Casualties of War & OSI

[Pieman]

For those who come back suffering from an OSI and end up being lost due to suicide:

Are these soldiers considered to be casualties of war? (If not, I believe they should be.)

I know that suicide, that is not related to combat,  is not treated with much respect in the CF culture. Seen as weak.

For those soldiers who fall victim to their OSI injuries, are they treated with the same regard as a soldier who has fallen in combat?

Seeing a mid-20's lad knock himself off after coming home from a tour with OSI issues is a difficult thing to understand. There is little doubt that the issues were related to his tour.

 

[Michael OLeary]

I believe this is, in part, because we have not yet re-invented a policy that was in place for the returned soldiers of the First and Second World Wars. For each of these conflicts there was a date after the cessation of hostilities before which any soldier's death that was attributable to wounds, injuries or illness as a result of their service was still classified as a casualty of the war.

For example, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission uses these dates:

1914-18 War from 4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921
1939-45 War from 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947

The Canadian Books of Remembrance go to 1922 for the First World War  and 1947 for the Second World War.