1 in 4 homeless is a vet, study says

[DocTurtle]

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 8, 2007 10:16 :21 EST

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the U.S., 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.
http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_homelessveterans_071108/

Wow, who would have thought. Reminds me of the song Iron Man. What are you're opinions on this? How do you think they ended up like this?

[Go-Shay]

Interesting that we expect these men and women to protect our country and than just look the other way when they need help.

Source: CNN news (http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/08/homeless.veterans/index.html)

[DocTurtle]

Interesting that we expect these men and women to protect our country and than just look the other way when they need help.

Source: CNN news (http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/08/homeless.veterans/index.html)

lol, I just posted a similar thread a couple min ago under news and politics :p

[DoctorP]

merged threads

[DocTurtle]

Sweet, thanks DocP

[DougP]

Pretty sad indeed. I'd say the responsibility for this rests on much more than the government's shoulders as well.

[socalheart]

This is a disappointing case of neglect. Many people who returned from Vietnam after the war had nothing in the manner of family, friends or substance. Even those I know who returned to a home are still reticent about what happened to them over there. It's important to help them to acclimate back into the mainstream after leaving the military. As the man said, there isn't a lot of need for trained infantry in the civilian world. It's important for those people especially to need fulfillment or fulfill a need in society.

[Isaak Brodsky]

DocTurtle,
Excellent post.
Anyone read Smedley D. Butler's "War is a Racket" ???
Given the report that DT cites here, you'd think Butler was inspired by some divine force.
You gotta check this gem out, if you haven't already, especially if you're on active duty.
Easily googled.

[Mad Hatter]

I guess that I have a different thought on this. I think that it is a shame that Vets quit so easily. Are we saying that the government has any control over your free will to keep fighting, always to what is best, and never give up. I mean, those just a few of the things that I got out of the service.

So i guess that these homeless vets have no family, no money, no va benefits, and are messed up form war?

Yeah right... my ass they are!:army:

[okiprince07]

this is crazy man. how? just relying too much on military and letting them do everything for you? thats sad

[Isaak Brodsky]

There are many incredibly eloquent and powerful passages in Butler's "War is a Racket." These are just a few.


Boys with a normal viewpoint were taken out of the fields and offices and factories and classrooms and put into the ranks. There they were remolded; they were made over; they were made to "about face"; to regard murder as the order of the day. They were put shoulder to shoulder and, through mass psychology, they were entirely changed. We used them for a couple of years and trained them to think nothing at all of killing or of being killed.

Then, suddenly, we discharged them and told them to make another "about face" ! This time they had to do their own readjustment, sans [without] mass psychology, sans officers' aid and advice and sans nation-wide propaganda. We didn't need them any more. So we scattered them about without any "three-minute" or "Liberty Loan" speeches or parades. Many, too many, of these fine young boys are eventually destroyed, mentally, because they could not make that final "about face" alone.

In the government hospital in Marion, Indiana, 1,800 of these boys are in pens! Five hundred of them in a barracks with steel bars and wires all around outside the buildings and on the porches. These already have been mentally destroyed. These boys don't even look like human beings. Oh, the looks on their faces! Physically, they are in good shape; mentally, they are gone.

The entire text can be found at
http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

[DoctorP]

I guess I have a different view on this also...and I'm sure I will get bashed for it.

When you recruit people who do not have the initiative to be the best they can by bettering themselves through knowledge (read that as don't try hard in school)...are you really surprised that when they are cut loose from the services that they can not/will not succeed in life?

These people join the military at age 17, 18, or 19...get a full time job with housing and meals covered. When they are set out to the real world, and have to work a regular job, pay bills, rent, utilities, clothe themselves, etc...are we really surprised that they can't perform?

[Tony Stacks]

I guess I have a different view on this also...and I'm sure I will get bashed for it.

When you recruit people who do not have the initiative to be the best they can by bettering themselves through knowledge (read that as don't try hard in school)...are you really surprised that when they are cut loose from the services that they can not/will not succeed in life?

These people join the military at age 17, 18, or 19...get a full time job with housing and meals covered. When they are set out to the real world, and have to work a regular job, pay bills, rent, utilities, clothe themselves, etc...are we really surprised that they can't perform?

You have somewhat of a point but Vietnam vets were forced to go. They were drafted and they still went and fought whether they agreed with it or not they earned the title and they fought and there fore deserve respect as Combat vets and any help they need the government owes that much to them. I think while you have a point your post is still very insulting the the men and women in uniform.

[Fonze]

Im kind of with mad and docp. How ever much help there is out there and some thats some don't except then thats there fault. Do we really know how many are lienig, how many just dont want to work and how many actually want to be bums. I do believe the gov't owes them help but some dont want it.