Peter ‘Jack’ Daniels knows all too well about the difficulties of adjusting to civilian life after a career in the military. That's why he is helping other veterans in his role as the service officer at Thorold Legion Branch 17.
“I'll help the veterans navigate where they kind of need to go to get whatever service they're looking for,” Daniels tells ThoroldToday. “Some of it is done through our Poppy Fund and then some is through Veterans Affairs Canada — depending on what they have going on.”
Daniels joined the military when he was just 17.
“I got out of school, and I did not want to go to university,” he says. “So I said, ‘I'll go on and serve my country.’”
Adjusting to civilian life after a career in the military can be challenging.
“There's no comparison to living in the military and living in the civilian world,” Daniels says. “It’s just two different worlds. They tear you down and rebuild you. When you're trained that way, and you live that way, it's hard to step back out of it. And so guys struggle with that.”
Fortunately, Daniels is here to help. When veterans walk into the Thorold Legion, he can help them navigate the bureaucracy that’s often a stumbling block in getting help.
“It's just a lot of information,” Daniels says. “It's hard to put in a pamphlet what it's all about, because it's just so much. So we have points of contact for people to kind of make the first step. We can guide them to what they're looking for.”
There is a wide variety of issues that veterans deal with, such as PTSD, disabilities, and homelessness.
“Maybe they need a little help this month with groceries or they need help with rent or they need their dentures fixed,” says Daniels.” The poppy fund can manage that kind of stuff and help them out.”
There are also programs to help family members of veterans.
“It affects kind of everybody around you,” Daniels says. “Everything that happens to you is just by osmosis pushed down into your family. Even if you're trying not to. It's still going to go there.”
With Remembrance Day coming up on Monday, Daniels says it’s important to pay respect to those who served.
“Anybody who put on the uniform and fought for Canada, died for Canada, got wounded for Canada, is living a tougher life because of their service,” he says. “Remembrance Day is for everybody. When people hear veteran, they think some old guy. Well, they're not old. They go from age 17, 18, all the way up into their 90’s.”
And being a service officer is Daniels’ way of giving back.
“I just do my part to give back to the newer veterans that are coming out,” he says. “I'm a veteran as well, so I like to help the guys as much as I can.”
