
