From Tehran to the RCMP: Two Tours, One Badge | Cpl. Sayeh Hejazi | Ep. 6

Corporal Sayeh Hejazi was 12 when her family left Tehran for North Vancouver. At 16 she needed her mother's signature to join the reserves. At 20 she was in Kabul — a Canadian Armed Forces military police officer working as a translator, the voice in the room between soldiers and the people they were trying to reach. Sixteen years of service later she's a corporal with the RCMP on the gang enforcement team. In between, she spent four years in one of the hardest jobs in BC policing: mental health liaison in Mission, working to connect people in crisis to housing, detox and treatment that mostly wasn't there. This is an episode about being the person in the middle — carrying other people's words, other people's grief, and eventually your own. And about what happens when someone finally tells you that you belong. Guest: Sayeh Hejazi — Corporal, RCMP | CAF veteran, two tours of Afghanistan | Director, Operation Pegasus Jump Host: Sach Latti The Guardrail Series is produced by Sach In Motion Inc. in partnership with the Royal Canadian Legion BC/Yukon Command and the Legion Foundation. CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open 00:55 Meet Corporal Sayeh Hejazi 05:06 Tehran to North Van — and the first Mountie she ever saw 16:21 "Are you insane?" — telling her mother about Afghanistan 24:51 A black box in the room: translating in Kabul 41:02 The Christmas box in the back of the car 59:25 The mental health liaison pilot in Mission 01:02:20 "There is no place that we can take them to" 01:14:01 One conversation, one ripple 01:28:15 "I don't think I belong here" — Operation Pegasus Jump CONNECT WITH THE LEGION FOUNDATION Facebook:   / legionfoundationbcyukoncommand   Instagram:   / legionfoundationbcyukon   RESOURCES Legion Foundation — Veteran Homelessness Program https://legionbcyukonfoundation.ca/vhp/ Legion Foundation — Leave the Streets Behind Program https://legionbcyukonfoundation.ca/le... Veterans Transition Network — Military Cultural Competency Course A free, self-paced course for professionals working with Veterans https://vtncanada.org/culturalcompete... Built for Zero Canada — Veteran Homelessness Services and national statistics collected in one place https://bfzcanada.ca/veterans/ Veterans Affairs Canada — Mental Health and Wellness https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/mental-... REFERENCED ACROSS THE SERIES Independent research on duty-related harm in Canadian policing, discussed with Rob Farrer of the National Police Federation: News release: https://npf-fpn.com/news-item/indepen... Study: https://rsc-src.ca/en/voices/contextu... Operation Pegasus Jump brings veterans, active military and first responders together in Campbell River each year. Details in the comments. #TheGuardrailSeries #Veterans #RCMP #Afghanistan #MentalHealth #RoyalCanadianLegion #BritishColumbia #OperationPegasusJump