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Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Sun Jun 25, 2006 at 09:05:11 PM EST
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Just another reason to stop spending so much money on Iraq and take care of our own in need:

Thousands of U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are facing a new nightmare - the risk of homelessness. The U.S. government estimates several hundred vets who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are homeless on any given night across the country, although the exact number is unknown.

The reasons that contribute to the new wave of homelessness are many: some are unable to cope with life after daily encounters with insurgent attacks and roadside bombs; some can't navigate government red tape; others simply don't have enough money to afford a house or apartment

[hat tip Patriot Daily.]

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    • Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness | 21 comments (21 topical)
    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#1)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sun Jun 25, 2006 at 10:29:36 PM EST
    Supporting the troops, Republican-style. Used up and quickly forgotten. Let them eat magnetic yellow ribbons.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jun 25, 2006 at 10:38:49 PM EST
    Oh... my heart.... Let's make Halliburton build them houses.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 01:00:28 AM EST
    How about Habitat for Humanity builds the houses. It will be cheaper.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 05:40:49 AM EST
    How about we just stop the "crazy Iraqi vet" meme before it starts? This is the sort of nonsense that stigmatized thousands of Vietnam vets, who did not suffer from problems at anything like the media thought they did. I guess TL has finally figured out that the "oh no, the draft!" thing isn't working, so it's time for a new scare tactic?

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#6)
    by Edger on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 06:08:07 AM EST
    Good idea, jr. Nobody else has said anything here that even remotely suggests a "crazy Iraqi vet" meme. Except you...

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#7)
    by jazzcattg1 on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 06:20:50 AM EST
    all the while the administration is finding ways to cut the VA budget too

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#8)
    by Sailor on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 06:31:55 AM EST
    How about we just stop the "crazy Iraqi vet" meme before it starts? This is the sort of nonsense that stigmatized thousands of Vietnam vets
    yep, PTSD is just a media myth and there aren't homeless VN vets and all of them are coping just fine ... no wonder rethugs want to cut VA benefits, if you don't diagnose them then they can't be sick.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#9)
    by kdog on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 06:57:11 AM EST
    Love the war...piss on the warrior. It's the Republican way. To paraphrase Mama-Bush...most of these people were poor before the war, so being homeless works well for them.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#10)
    by jondee on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 08:42:09 AM EST
    If Keyboard Commander Robertson could tear himself away from Patton and The Longest Day long enough to actually peruse the primary sources on the problems of returning vets, he'd find that the vast majority of the literature was and is compiled by veterans themselves or directly inspired by the activism of returning vets seeking a fair hearing for the difficulties that they've experienced. By "stigmatized" Im afraid people like Robertson mean that harsh reality dosnt jibe with the rousing, romantic, spectacle that they would like to imagine war is.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 09:08:04 AM EST
    Bushco has no regard for human life except there own. What a total failure this government is to let those who fight their war to become homeless. I wish I could say the words but it's not appropriate on the TL Site so fill in the blanks. The Republicans are a bunch of........!

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 10:06:29 AM EST
    M. Simon: I meant for Halliburton to pay, and I want them to build mansions for the returning vets, who made them hundreds of billions, if not trillions by now. Then I want them to start funding the Social Services that were robbed to help line their pockets. When all the war profiteers are done returning that money to the people, THEN let's see what is left to do.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#13)
    by Johnny on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 12:57:52 PM EST
    According to conservative mythology, these soldiers are responsible for failing to deal with such drastic life events, and have only themselves to blame for not developing proper tools to cope with trauma. According to my mythology, conservatives are idiots, for the most part.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#14)
    by HK on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 02:36:13 PM EST
    JR and his ilk are aways eager to say that liberals are unsupportive of troops who are protecting the freedom of civilians. It is untrue and a poor attempt at distraction from the real argument. I can't imagine how returning soldiers must feel at having fought an unpopular and pointless war to find the very administration that sent them to hell and back couldn't care less about them. And to have their problems scoffed at and denied is just cruel.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#15)
    by Bob In Pacifica on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 05:28:48 PM EST
    After I got out of the army I worked at a VA hospital in the mid-seventies as the last bad war was winding down. Hate to burst James Robertson's bubble, but being in a constant "kill or be killed" mode for a year or two is not good for mental health. I saw a lot of people whose lives and minds were ruined by Vietnam. Expect a lot of young men to come home with mental problems. At least back then under Ford and Carter the government actually spent the bucks taking care of fallen.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 06:17:58 PM EST
    We can expect over 100,000 young people coming home with these feelings. After Vietnam the parks and downsides of America were filled with the same, abandoned by the system, dependent on drugs or alcohol, unable to find employment due to the inability to adjust. There is also young people who end up in Ward 7-D WARD 7-D Remember, there are still almost 150,000 young people over there. Anyone who has been in war knows, there Is No Coming home Without Internal Damage. Killing isn't something one can forget.......Ever.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#17)
    by aw on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 08:05:05 PM EST
    "Several hundred" is less than one tenth of one percent. Am I missing something here?
    Yes. Your heart and soul.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 08:14:27 PM EST
    The article says that there are several hundred homeless vets out of 500,000 who have returned thusfar from Afghanistan/Iraq. Actually the article quotes government sources saying that, it's probably quite higher. Did you read this paragraph? To help people like Noel, the VA gives grants to non-profit, private housing organizations that offer about 8,000 free beds across the country. The space isn't always enough to accommodate everyone in desperate need of shelter among the more than 500,000 vets of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been discharged from the military so far. 8000 beds and they don't always have enough. Does the government mean that there are only "several hundred" after the 8000 beds are filled? The really sick number is the estimated 200,000 TOTAL homeless veterans. There shouldn't be even one IMHO. We may not be able to achieve that, but I hope and pray we can do better than what IS going on. And what do you want to bet that the government is lowballing those numbers?

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#19)
    by aw on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 09:28:10 PM EST
    Hey, if Democrats introduce guaranteed free housing for life as a veteran's benefit (isn't that what you're asking Bush to do?)
    How old are you? Just curious.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#20)
    by aw on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 10:19:16 PM EST
    I'm looking forward to it, myself.

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#21)
    by Johnny on Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 04:25:51 AM EST
    Killing isn't something one can forget.......Ever.
    Oh BS... These guys are volunteers, if they cannot handle the stress of slaughtering human beings, they should not have applied for the job... *the above is sarcasm* Seriously, it takes a wrong-winger chicken-hawk who has never seen combat to get all pi$$y about these people returning home and feeling like crap. BTW, for those that toss about the 1.6% figure, or whatever it is... I dare to bet a huge number of those serving in Iraq are men a little older than 18 or 19, come from established homes and careers, with a family (built in support group) waiting for them. Your 1.6% (or whatever it is) is a worthless, meaningless stat, and deserves to be tossed into the trash bin labeled: "Wrong Winger Chicken-Hawk Spin".

    Re: Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness (none / 0) (#22)
    by roger on Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 07:21:29 PM EST
    It's Johnny this, and Johnny that, and chuck him out, the lout. But he's hero of his country when the guns begin to shoot" -R Kipling

    Thousands of Iraq Vets Fear Homelessness | 21 comments (21 topical)