Apologies & Money?

Some former Canadian soldiers are coming forward about alleged training hardships they endured during the 1980's. Here's a clip from a CBC report "The men say in February 1984, they were among 33 young recruits who were stripped naked, crowded into small military jail cells with windows open, denied food and, for up to two days, repeatedly sprayed with cold water. For more than 40 hours they were forced to listen to loud rock music."  Even though these alleged incidents were part of a program to train soldiers to be able to endure those kinds of conditions if captured by the enemy, it seems that some felt it was simply too much. As a 2015 military police investigation did not result in any action, some have decided to go public.

Why now? Is the ultimate goal in disclosing this information, assuming it is factual, to get an apology, money or both?

Whether it is alleged injustices done in the Canadian military, RCMP, socially disadvantaged groups or anyone else with a grievance, why do we persist in trying to correct past actions based on what may be deemed as unacceptable by today's standards. In those instances where there were some transgressions, why don't we focus the attention on the perpetrators? Why is there this ongoing need to seek institutional and public apologies? Perhaps we need to have a Department of Apologies. Their mission statement could start with: "Regardless of the circumstances, we are truly sorry. As we have spent enough taxpayer money in settling other alleged wrongdoings, all we can offer is a $25 gift card for Tim Horton's or McDonald's?" 

Sometimes we all need to make a bigger effort at letting go and moving on.