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Homeless veterans
5 years ago

After dealing with various homeless organizations for the past few months I have some disturbing information. It seems that there is no intention of ever getting the homeless homes and jobs, it would remove the problem and funding would dry up. It is their goal to keep the homeless dependent, be it for funding or merely to indoctrinate them in their religion.A few of the directors even accused me of being a criminal (although, unlike them, I requested no funds) and refuse to even direct homeless people to my work site. I will still help the homeless if they show up ready to work but I will never give a dime to the crooks running the organizations designed to feed, warehouse and indoctrinate the homeless.

WanderingVets.com blog on Counting
5 years ago

arlington.jpg(This is where the VA says a lot of Homeless Veterans found housing last year!)

FACTBOX-America's Vietnam War veterans
5 years ago

http://tinyurl.com/4onz2p FACTBOX-America's Vietnam War veterans Sun Apr 6, 2008 7:00am EDT April 6 (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain was a Vietnam War veteran and former prisoner of war. Following are some facts and figures about Vietnam veterans in the United States: - The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says the Vietnam War (1964-1975) involved over 8.7 million U.S. service members worldwide. Over 3.4 million were deployed to Southeast Asia. - The United States suffered around 58,000 battle or "in theater" deaths during the Vietnam War. Vietnam and neighboring countries like Cambodia and Laos suffered far higher death tolls, many of which were civilian. - There are around 7.2 million U.S. Vietnam veterans still living. - While several veterans of World War Two have been elected to the White House, the Vietnam conflict has yet to produce an American president. - Many Vietnam veterans were draftees from lower-income backgrounds and a large number have experienced social and economic difficulties. By some estimates almost one in four homeless people in America are veterans. Of these, almost half are Vietnam veterans, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. (Sources: United States Department of Veterans Affairs; National Coalition for Homeless Veterans) (Compiled by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Eric Beech) *fair use*

Helping Handbags to help the Homeless
5 years ago
A simple solution to help the homeless...buy Helping HandBags. My son Zack came up with this idea for a 3rd grade invention project. He received 2nd place in our County. The Helping HandBag was such a hit that we had parents asking if we had bags that they could buy. So much so that we started Guiltless Giving. Our web site is http://www.guiltlessgiving.com Each Helping HandBag contains: (1)Pair of Gloves (help keep warm) (1)Cheese crackers (for a hungry tummy) (1)Toothbrush (1)Tube of Toothpaste (1)Bar of Soap (1)Packet of Deodorant (1)Comb (2)Adhesive Bandages (1)Reference Card* *The reference card has phone numbers that may be of assistance to those in need including government services for homeless Veterans, runaways and much more. I think, this is the most valuable part. Helping HandBags are small enough to fit in your glove box and are inexpensive too. For every four (4) Helping HandBags purchased we send one (1) additional bag with the order so that it can be given out on Zack's behalf. We can also ship the bags to a homeless shelter of your choice. We have some recommendations on our web site if you need somewhere to start. Would you rather give out a Helping Handbag with a snack, gloves, basic hygiene products and a referral card OR give out spare change and hope that the homeless person doesn't spend it on alcohol or drugs? Dollar bills nor spare change have referral numbers listed on them. This is our way of paying it forward . One Helping HandBag at a time. May God bless those in need. CC - Zack's mom
Veterans' Suicides: a Hidden Cost of Bush's Wars, continued
6 years ago
The Omvigs let their grief feed their activism. They insisted that behind the statistics there are real human beings whose suffering is monumental, and monumental as well for the people who love them. For me, and I imagine for a host of others who have been moved to help push this legislation forward, the impetus came, at least in part, from the courage it took for them to share the raw emotional intimacies of a son's death. Thanks in no small measure to the advocacy of his parents, the Department of Veterans Affairs will soon be required to develop and implement a comprehensive suicide prevention program at each of its medical facilities, including mandatory staff training in suicide awareness and prevention, a designated suicide prevention counselor in each facility, and a 24-hour suicide hotline. The bill that bears Josh's name is perhaps a small victory, but it will make more of a difference to veterans than any parade. Note: The bill, as currently written, no longer requires the VA to screen all its patients for suicide risk factors and make an effort to keep track of at-risk veterans, an important element that was dropped because otherwise one senator, Tom Coburn (OK-R), threatened to block its passage indefinitely. Coburn feared that such a database could also be used to deny veterans who have sought help at the VA for mental health issues the right to purchase a gun. Too bad, but even so, it's a start. Penny Coleman is the widow of a Vietnam Veteran who took his own life after coming home. Her latest book, Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide and the Lessons of War, was released on Memorial Day, 2006. Her blog is Flashback. *fair use*
Veterans' Suicides: a Hidden Cost of Bush's Wars
6 years ago
http://www.alternet.org/story/67556/ By Penny Coleman, AlterNet Posted on November 11, 2007, Printed on November 13, 2007 http://www.alternet.org/story/67556/ On November 6, the Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Bill became law. The bill was named for a 22-year-old Iowa reservist who took his own life eleven months after coming home from Iraq. Though Josh is one of hundreds of combat veteran suicides since the wars began in 2001, it is his name that has become symbolic of the campaign to get the military to take the mental health of America's vets seriously. With the exception of the unspeakable images of Abu Ghraib, which were e-mailed home by soldiers themselves, for six years Americans have been effectively insulated from the human cost of our wars. This insulation is not an accident; it is policy. Images from the Vietnam years, like the naked child trying to outrun her own burning skin, or the anguished women and children waiting their turn to be executed at My Lai, were catalysts that helped turn public opinion against that war. This time, the government wanted to ensure that would not happen. On the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Pentagon issued a directive to the media forbidding any coverage of returning American coffins. No coffins, no funerals, no wounds, no tears. No empathy. Randy and Ellen Omvig's success in drawing long overdue attention to the issue of veteran suicide in an environment that has dismissed or derailed other worthy causes, can be explained, I believe, by their insistence on going public with the most intimate details of their tragedy. They complicated and humanized a debate that has been stalled for decades in a morass of misinformation, disinformation and other evasion tactics. They described how his tour in Iraq had changed him, how he suffered all of the symptoms they now recognize as classic PTSD: the nightmares, the shaking, the dark moods and consuming fears. They admitted that they had failed to convince him to go for counseling, accepting his argument that the stigma would wreck his career plans. And then came the morning when Ellen discovered him locked in his pick up truck. He had a gun. As she tried frantically to reason with him, he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. It's a horrific image: she, banging on the window, terrified, pleading, while, on the other side of the glass, her son tells her he will always love her, but that now she must leave. "Go!" he says, and when she refuses, he raises his gun, angles his head so the bullet will not hit her, and fires. She was powerless to stop anything, the hand, the gun, the bullet, the blood. There must have been a lot of blood. In spite of a suicide rate among solders that has now reached a 26-year record high, and contradicting the evidence of their own increasingly ominous studies, the Army continues to insist that they have yet to find a connection between combat stress injuries (PTSD) and suicide. They trot out self-serving anecdotes about "Dear John" letters, incompetent parents, and what they call "underdeveloped life coping skills" to blame active duty soldiers for their own deaths. As for veteran suicides, there has never been any official attempt to track or count them. The virtual epidemic of veteran suicides that followed the war in Vietnam has remained largely beneath the radar of public awareness because there is still such irrational fear and shame attached to a self-inflicted death. Families, military and otherwise, have far too often tried to cover up the circumstances of such deaths, hoping to shield both the living and the dead from blame and condemnation. What has often been called the "most secret death" has afforded the military a convenient and virtually impenetrable cover for decades, allowing them to keep combat-related suicides a theoretical, statistical, deniable issue. Josh Omvig was not able to keep his war theoretical. He and hundreds of other veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and thousands of Vietnam vets carried home memories friends lost, bodies blown apart, and lives touched by real horror. Their wars were up close and personal, and when their memories became too much to bear, they chose to die. Both as a war widow and as the mother of a boy who, like Josh, is in his 20's, I heard the Omvigs' story, saw it and felt it, through the lens of my own experience. My husband Daniel returned from Vietnam with memories he could never bring himself to share. They haunted him and they haunted our relationship. Was his death an execution? Euthanasia? Or was it my fault? What did I do to that poor man? In the years since, unbidden memories of the swirling red lights, the sirens, the pumps, the drains, and the blood have infiltrated who I am. I rarely if ever talked about Daniel, but I learned to tiptoe around everyone I love, hoping not to do it again, hoping not to kill someone else by mistake. So I am enormously grateful to Ellen and Randy Omvig. I do not find their story inappropriately intimate. I do not think it is in bad taste. Or exploitative. Or sensationalist, though those are all excuses that are proffered in defense of the bloodless numbers, the numbing statistics and the endless slogans. It is, in fact, a vital antidote to the guilt, the silence, and the isolation that is typically experienced by the families of suicides. It invites empathy, which is the corner stone of common cause activism. It makes the personal political. (MORE)
New York’s homeless veterans
6 years ago
http://tinyurl.com/25uvyk 1.8 million veterans lack health coverage New York’s homeless veterans The number of homeless veterans in New York rose by more than 60 percent over a two-year period, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. There were 21,147 homeless veterans in New York last year, a jump from 2,700 in 2005, the report states. Figures are based on data from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, which collected numbers from local officials, Mary Cunningham, director of the alliance’s Homelessness Research Institute, told the Associated Press. Nationally, veterans are one in four homeless people, according to the report. *fair use*
When Johnny comes home...less
6 years ago
http://tinyurl.com/2ln8pa November 12, 2007 AS AMERICANS finishing their service in Iraq or Afghanistan are now seeing, the journey home after military service can be grueling. While the majority end up rejoining civilian life successfully, the burden of injuries, mental illness or economic disruption proves too great for many others. And as a new report details, a disturbingly high number of veterans end up homeless. more stories like this * Some veterans will observe day with mix of pride, resentment * Study: 1 out of 4 homeless are veterans * Surge in number of homeless veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan wars is anticipated * Democrats seek better care for veterans * Iraq, Afghan vets at risk for suicides * On any given night in 2006, an estimated 196,000 veterans were homeless in America, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a Washington nonprofit. Over the course of the year, nearly a half-million veterans were homeless. Veterans are at risk. Many grapple with traumatic brain injuries, the loss of limbs, posttraumatic stress disorder, and mental illness. Some need to find jobs and housing. Others lack social ties to family and friends, especially after having served on long tours of duty. According to the alliance, as many as 467,000 veterans may be at risk of losing their homes because they are poor and spending more than half of their income on rent. Fortunately, the news about veterans comes at the same time as an encouraging announcement from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, which says that from 2005 to 2006, the number of chronically homeless people dropped by more than 20,000, an 11.5 percent decline. One reason for the welcome change is so-called supportive housing: programs that provide both homes and social services. This is a small but meaningful victory, because it shows that supportive housing works - and that expanding these programs would help veterans. That's a leap from the days when help meant little more than a blanket and hot soup. In addition to supportive housing, the government should invest heavily in prevention. The alliance calls for creating pilot programs - including one in a rural area - that would look at the needs of military personnel during the first 30 days after their discharge. Such programs could provide short-term financial help to stave off evictions or help with security deposits. The alliance also recommends creating 25,000 units of supportive housing for chronically homeless veterans - those who are homeless repeatedly or continuously for long periods of time. This would create communities where veterans could support one another. The estimated construction costs would be $3 billion, and another $1.2 billion would cover five years of operating costs. Such an investment could also help future generations of veterans, if the housing is well maintained. Vulnerable veterans shouldn't be left on the streets. They deserve the nation's gratitude as well as its protection. © Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company. *fair use, as described on the front page of this group*
In Hiding, continued
6 years ago

