Homeless Veterans on the Rise While Veterans' Affairs Offers Great Care
All this being said it confuses me when I read the news lines about homeless veterans. Many of the articles I read talk about a veteran who just came back from Iraq and has hard trouble adjusting to life being home. The articles usually then state some statistics about the large amount of veterans living without homes. Usually the articles also detail the large number of veterans with psychological problems.
I feel that these articles are insulting to the veterans. I question the statistics these news reporters are using. Being a veteran, I deal with the Veterans Association (VA) all the time. The VA is so generous with its benefits, I feel guilty using them. I am not alone in this feeling. Many of the veterans I know chose not to use all of the benefits they are entitled to. For instance, the VA will reimburse the veterans for gas mileage if they have to go to the VA for treatment. I can't think of ANY health insurance that reimburses mileage if you have to go to the doctor.
Moreover, if you need anything from the VA, they are eager to oblige. The VA has a great reeducation program. This reeducation program is in addition to the GI bill. The VA will also build special accommodations for veterans that have been injured.
The VA hospitals are the best I ever used. All of the computers at ever VA hospital are networked together. Therefore, if I need treatment 1000 miles from home, my medical history is there at every hospital. There is no guessing, no requesting information.
I believe that the statistics news reporters use when talking to veterans are skewed. Is a veteran someone who has been kicked out of the military during his first week of boot camp due to a psychological disorder? The military is a cross section of society. Therefore, the military receives some recruits who have serious psychological and physical problems that get discovered in boot camp.
What if a veteran got removed from the military due to legal problems? There are members that get removed for DUIs, Drugs, spousal abuse, child abuse, or whatever. These crimes might be caused by adjustment problems, or they might not. Are these members veterans? If these members completed one successful term in the military, then they are veterans.
I have had a hard time adjusting to society after 20 years of military service. But it is not due to post war problems or failure to the VA. It has to do with missing the camaraderie of the military team. It has to do with trying to understand the mundane lifestyle of civilian life. A man that spent 5 years fighting for freedom may not think separating the laundry is that important! A man who spent 20 years in the military might find the routine of civilian life a little dull.
Not all veterans are the same. The VA is the best organization I have ever dealt with. The VA is not what Oliver Stone makes it out to be in his movies. As for the veterans that require our help, help them, bring them to the VA.
References:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/01/31/army.suicides.ap/index.html
Published by Dave Plouffe
A 20 year naval submarine veteran. David is a curriculum development professional with the US government, US Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security. He has worked extensivily with the Department... View profile
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4 Comments
Post a CommentAll military member have to attend Transition Assistnace Programs (TAP) classes before seperating from the military. It is the law that this class must be provided to all seperating military member, regardless of the type of seperation they are receiving, or how long they have been in the military. During this class, the met a VA rep that gives them a VA package to fill out and points of contacts. Granted the package is extensive, perhaps this is the "redtape" some people refer to. But this package is about hte size of a normal life insurance policy. I have been around the military for many years, 20 years of military service, I still continue to serve as a government employee helping the military. So it boggles my mind why some people will not take advantage of the VA services because of 'redtape.'
Yes every veteran is different. Some people have seen horrible atrocities. I feel for them, I was lucky, I was underwater for 20 years.
I would agree that men that rape their female and male peers, especially the officers that do so, may have had pre-existing mental issues. Those that gleefully forced Iraqi men to form naked human pyramids and other sickening behavior while gleefully posing for the camera as if showing off bagged deer, does prove your point that there are many sick people who join the military. Agencies that service the homeless is where the homeless vet stats come from. A recent study suggests there is a correlation between vets in Iraq getting concussions that may lead to the brain chemical changes that makes some more prone to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which is not the same as Post Trauma stress.
Sad commentary. Many Viet Nam war vets came home, adjusted to family life, jobs, careers and are now homeless. That is not a reporter stat but from knowing more than a few Viet Nam war vets, including homeless ones. "Kicked out of boot camp"? Unless a Vet served their full term of duty, it seems unlikely they will be getting earned benefits. It seems that a young man being forced to kill 13 year olds or be killed by them, may have a bit of a problem dealing with that. How many of them did you kill during your service to the country? If the VA hospital and other services for Vets are so great, why are so many vets sitting on sidewalks in wheelchairs, no home to go home to. They are missing legs and stuff like that. I have met vets who complain about the red tape and paper work and being denied needed services; long waits to be serviced; mis-diagnosis and other problems.
I can not even imagine seeing dead children's body parts strewn across streets due to US bombs. The horrified faces of innocent children with blood running down their faces or the parents crying holding their dead child. I just read that suicides are up among our soldiers in Iraq. Taking people just out of high school, sending them to another country to kill strangers might just cause them more trauma than they can endure. Perhaps some people have an easier time putting that stuff out of their minds; others do not. Long after I see photos they haunt my mind. I doubt that I would ever adjust if I saw it first hand. I know a lot of homeless vets. Too many words to tell you their stories. Just that many talk about issues with the VA hospital in town. Perhaps homed veterans get better treatment than homeless ones.