Homeless Vets

Nat'l Coalition for Homeless Vets

I’m a Vet, and although I never even came close to doing anything heroic, I do have beaucoup friends and acquaintances who did. All of the guys I know from my street experiences were screwed up – or at least their problems, which many of them had anyway, were exacerbated – by that damned conflict in Vietnam. I also know that many guys came home from that war and nevertheless managed to live what you might say are normal lives. But those who did and do live normally, don’t erase those who didn’t, nor make it any easier on those who were screwed up by that service. One man I know of, who is the most heavily decorated Vietnam era soldier in the state of Nevada (2 silver and 3 bronze stars, I think), for instance, and who lived a normal, productive life afterwards, will tell you how he was spit on upon returning to the United States.

It hasn’t set in yet, but it will. The military is now going to start accepting volunteers who’ve had drug problems, for instance, and because they publicize that, and because the general population is generally ignorant, and happy in their ignorance, the fact that ex-druggies (as they’ll be thought of) are in the military, along with all the torturers and prisoner abusers resulting from this current war, will all get lumped together and the reputation of vets will go straight down hill. They need the military now, and most in society will at least be polite about it, but as soon as the need is over, so will be the respect, and those who’ve fought in this current war will be roaming the streets of America, despised by their countrymen, looked down upon, and shuffled right out of people’s consciousness. Employers will once again want nothing to do with vets because they will know that percentage wise, these guys have more problems than do non-vets, and that’s the way America and capitalism works (it’s straight bottom-line thinking).

In fact, the real human costs from this war have already begun to be felt. In a June 5th article in the Stars and Stripes, not exactly a left-wing blog, they have raised the specter of another generation of veterans wandering the streets, bumping off of walls, and trying to get their act together enough to live some sort of decent existence.

WASHINGTON — Advocates for the homeless already are seeing veterans from the war on terror living on the street, and say the government must do more to ease their transition from military to civilian life.

“Linda Boone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, said about 70 homeless veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan contacted her group’s facilities in 2004, and another 125 homeless veterans from those conflicts last year petitioned the Department of Veterans Affairs for assistance.

Like those returning from Vietnam, many of these vets are in already in trouble, emotionally, psychologically, and although while the adrenaline was pumping they somehow managed to survive in Iraq and Afghanistan, later on, once the hype is gone, these lives too will be wasted.

Boone said the reasons behind the veterans’ housing problems are varied: Some have emotional and mental issues from their combat experience, some have trouble finding work after leaving the military, some have health care bills which result in financial distress…Boone added that most veterans don’t seek help for mental and emotional problems for years after their return from combat, meaning the problem of homelessness among war on terror veterans will likely grow.

About all I’ve got to say about that is, welcome home to the returning vets, and damn the bastards who’ve made it possible for you to fight in yet another unnecessary, dirty, and in all ways despicable war for the sake of profits for the few.