Fred Doucette always wanted to be a soldier. In the 1960s he joined the Canadian Armed Forces and served in Cyprus in the 1970s and ’80s and Bosnia in the 1990s. When he returned home to New Brunswick in 1999 after his last overseas tour, he was diagnosed with severe chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. Eventually released from the army, Fred found a position with the Operational Stress Injury Social Support (OSISS) program, where he supported serving soldiers and veterans for ten years.

Better Off Dead chronicles Fred’s efforts in helping to rehabilitate and support soldiers and veterans suffering from what the military terms “operational stress injuries.” We meet Ted, saved from a suicide attempt by a timely phone call; Bob, at wit’s end and reluctantly seeking help to overcome severe PTSD; Roger, caught in a cycle of violence and drug and alcohol abuse; and Jane, diagnosed with PTSD after having been sexually assaulted while on a tour of duty in Afghanistan. These accounts are raw, desperate, and often angry, but as Doucette shows, there is hope and real progress for those able to obtain proper diagnosis and treatment. Includes a colour insert with 15 photos.

Frederick Joseph Doucette joined the Canadian Army Militia in 1968, and was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment as an Infantryman in 1970. After already more than twenty-five years of loyal service to the Canadian Army, Doucette was posted to Sarajevo, Bosnia in 1995, where he served as a Military Observer for the United Nations. In the summer of 2000, Doucette was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder caused by multiple operations experiences dating as far back as his first United Nations tour in 1973. Since being released from the military in 2002, he has been working with the Department of National Defense/Veterans Affairs Operational Stress Injury Social Support Program as the Peer Support Coordinator, providing peer support to Armed Forces personnel and veterans suffering from PTSD. He lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where he enjoys family life, woodworking, writing and traveling.

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