Many U.S. Iraq War Vets Return to Homelessness

Canadian Press

Thousands of U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are facing a new nightmare - the risk of homelessness. The U.S. government estimates several hundred vets who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are homeless on any given night across the country, although the exact number is unknown.

The reasons that contribute to the new wave of homelessness are many: some are unable to cope with life after daily encounters with insurgent attacks and roadside bombs; some can't navigate government red tape; others simply don't have enough money to afford a house or apartment.

They are living on the edge in towns and cities big and small from Washington state to Florida. But the hardest hit are in New York, because housing costs "can be very tough," said Peter Dougherty, head of the Homeless Veterans Program at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The space isn't always enough to accommodate everyone in desperate need of shelter among the more than 500,000 vets of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been discharged from the military so far.

Long before the current war, the Homeless Veterans Program had guided men and women back into daily life after service in Vietnam, Korea and the Second World War. But Dougherty makes no secret of a truth few Americans know: about one-quarter of all homeless adults in America have served in the military - most of them minority veterans.

• There are now about 200,000 homeless vets in the United States, government figures show.
  
  
• But they still land on a hard bottom line: almost one-half of the 2.7 million disabled U.S. veterans receive $337 or less a month in benefits, the VA's Veterans Benefits Administration said.
  
  
• Fewer than one-10th of them are rated 100-per-cent disabled, meaning they receive $2,393 a month, tax free.

I see that the current US goverment takes Great Care of Iraq War Veterans - the Real Heroes, who have almost sacrificed everything for the purposes of the US goverment, but when they arrive home they are met with Real world and Real problems.

Is this how you treat Veterans?

Is this how you treat people, who actually go and fight a war out?

Well I guess mister Bush would not know anything about that, since he avoided a major conflict in his time - the Vietnam War.

He never saw a WAR up close so it is easy for him to send Men and Women to combat - but does he take care of them, when they arrive home?

Looks like Alot of Veterans are Homeless.

Looks like Alot of Veterans receive a pathetic monthly fee, which is nearly not enough to live through a month.

Does Bush care for HIS People - HIS Soldiers?

Not Likely...

Well as long His Corporate Buddies receive Billions of Goverment Contracts in War-Profiteeing Deals disguised in the alleged War on Terror.

Just ask mister Vice President DICK Chaney how much money he made since 9-11.

Did he give a Penny to those who need it - like Iraq War Veterans?

Vietnam all over again...


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Not much difference here in the UK. The Veterans Agency i have to admit do look after vets but it's up to those vets to be referred to them. I've lost count of the amount of ex soldiers that i've had to tell about the help they can get, even years down the line when they've ended up in a really bad way.

You'd be suprised at how many of the homeless in the UK are ex forces. I'm not sure if the forces provide it now, but what was always needed was a kind of "how to cope in civvy street" type course for soldiers.

People say the forces is hard? I'd say it's harder once you're out.

CX.

[edit on 28/6/06 by CX]

Souljah, you can once again try to make this an issue of the Bush administration, but the fact is that it has been happening since the days of LBJ at least.

Originally posted by jsobecky
Souljah, you can once again try to make this an issue of the Bush administration, but the fact is that it has been happening since the days of LBJ at least.

So that makes it better or worse? Really your ignornace is astounding. Souljah's point is very clear. These people both past and present serve their country with the ultimate sacrifice looming over them, yet it's ok to just dismiss how little they are helped in their time of need. Nice touch. I guess it's only good when there's a wonderful PR shot of bush jogging with a wounded soldier.

brill

[edit on 28-6-2006 by brill]

[edit on 28-6-2006 by brill]

Originally posted by brill
So that makes it better or worse? Really your ignornace is astounding. Souljah's point is very clear. These people both past and present serve their country with the ultimate sacrifice looming over them, yet it's ok to just dismiss how little they are helped in their time of need. Nice touch. I guess it's only good when there's a wonderful PR shot of bush jogging with a wounded soldier.

brill

He could have made his point (which was very good, btw) without turning it into another of his broken-record anti-Bush tirades. Then a good discussion could have followed.

