Repercussions of War

A lot of nightmares. I get nightmares every night. I get flashbacks. It's affected my family life and I was unable to work. I, I basically couldn't work in the Army. I was, I was receiving treatment and medication and, and was working in the Army for quite a, a long period of time, but I got to the point where I just was unable to go into work. I had to phone BOR and said, "I'm not coming in," or the battalion or, or the battalion duty centre. I had to phone in and said, "I'm not coming in." I just was unable to come in, I was unable to put my uniform on. I mean I, I just couldn't function as a, as, as a soldier in the Army and I was on stress leave soon after that. And for about a year and a half, I suppose. So it's, it's taken it's toll. It's, it's something you live with. Like I'm a lot better now, but it's something that stays with you. Interviewer: And when you say it's something, it's something that stays with you, is it the entire tour or is it those few moments, those few episodes within that? I'd, well I, it's, it's a couple it, like, I know that episode where I heard the screams, that'll be with me forever. I'll always remember that. There was, there was a body hanging too, I, I remember quite vividly sometimes I have flashbacks about it. Couple of, you know, things here and there. Interviewer: And, and you, you are dealing, you are coping with them? Yes. Yeah I, I've gotten a lot of, you know, I've gotten a lot of counselling. I've gotten a lot of help with it and I'm good. You know it's, I'm at peace with everything now. I've eliminated stress from my life and life is good. Interviewer: So there's a, an end in sight? Yes. Oh yeah, if, I know people there, there is light at the end of the tunnel, you know, for anyone who's suffering. It, it seems quite bleak at times, but, you know, if you hang in there it gets better.

Mr. Grossinger talks about the nightmares and flashbacks he has had and how it has affected his life, after the war in Afghanistan.

Darcy Grossinger

Mr.Grossinger was born in 1969 in Germany, and was raised on army bases around the world due to his father’s service in the Canadian Forces. Seeking adventure and the opportunity to travel, Mr.Grossinger enlisted in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in November of 1989. He became a rifleman and climbed the ranks quickly becoming a corporal. In the fall of 1992, Mr.Grossinger was given his first assignment overseas in Croatia with the United Nations Peacekeeping operations. Over the course of the six month tour, Mr.Grossinger did many jobs, including releif convoys, escorts and patrolling missions. It wasn’t until 1997, and again in 2000, Mr.Grossinger would return to that area, only this time he was stationed in Bosnia under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Shortly after his 2000 tour in Bosnia, he was sent as part of an American brigade doing sensitive site exploration in the challenging mountains of Afganistan.