Kari Mariska Pries is a bit of a maverick in her own right. She is connected to the Invictus Games movement through her marriage to Captain Simon Mailloux, Invictus Games Toronto 2017 Team Canada co-Captain.
Their lives took an unexpected turn in 2007 when a roadside bomb explosion resulted in amputation for one of Mailloux’s legs. Engaged at the time, Kari embarked on the road to recovery with Simon and supported his efforts to return to Afghanistan in 2009 to continue his mission two years after the injury. The couple eventually married and have one daughter.
Kari’s own career has been devoted to policy formation in post-conflict states and stabilizing democracies. Along the way, she has studied Central America, South Africa, and Canadian foreign policy and holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Glasgow in the UK. Through involvement with local councils and grassroots political activities, Kari also looks to engage communities in her adopted home of Quebec City while working as a country risk analyst for IHS Markit in faraway London.
In this podcast, we get the chance to explore the impact that service and injury have on the families. It is clear from this conversation that military service isn’t restricted to the soldiers, but that the friends and families are very much in the center of all of the decisions and realities of military life.
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