Revered but Homeless -- Our Veterans

On this Veteran's Day, let's be sure to wear our American flag pins in honor of our war heroes. In addition, let's drive our gas-guzzling vehicles to the mall, pull out our over-extended credit card, and spend money we don't have on a new mattress or an upgraded DVD player, thanks to those ubiquitous Veteran's Day sales! After all, this is how we are asked to support our troops, right? Never mind that the National Alliance to End Homelessness reports that veterans make up one-quarter of the homeless population.

Yeah, you read that right. Besides troops returning from combat exhausted and damaged, emotionally or physically, and oftentimes both, they are also being put out on the street. Is this really the thanks they deserve for serving our country, one that no longer remembers who they are? And I'm not sure that a one-day a year parade where we wave the flag counts.

The Bush administration was successful in using protests against bringing war into Iraq as an implication that we didn't support our troops. What's equally frustrating is that instead of pointing out how ridiculous a charge that was, most politicians and media folk backpedaled, afraid votes and podiums would be commandeered due to the unjustified statement coming out of the White House.

What's so tragic is that while this administration has failed in ostensibly trying to win the hearts and minds of those in the Middle East, they have also severely damaged those of its own men and women. There needs to be an outcry of protest, one that doesn't involve donning a flag pin or pulling out a credit card. I was against the war in Iraq from the get go, but I was certainly not against those who serve. Yes, Mr. President, let's support our troops by honoring them with less lip service and more dignity and action so that when they return to American soil, they will be welcomed in the comfort of a home instead of wheeled onto the street where they are forgotten until a parade passes by.

Comments

[Scarabus]

Odd coincidence that just as that report was released, Fox's John Gibson insisted on air that a recent report (unnamed, of course) showed that homelessness isn't really a problem in this country. The callousness of these chickenhawk bully-boys is unbelievable. It's the equivalent of the high school jerk's policy in respect to girls: recruit or call 'em up, f*** 'em, and forget 'em.

[angryruth]

to those who think that by putting a fucking "support out troops" decal on their cars means
they are with the troops are well beyond deluded.
It's just a cheap way of expiating their guilt.
I'd love to know how many of these good amerikans
volunteer at a homeless shelter and see this crisis up close and personal or do they keep repeating the old repug canard, it's not my problem and the fault lies with the poor and
homeless, because they brought it on themselves!!

[LindaJay]

Carol, good post. The number of vets among the homeless has been a dirty little secret ever since the Vietnam war. What is so upsetting is that so many people no longer even see the homeless. They've been there for so long that they have become a fixture of our civilization. That such a large portion of them are vets and people with mental disabilities is a crime.

That wasn't always true. I'm 54, and when I was growing up, there were very few homeless to be seen. That's because we actually had government institutions that helped people. That was before Reaganomics, of course, and the wholesale dismantling of all the safety nets for people who needed help. That was before all the mental hospitals were closed down and their patients shoved out on the street. What an advanced civilization we are!

[WorkingClass]

Hi Carol. I'm a vet. And I can tell you, nobody gives a shit about soldiers and veterans except their families. People who say they "support our troops" really don't. I don't know why they lie about it - they just do. I think most vets would agree with me when I say - you don't owe me anything.

[realitytrumpsbull]

How about a veteran's day impeachment rally?
Bush has all the mercenaries they need, so
they don't need troops anymore, so...yeah,
let the oil companies fight their OWN battles...
they can afford it and that way our troops
don't just end up as pawns for a naked greed-
fest that has about as much to do with Democracyer(R) as this administrationer does...