1 in 4 Homeless are Veterans

[IDrinkaRum]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071108/...eless_veterans

Also, there are homeless vets from Afghanistan AND Iraq!

What I found "interesting", is that in the article, it says the furor of having young vets being homeless will die down because they're not "glitzy enough" for the news.

[rahmota]

This makes me sad, sick ,a nd very angry. Coming from a military family the way our country treats their veterans is very very embaressing. Its almost like they volunteer, get used and abused in the worst ways imaginable and then tossed out when no longer needed.

Gah.

[AFPheonix]

The VA and DOA are becoming more aware of the mental cost that these wars have, so hopefully intervening will help more. I know there's been furors covered in the news about mentally unstable troops and ones with severe PTSD getting sent back into the field, so I imagine that will help lead to more psychiatric help for these guys before they get cut loose to reenter society.
The nation's attitude towards its soldiers is different than it was during Vietnam, too. I think this will help keep fewer veterans from falling through the cracks.

[protege]

Its almost like they volunteer, get used and abused in the worst ways imaginable and then tossed out when no longer needed.

Pardon my French, but it's fucking bullshit how our vets get treated. We're all for sending shitloads of cash to third-world nations, but don't take care of our own? WTF? We should be *thanking* those people, and treating them like heroes--instead, we toss them away like garbage.

The GI bill helps with education, but it doesn't do *jack* when trying to get a job or deal with mental issues.

My father's a Vietnam vet, and some of the things that he was telling me are pretty depressing. When he was out of work during most of the 1980s, he sometimes went down to the VA, and vet groups for support. Some of the stories those guys were telling were pretty scary--one guy was still dealing with flashbacks, and simply couldn't hold down a job because of it. Another, lost his legs because of a land mine.

In PA, Vietnam vets are supposed to be given preferential treatment when they'd apply for jobs. However, that's rarely enforced, and very difficult to prove. However, he didn't let that get him down--after years of struggling, he now teaches middle-school English.

Anyone that's willing to put their life on the line to protect my country *always* gets my respect, and it pisses me off how they get treated.

[IDrinkaRum]

That's why I posted the link here at this site. I'm a military brat. My father never saw combat, but he was in the Air Force for 23 years and was an E-7 when he retired. He has my respect.

My Mom's father was in the Marines during World War II (he received the Purple Heart). Then he got out, got a job as a door-to-door salesman for Sears and got his college degree. Then he went back into the military, this time in the Air Force, at the beginning of the Korean War and was in the military for 26 years. He also had my respect.

As others have said around here: Those in the military make sure we have our freedoms still. They protect us in ways we can never imagine. They should be treated better than how they have been treated lately. It's disgusting that we let them be homeless and we don't help them out as we should. Disgraceful.

[rahmota]

I know I was being polite. Not exactly a subject a person should be polite about but considering if how I vented the way I would like to vent about this I would be one the wrong side of a moderator's boot I'll restrain myself.

I'm from a military family as well. My dad was the only one out of four brothers who didnt see combat. He got out of boot the day the armistice was signed in korea and got out before nam started heating up really big. Wise decision what with a family and job and all waiting at home.

I have cousins in country in iraq and afghanistan right now as well. I have one cousin who got the back door draft done to her as she's an "essential MOS" according to the army and they extended her signup for 6 months before they let her get out after 22 years in. She's had so much fun she isnt coming back to US soil until things change in the high command.

One of my high school friends is a combat medic in country, another friend is on a ship somewhere in the pacific.

I respect each and every one of them and all their brothers and sisters in the services. Its the leadership that is supposed to support and protect them that I have no respect for.

Listening to them talk makes you wonder why anyone wants to sign up anymore. A lot of the enlisted have their families on food stamps or public assistence because even with combat pay and tax free (which my cousin has gotten shafted out of) they still cant make ends meet. And this is without even trying to get fancy just a basic lifestyle with a few minor perks.

Then theres the medical support. Or lack there of. Yes the Majorly public outcry over walter reed and all have had some minor effect but its not gonna last or do anythign major. Not under this administration especially.

The attitude is different I'll give you that. I'm not sure if its totally better or not as thalf arsed support is still better than no support but still it could be a lot better for what the folks have done and been through. This "war" is a lot different than nam in some ways and a lot similar in others. To quote my cousin "The only way to tell the friendlies from the enemy is the friendlies havent shot at you yet." That sort of stress on a daily basis is definately not good.

Anyhow the way our VOLUNTEER soldiers get treated could use quite a bit of improvement to say the least. To say it politely that is...

[Boozy]

Listening to them talk makes you wonder why anyone wants to sign up anymore. A lot of the enlisted have their families on food stamps or public assistence because even with combat pay and tax free (which my cousin has gotten shafted out of) they still cant make ends meet.

Many people enlist because they are from depressed areas of the country where there are so few other options. In many places, kids have the choice between a job flipping burgers for the next 20 years, or a career in the military. They choose the military because they (apparently mistakenly) believe that they will at least be given some respect.

And their lives often turn out for the worse because of it. Not only are they not making enough to support their families, but they often become physical and psychologically damaged, with no medical support or counseling to prepare them for life after the military.

Society doesn't care any more about these people after they've served than they did before they enlisted, as underprivileged kids with no options and no social safety net.

This goes beyond the veteran homeless problem. This is a sign of a society that discards people in general.

[rahmota]

Boozy: Yes you are totally correct. And in some ways wrong. While they may not get financially rewarded, or respected by many. Some people do find a way of making their lives somewhat better through the military by at least giving them a focus. Even if that focus is sometimes just to try and get through the situations they are in so they can build their lives back up from where they are.

This is a sign of a society that discards people in general.

You are quite correct in that. I mean look back through history and the treatment of veterans has never been terriffic. WW1 vets had to encamp on DC and then where chased off by Hoover. The image of a retired military pensioner has faded quite a bit over the years. But the way thigns have been going are closer to the WW1 vets than not. And they are not the only ones.

[protege]

Many people enlist because they are from depressed areas of the country where there are so few other options. In many places, kids have the choice between a job flipping burgers for the next 20 years, or a career in the military. They choose the military because they (apparently mistakenly) believe that they will at least be given some respect.

I think that's why many kids join the military--there's simply no financial aid available. I have a cousin who was in the Army, simply because my cheap bastard of an uncle refused to help her out. She put her time in...and eventually went to culinary school.