DANESE KENON / The Star
In hiding: homeless vets
6 years ago
http://tinyurl.com/3daqne November 12, 2007 In hiding: homeless vets Counting the number of veterans on the streets is difficult because they avoid notice, experts say By Meagan Ingerson meagan.ingerson@indystar.com Indiana's homeless veterans huddle under bridges and sleep in their cars. They camp out in the woods and spend their days hanging around local Veterans Affairs offices. All of which they see as better than facing a homeless shelter, according to veterans and their advocates. List of Veterans Day events They say homeless veterans don't want to be noticed, which is why their numbers often are underreported. "I think everyone wants to paint a rosy picture and say the number of homeless people is going down," said Charles Haenlein, president of the Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation. "(But) our beds get filled very quickly." A new study by the National Alliance to End Homelessness made headlines last week when it estimated veterans nationwide make up more than a quarter of the homeless population, even though they make up only 11 percent of the adult population. The number of homeless veterans in Indiana, however, dropped 7.7 percent last year, according to the study. There were 1,200 homeless veterans in the state in 2006, down from 1,300 the year before. But many who work with homeless veterans in Indiana say the actual numbers may be triple what's reported in the new study. Citing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs statistics from 2006, Haenlein said there are 3,500 homeless veterans on any given night across the state, with 900 of them in the Indianapolis area. Veterans working with the Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation say the study's estimates could be low because many veterans don't want to admit they're in trouble. "There's a lot of us out there that are just too proud," said Vietnam vet Ronald Augustus, 61, who lived out of his car for four months last winter and is now in an HVAF program in Indianapolis. "If anything, it's four or five hundred more." The foundation operates a variety of housing units to help veterans in need. The agency also offers food, clothing, job training and substance abuse treatment programs. Demand for the agency's services has gone up in the past few years, Haenlein said, as the group added more beds and more programs for veterans. The agency helped more than 2,000 veterans last year by providing housing, food and clothing. The waiting list has increased from 20 people last year to about 35 this year. "If (the numbers) went down, we wouldn't have such a long waiting list," said HVAF Outreach Coordinator Mike Williams. State data for the study were gathered from Veterans Affairs offices in Indiana, said Steve Berg, vice president for programs and policy at the National Alliance to End Homelessness. He said the state numbers are only estimates. "With homeless veterans, you sometimes have people who are living outside trying very hard not to be noticed, so counting can be inexact," Berg said. The study's nationwide numbers showed that about 195,827 veterans were homeless on any given night, a 0.8 percent increase from 2005. Veterans have long accounted for a high share of the nation's homeless. Facing emotional and physical injuries, they can find the readjustment to home extremely difficult, and some end up living on the streets. Berg said the numbers can only be expected to rise as soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan, because of high rates of post traumatic stress disorder and an increase in severe but survivable injuries. "These are things we know are associated with homelessness among veterans," he said. "So unless there are very strong measures taken, we're going to have another generation of homeless veterans, even though we haven't dealt with the last generation of veterans." Recent war veterans are especially vulnerable because they are often deployed multiple times, said Stephen Short, state adjutant for the Indiana chapter of the American Legion. Previous wars required service members to serve only one tour of duty. "(After being in combat) two, three or four times, even the most stable person is going to be challenged with all the stress they're dealing with," Short said. The American Legion has seen an increase in recent years in veterans requesting financial help, he said. But for many veterans like Richard Bowman, 52, getting help has become a waiting game. Bowman, who was in the Army during the Vietnam War, sleeps at area shelters while waiting for a spot to open at HVAF. He's been on the waiting list for 21/2 months. He says about half the people he comes in contact with at overnight shelters are veterans. "These people aren't coming out of nowhere and getting on this waiting list," he said. "It's getting worse. It's not gotten no better." Call Star reporter Meagan Ingerson at (317) 444-6304. *fair use*
Homeless Veterans in Indiana get some Relief
6 years ago
http://azveteransinneed.blogspot.com/2007/05/homeless-veterans-in-indiana-get-some.html
Some welcome home we've given our homeless vets
7 years ago
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/4346982.html Nov. 19, 2006, 7:06PM Some welcome home we've given our homeless vets By KATHLEEN PARKER The next time you pass a homeless man on the street, you might ask in which war he served. In the next several years, chances are good that he (and increasingly she) will say Iraq or Afghanistan. That grim prediction is based on several facts: One in three adult homeless males is a veteran and 45 percent of those suffer from mental illness, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. A recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine, meanwhile, found that one in four veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were diagnosed with some kind of mental health problem. And those are just the ones who found their way to a VA hospital. Many don't. Returning veterans are either embarrassed, untrusting of government, frustrated by bureaucratic gridlock, or simply incapable of navigating the system. With large numbers of troops likely headed home in the next year, the U.S. faces a tsunami of psychologically and emotionally damaged veterans who have no place to go. Those who don't find the support they need may end up on the streets. Or in prison. In 1998, an estimated 56,500 Vietnam War-era veterans and 18,500 Persian Gulf War vets were held in state and federal prisons, according to the 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, "Veterans in Prison or Jail." Obviously, not all were model citizens who turned to crime because of their war experiences. One in six of incarcerated veterans was not honorably discharged from the military. But the report says veterans are more likely than others to be in prison for a violent offense. Families of veterans aren't surprised. Men and women trained to survive in a war zone bring those same skills home and find themselves unable to function in an alien environment. Readjustment symptoms include hyper-vigilance, insomnia, irritability, exaggerated startle response, withdrawal, isolation, depression and anger. An act-first-think-later approach to problem solving may keep one alive in combat, but it's not helpful to family harmony. Cynde Collins-Clark — none other than Oklahoma's 2006 Mother of the Year — has experienced these problems firsthand. Her son, Joe, left for Iraq at 19 with the Army Reserve and returned a year later 100 percent mentally disabled by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Unable to work, Joe lives at home with his mother, a licensed professional counselor, and his stepfather. Collins-Clark has her son's permission to tell their story in hopes of helping others. She's especially concerned about those who will be overwhelmed by a system that even she finds challenging and maddening. She wonders how a young wife with small children copes with a sick soldier without any help. The biggest problem is simply not enough qualified counselors — and not enough government funding to meet current needs. Those needs have grown exponentially, as the number of vets seeking treatment for PTSD and other mental health issues doubled between October 2005 and June 2006, according to a report last month by a House subcommittee. That's just the beginning of the wave building now. The Senate last year passed a bill to increase funding for veterans' mental health programs. It would have increased the number of clinical teams dedicated to the treatment of PTSD and allowed licensed mental health counselors, as well as marriage and family therapists, to work at the VA. The House failed to take action. Even without additional funding, the Department of Defense could help by increasing access to mental health care for military personnel and their families. Currently, individuals on TRICARE, the military's health insurance program, can seek counseling from licensed practitioners only after referral from a primary physician. This process is often too cumbersome for people suffering mental problems, says Brian Altman, legislative representative for the American Counseling Association. Also, physicians untrained in post-combat symptoms frequently misdiagnose and fail to send patients to counseling. A veteran's wife testified before a VA committee last year that her husband, Capt. Michael Jon Pelkey, was treated for everything from back pain to erectile dysfunction rather than PTSD. Pelkey finally was diagnosed properly by a civilian therapist — one week before he killed himself. There can be no more shameful legacy of any war than ignoring veterans' needs. As Republicans and Democrats vow bipartisan cooperation, they have no greater priority than to simplify veterans' access to mental health services. Meanwhile, citizens can help. Russ Clark, a Vietnam Marine vet and minister who counsels veterans through Point Man International Ministries of Central Ohio, says he'd like to see community-based "Welcome Home" programs in every village, town and city in America. Veterans don't necessarily need a parade, he says, but they do need acknowledgment, affirmation, counseling, jobs and housing. And a parade wouldn't hurt a bit. Parker is a columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group. She can be e-mailed at kparker@kparker.com. *fair use*
Homeless veterans housing planned
8 years ago
http://makeashorterlink.com/?E49353A9B By TOM WEST, Telegraph Correspondent Published: Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005 NASHUA – Harbor Homes Inc. is proposing to tear down a two-story warehouse next to the post office and construct a 20-unit multifamily housing building for homeless veterans and their families. The project could be the first of its kind in the country, said a Harbor Homes official. The planning board will consider the project at its meeting tonight at City Hall. According to a report prepared by Deputy Planning Manager Rick Sawyer, qualified veterans would be able to reside in the facility for up to two years. The three-story building would include 15 one-bedroom apartments and five two-bedroom units. “The purpose of the proposed facility is to provide housing and vocational services to honorably discharged veterans, including those with long-term mental illness and substance abuse problems, and their families,’’ the report states. “The project is designed partially to address the severe shortage of affordable housing for Nashua’s low-income population in the densely concentrated downtown region,’’ the report stated. Officials say a recent survey indicated there are about 350 homeless veterans living in New Hampshire, including 192 who live in this area. Mary Auer, a development specialist with Harbor Homes, said Wednesday that the agency is already considered a leader in providing services to veterans and the proposed project could serve as a model for the rest of the nation. “It may very well be a first in the United States,’’ she said. “We say, ‘If there’s a need, let’s see if can fill it’ . . . and we saw there is a need, not only for male veterans, but for females and families as well.’’ The site, at 46 Spring St., consists of two lots covering 20,374 square feet in the mixed-use overlay district. The proposal is consistent with the city’s master plan, Sawyer said. “In particular, the construction of an attractive, modern facility in the area will enhance and compliment the surrounding commercial and public service uses, and will protect the values of surrounding commercial properties,’’ he said. The opportunity to create a residential use in unused property will eliminate blight and disinvestment in the area, Sawyer argued. “Because it addresses a specific need, it will have a positive long-term social and economic impact on the inner city,” he said. ============= FAIR USE for learning about homelessness-related issues,etc. =============
Philadelphia Bar Association's Homeless Advocacy Project
8 years ago
Philadelphia Bar Association's Homeless Advocacy Project http://www.homelessadvocacyproject.org/
A lawyer becomes homeless vets' hero,2
8 years ago
Veterans are "rated" for compensation on the degree of their disability. Some get as little as $108 a month. When it comes to deciding the percentage of disability from psychological conditions, the ratings vary so widely from state to state that the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs recently investigated the issue. The VA is considering ways to fix the problem. In his case, Lavery said, having a lawyer made a difference. "Mr. Taub was a genius," he said, "at digging up documentation." ============ FAIR USE for learning about homelessness-related issues,etc. ============
A lawyer becomes homeless vets' hero
8 years ago
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/politics/12269053.htm Posted on Sun, Jul. 31, 2005 Click here to find out more! A lawyer becomes homeless vets' hero PORUS P. COOPER Associated Press PHILADELPHIA - At 9 on a recent weekday morning, Michael Taub, lawyer for homeless veterans, put out a sign-up sheet for his services at a Philadelphia shelter. By 11, there were a dozen names on it. In his line of work - filing claims for disability benefits with the Department of Veterans Affairs - there's no shortage of clients and virtually no competition from other lawyers. That's because a Civil War-era law meant to protect veterans from unscrupulous lawyers barred payments to them, and a 1988 change still limits payments. Veterans have come to rely on a hit-or-miss infrastructure of pro bono lawyers, advocates within the VA, and agents of veterans service organizations such as AMVETS, to guide them through their claims. Even a spokesman for the VA describes the paperwork-heavy process as "complex and, at times, long and difficult." So Taub, 32, a staff attorney at the Philadelphia Bar Association's Homeless Advocacy Project, whose services are free, has become a hero among veterans, partly for just being there for them, and partly for scoring some big wins - $125,000 in back benefits for one veteran, $90,000 for another. "He pulled me out of the dirt," said John Lavery, 55, a long-homeless Vietnam War veteran who hit the benefits jackpot in May with Taub's help. But if Lavery's future is looking up, Taub's suddenly is uncertain. Funds to pay his $40,000 salary run out in a year. "Just as we got these huge awards for these veterans," Taub said, "funding for my position is gone." Lavery first applied for benefits in 1977. Sometimes he was not diligent in following up; sometimes he felt discouraged by the service-organization counselors he saw. He said that during his three years in the Army, from 1967 to 1970, he served in "hostile zones" in Southeast Asia. He then spent time at the Pentagon sorting "gory" battlefield photographs. The pictures triggered anger, tearfulness and survivor's guilt in him, he said. He lost his marriage and took comfort for years in booze and "speed." Finally deemed to be 100 percent disabled with a bipolar disorder, Lavery this year was granted more than $40,000 in back benefits and $2,299 a month - the maximum disability compensation. For the first time in years, he could buy new clothes and shoes. After decades of wandering the country and "catching winks in doorways and on benches," he is also looking for an apartment. Taub joined the advocacy group nearly two years ago, shortly after graduating from Villanova University law school and after a brief stint at a Center City law firm. When the veterans project began four years ago under Taub's predecessor, the group's executive director, Marsha I. Cohen, believed that there were about 300 homeless veterans in the Philadelphia area and that all of them would have their claims decided in a couple of years. The project got two years of funds, about $80,000, from the Independence Foundation. But even as those funds ran out and the lawyer moved on, the number of veterans coming in for help rose past 300. Estimates of the number of homeless veterans in the Philadelphia area range from 750, the number offered by Tom Lastowka, director of the VA regional office in Germantown, to 2,500, according to Marsha L. Four, program director for homeless veterans services at the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and Education Center, on Fourth Street. (Nationally, according to a VA estimate, there are 192,000 homeless veterans.) So Cohen patched together a deal with the veterans center to tap some of its federal training funds to pay Taub. Then the center lost $450,000 of its funding and could not help Cohen anymore. She is looking for a new benefactor to pay Taub's salary. This weekday morning, in the center's day shelter dubbed "The Perimeter," where homeless veterans come for a meal, shower or counseling, is typical of Taub's monthly visits. Clients accost him in hallways. Hushed conversations ensue as he sets up appointments. Some he will see in person; others he assigns among three lawyers from Saul Ewing L.L.P., who are here this day to fulfill obligations to provide pro bono, or free, services to the needy. First, there is a quick tutorial for Karen L. Forman and her colleagues from Saul Ewing. They are experienced, but not in veterans law. He goes over the forms to fill out, the questions to ask, the evidence needed to back up disability claims. Taub's predecessor at the Homeless Advocacy Project wrote the book on it, a 14-page manual that Taub has revised. The veteran bears a heavy burden of proof. Records from years ago must be obtained, and old service buddies may need to be located to verify claims. The process is rife with pitfalls. One 120-day appeals window is so sacrosanct, for instance, "you miss it by 10 seconds, your case is over," said Thomas J. Reed, a law professor at Widener University, who works with student volunteers to assist veterans. The process begins at the VA regional office - one of 57 across the country - and can wind its way through the Board of Veterans Appeals, the Court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims, and then to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. It can be "brutal" to deal with the VA, said Peter Wymes, a Philadelphia lawyer and disabled Vietnam veteran, who represents wartime friends in benefits claims. The Philadelphia office is an exception in being "veteran-friendly," he said. It decided 16,000 claims last year with a staff of 130, and there were 1,640 challenges, according to Lastowka. Its average processing time is 135 days; the national average is 167 days. Hardly any of the veterans used lawyers, he said. (continued next post)
New programs for homeless vets
8 years ago
http://www.casperstartribune.net/news/wire/ap/?wire_num=250466 AP Slugline: w6998_BC_WY_BRF__HomelessVets__ rmshe SHERIDAN, Wyo. (AP) - The Sheridan Veterans Affairs Medical Center will expand clinical programs aimed at helping homeless veterans in the Rocky Mountain region. The expanded services is scheduled to start in February. Help for homeless veterans will include services already provided for veterans enrolled in programs for serious mental illness, substance disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the VA. An expanded program focusing on teaching work skills to veterans will also be provided. ''This is an incredible opportunity for the Sheridan VAMC to enhance and expand the services already provided to veterans from all over the region,'' Maureen Humphrys, medical center director, said. The Sheridan facility will hire 13 new employees with a combined annual payroll of $800,000 to handle the expanded programs. --- Information from: (Sheridan) Press, http://www.thesheridanpress.com AP-WS-07-27-05 2024EDT =============== FAIR USE for learning about homeless veterans and homelessness-related issues,etc. ===============
Stand Down draws more than 120 homeless vets
8 years ago
http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/ve/article/0,1375,VCS_251_3951693,00.html By John Scheibe, jscheibe@VenturaCountyStar.com July 25, 2005 Vietnam War veteran Richard Stansberry has lived on the streets of Oxnard since losing his home four months ago. He decided the Ventura County Stand Down, held over the weekend at the National Guard Armory in Ventura, might help him as he works to put his life together again. "I wasn't disappointed," said Stansberry as he stood in the parking lot outside the armory Sunday afternoon amid dozens of veterans. Stansberry said he got not only some sound legal advice this weekend but also a medical checkup. "It was well worth the time," said Stansberry, a Navy veteran who is disabled and depends on Social Security checks to survive. Stansberry hopes to have a roof over his head by Aug. 1. Even so, he plans to attend next year's Stand Down. Now in its 13th year, the Stand Down helps dozens of veterans like Stansberry, said organizer Claire Hope. "We had over 120 veterans this year alone," Hope said. Veterans rode buses from as far away as San Luis Obispo. Others came from throughout Southern California. While in Ventura, they slept in military tents erected by the Seabees from Naval Base Ventura County on a dirt lot next to the armory. The event, costing $12,000, is funded mainly through government grants. Veterans used locker rooms and showers at the armory. Many also were given new shoes, pants, shirts and haircuts, Hope said. Veterans also were given eye exams and free eyeglasses. Hope, a 57-year-old Cam-arillo resident, said she decided to organize the Ventura County event after attending another Stand Down in Long Beach during the early 1990s. While there, she learned many veterans are homeless and need care. Homeless veterans suffer from a number of ailments, Hope said, including battle-related post-traumatic stress disorder. Those with the disorder often relive the trauma of war through nightmares and flashbacks. Hope said she feels she has a duty to help veterans because of all they have sacrificed for the nation. Herb Williams, 62, a retired U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam and lives in Riverside, said he makes it a point to volunteer at the annual event. Williams said Ventura "has been very good about letting us hold the Stand Down here." "The public understands that we're trying to help vets," said Williams, an attorney and a coordinator of the event. ================= FAIR USE for learning about homelessness-related issues,etc. =================
I am not a Veteran
8 years ago

Hello Harmony,

I am not a veteran, nor am I a film maker. I believe these soldiers of today will suffer many different things in their futures.

One is usually very young on the battlefields... in growing up then getting older, the effects of the actual event on the humaqn mind, along with ever rising costs of living.

Yes, these 'new' soon to be veterans will usher in simply a new generation of veterans with a whoe ot of the same problems.

I lived across the street in Austin Texas from the Confederants Home... I was a very little girl, but I can remember, those units were no different than housing that is available to veterans of war or simply low incomers... it's sad.

I hope that film encompasses what is going on in other countries, in that the children are being taught to be killers - they are too little are yung at heart in mind, those children do not know what war is - they therefore are little killers... what happens to those little ones who battle for THEIR country?

WAR WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

Dixie

When I Come Home
8 years ago
When I Come Home http://www.gnn.tv/videos/32/When_I_Came_Home Videos : Iraq When I Came Home Tue, 11 Jan 2005 23:54:32 -0800 Homeless vets, from Vietnam to Iraq Director’s note: When I Came Home is a documentary which follows the lives and struggles of several homeless veterans, including those who have recently returned home from the war in Iraq. The film examines the factors which led over 150,000 Vietnam veterans from the battlefield to the street and asks the question: Will what happened to Vietnam veterans happen to a new generation of soldiers? The film also focuses on the veteran-led movement which is fighting to end this national disgrace. When I Came Home is a work-in-progress. Follow the making of the film on director Dan Lohaus’ GNN blog. For more information about veterans’ issues: Operation Truth http://www.optruth.org/ National Coalition for Homeless Veterans http://www.nchv.org/ Swords to Plowshares http://www.swords-to-plowshares.org/ National Gulf War Resource Center http://www.ngwrc.org/ Credits Director: Dan Lohaus Lohaus is a graduate of The School of Visual Arts in New York City. He has worked with documentary filmmakers Les and Harrod Blank and was the assistant editor on the film On The Ropes, which was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2000 Academy Awards. Contact: TVTRUCK@yahoo.com www.archive.org/download/folder_name/file_name anthony Posted by anthony Anthony Lappé is GNN's Executive Editor. He's written for The New York Times, Details, New York, Paper, The Fader and Vice, among many others. He has worked as a producer for MTV, Fuse and WTN. He is the co-author of GNN's True Lies and the producer of their Iraq ========= FAIR USE =========
VETS HVRP Fact Sheet
8 years ago

http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/fact/Homeless_veterans_fs04.htm

US Department of Labor   Program Highlights
Veterans' Employment and Training Service

Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program

The purpose of the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program (HVRP) is to provide services to assist in reintegrating homeless veterans into meaningful employment within the labor force and to stimulate the development of effective service delivery systems that will address the complex problems facing homeless veterans.

