Hundreds of Iraq veterans are now homeless under Bush admin.

[Thorgrim]

Already, nearly 200,000 veterans—many from the Vietnam War—sleep on the streets every night, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. But young warriors just back from the Mideast—estimated around 500 to 1,000—are beginning to struggle with homelessness too. Drinking or using drugs to cope with PTSD, they can lose their job and the support of family and friends, and start a downward spiral to the streets. Their tough military mentality can make them less likely to seek help. Advocates say it can take five to eight years for a veteran to exhaust their financial resources and housing options, so they expect the number to rise exponentially in a few years. "Rather than wait for the tsunami, we should be doing something now," says Cheryl Beversdorf, president of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

The problem is mainly a lack of resources, advocates say

Hundreds of Iraq Vets Are Homeless - Newsweek The War in Iraq - MSNBC.com

How can we support the troops and watch them freeze to near death, or death, on the streets while going hungry?

As other news organizations have noted, the military is so wasteful in Iraq that when troops come home they are stingy on PTSD which could easily lose one multiple jobs and make you basically unemployable

What do we need? Money...but who here will support a tax increase on the wealthiest 1% so our veterans can have more benefits? Who really supports the troops?

[Diesel66]

Why is it Bush's fault that they are homeless ?

btw this is the same bullshit that came after Vietnam, a small percentage (usually half the size of the non-veterns) are homeless, yet the media makes a big deal about it.

[ballz2wallz]

BREAKING NEWS lc:

A small percentage of the population is homeless. This includes those who have been to war, and those who haven't.

End of story.

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

Who really supports the troops?

Veterans aren't 'the troops' anymore.

[lew]

So, instead of advocating fixing the corruption and wasteful spending in Washington, as well as ending the war in Iraq, you'd rather just increase taxes?

[Ardentfrost]

It's fucked up, certainly. I mean, there's a lot of people messed up because they were in Vietnam. Seeing people ripped apart by mines and shit will do a number on anyone. In this case, I do think it's the gov't's responsibility to make sure that these people aren't just tossed out on the street and left to die since it's their fault the people are like that... but that doesn't mean I advocate the free lunch. It was bad politics and shitty practices at the federal level that sent these people to Vietnam, and I want that fixed. We certainly aren't fixing the problem by having a whole bunch of people in Iraq and shit.

Advocating helping these veterans without promoting a less powerful federal government so that these situations cannot occur is fallacy, but since it's the gov't's fault to begin with, tossing them in the street isn't good either. I can support helping them in conjunction with working to make things better for future generations, but to just help them and still go into pointless war after pointless war because our federal government does whatever it wants to sucks... I'd rather veterans die in the street than not fixing the root of the problem in hopes that it would wake people up faster to what level of horrible shit the federal gov't can accomplish.

[Thorgrim]

So we and the government owe them a responsibility, but since payment involves taxes...lets...nothing?

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

So we and the government owe them a responsibility, but since payment involves taxes...lets...nothing?

We and the government owe them a responsibility as long as they are still working for us. But much like a normal job, once they move on from that job (or are fired) they are on their own.

Nobody is obligated to take care of another person for the rest of their lives.

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

We and the government owe them a responsibility as long as they are still working for us. But much like a normal job, once they move on from that job (or are fired) they are on their own.

Nobody is obligated to take care of another person for the rest of their lives.

If they got fucked up while on the job, then that's like workman's comp. What have they been compensated for mental anguish received while fighting a war we should have never been involved in?

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

If they got fucked up while on the job, then that's like workman's comp. What have they been compensated for mental anguish received while fighting a war we should have never been involved in?

I guess republicans are only concerned with the troops as long as they are dying.

Once they come home, fuck them and their problems.

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

If they got fucked up while on the job, then that's like workman's comp. What have they been compensated for mental anguish received while fighting a war we should have never been involved in?

What a precedent that could set...I've been given mental anguish from dealing with some people on LL...I should be compensated.

[Scrum]

And then they belittle their contributions by comparing things like PTSD to dealing with people on an internet forum.

[Thorgrim]

Dell McLeod's injury was utterly banal. He was in his 10th month of deployment with the 178th Field Artillery Regiment of the South Carolina National Guard near the Iraqi border when he was smashed in the head by a steel cargo door of an 18-wheeler...Dell was knocked out cold and cracked several vertebrae. [...]