But I can see that you are of the same mind as him - BAD BAD BUSH! BAD BAD BUSH!:shk:

Someone interested in the funding for veterans also has to look at the bills submitted in the House and Senate for them to review and sign. It is also interesting to see who votes YES and who VOTES no on those bills.

Then a look at how the VA is appropriating the money is in order. With many veterans dying off or moving to the "snowbird" states like Florida, California and Arizona, the VA is moving their monies to those states because that is where the veterans are.

Those of us younger veterans left in states that the older veterans have moved out of struggle for VA services because the clinics are being consolidated, doctors and staffs are being moved out and funding cut for those facilities. I did have a clinic within 12 miles of me and several like it across the state in addition to the two larger VA hospitals in the state. Now the clinics have been closed and I have a choice of driving 41 miles in one direction for VA assistance or 96 miles in the other direction for VA assistance.

For us disabled veterans, it forces us into bad situations when funding is not available or not to have facilities available.

It is not just Bush that needs to take care of veterans, it is the whole chain of command.

JDub

The parallels to Vietnam, veterans being used and left behind in imperialist wars like corporate whores, are astounding. Nevertheless, we are talking about the here and now, the new freaking millenium which is turning out to be another dark period in history. Any allusion to the war policy of previous administrations during the Vietnam era doesn't do anything but draw said parallels; it certainly doesn't justify the unprecedented neglect and negligence of our returning troops by the current Bush government. In fact, this is the first administration to slash veterans' funds during a time of war! This is unforgivable. While the actions of LBJ and Nixon in regard to the veterans' treatment is abysmal at best, that is not the matter at hand. We've got some people sitting on their butts behind desks drawing stock dividends profitting from this unnecessary war instigated by and for the neo-Cons, whilst shell-shocked soldiers wander the streets of our cities. This crud is all out in the open. Yet somehow, the Bush apologists will ignore the facts and their consciences and hope for the best nobody notices what's going on here. News flash: defending Dear Leader does not automatically equate with defending veterans anymore. Not in a post-modern political landscape where the chickens are coming home to roost while the ducks are flying south for the winter.

[edit on 29-6-2006 by Dubious_Skunk]

[edit on 29-6-2006 by Dubious_Skunk]

Originally posted by jsobecky
Souljah, you can once again try to make this an issue of the Bush administration, but the fact is that it has been happening since the days of LBJ at least.

Well whos Fault is it then?

Who sent those Men and Women to war?

If he is just a Great President, why does not he increase Veterans support during a Conflict time, such as this alleged War on Terror?

How come that there is PLENTY of Billions od USD waiting for him and his war-mongerng-corporate-whores - while the ordinary American citizen, who joins the army and goes down to that hell on Earth, receives basicly Nothing?

So, how would You solve this Problem?

I'd start to solve it by setting priorities correctly. Those men and women need more than a pittance to survive on. They need full medical assistance to help them re-integrate into society, including counseling.

If necessary, they should receive housing assistance to help them get back on their feet. And job training.

That's not even rewarding them for anything, nor even saying a proper Thank You for the service they rendered. It's jsut helping them to pick back up where they left off.

Veterans affairs have always been underfunded, it seems, and it also seems that one party is quicker to cut the budget than the other one is.

Yes, but shouldn't someone be planning for this? A call to arms should have some sort of after plan for soldiers other than 'RAH RAH RAH, Come join the War on terrorism, who cares what happens to you when you get back'.

Unless the powers that be are either planning on a good majority of them dying or staying enlisted for longer than they initially planned.

My guess is on the second option.

And yes, this is truly sad. I remember the soup kitchens in Chicago being mostly populated by Vietnam vets.

I find it interesting how much cheerleading was present on this forum for US troops. Support troops this, support troops that. I don't like Bush, but I'm supporting my troops etc... But now, when they need you the most, where's the support?

Originally posted by jsobecky
I'd start to solve it by setting priorities correctly. Those men and women need more than a pittance to survive on. They need full medical assistance to help them re-integrate into society, including counseling.

If necessary, they should receive housing assistance to help them get back on their feet. And job training.

That is all find and dandy - but how can you do that if Your Funding is Cut by the goverment?

As the report show, there is barely enough money to support disabled veterans coming back from the conflict - how can they receive any Council which you suggested?

Veterans affairs have always been underfunded, it seems, and it also seems that one party is quicker to cut the budget than the other one is.

But there is Plenty of Money FOR wars and FOR arming and FOR military industrical complex and FOR department of Homeland Security...

Where is the Money for the Men and Women which GO TO WAR and come BACK ALIVE and badly Need suppory from the people, who sent them to slaughter?

US presidents all alike, just love starting wars right - and each and every president started one or two conflicts in his time, correct?

But how many of them did actually start taking care of THEIR PEOPLE - not the interests of the industrial-military complex?

Just shows that US goverment is in the hands of the Corporations - and they decide who gets which piece of the Pie.

And if you are an averege Joe, trying to make a living by joining the Army - you wont get any of that pieces of the pie.

I bet that the goverment knows exactly how troops coming home will have several cases of Post Traumatic Stress, cases of Depleted Uranium poisioning, bad combat wounds, amputations - but how are they PREPARED for that? Who is Supporting them NOW? Looks to me they are only good, when they join the army, join the "Good Fight" - but as yanchek said; where is the Support when they DO need it MOST?

[edit on 29/6/06 by Souljah]

They have decent salary and free healthcare. If someone makes 60 000 per year and becomes homeless, it is his fault I think. State is no babysitter.

I agree with Souljah on this one. This country has a very poor history of taking care of its war vets. Hell, I knew alot of guys in the military who basically stayed in not because they wanted to, but because all that waited for them in the outside world was the street. Especially during times when the economy was crap. When I left the army, I had pretty much nothing waiting for me back home, but I took the risk anyway, and it was very difficult.

Bush claims hes a big supporter of our military. Then let him put his money where his mouth is. Let him set the standard and be the first president to actually create a plan to take care of those who once served.

They have decent salary and free healthcare. If someone makes 60 000 per year and becomes homeless, it is his fault I think. State is no babysitter.

What country are YOU living in? 60,000 a year? Certainly not the American military, unless you are a high ranking officer, like, oh...general? When I was in as an E-4, I was making about 14,000 a year. And that was because I was stationed overseas and got cost of living allowance, which was an extra 100 or so bucks a month.

When they leave the army, they have no healthcare and no salary. And if they have families, its even worse.

Plus its a very difficult adjustment when you are leaving the military bworld to try and function in the civilian world again. Kind of culture shock. Especially if youve been spending the past year fight in a war. Yet there are no services to help veterans make the psychological adjustment. You don't just leave a bloody war zone and drop someone in the streets and say there you, go, now make a new life. It requires more adjustment than you think.

But of course, Bush, like his predecessors, only worries about those who are still in uniform to go fight his lame wars. Once you leave, they are done with you, and they toss you out like a used up piece of garbage.

Originally posted by Souljah
And if you are an averege Joe, trying to make a living by joining the Army - you wont get any of that pieces of the pie.

They get a piece of pie allright. But this pie is made out of shrapnel and bull.

Originally posted by longbow
They have decent salary and free healthcare.

They do?

Where?

READ PLEASE:

But they still land on a hard bottom line: almost one-half of the 2.7 million disabled U.S. veterans receive $337 or less a month in benefits, the VA's Veterans Benefits Administration said.

Is this how you treat DISABLED Veterans, that went to a war, their Goverment sent them to and came back Alive?

Aren't the people who sacrifice their lives, their body, their soul HEROES?

Well I guess on Another Planet...

If someone makes 60 000 per year and becomes homeless, it is his fault I think.

Think Again...

State is no babysitter.

We are talking about War Veterans - not Babies.

[edit on 29/6/06 by Souljah]

Souljah,

Lets not forget that Bush wept on tv, and a couple of days later, so did Rumsfeld.
They wept when talking about those fine men and women fighting the cause.
That should do it, shouldnt it?

Larry Scott is a hero. He seems to be one of the only ones who tells you like it is.

These bush supporters/loyalists/sycophants/apologists/ need to put down the pom pom's and see this crap is dire. THIS is your war about 75 percent of it and no one has any idea how to deal with this occupation correctly.

And seriously anyone who says it's a Vet's fault is seriously the worst hypocrite ever. You don't support the soldiers you support the bumper sticker, plain and simple.
And that's why people start another distraction and dodge the topic.


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