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  • Homeless Iraq vets showing up at shelters

    Boy somebody ought to drag these Neocons out of their holes and throw em all in them homeless shelters too! God-damn lying deceitful neocons taking advantage of our country's poor folk! Hell even I have started seeing the unusual 'knick knack' on the street corners here in Chicago, holding cardboard signs and pan-handling!

    Homeless Iraq vets showing up at shelters


    By Mark Benjamin
    UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

    Washington, DC, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. veterans from the war in Iraq are beginning to show up at homeless shelters around the country, and advocates fear they are the leading edge of a new generation of homeless vets not seen since the Vietnam era.

    "When we already have people from Iraq on the streets, my God," said Linda Boone, executive director of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. "I have talked to enough (shelters) to know we are getting them. It is happening and this nation is not prepared for that."

    "I drove off in my truck. I packed my stuff. I lived out of my truck for a while," Seabees Petty Officer Luis Arellano, 34, said in a telephone interview from a homeless shelter near March Air Force Base in California run by U.S.VETS, the largest organization in the country dedicated to helping homeless veterans.

    Arellano said he lived out of his truck on and off for three months after returning from Iraq in September 2003. "One day you have a home and the next day you are on the streets," he said.

    In Iraq, shrapnel nearly severed his left thumb. He still has trouble moving it and shrapnel "still comes out once in a while," Arellano said. He is left handed.

    Arellano said he felt pushed out of the military too quickly after getting back from Iraq without medical attention he needed for his hand -- and as he would later learn, his mind.

    "It was more of a rush. They put us in a warehouse for a while. They treated us like cattle," Arellano said about how the military treated him on his return to the United States.

    "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.'"

    The Pentagon has acknowledged some early problems and delays in treating soldiers returning from Iraq but says the situation has been fixed.

    A gunner's mate for 16 years, Arellano said he adjusted after serving in the first Gulf War. But after returning from Iraq, depression drove him to leave his job at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He got divorced.

    He said that after being quickly pushed out of the military, he could not get help from the VA because of long delays.

    "I felt, as well as others (that the military said) 'We can't take care of you on active duty.' We had to sign an agreement that we would follow up with the VA," said Arellano.

    "When we got there, the VA was totally full. They said, 'We'll call you.' But I developed depression."

    He left his job and wandered for three months, sometimes living in his truck.

    Nearly 300,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, and almost half served during the Vietnam era, according to the Homeless Veterans coalition, a consortium of community-based homeless-veteran service providers. While some experts have questioned the degree to which mental trauma from combat causes homelessness, a large number of veterans live with the long-term effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse, according to the coalition.

    Some homeless-veteran advocates fear that similar combat experiences in Vietnam and Iraq mean that these first few homeless veterans from Iraq are the crest of a wave.

    "This is what happened with the Vietnam vets. I went to Vietnam," said John Keaveney, chief operating officer of New Directions, a shelter and drug-and-alcohol treatment program for veterans in Los Angeles. That city has an estimated 27,000 homeless veterans, the largest such population in the nation. "It is like watching history being repeated," Keaveney said.

    Data from the Department of Veterans Affairs shows that as of last July, nearly 28,000 veterans from Iraq sought health care from the VA. One out of every five was diagnosed with a mental disorder, according to the VA. An Army study in the New England Journal of Medicine in July showed that 17 percent of service members returning from Iraq met screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety disorder or PTSD.

    Asked whether he might have PTSD, Arrellano, the Seabees petty officer who lived out of his truck, said: "I think I do, because I get nightmares. I still remember one of the guys who was killed." He said he gets $100 a month from the government for the wound to his hand.

    Lance Cpl. James Claybon Brown Jr., 23, is staying at a shelter run by U.S.VETS in Los Angeles. He fought in Iraq for 6 months with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines and later in Afghanistan with another unit. He said the fighting in Iraq was sometimes intense.

    "We were pretty much all over the place," Brown said. "It was really heavy gunfire, supported by mortar and tanks, the whole nine (yards)."

    Brown acknowledged the mental stress of war, particularly after Marines inadvertently killed civilians at road blocks. He thinks his belief in God helped him come home with a sound mind.

    "We had a few situations where, I guess, people were trying to get out of the country. They would come right at us and they would not stop," Brown said. "We had to open fire on them. It was really tough. A lot of soldiers, like me, had trouble with that."

    "That was the hardest part," Brown said. "Not only were there men, but there were women and children -- really little children. There would be babies with arms blown off. It was something hard to live with."

    Brown said he got an honorable discharge with a good conduct medal from the Marines in July and went home to Dayton, Ohio. But he soon drifted west to California "pretty much to start over," he said.

    Brown said his experience with the VA was positive, but he has struggled to find work and is staying with U.S.VETS to save money. He said he might go back to school.

    Advocates said seeing homeless veterans from Iraq should cause alarm. Around one-fourth of all homeless Americans are veterans, and more than 75 percent of them have some sort of mental or substance abuse problem, often PTSD, according to the Homeless Veterans coalition.

    More troubling, experts said, is that mental problems are emerging as a major casualty cluster, particularly from the war in Iraq where the enemy is basically everywhere and blends in with the civilian population, and death can come from any direction at any time.

