This is not a new story in America: A young veteran back from war whose struggle to rejoin society has failed, at least for the moment, fighting demons and left homeless.
But it is happening to a new generation. As the war in Afghanistan plods on in its seventh year, and the war in Iraq in its fifth, a new cadre of homeless veterans is taking shape.
And with it come the questions: How is it that a nation that became so familiar with the archetypal homeless, combat-addled Vietnam veteran is now watching as more homeless veterans turn up from new wars?
What lessons have we not learned? Who is failing these people? Or is homelessness an unavoidable byproduct of war, of young men and women who devote themselves to serving their country and then see things no man or woman should?
A national tragedy. A national disgrace.
2 comments:
It seems that America, and really people in general, turn their faces from the homeless. We are afraid of them, not just of what they are, but because they are the literal personifications of our fear. It is widely known that the vast majority of homeless people are mentally ill and are unable to function in society. When we turn our sick out into the cold, I see no reason why we would think to remember our veterans. Also, though some "lessons," may be learned from past wars, people continue to hold to the notion that most of the homeless are scammers who were never actually in the wars they claimed to have been in. We dismiss and then deny, these are not new traits. Had we learned anything from Vietnam we wouldn't be in Iraq in the first place. False intelligence got us into both messes. The truth is that we as a people don't value soldiers. That is why we raise the fresh crops of troops from the poorest areas, why we pay them next to nil, put them in hospitals not fit for animals and send them into wars without the proper equipment. Then again we do have a lot of yellow ribbons. I wonder how many lives those have saved...
Excellent Post Mr. Deemer.
According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, 1/3 of the homeless have psychiatric problems. This actually is higher than other figures I've seen. Your "widely known" statistic is a myth. Indeed, a substantial number of homeless today have employment.
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