My name is Paul Nichols. I am a former Calgary Highlander and I served with the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. While I was with the Patricia's, I deployed as part of the UN mission to the former Yugoslavia.

I returned home from the Balkans I was fiercely proud of what we had achieved in Croatia as Canadians and was also very proud of my own contribution to the success of the mission. We had conducted operations in Packrac and Lipik and later moved an entire Canadian battle group to a new area of operation in the southern part of the country. In Sector South the Second Battalion PPCLI stopped a genocide and we were presented the Commander in Chief's Unit Commendation for action in the battle of the Medak Pocket.

My personal battle, my war, it began when I left the army to raise my family and my wife and I moved back to small town British Columbia. Home for me is a community with no military connection. It is a place that has held onto a common misconception that says that our Canadian veterans are strictly the old men that stormed the beaches of Normandy or the ones that live on in the black and white film reels taken during the battles of world wars. I had difficulty trying to fit into my lonely new reality.

I was so proud of my service and happy to share the stories of it. So often those stories were met with a confused look and a reply that said, "But you were just a peacekeeper..." or, "Yes, but you're not a real veteran". I stopped sharing and I began to spend time a lot of time alone inside of my own head and I went to dark place. In that dark place, I began to question the value of my own hard work and time away from home. I questioned the value of the sacrifice and I began to wonder if the lost Canadian lives had served any purpose at all. Bitter and angry became my normal and that dark place became even more lonely.

My life changed when a random stranger in a shop in Vancouver recognized a Regimental crest on my jacket for what it was. She took the time to ask me if I was a Canadian soldier and then went on to share her own story of living through the siege of Sarajevo. She cried and hugged me as she shared her story. She told me of living in an underground parking lot while facing starvation. They had burnt their furniture to keep warm and every single time that she went outside she risked death by sniper and artillery fire. For years this was her reality. There was no contact with the outside world and death and destruction were all around her. It was Canadian troops that broke that siege, Canadian troops that brought her aid and it was our Canadians, your Canadian Soldiers that eventually got her out of Bosnia. My life was changed because of her story and from that moment on, I no longer needed to question the value of my service or the purpose behind my time in the Balkans. For the first time in years, I no longer struggled with the questions of, "Had we made a difference?" and "Does any of it matter?"

I also realized that day that there is power in a shared story and I needed to share this opportunity for this life changing moment with my Brothers.

My wife Terry and I assembled a crew and we created the Communities for Veterans Foundation.

We set out on a mission to raise awareness to the changing face of Canadian veterans. We knew that if we could create discussion around some of the difficulties that our veterans can face in that difficult time of transition, that we could change and perhaps save lives. We knew that we could lower the incidence and severity of some of the symptoms that can haunt our military members and their families after our service such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, alcoholism and suicide. We knew that with strong community support, our veterans wouldn't have to face and fight the demons alone. We knew that our Canadian people would rally around those that give us so much and that, with the support from communities, we would see fewer of the horrible outcomes of the symptoms that can follow along with an operational stress injury. We understood early on that in order to achieve this goal and for the message to have lasting power, our story had to be larger than just one person. To truly have impact in communities across Canada we needed to include as many veterans as we could on this journey.

On April 13, 2015, we stepped off from the front steps of the Provincial Legislature in British Columbia on a Cross Canada horse back relay and which would include over 350 Canadian Veterans in the saddle through their own towns and cities. For eight months we traveled on horseback and connected with the Canadian people and collected the stories of our veterans. On November 9, 2015 we arrived in St. John's Newfoundland. We have grown as individuals, meshed as team, and developed a new and progressive Equine Assisted Mindfulness Program for veterans. We battled weather and terrain and struggled with emotional highs and lows. Even after we learned lessons and overcame countless obstacles on this physically and mentally exhausting public awareness campaign, the true power in The Ride was in the way that so many Canadian servicemen and women came together to add their voices to ours on this epic journey.

Please help us take the next step in this Ride Across Canada and complete our book and to document this incredible story. We need to continue this work and see the legacy of the ride shared in communities across Canada.

Paul