http://www.newsday.com/community/news/northshoresuffolk/huntington/ny-livet0329,0,5607768.story

I read stories like this and, although there is a good ending, it makes me upset. Call me biased...but the veteran in me knows the sacrifices of service, and nobody who has worn the uniform (even for a second) should ever be homeless. If you've ever walked the streets in NYC, or New Orleans, or even LA...it's impossible to not come across a homeless veteran. You know, the guy that's sitting on the curb with a heavy green field jacket, a cup of coffee, and the look of despair smeared with the filth of the streets. What is particularly disgusting about the situation, is that they have been abandoned and unless people speak on their behalf, they are forgotten. The freedoms we enjoy have been paid for by their pain, their suffering, and now their exile and solitude. This is not acceptable.
I know not many of you out there will care about anything that I'm writing, you may even feel that I'm just exaggerating things to further my own agenda. Whatever the case may be...take time to help these guys out. Talk to your legislative representatives and as what's being done about homeless veterans in your area. If you enjoy your freedoms...thank your veterans by giving back to them and getting them off the streets and back onto their feet. It's the least they deserve...

"De Oppresso Liber"

This kind of thing has been known to be going on since Vietnam. The fact seems to be that as soon as the **** hits the fan all the stuff the government says about supporting and helping veterans basically goes out the window, thus reinforcing my idea that the US government is incapable of behaving responsably towards the military.

This kind of thing has been known to be going on since before recorded history.
Fixed.

Some veterans don't come back mentally whole. This has always been the case.

That doesn't change the fact that homeless veterans need advocates to speak out on their behalf however.

Fixed.

Some veterans don't come back mentally whole. This has always been the case.

That doesn't change the fact that homeless veterans need advocates to speak out on their behalf however.

Indeed, I just wonder why they should have to wait years, if not decades, for those advocates to speak up...

It's the same in the UK. Possibly even worse. AIUI we don't have any equivalent to the 'GI Bill' here. I often make a point of talking to people begging for change or selling street newspapers locally, and a good portion of the older guys in that situation are former servicemen who never adapted to civilian life after getting used to a highly regimented environment. Some of them might be lying about their service for sympathy, but a recurring them with the homeless is:-

1) Kid from broken family left with little/no support after leaving a state-run care home at the age of 16.

2) Older adult with heavy substance abuse problem and/or mental health problem.

3) Ex-military guy who hasn't got used to living in a much less-structured environment (often with a drink problem. Some people seem to leave the military and it's hardcore binge-drinking culture and treat civilian life as if they are now permanently 'on leave').

The poor kids from group 1) often graduate into group 2).

Fixed.

Some veterans don't come back mentally whole. This has always been the case.

The stereotype seems to particularly been vietnam vetrans.

The hate that was pouring on them from both sides (including their own country) coupled with the fact that most were forced to go, the huge amount of drugs in the ranks, and the horrible things that were being done beyond just shooting somebody messed people up in a really bad way. We don't have nearly as bad a situation with Iraq, but obviously it still takes a heavy toll on you.

Jnp, the thing is that the US government always has a whole song and dance about taking care of vets and how joining the military is supposed to be a positive life-changing experience.

I mean, for most of history, governments recruiting soldiers didn't really make a big deal about how they were going to treat their veterans well. A peasant from medieval China being drafted as a footsoldier wasn't being told the whole way how he'd be taken care of if he were injured, and so forth. A French peasant trotting away with Peter The Hermit to the first Crusade didn't expect that anyone would give a damn if he died slowly and miserably in Asia Minor from a gangrenous wound which would have been untreatable under the medical knowledge of that time.

It's the US government in contemporary times which has made these sorts of promises, but which has in many ways failed to follow through when these promises were most needed.

For me, the big deal is how the US government simultaneously makes all these great promises and then fails to follow through at a crucial time.

For me, the big deal is how the US government simultaneously makes all these great promises and then fails to follow through at a crucial time.
I agree with your point, but has there ever been a government that didn't fail to follow through on their promises?

I know it's hard to tell, but I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to promises the government makes, especially the military. I personally saw the U.S.M.C. screw over four guys with good service records after Desert Storm because Clinton wanted to cut costs any way he could. I decided not to re-enlist a year later based on how the government was treating my fellow soldiers.

From my VERY limited understanding, the Department of Veterans Affairs was formed largely out of a concern that if a veteran population didn't get assistance after a war, they would use their talents at combat and organization and threaten the government. Therefore, it was in the best interests of all to make sure that the vets were taken care of afterwards.

That sounds kind of weird, Judah.

In the first place if a person came back pemanently injured or psychologically wounded it seems unlikely that he'd wake up one morning, pull it all together, and start bombing oil pipelines. I'd argue that someone in such a situation would have pretty big problems of his own that would occupy his time and emotional energy.

Secondly, didn't US troops not get a whole lot of training during Vietnam? I seem to remember something about 8 weeks of training. If that were the case, I don't see any reason why a normal civilian couldn't subject himself to 8 weeks of rigorous training and, through the transformative powers of rated M video games, pick up the gumption to start bombing oil pipelines. In other words, if someone really wanted to commit acts of domestic terrorism and/or make things difficult for the US economy and federal government, I don't think that it would be that hard and requiring of great skill and experience. AFAIK the 9/11 plane crashers were more lucky than hard.