The military teaches them how to fight and kill. But they don't teach them how to adjust to life after their military service is over. shame, shame, shame.
Does this have anything to do with PTSD, or Gulf War Syndrome, or any other ailment caused by wartime service?
Some advocates say the early presence of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at shelters does not bode well for the future. It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless. Advocates worry that intense and repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable. "We're going to be having a tsunami of them eventually because the mental health toll from this war is enormous," said Daniel Tooth, director of veterans affairs for Lancaster County, Pa.
Sorry here's the whole artical Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007. A new report scheduled to be released Thursday shows nearly a half-million veterans were homeless last year. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Study: 1 Out of 4 Homeless Are Veterans 2007-11-08 06:42:02 By KIMBERLY HEFLING Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday. And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job. The Veterans Affairs Department has identified 1,500 homeless veterans from the current wars and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness. The National Alliance to End Homelessness, a public education nonprofit, based the findings of its report on numbers from Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau. 2005 data estimated that 194,254 homeless people out of 744,313 on any given night were veterans. In comparison, the VA says that 20 years ago, the estimated number of veterans who were homeless on any given night was 250,000. Some advocates say the early presence of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at shelters does not bode well for the future. It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless. Advocates worry that intense and repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable. "We're going to be having a tsunami of them eventually because the mental health toll from this war is enormous," said Daniel Tooth, director of veterans affairs for Lancaster County, Pa. While services to homeless veterans have improved in the past 20 years, advocates say more financial resources still are needed. With the spotlight on the plight of Iraq veterans, they hope more will be done to prevent homelessness and provide affordable housing to the younger veterans while there's a window of opportunity. "When the Vietnam War ended, that was part of the problem. The war was over, it was off TV, nobody wanted to hear about it," said John Keaveney, a Vietnam veteran and a founder of New Directions in Los Angeles, which provides substance abuse help, job training and shelter to veterans. "I think they'll be forgotten," Keaveney said of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. "People get tired of it. It's not glitzy that these are young, honorable, patriotic Americans. They'll just be veterans, and that happens after every war." Keaveney said it's difficult for his group to persuade some homeless Iraq veterans to stay for treatment and help because they don't relate to the older veterans. Those who stayed have had success — one is now a stock broker and another is applying to be a police officer, he said. "They see guys that are their father's age and they don't understand, they don't know, that in a couple of years they'll be looking like them," he said. After being discharged from the military, Jason Kelley, 23, of Tomahawk, Wis., who served in Iraq with the Wisconsin National Guard, took a bus to Los Angeles looking for better job prospects and a new life. Kelley said he couldn't find a job because he didn't have an apartment, and he couldn't get an apartment because he didn't have a job. He stayed in a $300-a-week motel until his money ran out, then moved into a shelter run by the group U.S. VETS in Inglewood, Calif. He's since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he said. "The only training I have is infantry training and there's not really a need for that in the civilian world," Kelley said in a phone interview. He has enrolled in college and hopes to move out of the shelter soon. The Iraq vets seeking help with homelessness are more likely to be women, less likely to have substance abuse problems, but more likely to have mental illness — mostly related to post-traumatic stress, said Pete Dougherty, director of homeless veterans programs at the VA. Overall, 45 percent of participants in the VA's homeless programs have a diagnosable mental illness and more than three out of four have a substance abuse problem, while 35 percent have both, Dougherty said. Historically, a number of fighters in U.S. wars have become homeless. In the post-Civil War era, homeless veterans sang old Army songs to dramatize their need for work and became known as "tramps," which had meant to march into war, said Todd DePastino, a historian at Penn State University's Beaver campus who wrote a book on the history of homelessness. After World War I, thousands of veterans — many of them homeless — camped in the nation's capital seeking bonus money. Their camps were destroyed by the government, creating a public relations disaster for President Herbert Hoover. The end of the Vietnam War coincided with a time of economic restructuring, and many of the same people who fought in Vietnam were also those most affected by the loss of manufacturing jobs, DePastino said. Their entrance to the streets was traumatic and, as they aged, their problems became more chronic, recalled Sister Mary Scullion, who has worked with the homeless for 30 years and co-founded of the group Project H.O.M.E. in Philadelphia. "It takes more to address the needs because they are multiple needs that have been unattended," Scullion said. "Life on the street is brutal and I know many, many homeless veterans who have died from Vietnam." The VA started targeting homelessness in 1987, 12 years after the fall of Saigon. Today, the VA has, either on its own or through partnerships, more than 15,000 