HVRP was initially authorized under Section 738 of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act in July 1987. It is currently authorized under Title 38 U.S.C. Section 2021, as added by Section 5 of Public Law 107-95, the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act of 2001. Funds are awarded on a competitive basis to eligible applicants such as: State and local Workforce Investment Boards, public agencies, for-profit/commercial entities, and non-profit organizations, including faith based and community based organizations.

Grantees provide an array of services utilizing a case management approach that directly assists homeless veterans as well as provide critical linkages for a variety of supportive services available in their local communities. The program is "employment focused" and veterans receive the employment and training services they need in order to re-enter the labor force. Job placement, training, job development, career counseling, resume preparation, are among the services that are provided. Supportive services such as clothing, provision of or referral to temporary, transitional, and permanent housing, referral to medical and substance abuse treatment, and transportation assistance are also provided to meet the needs of this target group.

Since its inception, HVRP has featured an outreach component using veterans who themselves have experienced homelessness. In recent years, this successful technique was modified to allow the programs to utilize formerly homeless veterans in various other positions where there is direct client contact such as counseling, peer coaching, intake, and follow-up services.

The emphasis on helping homeless veterans get and retain jobs is enhanced through many linkages and coordination with various veterans' services programs and organizations such as the Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program and Local Veterans' Employment Representatives stationed in the local employment service offices of the State Workforce Agencies, Workforce Investment Boards, One-Stop Centers, Veterans' Workforce Investment Program, the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Departments of Veterans' Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Health and Human Services.

For more information about U.S. Department of Labor employment and training programs for veterans, contact the Veterans' Employment and Training Service office nearest you, listed in the phone book under United States Government, U.S. Department of Labor or at:

http://www.dol.gov/vets/aboutvets/contacts/main.htm.

