Anxiety part of daily life, injured soldier's mother says
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 | 1:02 PM NT
CBC News
The mother of a Newfoundland soldier severely wounded in Afghanistan last week says it's difficult to describe the anxiety that has become common among military families.
Cpl. Matthew Dicks salutes fallen comrades last Friday during a ramp ceremony at the Kandahar airfield.
(Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)
"It's like a day that never ends," said Elizabeth Fagan, whose son, Cpl. Matthew Dicks, 24, was wounded last week when an armoured vehicle in which he was riding hit a roadside bomb.
Images of a bruised and bandaged Dicks, saluting from his stretcher while the coffins of colleagues were transported during an emotional ramp ceremony at the Kandahar base last Friday, were published and broadcast across Canada.
Dicks, whose legs were broken in several places and who also sustained an eye injury, has since been transported to Germany for medical treatment.
As she prepared to head to Germany to be with her son, Fagan said the last week has been difficult.
"I know one thing I'm going to do when I see him first — put my arms around him and cry," she said.
"Then I can see for myself that he's OK."
Dicks's grandmother, Ada Oake, said she cries when she sees photographs of her grandson saluting his comrades, Master Cpl. Allan Stewart and Trooper Patrick Pentland.
"I'll be glad when he gets home out of it, and I hope he won't have to go over no more," she said.
Day-to-day stress
Fagan said military families have different coping strategies for dealing with day-to-day stress.
Matthew Dicks, injured in Afghanistan last week, is comforted by fellow soldiers during an April 13 ramp ceremony.
(DND)
"I don't know how you describe it, but it's like I wish the phone would ring, to see how he's doing. The hardest part is the waiting," she said.
Bonavista resident Greta Goodland, whose brother Dennis has been in Afghanistan since February, said she has been on edge since he arrived on the frontlines.
Ignorance may be bliss for some, but for Goodland, it's also been a survival technique.
"I prefer not to know what he's doing," she told CBC News. "I'm not quite sure what his job is. I know he's out on the tanks, on the guns. It's my way of coping."
Goodland said she supports the mission that has taken her brother to Afghanistan. She added she prays every day that the war will not cost him his life.
