Iraq, Afghan Vets Already Found At Homeless Shelters, Advocates Fear 'Tsunami'

AP:

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, 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.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[bushdoescrack]

06:36 PM on 11/08/2007

why don't you americans invite a homeless veteran to live with your families. unless you do that, you are no better than bush, as these vets protected your freedom and fought for your country. do it, unless you are a hypocrite.

[leftLibertarian]

05:12 PM on 11/08/2007

Only the very naive think that Bush, still AWOL from his National Guard unit, cares about the troops.

[bepeace]

03:15 PM on 11/08/2007

We, as Americans, are responsible for helping our veterans recover from the trauma of war. This is going to take a lot of money. We want to do the job right.
There should be no such thing as homelessness in what our leaders continually remind us is the "richest" nation in the world. As a consequence of our history of militarism, we can no longer start any more wars.
We are just going to have to become a peaceful nation. No more using the military to ensure easy, cheap raw materials for corporations. We need to concentrate on a more constructive path.
We waste an obscene amount money engaging in militant behaviors as a nation. Instead, we should redirect that money toward positive spending programs. I look forward to the day when all Americans have equal access to equal health care, when homelessness and hunger are abolished, and when education, infrastructure, and the environment receive the level of attention and funding they deserve.

[RedRooster]

03:13 PM on 11/08/2007

A fraternity brother just returned from Iraq and he's having a tough time adjusting. Talking to him upon his return, left me shaken simply out of concern for him. Just hearing the uncertainty and worry in his voice was really unsettling. He will no doubt weather this storm but it is obvious he will have some dark, cold days ahead.

Perhaps I'm overly sensitive to the subject because my Dad served in Vietnam, but I must say, the first time I visited Washington, DC and saw homeless Veterans, I was heartbroken...as much for my country as for them.

America, we have a serious problem with the manner in which we "honor" our veterans. It is time to wake up to this unpleasant truth!

[azhiker]

02:57 PM on 11/08/2007

We all need to contribute to tents across from the White House. Instead of Hooverville, we will have Bushville. BTW, you 28% that support this criminal in the White House STFU, you are all idiots.

Supporting the troops, yea, right. Typical Republiscum.

[RedWhiteandBrooklyn]

02:02 PM on 11/08/2007

What? People who helped elect a cowardly AWOL who sends Americans off to be wounded & to die in a needless war to actually give a damn about those soldiers & Marines? A President who cuts funding for the Veteran's Administration during a war? A fool who tries to ignore & then to hide the hideous conditions that wounded veterans are living in at Walter Reed... only a few blocks from the White House?

What did you actually expect from this chickenshit little tinhorn?

[USMCMUSTANG]

01:22 PM on 11/08/2007

Wait until those who experienced concussions start having symptoms.

[forebode]

01:04 PM on 11/08/2007

On the way to my home for lunch hour today, I followed a car with a Bush/Cheney sticker on it. I hope that whoever is driving that car gets it someday.

I live in Douglas County, the most liberal county in Kansas because of the presence of KU here in town. I am surprised that car didn't have eggs all over it. But then, we liberals are a lot more tolerant of conservatives (in the hope that they wise up) than conservatives are of liberals. Lawrence, Kansas (which is in Douglas County) has been described as 27 square miles of reality surrounded by Kansas.

[forebode]

12:59 PM on 11/08/2007

As punishment for our vets being homeless, Bush and Cheney need to be forced to be on the run (and therefore homeless) until we can catch up to them and gang lynch the Nazi sons of bitches. Make Bush and Cheney suffer. Make them pay very slowly and painfully. Whatever it takes to make Bush and Cheney have to scream for mercy, but get none. They did their evil to America. It's payback time. Bush and Cheney need to be made to fear for their lives.
Secret Service personnel assigned to them after this fiasco of a Presidential term, will not want to be associated with them because they know their families will be at risk, and they will know that they, too, will be targets for guarding such human slime. Without protection, Bush and Cheney will be at the mercy of everyone who hates them, and that is a lot of people who will outnumber them.

[GhostintheMachine]

12:38 PM on 11/08/2007

Yet even so, funding for veterans is going up twice as fast under Bush as it did under Clinton. And the number of veterans getting health benefits is going up 25% under Bush's budgets. That's hardly a cut.

Analysis
Funding for veterans benefits has accelerated in the Bush administration, as seen in the following table.




In Bush’s first three years funding for the Veterans Administration increased 27%. And if Bush's 2005 budget is approved, funding for his full four-year term will amount to an increase of 37.6%.

In the eight years of the Clinton administration the increase was 31.7%

Those figures include mandatory spending for such things as payments to veterans for service-connected disabilities, over which Congress and presidents have little control. But Bush has increased the discretionary portion of veterans funding even more than the mandatory portion has increased. Discretionary funding under Bush is up 30.2%.

[MikeDu]

11:39 AM on 11/08/2007

Look at the homeless statistics following the Vietnam war (and how many ageing Vietnam vets are STILL on the street). Back in the 30s Patton first got famous crushing the 'bonus marchers', desperate depression era WWI vets. The aftermath of this war's going to be no diffrent than the others. Considering the current situation shall we speculate on how many of our National Guard and Army vets are going to return home only to find their homes and businesses taken over by the bank? I hear 50,000 homes are in danger in the Phoenix area alone!

[naschkatze]

11:30 AM on 11/08/2007

Just picture these poor guys who were backdoor drafted from the National Guard. Most probably had decent jobs, wives and children, or the potential for these things, and now their lives have been ruined. When it's all over in Iraq, we the people need to hold the collective feet of Congress and a new president to the fire to make sure the veterans do not fall completely through the cracks. It will be another cause in which we need to tell the politicians no more donations unless our people are taken care of.

[helonias]

11:24 AM on 11/08/2007

Its just to bad that they didn't have football injuries like all of those young repubs

[vippy]

11:14 AM on 11/08/2007

Isn't this what Bush supporters call "supporting our soldiers?" Much like the many new home owners Bush bragged so much about and everyone of them now losing their homes.
And people still don't get it! Amazing.

[helonias]

10:54 AM on 11/08/2007

Just think how bad things would be if we were not a Christian, you treat me as you treat the least of you" country.

Just think, but not too much.