residential rehabilitative, transitional and permanent beds for homeless veterans nationwide. It spends about $265 million annually on homeless-specific programs and about $1.5 billion for all health care costs for homeless veterans. Because of these types of programs and because two years of free medical care is being offered to all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Dougherty said they hope many veterans from recent wars who are in need can be identified early. "Clearly, I don't think that's going to totally solve the problem, but I also don't think we're simply going to wait for 10 years until they show up," Dougherty said. "We're out there now trying to get everybody we can to get those kinds of services today, so we avoid this kind of problem in the future." In all of 2006, the National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that 495,400 veterans were homeless at some point during the year. The group recommends that 5,000 housing units be created per year for the next five years dedicated to the chronically homeless that would provide permanent housing linked to veterans' support systems. It also recommends funding an additional 20,000 housing vouchers exclusively for homeless veterans, and creating a program that helps bridge the gap between income and rent. Following those recommendations would cost billions of dollars, but there is some movement in Congress to increase the amount of money dedicated to homeless veterans programs. On a recent day in Philadelphia, case managers from Project H.O.M.E. and the VA picked up William Joyce, 60, a homeless Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair who said he'd been sleeping at a bus terminal. "You're an honorable veteran. You're going to get some services," outreach worker Mark Salvatore told Joyce. "You need to be connected. You don't need to be out here on the streets." ——— Associated Press writer Kathy Matheson contributed to this story from Philadelphia. ———
My take on part of this issue is that many of the jobs people are trained for in the miltary do not transfer to careers in civilian life. My husband spent eight years as an intelligence specialist in the navy. When he finished his service, it was difficult for him to find a job. His military service meant nothing. It was the degree he earned while in the service that helped but even with that he had a hard time finding a postion. Employers were looking for 3-5 years experience in his degree field and did not count his military service.
If you know veteran who is in need of a home, there is a place in Durham that is about to be built. http://www.ci.durham.nc.us/agendas/2007/cm20070618/91575_4096_125805.doc.PDF I'm sure there are more, but this is not to say that there's enough.
I read this today. I have done extensive research in this area and we need a complete overhaul. Our family's hearts break daily for those. Thanks for the Durham link. Both of my parents have a theory on this one but before I post it I will double check the facts...don't want Ken giving me anymore homework. Grace
In my opinion that is the telling line for alot of the homeless vets. Having served in the military I do know that it is hard for alot of the "military careers" to transfer. Luckily one of the several careers I was trained for did transfer and my knowledge learned in the military has served me well in said career, though several other careers that I was trained for have no civilian equivilent. Craig
I think you've hit the nail on the head. VA needs to get better at dealing with these issues, finding the best way to help them when they get back. Fortunately, it looks like the VA budget will be substantially increased this year, that's at least a start in the right direction. It would help to have more community-based programs, as well.
They have to apply for these services, the VA must find them disabled. What about the GI Bill? Doesn't that get you about 1000.00 bucks a month? Work PT, go to school, get some room mates.
This puzzles me. 25% of vets are homeless. I am not disputing the numbers, as I have no time to research myself, so I will take them at face value. The question I have is, where are these vets' families? I have a son currently in the Army. If he were to come home and not be able to get a job, I would certainly put him up for a while. I find it hard to believe that this many veterans have no other alternative (ie family and friends) that they are forced to be homeless.
Clif, it doesn't say 1 out of 4 vets are homeless, it says 1 out of 4 homeless are vets. That would be a much smaller percentage of the total vet population, although it appears that vets are homeless at about 2 1/2 times the rate of the general population.
I'm sorry. I guess my dyslexia kicked in. How do you get that number? If one in four homeless are vets then general population (ie, non-vet) out number vets three to one.
This is where I got it: If they were homeless at the same rate as the general population, then 11% of homeless would be vets. However, 25% (1 in 4) of homeless are vets. Therefore, vets occur in the homeless population at 2.2727... times the expected ratio. So, off the top of my head, I exaggerated a bit, its actually closer to 2 1/4 times. BTW, I think this is the article quoted earlier in this thread.
When my father came back from Vietnam he had a hard time dealing with some of the things he did and saw. My father worked for the NSA and intercepted code on the front lines in Vietnam. When he came back he went to the VA for help to deal with these issues. They kept turning him away. After he turned into an Alcoholic he still visited the VA on these issues. Finally he turned to other means to numb the pain. Which did not turn out for the best. After giving up on the VA. He took things into his own hands in 1983. I was 9 yo. I never got to meet my father. But my grandmother tells me of these things.
SS, I am so sorry all this happened. Your father served his country, and then his country turned its back on him - and you. The story is all too familiar. I hope we are learning some lessons from the past, so we can do better for today's veterans.
