Video Gallery

Capt. (Ret’d) Vanessa Larter

Capt. (Ret’d) Vanessa Larter
Vanessa Larter joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 2002 and served twenty years in the army as a medic. She served two tours to Kandahar, Afghanistan, with the PPCLI battle group in 2006 and 2008. She also took part in multiple domestic operations in Canada. She retired from the CAF as a Physician Assistant. She thoroughly enjoyed her career at home and abroad including several years instructing at the Canadian Forces Medical School. She now resides back home in PEI with her husband and four children.

Videos

Mental health fitness is as important as physical fitness
Learning to live with PTSD is an ongoing process
PTSD destroyed our home
When someone is having an “off” day
Watching for trauma within a platoon
My husband and I divorced after we both served in Afghanistan
As a child I learned about death and grief by attending funerals
The benefits of being in the military outweigh the risks
I experienced sexism at bootcamp
The birth of my first baby allowed me to feel joy again
I couldn’t remember what I liked and what I didn’t like
It was easier to return to Afghanistan than to live with the “noise” in Canada
Recognizing that you’ve changed
Do my friends and family grieve the loss of the person I was?
Grieving the loss of the person you were
Returning to Canada was very hard
You are often not aware of trauma when it’s happening
Sharing stories with families left behind
The importance of ceremony when a soldier dies
Survivor's guilt took over my life for several years
Grief can come at random times
I accepted that fact that I might die
Even the best soldier can be killed
Each death leaves a different kind of hole
Advice for supporting your soldier when she or he returns home
Suicide is still hard to talk about
As a medic you often feel very alone
Suicide is far too common in our military