Number of homeless Iraq, Afghan vets doubles

[katsung47]

Number of homeless Iraq, Afghan vets doubles
By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Dec 26, 2012 19:13:47 EST

The number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are homeless or at risk of losing a roof over their heads has more than doubled in the past two years, according to government data.

Through the end of September, 26,531 of them were living on the streets, at risk of losing their homes, staying in temporary housing or receiving federal vouchers to pay rent, the Department of Veterans Affairs reports.

That’s up from 10,500 in 2010. The VA says the numbers could be higher because they include only the homeless the department is aware of.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/1...terans-122612/

Does the war in Iraq and Afghan create those homeless people?

[loganroth51]

Pretty sad tbh.

You would think that with the amount of money we pump into the military, we could at least make sure our vets have a home.

[Buckwald]

Pretty sad tbh.

You would think that with the amount of money we pump into the military, we could at least make sure our vets have a home.

You'd think... Being an OIF veteran (two deployments) this is so incredibly unacceptable. There are a lot of bills that have stalled in both the house and senate. http://www.nchv.org/ Has so much information and so many resources out there, that I just don't understand how people don't really know this.

[Jayburner]

I'm confused. You do a tour and then you are done? Job is gone after that?

[Buckwald]

I'm confused. You do a tour and then you are done? Job is gone after that?

No, you have a contract for X number of years. Most younger Soldiers are usually done in 4 years, which usually includes 1 deployment.

[Ave07]

I'm confused. You do a tour and then you are done? Job is gone after that?

I'm pretty sure they have the option to renew their contracts or not and by the things going on over there I'm not surprised no one wants another tour.

[Jayburner]

Okay so you have a job for 5 years then. Is there no way to keep being a soldier full-time?

[Wiyld]

Okay so you have a job for 5 years then. Is there no way to keep being a soldier full-time?

Yes, you can sign another contract.

[Jayburner]

Now i'm even more confused.

[Wiyld]

Now i'm even more confused.

What part of this is confusing. Most people who are in the armed forces are not there for their entire career. It's actually a major point of separation for service people, those who are in it for the long haul, and those who are not. 'Career' service members are not what this article is talking about really, these are the large number of folks who were brought into the forces to fight in the wars who then left and are now in financial trouble.


OT: What a surprise, shit sucks for vets too. This is to be expected, most of our folks coming out of the armed forces have 'some' training and degrees in specific work but they are like me at the moment, the job market is so bad that we are competing for jobs we SHOULD be getting with people who should be getting better jobs. But since we have a glut of overqualified workers everyone has to drop down a peg, so those of us with the least important sounding degrees get pushed off the bottom.

[Bigbamboozal]

Thank god my country takes care of their own, and sometimes yours too.
If I lived in a country that beats it's chest proud as a peacock ALL THE TIME and they treated vets like that I think I'd have to consider either leaving said country or trying to effect change. Short of that, burn shit down until the powers that be took care of the people who have taken care of us.
And that is what vets have done. I know, some asshole who does not understand a damn thing in life will come in here and shittalk vets, war, ect.
But I tell you, they have no idea whats what.
If you are a vet, I am proud of you, I have respect for you, and if I saw you, I'd help you, however I can.

[Deleted]

Can't they just ask for wellfare, like anyone else who lost his job ?

[Jayburner]

Can you still get back into the armed forces if you leave and find yourself homeless/jobless?

[FusedMass]

The problem is even though their been bills introduced by Obama that would make it easier for people in armed services to transfer out of that life and securely get another job. There is almost nothing. You could be a highly trained medical person in the army then when you come out have to get a job flipping burgers. (There are some exceptions in some jobs where being in Military is a plus) it's difficult for some people to complete that transfer.

On top of that you have some soldiers coming back with serve mood disorders like (PTSD) which mentally makes them more fragile and emotionally. There's not enough funding to mental health provided so they get access to mental health services when they need it. It's easy to go to war and do this but its harder to take care of everything when they come back.

[Dallan]

You'd think... Being an OIF veteran (two deployments) this is so incredibly unacceptable. There are a lot of bills that have stalled in both the house and senate. http://www.nchv.org/ Has so much information and so many resources out there, that I just don't understand how people don't really know this.

A lot of the homeless Vets I have seen over the past 5 years in the VA system have had some serious mental issues, so I think just plain not understanding things is part of the issue here. Not to mention, you can have all the information in the world about these programs and not have it help one bit because everything is so backlogged it's not even funny. As sad as that sounds.

[Hurwyn]

Do they at least get some of the gasoline they risked their lives for?

[FusedMass]

Do they at least get some of the gasoline they risked their lives for?

As far as I'm aware they may get one check per month depending on how long they were in. The transfer is very diffcult for them to adjust to live not in the army. Some actually do successfully leave and do well. Others fall through the cracks do not.

[Sam the Wiser]

Do they at least get some of the gasoline they risked their lives for?

Oh you stop it lol.

[Acquilae]

You would think that with the amount of money we pump into the military, we could at least make sure our vets have a home.

George Carlin had a great segment on how pro-lifers would do anything to support a fetus from conception to birth, but after that they leave the child on their own. Same thing with our Congress not hesitating to send soldiers into war, being on their side while they fight, but then that support dissipates when they come back home like helping with training programs to apply military roles to civilian jobs.

Okay so you have a job for 5 years then. Is there no way to keep being a soldier full-time?

There's the officer path but I know first hand that it is hard if you have a family; my mom had to take the responsibilities of both parents while working as an RN for the majority of a 12-month span up until 7th grade when my dad retired(although he loved joking about going to grad school afterwards with students half his age).