Participating with Pride!

Heroes Remember

Participating with Pride!

Transcript

The way I got to do the army run was I got to know Soldier On program which is a great program that helps injured forces members and so that’s about three years ago that I got to go on a camp and it was a summer sports camp and I got to know all these other injured members that had that positive attitude and I came back home with another, how can I say that, another tool in my bag. They really inspired me, that’s the word I was looking for. I was really inspired by them people, you know, having all kinds of injuries from missing a leg to missing two legs or like me, having mental issues, PTSD mostly. So I came back home and it got me going with a new attitude thinking maybe I can use this injury in a positive way and so I tried doing that. And from there I was asked by Solider On to go on this Solider On Afghanistan relay, that was last May, where we brought the last Canadian flags from Trenton, that had flown in Afghanistan, from Trenton to Parliament Hill on Day of Honour that we gave to the Prime Minister. That lasted for a week, we were running, rolling or walking from Trenton to Parliament and sharing between us all injured from Afghanistan and that event too I was again very inspired by all the other injured and it was special to be part of that moment that underlined the end of the mission in Afghanistan which had big meaning for me. I was really touched that they selected me to be on that team because sometime, you know, PTSD is very, you know, you don’t talk about it too much and for me I took it as finally the military, what’s the word I am looking for, recognized that it’s an injury and a lot of us suffer from PTSD.

Description

Ms. Dupuis expresses her pride and gratitude for being selected to participate in the Soldier On program.

Natacha Dupuis

Ms. Natacha Dupuis was born May 25, 1979 in Longueuil, Quebec. Throughout her younger years, she always had a desire to join the military. In 1997, at age 18, Ms. Dupuis joined the reserves and with family support and encouragement, she enlisted with Armoured Corp as a tanker. After receiving her basic training in Montreal as well as completed the Crewman course in Valcartier, Ms. Dupuis moved to Vancouver and joined the British Columbia Regiment. There she took an advance reconnaissance course and a few years later joined the Regular Force accepting more training on the Leopard tank and completed the Coyote Gunner/Driver course. Ms. Dupuis was deployed to Bosnia and twice to Afghanistan. Suffering from PTSD, Ms. Dupuis was medically released from the military. She now has a positive focus on her future and maintains pride for her service years. She is involved with the Canada Army Run and is a proud member of the Soldier On organization.

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