Dixie

VLSP Community Advocate Newsletter June 2005
8 years ago

http://www.maildogmanager.com/page.html?p=0000015Fu8vj4XtDoo1QKAjeYtSjEDJA

vlspvolunteering@sfbar.org

I am

Dixie

Center to aid female homeless veterans set to open
8 years ago
http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050521/NEWS01/505210324/1006 May 21, 2005 Center to aid female homeless veterans set to open By STEFANIE MATTESON Staff Writer PLAINFIELD -- After months of delays, the first veterans transitional residence dedicated to homeless women in New Jersey and the greater New York metropolitan area will celebrate its grand opening next week. The grand opening will be 1 p.m. Wednesday at the 2,200-square-foot, 10-unit residence at 753-55 E. Third St. in Plainfield. The facility will house 10 homeless female veterans for up to two years, said John Kuhn, the Lyons VA's chief of homeless services. Five of the units are already occupied. The house, located in a neighborhood of turn-of-the-century homes, was renovated by a construction crew, O-Craftsmen Builders. The crew consists of formerly homeless veterans who are learning job skills by helping their female counterparts as part of the VA's job training program, Kuhn said. "Through O-Craftsmen, homeless veterans play a direct role in solving homelessness among veterans," Kuhn said. Like their male counterparts, female veterans often become homeless as a result of alcohol, drugs and mental illness, but financial difficulties are more likely to play a part in female homelessness because they earn less and often bear the brunt of the responsibility for caring for family members, Kuhn said. The residence was created through a collaborative effort that included the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System, the Middlesex County Economic Opportunity Corporation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Middlesex County Social Services and the state Department of Community Affairs. Attendees at the opening will include veterans, residents of the home, members of O-Craftsmen Builders and representatives from the organizations sponsoring the facility, Kuhn said. For more information on The VA New Jersey Health Care System's services for homeless veterans, visit www.vetsinfo.com. from the Courier News website www.c-n.com =============== FAIR USE ===============
Homeless veterans await new start through Victory Village
8 years ago
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050523/NEWS01/505230337/1006 May 23, 2005 Homeless veterans await new start through Victory Village BY JOHN A. TORRES FLORIDA TODAY Don Jordan knows the need only too well. After a three-month-long hospital stay last year, Jordan -- who owned a music business -- found himself homeless. The long stay cost him all his savings and his business. That's when his doctor recommended he call WIN-Vet. They gave the Vietnam veteran a temporary place to stay. WIN-Vet's four Titusville locations offer homeless veterans a place they can stay in for up to two years. Come September, that likely will change when construction on the first permanent housing complex for homeless veterans in Brevard County is scheduled for completion. When done, it will give the vets a place they can stay for good. Officials celebrated a groundbreaking Friday afternoon. The 12-unit complex will be known as Victory Village. It will feature 11 apartments and an office to coordinate support and services for the vets -- many of whom suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, according to Rosa Reich, with the Brevard Continuum of Care Coalition. "Our need is extremely great," Reich said. "There is no permanent housing with support services for this type of population. Having support there will prevent them from cycling in and out of homelessness." According to Reich, in 2004 there were roughly 600 homeless veterans in Brevard County. Jordan, who served with the Marine Corps, said it's hard to put a number on the homeless veteran population because many of the former soldiers do not wish to come forward. He is now the manager for WIN-Vet's temporary housing program. "They are ghosts," he said. "Nobody notices them. And they don't want to ask for help." The $1.2 million project is being funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Children and Families and the Brevard County Commission. "The lack of housing for the homeless is ridiculous," said Ginger Ferguson, executive director for the Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless. Ferguson explained that the veterans will be expected to pay 30 percent of their adjusted incomes. "It will be very affordable." Contact Torres at 242-3649 or jtorres@flatoday.net ============= FAIR USE =============
Homeless veterans statistics
8 years ago
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2005/05/16/local/iq_3524080.txt Homeless veterans statistics By Journal Times staff * 23: Percent of U.S. homeless who are veterans. * 33: Percent of homeless men who are veterans. * 10: Number of years it can take before a homeless veteran is recognized. * 15 to 35: Percent of combat veterans who will have some form of post traumatic stress disorder. * 500,000: How many veterans will need supportive services from the VA. * 100,000: About how many the VA says it can help. - National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients, The New England Journal of Medicine. To contact Vets Place at 1501 Villa St. in Racine, call them at 262-633-5180. ======== FAIR USE ========
Difficult Homecoming-young vets finding themselves homeless
8 years ago
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2005/05/16/local/iq_3521948.txt Difficult homecoming: Young veterans are finding themselves homeless after returning from service By Robert Gutsche Jr RACINE - Two men, both in their early 20s and former factory workers, had together joined the Army and were sent overseas to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. After their time was up, they came home, and together slept in a friend's Kenosha apartment. Both were homeless. Only one got the couch. Across the country - and in and around Racine County - hundreds who fought in Afghanistan and the Middle East over the past few years have been coming home. And many are fighting a new battle. This time, it's with homelessness. It's hard to count the numbers of any homeless population, advocates will tell you, but it can be even harder to count this specific group - mostly because they can be even more invisible than those who have been homeless for years. "Most Americans are not aware that we have homeless veterans from this war, and I think they would be really shocked," said Linda Boone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, in Washington, D.C. "The Department of Defense knows how to make warriors, but they don't know how to make civilians out of them when they are done with them." Southeastern Wisconsin touched The number of homeless veterans from the current war that are slowly making their way to service groups in southeastern Wisconsin isn't staggering, but some who work with veterans in the area say they have had contact with at least two or three in the last year alone. That's a lot, these people say, in a time when the image for many of homeless veterans is of older men - not young soldiers who have been fighting in a war we have watched virtually live on TV. "People always talk about soldiers going over to war, but they never talk about them coming back," said Sharen Pease, a case manager with Vets Place Southeast, a day services provider for homeless veterans in Racine. "If you're not aware they are coming home, how are you going to know if they are homeless?" A slow, hard process Homeless veterans can take anywhere from five to 10 years to emerge. And many veterans return home to find they have lost their jobs and struggle to fit in with families and friends who have built lives without them. "The role of the wife has changed a lot too," Pease said. "The tying-the-yellow-ribbon around-the-tree thing and her waiting in her apron doesn't happen that way anymore." Women who have husbands in the military have become more independent with their spouses gone. When the soldiers return, Pease said, there's often conflict over who makes family decisions. This situation, among others, contributes to how people become homeless after war. Relationships fall apart, jobs fold and with these issues coupled with any addictions or mental issues they have picked up along the way, life can be challenging. When things fall apart and they become homeless, many live with family members or friends, in their cars or move from shelter to shelter until they find a home or are pushed onto the streets. War scenes contribute There's even more concern about mental illness when it comes to those fighting in war zones - some 200,000 soldiers - than some other homeless populations. There's a good chance that many of today's soldiers will contract post-traumatic stress disorder, an illness that's brought about by traumatic events and can contribute to serious mental health issues, that can last possibly for the rest of one's life. And while each person has his or her own unique track to homelessness, what most homeless veterans from Iraq will almost certainly have in common, Boone said, is a lack of assistance from the federal government in finding work, housing and learning about benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs once they are discharged. What vets do and don't get Now, veterans coming home from war get briefed on some of these issues, but can opt-out of the briefing at any time to focus on other things, like reuniting with family. Yet others still aren't subject to these briefings because the installations they are released from don't offer that kind of support, Boone said. That's why her group - and other grassroots organizations - worked together on legislation introduced this month in the U.S. House of Representatives that would make this training mandatory and help veterans learn how to assimilate back into their communities. It's likely the bill, HR 2074, which is now been referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, won't go far, but supporters are hoping what's in the bill will make it into the next DOD budget. "It's shocking, some of the stories we found" about recent homeless veterans, Boone said. "Some of these young people went into the military right out of high school and never had a job and they are having trouble finding a job. What we think needs to happen is enhancing the pre-separation counseling process." Locals prepare Racine's Vets Place is also preparing for more homeless veterans from Iraq. Already, the county has about 300 homeless veterans. Fourteen have visited the group's office on Villa Street since February, but the group is preparing to hear from some 80 more by the end of the year. Vets Place is working closely with the Racine County Sheriff's Department in tracking which prisoners in the county jail might be veterans and homeless, said William Sklba, Vets Place's site director. Homeless veterans young and old, Sklba said, "need somebody to just guide them through stuff. If they don't get that, we will be paying for that for a long time." ========== FAIR USE for studying homelessness-related issues,homeless vets, etc. ==========
House is 'sanctuary' for war veterans
8 years ago
http://www.orion-online.net/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/05/04/42783ab3c760a Jenny Pohlman Staff Writer May 04, 2005 Chico State student Joel Ramirez knows how difficult it can be to come home from war. In March 2003, Ramirez was sent to Iraq for four months in the first wave of troops, just months before finishing his tour of active duty in the Marines. While learning to accept the realities of war was hard, getting ready to return home was equally as daunting, said Ramirez, a business major. "The hardest thing about coming home was trying to prepare for the questions people were going to ask you," he said. For those like Ramirez with a strong tie to family and friends, fielding questions is usually the worst part of returning home. But for troops without a support system, their biggest worry is often finding work or a place to live. Veterans Executive Corporation To Organize Rehabilitative Services, a Chico-based non-profit organization, was started in 1993 to help military veterans who have nowhere to go. All veterans are welcome at VECTORS, from those who are homeless to those who are just looking for a network of friends. Today, VECTORS is staffed by veterans who attend Chico State. Simon Hase, a finance and international business major, has been working at VECTORS for two years since he left the Army. He said he works with people that come to VECTORS to secure housing, employment, substance-abuse help and to set goals. "A lot of these guys have seen the worst of what people can do to each other," he said. While Chico State students go to school and hit the bars, veterans are just trying to live, he said. "When I think about the stories I hear, sometimes it's really cool, but there are times when it's just overwhelming," he said. John Gallagher, vice president of VECTORS and a recent Chico State graduate, said homelessness is the largest issue they work with at VECTORS. Many of their clients are homeless and without jobs, and the situation can be intensified because many have been in prison. There are 55,000 homeless veterans in California, and male veterans are 25 percent of California's homeless population. To help combat this problem, VECTORS opened a house in 2000 that can hold up to seven homeless veterans at a time while they try to get their lives in order. The VECTORS house, which is in Chapmantown, is a constant center of activity. The six men there can be found sharing stories, cigarettes and a pot of coffee on the front porch, listening to classic rock in their bedrooms and reading books in the spotless kitchen during their downtime. Larry Hebert, a Vietnam War veteran who is currently living at the VECTORS house, said he has spent the past 17 years without a home. Herbert's life has changed, he said. Without VECTORS, he would still be on the streets. "They'll do anything for you," he said. "I could come here and it was a sanctuary." Though some of the people VECTORS works with have gotten into trouble, Gallagher said often times it is a result of post traumatic stress disorder. In the past week alone, Gallagher said three people under 30 came in looking for a place to live; each had a college degree. Brian Leierer, who has been living at the VECTORS house for about a month, said he was working on his engineering degree at San Jose State when he decided to enlist in the military. After being home for a while, he spent 28 months in prison after he was convicted of assault, grand theft, residential burglary and great bodily injury. He said that his time in the VECTORS house has helped him to work toward his goals. "Before coming here to Chico, I never thought for anything I'd be a convict, a felon, or be homeless," he said. "We can never step back and rewind the clock or do it over. It's either build on what you've got or go back." Jenny Pohlman can be reached at jpohlman@orion-online.net ================ FAIR USE for learning about homeless veterans and the challenges they face. ================
Too many veterans are homeless in America
8 years ago
http://springfield.news-leader.com/opinions/today/20050413-Toomanyveterans.html Published Wednesday, April 13, 2005 Every day, hundreds of thousands of Americans wake up knowing that they might die that day. Everyday these same Americans put their lives on the line for America's ideals and values. America honors our veterans with Purple Hearts, Medals of Honor and parades, but what happens when the same men and women who sacrificed for our nation are left out in the cold, homeless and impoverished? Fortunately, there are many organizations to help veterans. Large cities across the nation have shelters and programs directed toward providing a warm place to sleep and opportunities to find a job. Sadly, these programs aren't doing enough. In the last year, shelters have housed more veterans who have returned to America than they would have liked to have seen. These veterans came home to their country, but none of them had a place to live. Once they return home, they are forced back into the real world with the horrors of war still very real. Post traumatic stress disorder, common after the Vietnam War, is becoming more and more common after Iraq. PTSD is one of the main reasons many veterans after Vietnam came home to drug addictions, unemployment and poverty. It is true that the numbers of homeless veterans now are small, but the fact remains that they are rising. The Black Veterans for Social Justice, an organization in Brooklyn, saw only a few veterans from Iraq two years ago. Now, over a hundred occupy their shelter. We, as a nation, cannot allow the men and women who fight for us to be left on the street with nothing to eat, no job and nowhere to sleep. Men and women in the armed services spend years training and in active duty during war. They return home to higher housing costs, but have the same minimum wages they received before they shipped out. While the government does provide benefits for veterans, the gap between where active service benefits apply and veteran benefits apply is sometimes too wide. Not only returnees from Iraq are homeless. Over 500,000 veterans from past conflicts are homeless in America. The Veterans Administration was faced with this number in 2004, but only had enough funding to provide aid to 100,000 of them. The United States population has shown tremendous support for the people in the armed forces. They show this with the flags, yellow ribbons, and other symbols of respect and hope. However, the men and women of America need to realize that there is a better way to support the troops: donations to organizations with the goals of helping veterans get back on their feet after returning from active duty. The more funding these organizations receive the more people they can help. Katie Carlile is a junior at Greenwood Laboratory School. ================ FAIR USE for learning about homeless veterans. ================
Veterans pay last respects to brother they never met
8 years ago
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/11575336.htm Posted on Fri, May. 06, 2005 Barely known soldier Veterans pay last respects to brother they never met BY TRAVIS HEYING The Wichita Eagle The veterans stood in the parking lot of Resthaven Cemetery, half a dozen men with hands stuffed deep in pockets. They weren't sure who they were there for, but they knew why. They were there for the funeral of a homeless vet. "Hughes was his last name," Navy veteran Tom Creel said. "I think he was 50. All I know is he was a homeless guy, and I think he was in the Army." Creel was right. Ronald Hughes, age 50, was an Army veteran who lived his last years on the streets of Wichita. That didn't matter to these guys. This stranger served his country. He deserved a proper funeral. That funeral was provided Thursday by the Homeless Veterans Burial Program, known as Dignity Memorial. Hughes, who died one month ago today, is the first local veteran to be honored by the Dignity Memorial program. Moments before a hearse arrived at Resthaven with Hughes' flag-draped casket, the debate continued about the stranger that everyone had come to honor. "What branch of the service was he in?" asked Max McCrea, a Marine who fought in Korea. "I'm not real sure. I think it was the Marines," answered Judy Epperson, from the Veterans Affairs Department's homeless veterans program, and one of the few in attendance who knew Hughes. Carroll Everist, a proud Army man, wasn't about to let Hughes be claimed by the Marine Corps. "Are you sure he was a Marine?" Everist asked. "Army! He was in the Army." Kathy Quick of Miracles Inc. knew that for certain. Her organization had tried to find Hughes a home. She said Hughes suffered a variety of health problems. He had a mental illness and battled alcoholism. These things likely led to his homelessness. He died of congestive heart failure on April 6. Standing in Resthaven's Garden of Freedom, an area of the cemetery dedicated to veterans, a Fort Riley honor guard carried Hughes' casket to the front of the mausoleum. A bagpiper played for the 30 mourners there to honor Hughes. Pastor Mike Leichner of Ark Assembly of God in Maize, himself a Marine veteran, read seven verses from Luke, Chapter 10. The story of the Good Samaritan. Rifles were fired in salute. A bugler played taps. Betty Pulliam, a member of the Gold Star Mothers, an organization of women who have lost sons in combat, received the flag from Hughes' casket. This was the third time Pulliam had been given a flag from the coffin of a veteran. The first was for her son, Dale, killed in Vietnam in 1967. The second was for her husband, who died six years ago. And on Thursday, for a man she'd never met. Mike "Doc" Harter, an area coordinator for Dignity Memorial and a former Navy corpsman, explained why people like Pulliam and the others came out for Hughes. "Once you're a vet, you're always a vet," Harter said. "Why he ended up the way he did... nobody here cares. We believe that all vets are entitled to a proper, dignified military funeral." Hughes will be buried today in Winfield. After the funeral, the debate about Ron Hughes' life continued. Harter thought perhaps Hughes would have been too young to have served in Vietnam. Kathy Quick recalled that he told stories about his time in Vietnam. She said he talked of nightmares. No one seemed certain. But everyone nodded in agreement about one thing. "He would have been elated about today," Judy Epperson said. "He would have been so honored." Reach Travis Heying at theying@wichitaeagle.com. ================== FAIR USE for learning about homeless veterans. ==================
please see two posts on veterans in ptsd and homelessness
8 years ago
Just posted two articles in folder called "PTSD and homelessness" (or something like that!) LOL
NC-Effort seeks to reach community of local homeless veterans
8 years ago
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q6E932EEA Effort seeks to reach community of local homeless veterans By Latisha R. Gray, The Daily Reflector Wednesday, April 20, 2005 Soldiers are prepared to fight, be captured, wounded or die, but never to be forgotten, a local Vietnam veteran said. The emotional aftermath of combat, however, can put veterans at risk of being forgotten, Tony Catapano said. Catapano, president of Vietnam Vets of America chapter 272, said post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a lack of resources can be a harsh combination. Many veterans fall off society's radar and roam the streets or live in community shelters. "Part of it is mental health," Catapano, who has PTSD, said. "Addiction does come into play. But one of the biggest problems is PTSD. I've read that as much as one in four (Afghanistan) and Iraqi vets coming home have this." In North Carolina, nearly 7,000 veterans do not have a place to live, according to statistics from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans – a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C. The vast majority are single, and nearly half suffer from mental illness and substance abuse problems. The coalition also states a large number of homeless veterans suffer from PTSD, a debilitating condition that often follows a traumatic incident and is associated with nightmares and flashbacks. PTSD can lead to violent episodes, isolation and depression, Catapano said. Families can drift apart, leaving veterans with no place to go. Veterans Affairs has housing, but space and funding are limited. The North Carolina VA had 247 beds in 2003 but more than 20 times the number of homeless veterans, according to statistics. Officials do not have a total of local homeless veterans, but a program held on Saturday attempted to address the situation. Several service organizations collaborated to hold the first Eastern North Carolina Stand Down. "Stand Down" is a military term for bringing in frontline troops for rest, relaxation and down time, according to the coalition. Now, the term is used for community and grassroots efforts to reach the homeless veteran community. As many as 50 veterans attended the event at Thomas Foreman Park, near the old C.M. Eppes building. They received medical attention, haircuts, food, dental work, personal hygiene products and help with paperwork for potential benefits. The stand down was funded by an annual grant from the Employment Securities Commission. The grant covers as much as $5,000 worth of services for as many as 200 veterans. "We referred the veterans we knew," Lynne James, executive director of the Greenville Community Shelters, said. "(Veterans) had the opportunity to investigate and possibly receive all the services they are eligible for. Several of the men found services they did not know about." James estimates that about 1,000 homeless people live in Pitt County. She said veterans make up a small percent of the homeless who disclose their background. The shelter, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs in Durham and other agencies participated. Next year, organizers hope to provide transportation and better publicity for the event. Catapano said the most effective advertisement is word of mouth, considering many homeless people do not read the newspaper or watch television. James said the shelter can use the information from the stand down to educate veterans on available services. "Any time you do something like this for the first time, you don't know what to expect," Catapano said. "When a community is willing to offer this, it will grow in popularity. I think we are optimistic that we will continue to do this and increase the numbers we reach out to." For more information on this or other veteran services, call 757-0817 or Catapano at 746-2522. Latisha R. Gray can be contacted at lgray@coxnews.com and 329-9580. ============ Fair Use Notice This message may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not specifically been authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, religious, spiritual, and social justice issues. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit educational and research purposes, and in the hope that more people will awaken and begin to think for themselves, as is so sorely needed in these times. For more information on fair use, please go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own which go beyond "fair use," we suggest that you obtain permission from the copyright owner." ** ============
Bush's Meat Grinder, part 3
8 years ago
Fearing a political backlash if he deployed weekend warriors to Vietnam, President Lyndon Johnson bypassed the reserves and used the draft instead. Indeed, slots in the National Guard were particularly coveted during that era, as the 2004 presidential election and the revisiting of George W. Bush's Guard record made so clear. After Vietnam, the Pentagon reorganized the military so that it can't fight a big ground war without mobilizing the reserves. The idea was to block the president from waging a war without the full support of the American heartland. Active-duty Army units now rely on reserve units to perform vital functions in a major mobilization. But the reserves are lagging the farthest behind in meeting their recruitment goals. The long deployments may have been particularly shocking for the troops, many of whom simply did not think they were signing up for this. The grind is wearing the reserves down, and fewer people are willing to sign up for it now. The Army Reserve's chief, Lt. Gen. James Helmly, wrote in a memo to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker late last year that the stress meant the Army Reserve was "degenerating into a 'broken' force." Pike, from GlobalSecurity.org, said the situation for the reserves is dire. "The guard is broken and cannot be fixed," Pike said. "I don't think anybody would voluntarily, of their own volition, join the National Guard. I think they will have to come up with a new mission statement for the thing." ------- Mark Benjamin is a national correspondent for Salon based in Washington, DC. "The greatest wrong is to deny our faults." *Articles shared for charity and education pursuant to Title 17 USC §107. Blazingstar http://www.blazingstar.org Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/i8TXDC/5WnJAA/HwKMAA/1MXolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Homelessworld Photo Album http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view.html/view/138/101445086/Homeless_World/ Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homelessworld/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Homelessworld-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ===========
Bush's Meat Grinder, part 2
8 years ago
Some units in Vietnam had refused to fight. That took a decade to fix as the military moved away from the draft to an all-volunteer force in 1973 and began to purge officers who were performing poorly. Some factors that contributed to the post-Vietnam military slump were particular to that conflict and do not apply to Iraq; most notably, the Vietnam-era Army included a large number of conscripted soldiers. The modern professional soldier is more motivated and better trained. Conventional wisdom says that the modern all-volunteer Army can last longer in war and bounce back faster. But the risk of pushing the military too far still remains. Anecdotes and examples abound showing the current strain on the military. The Iraq war is burning through troops. In addition to troops getting treatment in military hospitals, nearly 50,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, including those discharged for wounds or injuries, are now out of the military and getting medical treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to V.A. data. Around 25,000 troops have been medically evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon's transportation command. Further, calls to the GI Rights Hotline, an 800 number set up by nonprofit groups for soldiers to get information on military discharges, have nearly tripled since the year 2000. The hot line got 32,200 calls last year from soldiers who don't want to go to Iraq -- or don't want to go back. "The majority of the calls are people who are trying to get out," said the hot line's manager, Steve Morse, GI rights program coordinator for the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors in Oakland, Calif. Most of the calls are from AWOL soldiers who are looking for help, or are interested in becoming conscientious objectors or getting some sort of discharge. A February Harper's article said 5,500 troops have gone AWOL since the invasion of Iraq. The good news is that the situation in Iraq may be genuinely improving. The Pentagon reported last week that the number of "terrorist incidents" in Iraq has dropped to the lowest level since March 2004. The rates of combat deaths, which have fluctuated since the invasion in March 2003, are decreasing this year. But that could change at any time. And now the American military is at a precarious tipping point. Even some current Pentagon leaders have expressed concern. "What keeps me awake at night," Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard A. Cody told a Senate panel last month, "is what will this all-volunteer force look like in 2007?" Pentagon officials told the New York Times recently that the United States might be able to reduce the number of troops in Iraq to 105,000 early next year -- if violence does not spike again. (The article notes that similar plans last year were put on ice after the insurgency heated up.) Some military experts said by early next year, it will already be too late to prevent serious damage to U.S. ground forces. "If you want to ask how to destroy the all-volunteer Army, the Bush administration has provided a textbook case," Lawrence J. Korb told an audience at a Center for American Progress debate on the draft this month. Korb, an assistant secretary of defense under Reagan, said the strain may soon become overwhelming -- and Bush is not doing enough about it. "It may be that at some point we have cracked the all-volunteer force so much, we will have to do something else." Korb said that he thinks that three combat tours is the breaking point. Some combat units, such as the Army's famed Third Infantry Division, are in Iraq for the second time now. Ironically, while some experts think the draft exacerbated the desolation of the Army after Vietnam, others argue that it is one option to maintain national security given the current strain on the all-volunteer force. "America has a choice. It can be the world's superpower or it can maintain the current all-volunteer military, but it probably can't do both," Phillip Carter and Paul Glastris wrote in the Washington Monthly last month. The Pentagon has moved to stop the bleeding, enacting "stop loss" policies that prevent some soldiers from leaving the military. They have tapped the Individual Ready Reserve, soldiers who thought they had severed ties with the military years ago. Critics have said these policies are part of a "back door draft." The Bush administration has agreed only to the temporary increase in the size of the Army until 2008 and is reconfiguring combat units to get more foot-soldier bang for its buck. But recruitment is also falling, particularly for Army Reserve units. The Pentagon said last month that both the active-duty and reserve forces are behind on recruiting goals for this year. The National Guard is down 25 percent. The Pentagon is adding new recruiters to try to fill the gaps: The Army National Guard has said it will add another 1,400 alone. "This will be a very challenging year for recruiting for the reserve components," Charles S. Abell, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told Congress last month. That trend continues even as the military increases signing bonuses and lowers its standards for signing up. (Most recently, the government decided that a new recruit into the reserves could be 39 instead of 34.) Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. -- a Vietnam veteran and an Army Ranger, respectively -- want to permanently increase the Army by 30,000 soldiers and add 3,000 Marines. The Bush administration has balked at such efforts, citing the $3 billion price tag. The most pressing issue may be the reserves. (continued next post)
Bush's Meat Grinder
8 years ago
Harmony- am passing on this post from Blazing Star to his fine group "Homelessworld"- To: "Colorings" , "Homelessworld" , "Internet-Mecha" , "Warmongrels" From: Send an Instant Message "Blazingstar" Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 19:43:54 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Homelessworld ~* Bush's meat grinder How Many Have Gone to War? By Mark Benjamin Salon.com Tuesday 12 April 2005 Even experts are surprised at the vast numbers of US soldiers who have been deployed after 9/11. Even if troop levels in Iraq are cut next year, the military may be permanently damaged. Three and a half years have passed since U.S. bombs started falling in Afghanistan, and ever since then, the U.S. military has been engaged in combat overseas. What most Americans are probably unaware of, however, is just how many American soldiers have been deployed. Well over 1 million U.S. troops have fought in the wars since Sept. 11, 2001, according to Pentagon data released to Salon. As of Jan. 31, 2005, the exact figure was 1,048,884, approximately one-third the number of troops ever stationed in or around Vietnam during 15 years of that conflict. More surprising is the number of troops who have gone to war since 9/11, come back home, and then were redeployed to the battle zone. Of all the troops ever sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, one-third have gone more than once, according to the Pentagon. In the regular Army, 63 percent of the soldiers have been to war at least one time, and almost 40 percent of those soldiers have gone back. The highest rate of first-time deployments belongs to the Marine Corps Reserve: Almost 90 percent have fought. The data sheds new light on how all-consuming the post-9/11 wars have been for the U.S. military, and suggests a particular strain on U.S. ground forces. An increasing number of military experts believe those forces -- the Army and Marines -- are months away from being overtaxed to the point of serious dysfunction. The situation in Iraq must continue to stabilize. If it doesn't, and the Bush administration continues to both reject the idea of a draft and rebuff efforts to permanently increase the size of the Army and Marines, U.S. ground forces will break down to a point not seen since just after Vietnam. "Unless things start to improve, we will start to see a serious problem in six to nine months," said Bernard E. Trainor, a retired Marine Corps three-star general and a former Marine Corps deputy chief of staff under Ronald Reagan. "I think they [the Pentagon] are betting that things are going to get better. But that could be a miscalculation," said Trainor. "This crowd has been pretty good at miscalculating." Indeed, the revelation that well over 1 million U.S. troops have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan surprises even close military observers. "Those are big numbers ... a lot bigger than I would have thought," said John Pike, the director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense information Web site that tracks the logistics of war. Pike thinks it is too early to tell what the impact will be on the regular Army, but he said the repeated deployments have already broken the reserve forces. The particularly grinding service in Iraq puts a special brand of wear and tear on the troops, as evidenced in, among other things, the rate of mental illness among soldiers coming home. Among veterans who served in Iraq and are now seeking healthcare from the Department of Veterans Affairs, one in four is now being diagnosed with a mental problem, according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine. There are no front lines in Iraq: Transportation companies, military police and civil affairs soldiers face the same risk of random ambush or death by roadside bombs. The stress goes on 24 hours a day for an entire tour. (Tours vary by unit, with some Army soldiers serving up to a year per tour, and Marines serving seven-month tours.) Veterans of Vietnam say some of that sounds eerily familiar. During the 15 years of the Vietnam conflict, around 2.4 million troops served there, according to a study of Pentagon data by the Heritage Center for Data Analysis. Some estimates put another 1 million troops in surrounding countries during that time. The U.S. started moving new troops into the Vietnam arena in 1956 and troop levels peaked in Vietnam in 1968 when nearly a half-million troops were there. Most news reports about current military engagement focus on the number of troops in Iraq now: 150,000 are there, with another 20,000 on the ground in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon. The United States drafted nearly 2 million people during the Vietnam War era, according to the Selective Service System, but did not activate military reserves as the military is doing for the Iraq war. But no one in the Bush administration has uttered the "D" word for this war. Under intense pressure from Congress, the Bush administration has agreed to temporarily increase the size of the Army until 2008, but says it does not want to permanently increase ground forces because of cost. But if the government does nothing to alleviate the strain on troops, military analysts worry that Iraq might turn into another Vietnam -- but not in the way most people think of that comparison. Instead, military experts said the tempo of the Iraq war will eventually erode the Army and the Marine Corps into a state of disrepair similar to that after Vietnam, when discipline, morale and readiness were considered by some historians to be the worst ever. The Army was recovering from a war in which troops had killed their superior officers. Drugs were rampant. (continued next post)
Hi, Shadow Bear
8 years ago
Yes, better solutions are needed all the way around! It isn't working this way.
The plight
8 years ago
of veterans after they return from war ought to send a clear message to any government that 1. there is something fundamentally wrong with waging war 2. Recruting people the way it's done in the US, with all sorts of incentives that is then cut, is immoral. I just don't get it. In Sweden it't the mentally challanged, ill and impaired that suffer the most, and make up the largest group of homeless - they were supposed to get the help they need on county level after the latest 'reform' in 1995 - but the govenment forgot to 1. tell the county health officials this 2. provide tax money to fund the reform on county level. it really sucks SB
Bush budget cuts out beds for veterans in care homes, part 2
8 years ago
Savings of millions Dr. James F. Burris, the VA's chief consultant for geriatrics and extended care, said that the nation is facing a time of "constrained national resources" and that the VA does not have enough money to provide nursing home care to all the veterans who might need it. "It's not just in VA but throughout the federal government that we're facing a very large deficit and government has to make responsible decisions about how to allocate the resources that are available," he said. To advance that goal, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said, the agency wants to revise the criteria for long-term care to focus on veterans who became disabled while on active duty and those who have catastrophic injuries, such as spinal cord problems or traumatic brain injury. Included in the new focus would be patients requiring short-term care after a hospital stay such as for hip replacements and those needing hospice or respite care, he said. The change would mean a saving of $496 million in long-term care next year for the VA, Nicholson said. Most of the amount saved, or $293 million, would come from reducing the per diem grants to the states, said Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, the VA's acting undersecretary of health. Veterans advocates say they face a battle in protecting the homes because the Bush administration wants less overall federal spending. "We fear that even if we're successful in beating back this proposal this year, it's almost certain to come up again next year," said Dennis Cullinan, national legislative director for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. New eligibility criteria The problem will get only worse as veterans, while shrinking in total number, get older, said Lourdes E. Alvarado-Ramos, assistant director for the Washington Office of Veterans Affairs. Within the next decade, the number of veterans who are 75 and older is going to double and that is the group that is going to need more care, she said. "Not all of them live at a place where they can just receive services and have a spouse who can take care of them, especially our Vietnam veterans, many of whom burned their bridges with their families," said Alvarado-Ramos, also president of the National Association of State Veterans Homes. "It's going to create a bigger dilemma for both the VA and the states." Burris of the VA said the new eligibility criteria, if approved, would only apply to veterans entering the VA-run and state-run nursing homes after the proposal is adopted. All current residents would continue to receive grants, he said. Burris said veterans who don't have disabilities related to active-duty service or who are not considered in need of catastrophic care would still be able to use Medicare, Medicaid and private money to pay for the nursing home care. Alvarado-Ramos said that about 80 percent of the veterans currently in state-run nursing homes would no longer qualify for the VA daily support grants if the Bush proposal is approved. She said some state veterans homes could be forced to shut down because the VA money provides an average of about 29 percent of a home's revenue. ========= FAIR USE for learning about issues of social, economic injustice- human/homeless civil rights and civil liberties, etc. =========
Bush budget cuts out beds for veterans in care homes
8 years ago
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/10/ln/ln12p.html/?print=on Posted on: Sunday, April 10, 2005 Bush budget cuts out beds for veterans in care homes By Karen Blakeman and Dennis Camire Advertiser Staff Writers Veterans' nursing homes run by states and the federal Veterans Affairs Department — including a nursing home under construction on the grounds of Hilo Medical Center — are under fire in this year's budget battles. President Bush's proposed 2006 budget would: • Drastically cut financial support for up to 80 percent of the veterans in the nation's 129 state-run homes. • Let the VA reduce the number of nursing-home beds from the 13,391 required by law. • Put a hold on $104 million in grants slated to rehabilitate and build new state veterans homes. The proposed changes raise serious concerns about how to pay for operation of Hawai'i's first state-run veterans home. Almost 112,000 veterans live in Hawai'i, with almost one in five older than 70. Currently, the only long-termicare beds are in the 60-resident VA Center for Aging near Tripler Army Medical Center. The center is designed primarily for rehabilitative services, and not the longer-term care provided in veterans' nursing homes. "The president's decision to slash payments to state homes could have a devastating effect on the soon-to-be built Hilo home," said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i. "While decisions have yet to be made about which veterans can stay at the Hilo home, I question how the home would be operational if the administration was to hold back so much of the day-to-day funding for it." Not enough bed space The growing need for bed space is apparent from a glance at those veterans seeking outpatient care at the Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical Center, said Rona Adams, former combat nurse, president of the O'ahu Chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America and a retired registered nurse. "I don't understand how they can possibly do this," Adams said. "There isn't enough space already." Older patients — veterans of World War II and Korea, many of whom can't afford healthcare elsewhere — vie with younger veterans fresh from Iraq and Afghanistan, she said. "And we (Vietnam veterans) are getting up there," she said. "We'll be there soon." Most Vietnam veterans are now in their 50s and 60s. "How can they do this?" Adams said of the administration's proposed cuts. "I'm appalled. I'm in a state of disbelief." "Well," said Eugenia Woodward, an 81-year-old World War II veteran who repaired aerial cameras for the Navy and now lives in Mililani, "maybe if he (Bush) would finish up the war, he'd have the money for these things." Woodward said although she'd like to see more bed space for veterans in nursing homes, she understands that war expenses could take priority. "Money only goes so far," she said. "There isn't much you can do about it." 'We're getting shafted' Margaret Hatchie, a Navy veteran of Korea whose four brothers also served during Korea and Vietnam, said she did not approve of the proposed cuts. "We're getting shafted," the 72-year-old Wai'anae resident said. "We're not getting the benefits we're entitled to get." Hatchie, who, like Woodward, is a member of a Navy veterans group called Na Nalu o Hawaii — WAVES of Hawaii — said she feels sorry for the generation of soon-to-be veterans now serving in the military. "If we're not getting our benefits now," she said, "can you imagine what will happen to them?" Congress is fighting back. Both the House and the Senate adopted budget plans that do not include the Bush proposal to cut support to the state veterans homes, havens for more than 40,000 former service members and counting. Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, a decorated combat veteran, is among those committed to preserving veterans services, said Mike Yuen, an Inouye spokesman in Washington. "As Sen. Inouye has noted, we cannot forget our troops when they are no longer on the battlefield," Yuen said. "The senator will work with the Hawai'i congressional delegation and his colleagues in the Senate to ensure that the veterans home planned for Hilo will be built and put into service." Under the proposed budget, the VA would withhold $104 million in grants to rehabilitate and build new state veterans homes until it can finish a study on the system's capacity and its future needs. Under the state veterans home program, costs are shared between the federal government and states. The VA provides 65 percent of a state home's building cost and the state contributes 35 percent. The state, responsible for operations and maintenance, receives $59.36 a day from the VA for each eligible veteran living in the state-run nursing home. That funding stream would be sharply reduced if the VA stipend, known as a per diem grant, can be applied only to veterans with disabilities related to service or those who are catastrophically disabled. The administration's budget proposal still has several steps to go before the battle is over, and Miles Takaaze, a spokesman for Hawai'i Health Systems Corp., which is overseeing the Hilo veterans home project. He said the state is not going to assume the worst. "We understand the budget concerns at the national level," he said, "but it is not final yet. We are moving forward with the construction of the project." Groundbreaking for the Hilo veterans home, to be built on the site of an old Hilo hospital building that went up in 1952, is expected to go forward in August, he said. It will have a 95-bed, long-termicare home plus adult daycare. "The first phase was demolition (of the old building) and we're almost finished with the last part of that," he said. "We are expecting to welcome the first VA resident on Dec. 31, 2006. We have to move forward. The commitments have been made. The money has been approved." (continued next post)
Illinois- Help for homeless vets in the works
8 years ago
http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/52040.asp Help for homeless vets in the works Two Illinoisans strive to open Midwest facility in June By MARY MASSINGALE STATE CAPITOL BUREAU When Marine Cpl. Dirk Enger marched in a 1991 Chicago parade welcoming home Desert Storm soldiers, his pride was tempered by the sight of homeless, disabled veterans lining the streets. "We forget those who can't walk in those parades," Enger, of Winfield, said. "We forget about those who have lost not only family members but their entire livelihood, their homes, their jobs." The memory stuck with Enger through the years, as he watched the homeless wander the streets of Chicago from his overhead perch as a union structural-steel worker. His concern grew into action in November when he met Bob Adams, a Vietnam veteran who works as a licensed clinical social worker in Lombard. A 1997 trip to the nonprofit New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans in Boston inspired Adams to consider such a facility in Illinois. The 250-bed Boston facility offers emergency shelter, as well as transitional housing, medical care, job training, and counseling for mental health, substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the terrorist attacks of September 2001 dried up Adams' funding, and he shelved the idea. This past winter, Adams and Enger teamed up to revitalize the nonprofit Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans. Aiming for a June opening, the two veterans hope to offer a 45-bed facility modeled after the Boston site. "We're talking about the spiritual, physical, emotional and psychological - the kind of package that can really lift someone and get them back on their feet," Adams said. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, nearly 250,000 veterans are homeless on any given day. A spokes- woman for the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs said 18,000 homeless veterans are in the metropolitan Chicago area, while Enger estimates that 20,000 of Illinois' one million veterans are homeless. But Adams and Enger still have some hurdles to opening the shelter's doors. Efforts to raise the needed $170,000 in start-up funding have fallen short, and the pair have yet to select from among four possible DuPage County sites because of neighborhood resistance. Adams and Enger already have recruited professional, medical and union support for the facility, which they expect to be staffed around-the-clock, primarily by volunteers. Residents will not be charged a fee. As a longtime friend of Adams who also serves as the project's financial adviser, David Maines of Oak Brook said the facility will be no one-night wonder. "Bob has a broader vision than your typical American," Maines said. "Everybody thinks about the soldier in combat. Nobody thinks about the soldier after combat." After serving as a Navy hospital corpsman in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969, Adams wanted "to get as far from medicine and social work as I possibly could," he said. But back home and after college, he gradually found himself drawn to working with veterans in alcohol and substance abuse treatment programs. He earned a master's degree and started a private practice as a licensed clinical social worker in 1997, with a clientele largely made up of veterans, firefighters and law enforcement officers - those working in life-and-death occupations. "People who come to me get that I can understand what it's like to be in stressful and traumatic life situations," Adams, 57, said. "I am recovering from the stuff that I went through and want to help people who are in that place. I want people to see that there is a way out of their problems." Enger and Adams also are committed to running the facility solely on private and corporate donations, so far refusing to seek government funding. "If we don't tie ourselves down to bureaucracy, we can run the facility the way we want to, no strings attached," Enger, 44, said. Maines, the financial adviser, said that 95 percent of all donations will go toward programs for the residents. However, a possibility for state grants exists in a potential $6 million generated annually from a new scratch-off Illinois Lottery ticket proposed in the Illinois House. Backed by Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and the state Department of Veterans' Affairs, the legislation calls for all ticket revenue to go to programs for veterans. Quinn and state VA Director Roy Dolgos also are pushing to allow the ticket to be sold in American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts. Veterans' Affairs will launch a ticket pilot project in 10 VFW and American Legion posts within the next two months to bolster the legislation, Dolgos said. The state agency recognizes the problem of homeless veterans and just received a $750,000 federal grant to renovate a building on the campus of the Manteno Veterans Home into efficiency transitional apartments for up to 20 veterans. "We have all the staffing there already," Dolgos said. Adams and Enger hope the current public support of deployed troops translates into recognition of the plight of yesterday's soldier. "I think what's sad - and it hurts me the most - is they're not asking for anything they weren't promised," Enger said. For more information on the Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans, write or call Bob Adams at 450 E. 22nd St., Suite 220, Lombard, IL 60148 or (630) 916-08401. Mary Massingale can be reached at 782-6882 or mary.massingale@sj-r.com. ========== FAIR USE ==========
Poem- "It's a poor way to treat the veteran"
8 years ago
Thought I'd post the link to a poem written by my friend Kenyatta: "It's a poor way to treat the veteran" http://allpoetry.com/Poem/458933
From Hero to Homeless
8 years ago
By Byron Pitts CBS News Friday 25 March 2005 For 25-year-old Herold Noel, this winter, like the war, has not been kind. When "Iraqi Freedom" began, Private First Class Herold Noel was a soldier in the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, pounding a path into Baghdad. "I fought for this country," he said. "I shed blood for this country. I watched friends die." And like so many, Herold Noel came home a hero, but he wound up homeless. He started living out of the back of his jeep when most of his clothes and all of his military medals were stolen at a homeless shelter "If ever I need to go on an interview, I got my tie, my shirt, so I keep it as clean as I can. "For a job interview?" Pitts asked. "Yeah." When the war in Vietnam washed up the first wave of veterans in need of shelter -- the Department of Veteran Affairs had no homeless programs at all. While today, they offer services in every state. Still, as many as 275,000 veterans will likely sleep out in the cold tonight. "Why weren't all the lessons of Vietnam learned this time? So there wouldn't be any homeless veterans?" Pitts wanted to know. "Most of the veterans that we're seeing have a mental health and a substance abuse problem," said Peter Dougherty of the Department of Veterans Affairs. "Those problems are the underlying factors." Herold was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Unemployed,married with three kids, he couldn't get a job. "The physical war is over. The mental war has just begun," he said. Pitts asked, "The system is better than it was during Vietnam?" "The system is a whole lot better than it was before," Dougherty said. "But there's a 'but' there, sounds like," Pitts noted. "Well, the 'but' is we have to find them." Filmmaker Dan Lohaus found them on the street and in shelters across the country. Herold Noel was one of them. Lohaus and Pitts watched a film clip. "This is a soldier at his breaking point?" asked Pitts. "This is a solder at rock bottom," the filmmaker said. "I put applications in. I did all that. They lost my application three f^&@# times!" Noel said. This time a city housing agency has given him the runaround yet again. "What are you telling me man? I have three kids out there man! I fought for my country man. My country shouldn't be doing this to me." "It's terrible to know that he's not the only one crying in his car," Lohaus said. "This may sound like an insensitive question, but why should anyone care? About Herold? About the others?" Pitts wanted to know. "These are the folks who are protecting us and we are treating them this way, who is going to sign up? Who is going to do it next time?" Still, Herold Noel is one of the luckier ones. Just recently an anonymous donor heard Herold's story and is paying his rent for a year. Tonight, one Iraq War veteran is off the street. But somewhere soon, another could well take his place. =============== FAIR USE
Homeless Vets Get Last Respects
9 years ago
http://makeashorterlink.com/?S4901247A Posted on Fri, Feb. 11, 2005 Homeless vets get last respects DALLAS — Harold Dean Harris died homeless and destitute in an abandoned building. He might have gone to a pauper's grave if not for the military papers found in his wallet. Harris, an Army veteran, was buried Thursday with full military honors. No friends or family came, and no old Army buddies swapped stories. But it was a soldier's farewell, the morning air broken by a rifle salute fired by a group of paralyzed veterans. Harris, 63, and another homeless Army veteran, Hayden Glyn Kresge, 53, were laid to rest at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery because of a partnership between the Veterans Affairs Department and a nationwide funeral home network that has paid for military burials for more than 300 homeless veterans over the past two years. Little was known about either man, both of whom served two-year Army stints decades earlier. Military officials could not immediately say where the two men served. Neither had relatives or friends at their brief, back-to-back ceremonies. A few VA officials came to pay tribute and a group of homeless men acted as pallbearers. “Without you who came out on this cold day, these men would have had to go to their graves alone,” said Cindy Simpson of Dignity Memorial Funeral Providers, the funeral home network. Disabled American Veterans chaplain Cynthia Burks received the flag from Harris' flag-draped casket. Moving with military precision, Michael Riley, deputy commander of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, wheeled forward to give Burks three polished brass rounds from the rifle salutes, representing duty, honor and country. “When one is in need, we'll be right there beside them,” Burks said. “It was an honor to accept this flag.” The Rev. Alton Jones, a former homeless veteran himself, officiated at both services. Jamie Jewell, a funeral home representative, said neither man had as much as a photograph among their belongings. But “obviously, Mr. Harris was proud of his service,” she said, “because he had his papers in his wallet.” — The Associated Press
APT. GIFT FOR HOMELESS WAR HERO
9 years ago
By STEFAN C. FRIEDMAN An anonymous angel has swooped down to give a homeless Brooklyn-born Iraq war vet the gift of a lifetime — an apartment for the decorated military man and his family. Because of the unknown patron's generosity, Pfc. Herold Noel will be able to move out of the 1994 Jeep Cherokee he's called home for the last six months and into a three-bedroom apartment in the Mott Haven section of The Bronx come March. There, the 25-year-old father of four will be reunited with the three kids whom he had sent to live with relatives in Florida after he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was unable to get work or housing. "I'm just so happy," said Noel, who for the next month will stay in a one-bedroom East Tremont apartment with his wife and 2-year-old son, Anthony, also courtesy of the unnamed donor. "I want to find out who it is so I can give him a big kiss," said Noel, who was honorably discharged in 2003. The donor — who had contacted veterans-advocacy group Operation Truth — provided Noel with $18,500.
Newest crop of homeless U.S. vets
9 years ago
http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-1/525/525_12_HomelessVets.shtml By Nicole Colson | Janury 7, 2005 | Page 12 FAMILIAR IMAGES of homeless veterans, scarred by war, may become even more common in the coming months and years. That’s because, according to recent reports, there’s a new crop of homeless veterans starting to appear on the streets--veterans from the Afghanistan and current Iraq war. Nearly 300,000 veterans are homeless on any given night--about one-quarter of the entire U.S. homeless population. A large number of these veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, drug addiction or other combat- and stress-related health problems. Today, the tens of thousands of U.S. troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are just as vulnerable, and homeless and veterans advocates say they are already beginning to see a first wave of Iraq vets who are winding up on the streets as a result. “When we already have people from Iraq on the streets, my God,” Linda Boone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans recently told United Press International (UPI). “I have talked to enough [shelters] to know we are getting them. It is happening and this nation is not prepared for that.” For the soldiers themselves, the shock and anger at being abandoned by the government is overwhelming. Like Seabees Petty Officer Luis Arellano, who told UPI that he was pushed out of the military after shrapnel nearly took off his left thumb in Iraq. “It was more of a rush,” he said. They put us in a warehouse for a while. They treated us like cattle. It is all about numbers. Instead of getting quality care, they were trying to get everybody demobilized during a certain time frame. If you had a problem, they said, ‘Let the [Department of Veterans Affairs] take care of it.’” When Arellano tried to get help from the Veterans Administration (VA), he found they couldn’t take him. “When we got there, the VA was totally full,” he said. “They said, ‘We’ll call you.’ But I developed depression.” The depression caused Arellano to leave his job, and he and his wife split up. That’s when he ended up homeless, sometimes living out of his truck. “One day you have a home, and the next day you are on the streets,” he said.
How the Pentagon downplays the risks of depleted uranium weapons, part 9
9 years ago
"We don't really know," she said. "Not even for a rat." ======================= FAIR USE for learning about issues of social, economic and political justice, and human and homeless civil rights and civil liberties,etc. ======================= Harmony- a comment: How insanely, evilly "DUMB" is this? That is, the use of depleted uranium by the military? It affects ALL around it, and for countless years to come- "friend" and "foe" alike. To me, it just signifies how little worth the military puts on human life of any sort, including its own soldiers. It so obviously does not care that they come back home and become homeless, and sick with DU poisoning, ptsd, etc. DUMB, EVIL, DUMB. Sorry all, Harmony ranting, here.
How the Pentagon downplays the risks of depleted uranium weapons, part 8
9 years ago
The British test also involves a 24-hour urine sample. But it can accurately detect depleted uranium when only 0.1 nanogram of uranium per liter is present, making it capable of detecting amounts 30 times smaller or more. The British also say their degree of uncertainty at these lower levels is less than 1 percent, a much smaller margin of error than the U.S. tests. Melanson and other U.S. officials say anything below 3 nanograms of uranium in such a sample is clearly inconsequential. They cite studies of the known, respected science involving the health effects of uranium, specifically studies by the U.S. Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization. But the co-author of the Institute of Medicine study, as well as an epidemiologist who was asked to review it to make sure it was scientifically sound, say that wouldn't be an accurate reading of the work at all. Establishing a lower limwit for inhalation of depleted uranium hasn't happened, they say, because too little is known about how the substance reacts with tissues in various parts of the body. "We have no idea," said Carolyn Fulco, the co-author of the Institute of Medicine study. Beate Ritz, an epidemiologist and expert on cancer at the University of California, Los Angeles, agrees: "Our human research, as valuable as it is, has a lot of severe limitations." Ritz, one of the scientists and health experts whom the institute asked to review its work to ensure accuracy, says it might take decades of following Gulf War veterans to have even a hazy picture when it comes to cancer. Fulco and others note that the Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization said explicitly that the data on depleted uranium's health effects were limited and that more research needed to be done. Still, Melanson thinks that the 50 years of research considered by the studies is enough to show that low levels of uranium or depleted uranium in a human's blood, lungs and other body tissue isn't a problem. Most of that research involved uranium millers, miners and processors. It fed the government health standards that the Pentagon used in the Capstone study to establish that inhaling or breathing the dust from the weapons shouldn't be considered a significant health risk on the battlefield. Alexandra Miller, a radiobiologist at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, says using that research to dismiss the possible health effects of depleted uranium weapons is a mistake. There are many studies of uranium miners' health that indicate problems, she says. In addition, she says, the studies of miners and millers are, in many ways, irrelevant to the experiences of soldiers on the battlefield. When it comes to depleted uranium, she says, there simply hasn't been enough research on animals to know what happens when rats or humans inhale the dust from these weapons. The amount of depleted uranium dust that can be inhaled without harm simply isn't known yet, she says. (continued next post)
How the Pentagon downplays the risks of depleted uranium weapons, part 7
9 years ago
Robinson and Smithson say they won't be surprised if there are thousands of veterans with undiagnosed, unexplained illnesses once the totals are in from Operation Iraqi Freedom and its aftermath. Rohman says he won't be surprised, either. He wonders whether this new generation of warriors will succumb to the same undetected poisons that he believes hit him. His brothers still wear military uniforms and could be called to combat tomorrow - one a Marine the other in the Army. PENTAGON: WE'RE CONVINCED OUR METHOD IS ACCURATE The Pentagon will say only that as of October, 20,000 troops had been evacuated from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for noncombat-related illnesses and injuries and that, on average, about 5,800 troops are on "medical hold" each day because military doctors haven't finished diagnosing or treating them. Only five people have tested positive for depleted uranium from the most recent war - all victims of friendly fire who had depleted uranium shrapnel in their bodies, the Pentagon says. Getting tests for depleted uranium exposure from the U.S. military and VA might be a waste of time, anyway, say Robinson and experts who have developed those tests for other countries. "Even the test they offer is a less-than-respected test," Robinson says. Scientists overseas have spent years creating a more accurate method of detecting whether there are even tiny amounts of depleted uranium in the human body. They say the U.S. government relies on testing procedures and equipment that have a high margin of error and are capable of discerning the presence of depleted uranium only in limited circumstances. They say it's not much of a test if you really want to find radioactive and toxic dust in particles small enough to the inhaled. The British government officially takes the same stance as the United State on the dangers of depleted uranium, but it's financed a much more exacting test capable of finding out whether someone has even small quantities of depleted uranium in their system. It doesn't settle whether the depleted uranium is harmful, but it can identify the veterans' who definitely have it in their bodies. That would be an important step forward, several researchers say. British veterans of the Persian Gulf War began signing up for the tests in late September. Rohman would like to take it, but the U.S. military says it has no need to use it or even find out how it works. "We're convinced that our method is sufficiently sensitive and accurate enough," said Lt. Col. Mark Melanson, manager of the health physics program at the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, the Army's public health agency. 'OUR HUMAN RESEARCH ... HAS A LOT OF SEVERE LIMITATIONS' He says the government labs used to identify soldiers with depleted uranium in their bodies can detect the substance as long as there are at least 3 to 5 nanograms of uranium per liter in a day's worth of urine. (continued next post)
How the Pentagon downplays the risks of depleted uranium weapons, part 6
9 years ago
Department of Defense policy - spurred by members of Congress critical of the way that the military handled health complaints after the Gulf War - requires all soldiers, sailors and airmen who come home from overseas wars to fill out a multipage questionnaire about their health and what they experienced. The only specific mention of depleted uranium exposure on the questionnaire involves one item near the end of a list of 22 possible exposure risks. The list includes such mundane items as "paints," "sand/dust" and "vehicle or truck exhaust fumes." Some soldiers returning from Iraq say that because they were never given instruction on the possible hazards, they didn't know what to choose when given the options of "No," "Sometimes" or "Often" on this question. Army, Air Force and Navy officials say anyone who checks "Sometimes" or "Often" is questioned further and tested, if necessary. They also say any man or woman in the military who deployed and asks for a test for depleted uranium will be given the test, no further questions asked. Department of Veterans Affairs officials say the same applies to those who served in the Persian Gulf War. PROMISE TO PERFORM TESTS NOT FULFILLED FOR VETERANS Yet, Rohman's medical records show that he made VA officials aware of his exposure to depleted uranium six years ago. He's sure that he told them earlier, but many of his records have been lost, and the earliest date that he can document is 1998. When the Daily Press called the VA administrator responsible for the local testing program to find out why this problem persisted, she immediately agreed that a mistake had been made and took steps to bring Rohman in for evaluation. He still hasn't been tested. It isn't clear whether things have gotten any better for veterans of the more recent fighting in Iraq. The Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, checked in the past year the health forms filled out by more than 1,000 troops who'd returned from the Gulf War. It found that very few of those who'd chosen "Sometimes" or "Often" got tested, said Dan Fahey, a congressional adviser who participated in a briefing on the study. Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a veterans advocacy group, says he's talked to dozens of soldiers just back from the current war who told him that doctors can't diagnose their ills but have refused to test them for depleted uranium exposure. The soldiers even showed him medical records and other paperwork to prove it, he says. They won't go public for fear retaliation from the military. (continued next post)
How the Pentagon downplays the risks of depleted uranium weapons, part 5
9 years ago
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V20E31E0A Rohman was one of them. 'WE ACTUALLY SLEPT UNDENEATH DESTROYED TANKS ...' For three months after the fighting stopped, Rohman and his buddies in a 3rd Armored Division combat engineer squadron were ordered to crawl around in the black dust left over from successful shots of depleted uranium. He was ordered to live and breathe in it while finishing the job of destroying damaged Iraqi tanks and munitions, to make sure that the enemy's equipment couldn't be used again. "We actually slept underneath destroyed tanks and stuff because we figured they wouldn't fire at their own destroyed vehicles," Rohman says. For months, the black dust covered many of those vehicles, rubbing off on Rohman's clothing, getting on his skin and often into his food and water. Hundreds of other soldiers were ordered to do the same work, while thousands of others might have come in contact with the dust through curiosity or happenstance. Neither Rohman nor the military can say how many of them got sick like he did. Rohman says none of the other soldiers from his unit came from nearby towns or cities, so he lost touch with them while focusing on his own deteriorating health. Researchers say the military didn't keep, or pursue, the kind of information that would help them make such determinations. They also say one of the biggest obstacles to solving the riddle of the illnesses is that people who appear to have the same experiences reacted differently - some getting ill and others staying well. Many soldiers didn't pay the black dust any notice during the war because the military had never told them about the dangers. "We didn't know any different," Rohman says. The Pentagon acknowledged seven years after the war was over that it should have provided training that advised troops to avoid contact with the dust or to use safety masks and suits in the situations that Rohman described. Instructions on depleted uranium weren't added to the Army's regular training program until the late 1990s. Since then, the requirements for telling troops about depleted uranium have been gradually relaxed for troops who don't fire or handle the weapons. The Army has a long list of medical and training requirements that must be met before a soldier is supposed to be sent off to war. The checklist for Transportation Corps soldiers deploying from Fort Eustis to Iraq is long. But for the past two years, it hasn't included a requirement that soldiers in transportation units receive depleted uranium hazard training, even though the Army's own radiological experts said in 1997 that they should. Military and medical officials say it's too early to tell what the effect will be on troops involved in the continuing fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. (continued next post)
How the Pentagon downplays the risks of depleted uranium weapons, part 4
9 years ago
Depleted uranium was used in combat for the first time in the Gulf War. The weapons proved so effective, troops began calling them "The Silver Bullet," in honor of their near-magical ability to kill the enemy. The weapons enable U.S. tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles to fire accurately and decisively from much greater distances than other anti-tank weapons used in ground combat. That means U.S. troops can kill the enemy before the enemy can fight back. Last year, when Operation Iraqi Freedom began, the weapons' effectiveness played a big role. It was a reason commanders said they could whip Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein with a smaller, lighter - but more mobile - force than they used in the 1991 Gulf War. Before that, many people thought that depleted uranium wasn't much more than low-level nuclear garbage. Depleted uranium is the byproduct of making "enriched uranium" for nuclear weapons and fuel. The process involves stripping natural uranium of its most radioactive components for use in bombs and power plants. What's left is "depleted" uranium. In the early days of making nuclear weapons, this byproduct was considered a problematic waste. But almost immediately, weapons researchers began trying to make something with it. It took more than 20 years, but by the late 1970s, they'd succeeded. The Army, Navy and Air Force each had a weapon using the material. But they had to wait to see their creation anywhere except a test range. The first war that involved U.S. forces using tanks against hostile forces who also had tanks was the Persian Gulf War. One of the weapons' special properties creates what all acknowledge is the downside of these weapons. When those weapons strike something hard, they slice through the target, getting sharp where other metals get dull. They get sharper by shedding millions and millions of tiny bits of flaming depleted uranium, spitting out the bits like shavings from a pencil in a high-speed sharpener. Once cool, those bits become mildly radioactive toxic black dust particles, most of them small enough to inhale deep into the lungs. The Capstone study says those toxic particles will likely remain in the lungs for years. U.S. researchers have known that the weapons' use created a long-lived radiological risk to the lungs since at least the early 1980s. They've also known that these tiny bits of black dust pose a potentially catastrophic health hazard for troops on a battlefield. None of that was revealed publicly when the weapons were put to use. It wasn't until the mid-1990s that the government officially and publicly acknowledged that troops in the Gulf War had been exposed to this hazard and should have been warned and trained about the dangers beforehand. By then, thousands and thousands of troops had started suffering the debilitating pains, neurological problems and other symptoms. (rest of article on link at start of it) ================ FAIR USE for learning what we need to know!
How the Pentagon downplays the risks of depleted uranium weapons, part 3
9 years ago
But the main source of that money for the past 13 years - the Pentagon - says it isn't interested in pursuing new research into the health problems of its former soldiers. Especially when it comes to studying the health effects of using depleted uranium on the battlefield, a use that gives the United States and its allies a lopsided advantage in ground wars. Pentagon officials have long dismissed the possibility that any of the veterans' problems are the result of the radioactive toxic dust that results when depleted uranium weapons hit hard targets. This fall, they released a $6 million study that they labeled "Capstone" - a title picked because they say it should close the book on whether inhaling depleted uranium on the battlefield is a health risk worth considering. A number of scientists say it's too soon to stop investigating the possible dangers of these weapons, especially when there have been so few experiments that show what happens when animals or humans inhale the special type of dust created when depleted uranium weapons hit their targets. None of the recent research that points to possible problems with the weapons was included or addressed in Capstone, not even the work performed by government scientists or researchers financed by the Army and Department of Defense. The Army officer who oversaw the study says that's because there was a conscious effort to base the work on "mainstream science," instead of "preliminary data." Critics say that's the government's way of simply ignoring the emerging and potentially damning evidence on the subject. With the building body of data, they say, this is no time to label something the final word on depleted uranium's dangers. The skeptics include a panel of scientists, doctors and veterans appointed by the Bush administration to study the nature and status of research into the cause of the veterans' illnesses. The panel issued its first report last month and said more research into possible health effects from depleted uranium was needed. "We're not finished," says Lea Steele, the panel's scientific director. The committee's report says poorly planned and administered research programs are partly to blame for having so little to show for the $247 million spent on research into Gulf War illnesses so far. It points no fingers, but it does note that 74 percent of that money has been controlled by the Pentagon and that most of it has gone to support the now-discounted idea that stress and psychological problems account for the physical symptoms that vets suffer. Steve Smithson is a member of the panel and the assistant director of the American Legion's Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Division. He says the Pentagon has been trying to prematurely end the debate about possible health hazards from depleted uranium for years. "These are very effective weapons," he says, "and they want to keep them." WEAPONS' POTENTIAL DANGERS WERE KNOWN FOR DECADES (continued next post)
How the Pentagon downplays the risks of depleted uranium weapons, part 2
9 years ago
It doesn't even know how many veterans have these problems or where they live. All that's known is that of the 697,000 who deployed in the war, more than 183,000 had service-related disabilities at the end of 2003, with thousands more applications pending. That's 26 percent of the total, three to five times higher than the rate of disability after World War II (9 percent), the Korean War (5 percent) and the Vietnam War (9 percent) for a comparable period. All from a war that lasted 100 hours, while the others went on for years. Why? Perhaps it was the highly potent bug repellent that the military used to keep away the sand fleas and other pests in the deserts of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Perhaps it was the experimental pills that troops were ordered to take to ward off the effects of disease and chemical weapons. Perhaps it was the residue of their own government's most effective weapon for defeating enemy armor - the tank-killing projectiles made from depleted uranium. In the past few years, while the media and public have been paying attention to another war in the region, doctors and researchers have been finding out more about depleted uranium and how it might be responsible for some of the problems suffered by veterans of the Gulf War. Some of this research hasn't been made public yet, while other findings made ripples only among doctors and professors still in the hunt for a cause and a cure. There's now physical evidence that depleted uranium, once in the body, migrates to the brain, lungs, bones and testicles of rats and mice. Researchers have found that even a single particle placed in contact with human bone cells can set off a chain reaction of cell and chromosomal abnormalities of the type thought to cause cancer. They've also found that rats with depleted uranium in their bodies develop tumors and cellular mutations consistent with cancer. And that mice who breathe in tiny bits of the metal - just like the soldiers on the battlefield - get genetic mutations thought to be indicative of cancer. PENTAGON UNWILLING TO FUND NEW RESEARCH INTO ILLNESS Despite their efforts, these researchers haven't been able to show why brain scans on Gulf War vets show abnormalities that don't appear in scans of other servicemen and women who didn't go to the war. They just know that it's further proof that there's a real problem among those vets. They also can't say why men and women who deployed in the Gulf War are twice as likely as others their age to get a fatal neurological disorder known as ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease. The questions demand answers. To get them, more money and scientific patience is needed, these scientists say. (continued next post)
How the Pentagon downplays the risks of depleted uranium weapons
9 years ago
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V20E31E0A December 12, 2004 By: Bob Evans For Matt Rohman, the symptoms began about the time that his unit returned to its barracks in Germany after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. First came a fatigue that sleep couldn't cure. Then severe pains in his joints. His teeth started falling out; his hands and feet went numb. Asthma grabbed his lungs. Debilitating migraine headaches squeezed his skull for days at a stretch. Sleeplessness and other symptoms followed. Now every day for Rohman, 40, begins the same: waking up in his York County home and trying to figure out how many of the pills and inhalers from the Veterans Affairs hospital he'll have to use. He wants to swallow just enough to keep his lungs working and the pain at tolerable levels. He's willing to ignore some of his problems to keep some of the drugs in their bottles. That way, his wife, 22-month-old son, 11-year-old daughter and what's left of his life don't disappear into a medicinal fog. At best, he'll spend the day with no feeling in his feet or hands, watching his kids play, pretty much stuck to a chair or the couch. You could stub out a lit cigarette on any of his fingers or toes, and he wouldn't feel it because of the neuropathy - a nerve disorder that leaves him unable to feel anything. On a good day, he's able to hobble across the room or maybe go out with his family for an hour or two. The bad days bring pain in his head too intense for him to be much help to his family or himself. Those days can also mean swelling in his extremities so severe, the tips of his toes and fingers look like toadstools and he can't walk at all. After years of testing and examinations, doctors from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have concluded that something happened to Rohman's brain or central nervous system during the war. The neurological and other symptoms make that clear. Repeated tests, including brain and body scans, show that his brain is swollen. But there's no evidence of a physical injury or cause, those doctors' reports say, leaving them stumped about why he's so debilitated. The neurological and other symptoms that Rohman suffers are mirrored in tens of thousands of others who served in the war. When Rohman filed his final plea for VA benefits related to wartime service, the document noted that Rohman had 11 of the 13 officially recognized symptoms consistent with Gulf War service-related illness. One of the 13 applied only to women. The government lists 20 active theories of what caused these problems. But it provides no answers. (continued next post)
New Generation Of Homeless Veterans
9 years ago
http://makeashorterlink.com/?O2FD26E0A Bianca Castro For years, Jimmy Dorrell of Mission Waco has been providing food and temporary shelter for homeless veterans in Central Texas. Many of the vets are from the Vietnam War, but to Dorrell's surprise, some are soldiers who have recently returned from Iraq. "We've had a couple of folks...no longtimers, of course, because they just got back from Iraq," said Dorrell. The National Coalition of Homeless Veterans estimates nearly 300,000 homeless veterans on any given night across the country. Almost half of those served during the Vietnam era, returning from battle physically and mentally disabled. Dorrell fears the same conditions will apply to soldiers coming home from Iraq. "The Iraq War is a little different because there seems to be more support. However, with soldiers coming home and hospitals closing, the same thing could happen again, where we have a lot of soldiers show up with nowhere to go," stated Dorrell. A new report shows that nine out of ten soldiers who are wounded in Iraq survive. Dorrell worries that if these wounded are not given sufficient emotional and medical support, the number of homeless veterans will skyrocket. "For me, it's the reality of how quickly this is happening. It won't take long for the larger numbers to arrive," stated Dorrell. Officials at the Hospital of Veterans Affairs in Waco hope to implement more programs targeting the mental wellness of veterans. However, with homeless Iraq vets slowly trickling into Dorrell's shelter, he says it is only a matter of time before the number of homeless increases. ======================== FAIR USE for learning about issues of social, political and economic justice, and for human and homeless civil rights and civil liberties,etc.
New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans
9 years ago
http://www.neshv.org/ "Our mission is to help rehabilitate and reintegrate veterans who are homeless, unemployed or underemployed by providing them with the tools to move toward self-sufficiency. We pursue this mission by providing a spectrum of supportive services that includes housing, counseling, vocational training, job search workshops, living skills and health-related programs. "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation." - George Washington
Bank of Canton president attends fundraiser for homeless veterans
9 years ago
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N39D25E0A Friday, December 17, 2004 More than 300 guests attended the second annual Leave No One Behind fundraiser dinner, raising approximately $200,000 for the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans. The black tie event was held on Veterans Day, Tuesday, Nov. 11, at the Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center Boston. Thomas Finneran, President of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives served as Master of Ceremonies. Decorated Marine General Richard I. Neal was the keynote speaker. "With a new generation of veterans returning home from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the importance of events like Leave No One Behind cannot be understated," said Bank of Canton President James D. Egan. "My wife and I are proud we had the opportunity to represent Bank of Canton at this important fundraiser." ================ FAIR USE for learning about issues of social, political and economic injustice, and human and homeless civil rights and civil liberties, etc.
Program to honor homeless veterans
9 years ago
http://makeashorterlink.com/?H17D56E0A December 18, 2004 Last modified December 18, 2004 - 1:13 am Program to honor homeless veterans Veterans Administration Montana Healthcare System employees will honor homeless veterans on Tuesday, the first day of winter and Remember our Homeless Veterans' Day. Bonnie Parrett, VA Montana Healthcare System, homeless veterans' coordinator, and her staff will prepare displays to be set up at five entrances at the Veteran's Hospital at Fort Harrison. The displays will have the following information: # A description of the VA Montana Healthcare System homeless veterans' program and what is available to veterans. # A signup sheet for employees and volunteers to participate in the annual state count of the homeless, which will take place on Jan. 27, 28 or 29, 2005. The final date hasn't been set. The count will help VA Montana Healthcare System target its homeless outreach in the coming year. The public is invited to bring food to Fort Harrison or donate to your local shelter or food bank in honor of homeless veterans. VA Montana is asking employees and the public to pick up a business card at the displays and give it to the next homeless veteran you see on a street corner or at the grocery store. It may make a difference in a homeless person's life. VA Montana Healthcare System has nine outpatient clinics throughout Montana, each location having information about the homeless program. Call 447-7454 to get the addresses and phone numbers of the clinics. For information, call Bonnie Parrett at 447-7309. Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. ============== FAIR USE for learning about issues of social, political and economic justice and human and homeless civil rights and civil liberties, etc.
Shelter gives homeless vets place to gather for holidays, part 2
9 years ago
"It's pretty sad from our side," he said. "A lot of people don't have people to come see them. I have no place to go. This is my last stand, right here." Bee staff writer Inga Miller can be reached at 578-2382 or imiller@modbee.com. =================== FAIR USE for learning about issues of social and economic justice, and human and homeless civil rights and civil liberties, etc.
Shelter gives homeless vets place to gather for holidays
9 years ago
http://makeashorterlink.com/?B25D12E0A Shelter gives homeless vets place to gather for holidays By INGA MILLER BEE STAFF WRITER Last Updated: December 18, 2004, 04:41:30 AM PST There was a Christmas tree decorated with globes. Guests sat on couches and ate chips and sandwiches off holiday napkins. There always seemed to be someone coming or going. But that's about where the comparison ended to the typical yuletide gathering. On Friday, the Central Valley Homeless Veterans Shelter held a party for its 14 residents. But mostly, they said their hellos and moved on. Some stayed in their bedrooms a few feet away. "The holidays, you can either take them or leave them. It makes it a little easier being here," said Joe Bilodeau, 49, glancing in at the party through a porch window. "I'm glad I'm here for the holidays despite being solitary." A lot of the people at the shelter can be solitary. They drift in from shelters or treatment programs. Some stay for a few weeks, other times for years. "I wanted to have this party really for two reasons," said Nathan Johnson, 23, the shelter's administrator. "I wanted the veterans to see people come in from the community who want to help them. And I wanted people in the community to come in so we could show off the place. We're very very proud of it." Everyone has chores, and they live two to a room. A few of them were up by 7 a.m. to get ready for the party. They trimmed a donated Christmas tree and decorated. They spruced up a front patch of landscaping to get ready for the veterans and a half-dozen other guests who attended. "You get really close really fast," said David Odom, 46, who came to the shelter a year ago and stays as house manager. "This is the family most of these guys don't have." Garry Estepp, who served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971 as a gunner in the Army, sat back and looked into knowing faces of friends when he talked about Christmas 2000, just before he found out about the shelter. "I was out on the street. I got a burrito and Coke and sat in the doorstep of a Catholic Church," Estepp, 53, said. "There are quite a few veterans out there on the street. People don't want them. They're schizo." As if continuing Estepp's thought, Bilodeau said, "You don't have flashbacks and start running through the bushes. But a smell, a sound will bring you back. You remember stuff. The diesel fuel (used to burn traces of human waste). That's a big one for me." Estepp blames the moments of terror for eventually breaking up his marriage. He landed in the shelter after a piece of metal blinded him in one eye and ended his trucking career. "My wife went through a lot, God rest her soul. She passed away last March," he said. "We were separated, but it was because of that." Estepp credits a former roommate for picking up on the triggers before it was too late. "He saved my life a couple of times by calling 9-1-1 on me and nursing me through it." His roommate died two months ago; now he rooms alone. ( see next post)
Giving homeless vets new hope
9 years ago
Sunday Profile /Veterans Reintegration Program http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y27835FE9 By LOUISE CONTINELLI News Staff Reporter 11/28/2004 Life after service in the U.S. Navy was not kind to Kevin Odell. He held a series of dead-end and temporary jobs. By the time he applied for the Veterans Reintegration Program in Buffalo, he was homeless - without even a car to sleep in. He was, in homeless parlance - "without keys." However, Odell never gave up hope, and today he says he's on his way to realizing his dream. Odell's dream is to go to college and get a nursing degree. He had some experience in health care during his Navy years and liked it. The career also appealed to him because it looked like there were opportunities for jobs with decent pay. According to the New York State Nurses Association, demand for registered nurses will outpace the supply of trained professionals by up to 20 percent. Through the Veterans Reintegration Program, Odell obtained computer training and was accepted into a local nursing program. He was also hired at an area call center as an interviewer. "There's still a great deal of work ahead of him, but he's on the road to success," says Steven Wagner, representative of Goodwill Industries of Western New York, which sponsors the program. With the help of his counselor, Donna Haefner, Odell found a home. After occupational counseling, he also got an assist preparing his resume and with the college enrollment process. "Kevin also needed a job so that he could support himself while going to school," Wagner recalled. He picked up his computer skills at the Goodwill Technical Training Center. Even his transportation was planned for, so he could keep his appointments during the training and enrollment processes. In addition, Haefner pursued job placement efforts for him. Since the end of the first war with Iraq, many homeless veterans have turned up in Erie County, according to one study. Though they tend to be better educated than other homeless people in the Buffalo area, they stay on the street almost twice as long as nonveterans. Many have had to choose between food and housing. Most have had honorable discharges. Kevin Odell is one of many homeless vets who have found housing and jobs over the past year or so through this program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. "The need for these services is very high," observes Robert Haenggi, Goodwill vice president of Human Services. "Training, remedial education, counseling and placement programs enable these men and women to get their lives on track. This benefits them and their families directly, and it improves the quality of life for everyone in the region."
9 years ago
we have and have had many homeless vets with families in our shelter. it is sad to me to see these men and women who have sacrificed all for our country and our freedom to then have nothing. where does the ungratefulness to our nation's protectors end?
Seattle: Mayor pledges help for homeless vets
9 years ago
Local News: Friday, November 12, 2004 Mayor pledges help for homeless vets http://makeashorterlink.com/?I246324C9 By Brandon Sprague Seattle Times staff reporter About 150 people — city officials, Navy band members, veterans and well-wishers — marched seven blocks through downtown yesterday and placed red and white carnations at the foot of a war memorial at Benaroya Hall, where thousands of names of those who have died defending the country are carved in granite. In a short Veterans Day speech near the memorial, Mayor Greg Nickels thanked U.S. veterans for their service and sacrifice. He also pledged to help the estimated 2,000 veterans in King County who are homeless. "What we often find is that those who return no longer function in society as they had before," he said. "And they don't have the support they need." The parade was sponsored by the Compass Center, a nonprofit organization that provides services to homeless veterans. Before the parade, the organization held a fund-raiser breakfast which brought in $50,000, said Cindy Jackson, a Compass Center spokeswoman. Members of local veterans groups marched in the parade from the Westin Hotel to Benaroya Hall. Many onlookers waved and cheered from the sidewalk as the procession went by. While there were no war protesters, one man held a sign reading, "I love my country, but I fear my government." Vietnam veteran Bill Metcalf said that every year, fewer and fewer vets show up for Veterans Day ceremonies, in part because they are simply dying off. On the Garden of Remembrance Wall, where well-wishers placed the carnations yesterday, are the names of more than 8,500 Washington residents who have died since World War I defending their country. In the parade, Metcalf held a black flag in honor of prisoners of war. He said he wasn't a POW himself, but "knew some who were taken." "And we don't want to forget them," he said. Brandon Sprague: 206-464-2263 or bsprague@seattletimes.com ========== Fair Use Notice This message may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not specifically been authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, religious, spiritual, and social justice issues. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit educational and research purposes, and in the hope that more people will awaken and begin to think for themselves, as is so sorely needed in these times. ====================
Homeless Veterans: A Growing Problem
9 years ago
Note: the 250,000 figure mentioned in the article is, in reality, more than 400,000 ========================== By Jackelyn Barnard First Coast News JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Eight years ago, Tony Gooch got off a city bus. "I didn't have any money." He had no place to go but the City Rescue Mission. "I said what am I doing here?" He was in a room full of bunkbeds. It's cold and dark. It's a place that's not too comfortable but, for Gooch, it was at one time, his only home and starting point in his journey to get back on his feet. "It brings back a bittersweet memory. This is where it started." Gooch is a former Marine who became homeless. He is far from alone. More than 250,000 veterans, more than all those who died in the Vietnam war, are homeless today. "The help for the veterans is so small, it's not enough," says Gooch. A former Navy sailor agrees. He's asked us not to reveal his identity. So, we will call him Doug. Doug is not only a former sailor, he is a college graduate. In the Navy, his job was to fight the drug war, that was until he got hooked and ended up on the streets. "It makes me sick. It hurts, these are my brothers." And a good share of his brothers are homeless. Doug's goal is one day to own his own home like his new friend Tony Gooch. Gooch now has a job. He is married and has built his own home. These days, the former homeless Marine is helping that homeless sailor. Gooch works at the City Rescue Mission. He is a case manager there. "Being a soldier once before has helped me to be an even better soldier at city rescue mission." Gooch's job is to help turn the lives of homeless veterans around. His job today is to help Doug realize, "I'm ready for the real world. I'm a new person." 11/11/2004 Edited by Jackelyn Barnard, reporter © 2004 First Coast News. All rights reserved. ====================== Fair Use Notice This message may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not specifically been authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, religious, spiritual, and social justice issues. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit educational and research purposes, and in the hope that more people will awaken and begin to think for themselves, as is so sorely needed in these times. For more information on fair use, please go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own which go beyond "fair use," we suggest that you obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Homelass Man is Killed and a Town Pours Out Prayers, part 3
9 years ago

"People responded on a very deep level to his soul," said Ms. Rose, who wrote the poem about Mr. Thompson after he died, which she titled "Cedar River Man." "That's kind of the magic of the whole thing." The poem ends this way: And now this boy is free He is splashing and he is dancing He is laughing and wondering Did you love me? I am the Cedar River Man. ========================= Fair Use Notice This message may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not specifically been authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, religious, spiritual, and social justice issues. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit educational and research purposes, and in the hope that more people will awaken and begin to think for themselves, as is so sorely needed in these times. For more information on fair use, please go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own which go beyond "fair use," we suggest that you obtain permission from the copyright owner. =============================
Homelass Man is Killed and a Town Pours Out Prayers, part 2
9 years ago

He chose to live on the streets, said residents and his somewhat estranged brother, Merlin Thompson, who lives not far from Maple Valley. They surmised that his life began to unravel after he left Vietnam, where he was a mechanic and served two tours of duty. Last January, prosecutors say, Mr. Thompson was beaten and stomped to death. The case went unsolved for eight months, as detectives from the King County Sheriff's Office pursued the case, relying heavily on tips from residents who had watched out for Mr. Thompson, as well as DNA evidence. Some Maple Valley residents said they had wondered if the detectives would be aggressive about solving the killing of a homeless man. Last week, Shirin Galinkin, 27, and David Pulcino, 45, who the police say got into an argument with Mr. Thompson down at the river, were arrested and charged with second-degree murder. They are being held awaiting arraignment. Sgt. John Urquhart, a spokesman for the King County Sheriff's Office, said the town's involvement in the case was crucial. "There was a tremendous amount of interest in the investigation and sympathy for Thompson," Sergeant Urquhart said. Jim Flynn, the deputy mayor of Maple Valley, who knew Mr. Thompson well, said: "It's hard for people to understand why we care so much about him. But he was here for so long and we just miss him." Mr. Flynn was visiting a memorial to Mr. Thompson, a wooden cross that was driven into an embankment along the river by a 16-year-old resident, Jennifer Smith, who said she was close to the Skunk Man and organized a candlelight vigil there that drew 50 people after he died. With her grandmother, she raised a $200 reward for anyone who could help catch the killer. Residents' research also helped to determine that Mr. Thompson was indeed a veteran and was entitled to government benefits that would cover the costs of his interment and allow a service with full military honors, which drew 60 people. The white wooden cross was adorned with plastic flowers and a small stuffed animal skunk. At the liquor store on the Maple Valley Highway, the closest business to Mr. Thompson's slapdash home under an old railroad trestle, a sign now says, "Jeff's Killers' Caught! Thank you, King County Detectives." Joan Holder and her daughter, Marie Kimball, who manage the store, often allowed Mr. Thompson to come inside and get warm. They also provided information in the case, when they said that a couple from out of town had used a nearby pay phone, prompting detectives to trace the calls, law enforcement officials said. "The last six weeks of his life, we were his hangout,'' said Ms. Kimball, 60, fighting back tears. "All of Maple Valley was his home. He used to summer at McDonald's and winter down here." The arrests have awakened new memories of Mr. Thompson, who would often be seen around the streets, asking for a ride or for work. People are telling stories, digging out their poems, their musings and their paintings. (cont'd next post)
Homelass Man is Killed and a Town Pours Out Prayers
9 years ago