Doctors have concluded that Dell was slow as a child and that his head injury on the Iraqi border did not cause brain damage. "It is possible that pre-morbid emotional difficulties and/or pre-morbid intellectual functioning may be contributing factors to his reported symptoms," a doctor wrote, withholding a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury.

"They said, 'Well, he was in Title I math,' like he was retarded," Annette says. "Well, y'all took him, didn't you?"



[...]



"My name is Wendell," he says. "Wendell Woodward McLeod Jr."

Annette tells him to sit up. "Spell 'dog,' " she says, softly.

Spell 'dog,' " he repeats.

"Listen to me," she says.

"Listen to me." He slumps on the pillow. His eyes drift toward the wrestlers on TV.

"You are not working hard enough, Dell," Annette says, pleading. "Wake up."

"Wake up," he says.

washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines

This from a guy who went to college and spent the last 20 years in the national guard

Yeah, no PTSD, no mental damage, he's fine

From the army times: Critics: Army holding down disability ratings - Military News, Army News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports - Army Times

The Army is deliberately shortchanging troops on their disability retirement ratings to hold down costs, according to veterans’ advocates, lawyers and services members, and the Inspector General has identified 87 problems in the system that need fixing. [...]

But in the Army — in the midst of a war — the number of soldiers approved for permanent disability retirement has plunged by more than two-thirds, from 642 in 2001 to 209 in 2005, according to a Government Accountability Office report last year. That decline has come even as the war in Iraq has intensified and the total number of soldiers wounded or injured there has soared above 15,000.

While the number of soldiers placed on permanent disability retirement has declined in the past five years, the number placed on temporary disability retirement...has increased more than fourfold, from 165 in 2001 to 837 in 2005. [...]

Along with paying them reduced wages during that time, the eventual reevaluation often leads to downward revisions in their disability ratings — and lower disability payments.


^^^

Our cheapness is riping off the soldiers once they get home, and actually in the field as well, great conservative values, I am glad the 4 year total GOP rule really set us up to protect us on Iraq

The worst thing is that right-wingers don't seem to care...just blame it as someone unable to cope with life and move on

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

We and the government owe them a responsibility as long as they are still working for us. But much like a normal job, once they move on from that job (or are fired) they are on their own.

Nobody is obligated to take care of another person for the rest of their lives.

With malice toward none, with charity for all,
with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right,
let us strive on to finish the work we are in,
to bind up the nation’s wounds,
to care for him who shall have borne the battle
and for his widow, and his orphan,to do all which may achieve and cherish
a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations
- Lincoln


Our country has an obligation to take care of its veterans for life. That is what the VA is all about

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

Our country has an obligation to take care of its veterans for life. That is what the VA is all about

I can't believe people who supposedly are the ones "supporting the troops" would have this attitude after they return from combat.

[ballz2wallz]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

Our country has an obligation to take care of its veterans for life. That is what the VA is all about

Yes, and they have the VA.

The VA isn't supposed to make sure they have a job or a home though, which is what this thread is about.

[lew]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

So we and the government owe them a responsibility, but since payment involves taxes...lets...nothing?

No. Let's get rid of wasteful spending and taxes now, and use the actual legitimate taxes to fund this legitimate need.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Diesel66

Why is it Bush's fault that they are homeless ?

btw this is the same bullshit that came after Vietnam, a small percentage (usually half the size of the non-veterns) are homeless, yet the media makes a big deal about it.

Notice how the entire "Homelessness" Issue almost disappeared 1992-2000 after it was an almost daily story in the 80's. Did those Vietnam Vets gets homes in the "best economy ever" and lose them again?

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Yes, and they have the VA.

The VA isn't supposed to make sure they have a job or a home though, which is what this thread is about.

The VA is a mess. Get rid of it and have a smaller agency that will help vets get private health insurance. Keep VA hospitals only for those who cannot be rehabilitated. The VA is another example of the government trying to do too much and the wrong way. I would assume many of these homeless vets just don't want to be in a VA hospital! Does that mean they wont take any help?

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz