WAR: Homeless Iraq Vets Appearing In Shelters Nationwide

Veterans from the war in Iraq are starting to appear in homeless shelters nationwide. Advocates fear this to be the beginnings of a new generation of homeless vets not seen since the after the war in Vietnam. Estimates by the Homeless Veterans coalition are that on any given night nearly 300,000 veterans are homeless, and about 25% of all homeless Americans are veterans.



Stories like this are easily passed over, but should not be as they serve as a grim reminder of war's far reaching effects back in our homeland. Please read full source article. It continues on to describe how Arellano had to face the horror of killing unarmed civilians, and how he and many others had real trouble with it.

What I don't understand is how a country that would send you off to war, get you shot, killed or wounded for questionable reasons to begin with, can then leave you without a home to at least live the rest of your days in some kind of peace. Can you imagine the feelings of people who have just been through the horrors of a battlefield, sitting in a homeless shelter back in the USA? I mean MY GOD. Can you really blame them for the utter resentment they must feel towards the nonchalant passer-by? I am sorry, but this hurts me. Deep. But nowhere near as deep as it hurts them.

Related News Links:
washingtontimes.com
www.socialistworker.org

[edit on 9-12-2004 by TrueAmerican]

while I am sure this is a big problem in its own right, my major concern for veterans returning from Iraq is the quality and quantity of mental help that they recieve. More and more I hear of stories of soldiers not being able to readjust to normal life and suicides and domestic abuse seem to be on an increase with iraq veterans.

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
Veterans from the war in Iraq are starting to appear in homeless shelters nationwide. Advocates fear this to be the beginnings of a new generation of homeless vets not seen since the after the war in Vietnam. Estimates by the Homeless Veterans coalition are that on any given night nearly 300,000 veterans are homeless, and about 25% of all homeless Americans are veterans.

I really loath this. Any verteran should never be homeless. Upon returning from war they should be given a plot of land with a decent house tax free for the rest of their lives. Of course, even then they're be problems, and some would be jobless or sell the house and become homless, but it'd be a hell of a ot better than the system now.

Also, its inexcusable that soliders can be sent away and return to financial ruin because their debt, irregardless of why they've built it up, has gotten out of control while they were in service. This is, literally, one of the things that lead to major disconent in the Roman Republic, there's no reason to think it'd be so different now.

Our government instituted new measures to limit the amount of medical aid a serviceman can get... they then added new terms of enlistment, extended duties and time... then they require the soldiers to act as guinea pigs to vaccines and injections for various things still in civilian testing... they then send them out on suicide errands with poor vehicles that can't even outrun a camel, with no body armor.... then to those that still keep part of a testicle so that they can protest an order, they threaten court marshall....

they then ask why no-one is signing up to go to war... HA... HA ... wait that is so stupid that it isn't even funny...
These poor guys... all we can do right now, is when you see a vet, say thanks... and DONT GIVE MONEY TO GUYS ON THE SIDE OF THE STREET THAT SAY THEY ARE VETS... Make them prove it first... then give them a fiver... we don't want to encourage people to pull a wounded vet con...