The New York Times>National>Maple Valley Journal: Homelass Man is Killed and a Town Pours Out Prayers http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/national/03maple.html MAPLE VALLEY JOURNAL Homeless Man Is Killed, and a Town Pours Out Prayers By SARAH KERSHAW Published: November 3, 2004 MAPLE VALLEY, Wash., Oct. 27 - From the ode to Skunk Man: He is wondering why you're crying He thanks you for your kindness He was young here once and loving life His troubles and his strife Came early and came later. The poet wrote the tribute in her head in the shower on the day last January when Jeffrey T. Thompson, 57 - known around here as Skunk Man because of the white streak running through his curly black mane - was killed. The poet, Stanette Marie Rose, a financial adviser who had known Mr. Thompson since she was a girl, was one of many in Maple Valley who said they were sickened by that winter killing. After it happened, the people here said prayers, painted watercolor portraits, held candlelight vigils and memorial services, and built him a makeshift grave. Their intense interest in the case, the police say, helped lead to an arrest last week. All for Maple Valley's lone homeless man. Mr. Thompson, a Vietnam veteran who grew up near here and played as a child along the Cedar River, where he later slept and died, was adopted by this town of 14,000 people in rural King County, 25 miles southeast of Seattle. The homeless are not often welcome in many cities. But here in Maple Valley, where there was only one homeless man, it was different. He was a nuisance, but he was their nuisance; they rarely called the police to report him and they tolerated his living in the streets here for almost 30 years. They fed him, gave him odd jobs, bought him clothes and tall cups of coffee and counted on him to tell them crazy stories and even lend them books from his vast collection. After living for decades in this town's hidden corners, behind its gas stations and under its old railroad bridges, Mr. Thompson was embraced as an official denizen of Maple Valley, a kind of townwide cause, a likeable, visible man who usually wore fatigues and who happened to not have a home. "He was our Jeff," said Sue VanRuff, executive director of the Greater Maple Valley-Black Diamond Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Thompson lived for a time behind Ms. VanRuff's Chevron Station on the Maple Valley Highway. To the people of Maple Valley, he was a sometimes obnoxious (he was arrested at least once), heavy-drinking, lively and entertaining vagabond, who was very picky about his coffee (tall Americanos, with extra cream). He was a man with so many stories, mostly about his service in Vietnam, and so many nicknames: Skunk Man, Stripe, Spot, Cedar River Man or, simply, the Bum. (continued next post)
Homeless.Hungry.Vet., part 2
9 years ago

Most veterans say they are getting excellent medical care from the military. But when they leave that system and require life-sustaining benefits from the VA, they are facing a legal tangle, woefully inadequate staffing and the frightening prospect of being unable to support themselves and their families. If we are, indeed, a grateful nation, as I believe we are, we need to increase, not reduce, the number of VA staff dedicated to helping our veterans rebuild their lives. We cannot give vets normal lives again, but we can help them get the financial, educational and medical benefits they've been promised and which they deserve. Congress needs to fully fund the VA, particularly in a time of war. If we don't insist that they do so, we face a new shame as Americans. We face seeing, every day, a new generation of vets on our street corners. Only this time, their roughly lettered signs will say, "Homeless. Hungry. Iraq Vet. God Bless." Gail Schoettler is a former U.S. ambassador, Colorado lieutenant governor and treasurer, Democratic nominee for governor and Douglas County school board member. ============ FAIR USE for purposes of understanding issues about social justice, civil rights, etc.
Homeless.Hungry.Vet.
9 years ago

http://makeashorterlink.com/?I2DF12289 gail schoettler Homeless. Hungry. Vet. By Gail Schoettler Weary, sunburned panhandlers populate every major intersection in Denver. Many of them hold roughly lettered signs saying, "Homeless. Hungry. Vietnam Vet. God Bless." They remind us that our country still neglects many veterans whose physical, mental and emotional scars testify to their service on our behalf. Will we soon be seeing another generation of veterans, those returning from the brutal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, wasting their lives on the street corners of Denver and other U.S. cities? Many soldiers got through the horror of war by stupefying themselves on heroin. They returned to an angrily divided nation not as heroes, but as drug addicts, with few resources to help them achieve some level of normalcy. Will we soon be seeing young veterans coming home to the devastation of drug addiction because we failed to provide treatment for this cruel residue of war? The Washington Post's recent article on the Department of Veterans Affairs' huge backlog of unprocessed benefits claims should make us cringe. Our troops, who are sent off with such lofty praise for their service to our country, are getting the budget shaft when they return injured and ill. The Washington Post noted the current VA backlog of 300,000 claims, pointing out that it takes more than five months to process the average claim. Through April, the article added, 16 percent of returning Iraq and Afghanistan vets had filed claims for physical and mental illnesses resulting from their service. As this war continues, the VA expects these numbers to increase. Yet the Bush administration proposes cutting 500 positions from the VA's benefits-processing staff in 2005. Right now, desperately injured soldiers often wait six months or more to get their claims approved, forcing them to survive on small incomes or savings. Frequently, they have to battle medical review boards to get any benefits at all. Let's get real. When we hear about American soldiers injured by a roadside bomb outside Baghdad, or a car-bomb explosion in Fallujah, we're not talking about a little scratch or a few stitches. These are young men and women who lose limbs or eyes or their ability to move. They are permanently disabled. These are young Americans who will carry the emotional and mental scars of war the rest of their lives, sometimes with debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder. A nation's gratitude doesn't house or feed your kids or send them to school. A president's high-minded rhetoric doesn't heal the mental anguish of dealing with the loss of arms and legs or of seeing mutilated children. A "thank you" and a medal don't cure drug addiction. All this grand verbiage sounds pretty hollow when what you need instead is a nation that fulfills its promises to care for its badly wounded veterans. (continued next post)
((Dysmis and Evaline))
9 years ago

Thank you!
9 years ago
Cheers to you all for bringing up this topic!
9 years ago
Financial help on the way for homeless veterans
9 years ago

SOURCE: http://www.iberkshires.com/story.php?story_id=15653 Financial help on the way for homeless veterans By Larry Kratka, WUPE Radio News - October, 06 2004 Over a million dollars in federal aid is on its way to help homeless veterans in Western Mass. with special needs. U-S Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, along with Congressmen John Olver and Richard Neal, helped secure three-year V-A grants worth a combined 1.2 million dollars. Over a million of that will help United Veterans of America provide extra beds for female homeless vets as well as homeless vets with chronic mental illness at its Leeds facility. Congressman Olver says the monies will make a difference in the lives of many veterans, saying these programs help solve specific problems. This report was compiled by WUHN/WUPE Radio, Pittsfield
Vets are fourth of Columbia Homeless (Part 2)
9 years ago
Templeton said the hospital hopes to organize a one- to three-day event, similar to efforts in St. Louis and Kansas City, to provide eye care, dental care, legal assistance, housing information, job information, clothing and haircuts from volunteers and service agencies. Mooneyham now volunteers his time to help other veterans realize there is hope. “It’s hard to ask for help,” Mooneyham said. “You think that nobody cares and that you can’t trust anyone. I’m here to tell people to not throw up their hands and say ‘screw it!’ and die. I want a better life than what I have. I just hope we can get this homeless program off the ground.” Vets are fourth of Columbia Homeless http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/print.php?ID=8911 =================================== Fair Use Notice This message may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not specifically been authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, religious, spiritual, and social justice issues. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit educational and research purposes, and in the hope that more people will awaken and begin to think for themselves, as is so sorely needed in these times. For more information on fair use, please go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own which go beyond "fair use," we suggest that you obtain permission from the copyright owner." =========================
Vets are fourth of Columbia Homeless (Part I)
9 years ago
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/story.php?ID=8911 Vets are fourth of Columbia homeless The biggest problems for them in Columbia are housing and making a decent wage. By MISSY DONDLINGER August 24, 2004 Tony Mooneyham said he went to hell and came back to a place where no one wanted anything to do with him. He served as an infantryman in the Vietnam War from 1967 to 1970. “It wasn’t like World War II, where everyone came back a hero,” Mooneyham said. “In Vietnam, we didn’t win anything. People called us baby killers. They thought we were animals.” After returning from Vietnam, Mooneyham became addicted to drugs and alcohol. He had anger problems and post-traumatic stress disorder, and suffered from vivid nightmares. He found it hard to hold a steady job in Springfield, Mo., finally hitting rock bottom in 2000. He was homeless for two years. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 313,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Jennifer Templeton of Truman Veterans Hospital said veterans make up 25 percent of the homeless population in Columbia, which translates to 220 homeless veterans. It is not uncommon for veterans to slip into homelessness after returning from war. They often suffer from substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic mental illness, feelings of distrust and resentment and economic difficulties. Forty-seven percent of homeless veterans are from the Vietnam era, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. “The only way I knew how to deal with my anger was with a gun, like in the war,” Mooneyham said. “I did drugs because if you’re high then you don’t think about it. I just couldn’t fit back into society. I just saw things most kids at 18 don’t see.” Mooneyham eventually made his way to Columbia and entered the drug-rehabilitation program at Truman Veterans Hospital. He said he’s been clean for 15 months. The hospital introduced a homeless veterans program in 1999 as part of a national effort that began in the late 1980s. To better assess the needs of homeless veterans in local communities, the VA conducts an annual survey nationwide. In Columbia, this year’s survey was released Monday during a seminar at Truman Veterans Hospital that focused on bringing local agencies, social workers, hospital employees and veterans together. Templeton, who serves as an advocate for homeless veterans, said the main problems in Columbia are finding transitional housing, permanent housing, and earning a decent wage. Another problem veterans have is actually going to get help. “Veterans are very distrustful because they were promised certain things after the war, and when they returned they were not helped at all,” Templeton said." (continued in next post)
Vets In Prison
9 years ago
Many of our vets wind up in prison also. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is common. As far as the government giving its appreciation....don`t hold your breath. Its like they weren`t expected to come back, so how dare they....pawns don`t come back, pawns are expendable, get with the program! The GOVERNMENTS PROGRAM.
Veterans Resource Links, Online groups
9 years ago
Homeless Veterans http://groups.msn.com/HomelessVeterans excellent links page from Homeless Veterans: http://groups.msn.com/HomelessVeterans/links.msnw http://www.vets-voting-bloc.org http://www.veteranshelp.com http://yahoogroups.com/group/veteranslaw Information for Elderly Homeowners: www.va.gov/seniors/LGY/default.asp HUD Forms: www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms1.htm The Department of Veteran's Affairs Home Loan Program: www.vba.va.gov/bln/loan/index.html Customer Service Page: www.va.gov/customer/consumer.htm VA Benefits Descriptions and Eligibility Information: www.vba.va.gov/beindex.htm#cmp VA Facilities Locator (Phone Numbers and Locations): www.4homeless.hypermart.net/veterans.html Thanks to http://www.veteransoutreach.net 1.888.2.vet.net e-mail them OREGON Veterans Home Loan Program odva.state.or.us/homeloan.htm The Homeless Search Engine - http://www.sparesomechange.com/search/engine/
Veterans Equal Rights Protection Advocacy (VERPA)
9 years ago
Veterans Equal Rights Protection Advocacy (VERPA) http://www.verpa.org/verpa_web_site_001.htm
Well said, Amelia!
9 years ago
Welcome, Amelia, and well-said on the disgracefully inadequate help available for veterans. I don't know if you've seen this article already, but I just read this recently: Soldier on Veterans help veterans conquer homelessness in Southern Nevada http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2004/MERC-Jun-17-Thu-2004/24107266.html or: http://makeashorterlink.com/?K11951698 If you can not access this story, I have a copy on my hard-drive and would be happy to email it to you, under the "Fair Use" provision concerning issues of social justice, human rights, etc.
homeless vets
9 years ago
I have a personal interest in veterans' issues. My husband served in Korea and my son is a disabled vet who did live under a pier in Florida when he was first discharged from the service. I am appalled by the cuts in veterans' health care...these cuts made by the present administration. Our young man and women are sent to fight and DIE for us and we do not value what they do! We have no idea how many disabled veterans will come home from Iraq and Afghanistan (And wherever else they are sent!) and whether the system can provide the health care they will need. The law requires jobs be held for them and that is not happeneing. Will they lose their homes? Will we be able to provide shelter for them? This is an excellent site and I hope it will awaken all of us to the needs of the homeless and disenfranchised populations.
Homeless Veterans
9 years ago
| Blue Label
Many of the homeless in the US are veterans who have served their country. They never expected to wind up on the streets after having put their lives on the line. Here follows a few resource links and articles just for starters: National Coalition for Homeless Veterans http://www.nchv.org/index.cfm Homeless Veterans http://www.nationalhomeless.org/veterans.html (article) On the Curb-Reward veterans with better fate than homelessness http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/2660439 "There is a yawning chasm between the reverence and gratitude this country expresses for the men and women who fight on the battlefield to defend U.S. freedom and how well some war veterans fare once home. Nowhere is this disconnect more apparent than in the vast numbers of former soldiers living on American streets."
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