Bringing Vets Back Inside the Wire

Every veteran who has served in combat knows of the bone-chilling fear of being trapped outside the wire.

There was relative safety inside the perimeter, whether it was in Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan, but you were vulnerable outside the line. You knew if you were caught in no man's land, somebody was coming to get you or die trying. That was certain. No one was left behind.

This is what I learned in the Marine Corps and the organization I now lead, United States Veterans Initiative (U.S.VETS), practices it every day: no veteran is left behind.

When I served as a Marine lieutenant in Vietnam in 1968, the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder hadn't been coined and Agent Orange was still considered a harmless defoliant. Veterans suffering the devastating effects of both -- and their cold greeting when they returned home -- turned to each other for help.

After I was discharged from the Marine Corps in 1971, I started following the vet-to-vet movement in Los Angeles as a filmmaker. This is when I met a group of Soviet combat veterans -- who had served in Afghanistan -- that helped me understand the universality of the problems faced by all men and women who return home from combat.

When Soviet troops began returning from combat in Afghanistan, they faced similar issues, exacerbated by the fact their government never even publicly acknowledged its involvement in the fighting.

The Soviet veterans of Afghanistan reached out to U.S. Vietnam veterans and I documented it in the film Heart of the Warrior. I accompanied a Soviet soldier back to Afghanistan and an American to Vietnam. The issues they faced returning from war were identical.

Drawn to the struggle, I decided to devote my career to the veterans movement. I got my MSW and began helping U.S.VETS grow into what it is today. That was 19 years ago. One of the vets I helped off the street, Linda Miles-Celistan, is now on our board of directors.

It's clear our mission has never been more vital.

For many veterans returning from war, the battle is far from over. Diego Villalobos and Joseph Perez-Marchese, veterans and students at Santa Monica College, returned from combat changed men, as did fellow student and vet Calvin Lock. All three suffered from PTSD and grappled with their problem alone until they connected with a year-old U.S.VETS program that we call Outside the Wire.

"The whole idea is to work with this younger generation so that they don't develop chronic mental health problems," said Dr. Todd Adamson, the clinical psychologist who heads up Outside the Wire. "Substance abuse, poor family relationships, divorce -- that's what we're trying to inoculate with this program."

U.S.VETS, with 11 locations in six states and the District of Columbia, is now the largest nonprofit in the nation serving homeless and at-risk veterans.

We are but one of many organizations devoted to helping vets. As we are reminded on a much too frequent basis, the problems are huge.

• More than 75,000 veterans are homeless on any given night.

• 1.5 million veterans live in poverty.

• 300,000 veterans of Iran and Afghanistan are returning home with Post Traumatic Stress or Traumatic Brain Injuries.

• Nearly 30 percent of recently returned veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are unemployed.

• 18 veterans a day are giving in to their despair and committing suicide.

U.S.VETS was established to find solutions to these problems.

• We provide housing for 5,000 vets a year to help stabilize their lives

• We help 1,000 veterans a year find jobs

• And we provide counseling and support to help veterans and their families address the issues that will enable them to attain independence and make them productive members of our community.

For many veterans, the battle to rebuild their lives has just begun.

 

Comments

[stevejolinski]

03:46 PM on 05/23/2012

I am staying at the US Vets Initiative location in Phoenix, Arizona at 3400 Grand Ave. and the staff is very racist against caucasian individuals. There are people who never served in the military staying there. Prostitutes have stayed there and are staying here now because the staff condones activity like this. Staff condones the narcotics use and dealing by these people. I believe the staff there is taking advantage of the veterans who are paying money to stay there.

Home Depot has come out 2 times this year that I am aware of and the building supplies they have provided for this location have disappeared off the premises. I believe the building supplies were suppose to go for renovation of the 3400 NW Grand Ave. location but they didn't. Home Depot were out here doing some promotional video for their company.

A lot of rooms do not have working air conditioners and the temperature can exceed 100 degrees farenheight.

I had to call the police because of the prostitute and her activity. The staff surprisingly covered for the woman. I was admonished because of the fact I called the police and the staff didn't want police reports on the location. Also there is bed bug problem that is not being addressed. It looks like they are dragging the bed bug infested furniture out into the sun with the hopes that will do away with the bed bugs and then maybe the furniture will go back into the rooms.

[LenAldis]

01:55 PM on 05/18/2012

Steve Peck's figures need to be shouted from the rooftops to highlight the fact that the effects of
war does not end when troops return home. Just look at those appaling figures again and then think of the people of the countries that the troops fought in and on. What of their lives, their land.

I have this day returned from another visit to Vietnam where I saw and met a number of children suffering from the effects of Agent Orange, the chemical made by 36 American Chemical companies and of which 80 million litres were sprayed over Southern Vietnam, the legacy it has left to the people and land was and remains a war crime, a crime for which not one of the companies or the US government has accepted repsonsibility or made any compensation.

Near to five million Vietnamese are affected by Agent Orange, many thousands have died.

But, since the Vietnam War have we learnt any lessons? No, we are still sending young men and women to wars and they are returning home from Iraq, Afghanistan etc batterted and confused, many now know they should not have gone, been sent, Just look at the record of the past few US Presidents, they were very willing to send their forcers to war, but when time came for them to serve, they either fled their country, joined the Natgional |Guard or the Texas Airforce.

Meanwhile look again at Steve's figure and wonder why, why why why....