    Interviews and visits to homeless shelters around the Unites States show the number of homeless veterans from Iraq or Afghanistan so far is limited. Of the last 7,500 homeless veterans served by the VA, 50 had served in Iraq. Keaveney, from New Directions in West Los Angeles, said he is treating two homeless veterans from the Army's elite Ranger battalion at his location. U.S.VETS, the largest organization in the country dedicated to helping homeless veterans, found nine veterans from Iraq or Afghanistan in a quick survey of nine shelters. Others, like the Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training in Baltimore, said they do not currently have any veterans from Iraq or Afghanistan in their 170 beds set aside for emergency or transitional housing.

    Peter Dougherty, director of Homeless Veterans Programs at the VA, said services for veterans at risk of becoming homeless have improved exponentially since the Vietnam era. Over the past 30 years, the VA has expanded from 170 hospitals, adding 850 clinics and 206 veteran centers with an increasing emphasis on mental health. The VA also supports around 300 homeless veteran centers like the ones run by U.S.VETS, a partially non-profit organization.

    "You probably have close to 10 times the access points for service than you did 30 years ago," Dougherty said. "We may be catching a lot of these folks who are coming back with mental illness or substance abuse" before they become homeless in the first place. Dougherty said the VA serves around 100,000 homeless veterans each year.

    But Boone's group says that nearly 500,000 veterans are homeless at some point in any given year, so the VA is only serving 20 percent of them.

    Roslyn Hannibal-Booker, director of development at the Maryland veterans center in Baltimore, said her organization has begun to get inquiries from veterans from Iraq and their worried families. "We are preparing for Iraq," Hannibal-Booker said.

  • #2
    I am sure the govt does not know.

    Or else, they would have done something.


    "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

    I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

    HAKUNA MATATA

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Ray
      I am sure the govt does not know.

      Or else, they would have done something.

      Sure!!!! You need to visit here Ray, and I'll show you what type of pathetic ppl are forced to join the army as the "only' way out!

      Man there is a lot of poverty here Ray, you just don't see it on Hollywood! :) Sometimes makes you wondeer they give all that money to those third world dictators for their own selfish interest, where in reality if them bastards decided to invest it in their own God-damn ppl it will bring a much better return as opposed to showering that piece of shiit 2 cent chamcha musharraf or them idi amins and Saddams!

      man think about it! you think we'll cease to exist if we paid 50c more or for that matter the same money for Petrol/ gallon as the rest of the world does? I think not!

      its the same story here buddy! The rich are getting richer and the poor poorer!

      Saaley harami oil companies will never let the importance of oil diminish! Specially these bush and his family goons who are all tied up in oil! Aur hur koi chootiya bana baettha hae!

      So what new man???

      Comment


      • #4
        Lull,

        I don't think that there is poverty in the US.

        Even the poor are richer than what we have.

        Eevn their beggars wear good clothes. Not bare bodied like my country's.

        So, while I agree that everything is not great, but I won;t agree that the US is lousy.

        If it were, then why are we all flocking there? ;)


        "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

        I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

        HAKUNA MATATA

        Comment


        • #5
          I sing as a bass in my school concert choir (St. Thomas Aquinas High School [we are playing in State Championship tonight, GO RAIDERS!]), and this past Thursday we went to sing at a VA Hospital in West Palm Beach, FL. It was sad to see them, but they were very happy to hear us sing for them (we are excellent, have recorded and everything [not like it would have mattered though, anyone visiting them will likely make them happy.]).

          We must honor and take care of out Veterans.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Ray
            Lull,

            I don't think that there is poverty in the US.

            Even the poor are richer than what we have.

            Eevn their beggars wear good clothes. Not bare bodied like my country's.

            So, while I agree that everything is not great, but I won;t agree that the US is lousy.

            If it were, then why are we all flocking there? ;)

            Well you guys got 1 billion illegitimate ppl!
            :)

            Ppl havig kids even when they can't afford to, and this has been going on for eons in India!

            now don't get me wrong Ray! I din't mean Abject and extreme poverty here in the U.S.! But poverty as in being a blue collar person ( The vast majority of the population ) with income less than 15000 per year! with nothing in the bank and having to bust his/ her ass at some bumchum joint trying to make ends meet and more often than not being a single parent pinching for pennies living hand to mouth!! :)

            Oh I'd show you a lot of that man! And you gotto understand Ray that this is the so called "First world" buddy! over here you are in the highest tax bracket in the world! without health insurance! , and they are cut out right from the pay-check! And on top of that you pay sales tax too buddy! No one gets paid under the table cash, unless you are an illegal Alien! :) So in our revolving economy no one gets to hold onto money unless you live like a jew!....so to speak.....:)

            P.S. And Btw the U.S. is not a very desirable place to be ( economically) in nowa days.....Trust me! I live here, and I can tell you how hard it is to find a real job these days!
            Last edited by lulldapull; 10 Dec 04,, 20:47.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by lulldapull
              these Neocons
              How have the "neocons", whoever you think they are, changed things? Exactly how many homeless Iraq vets are there? 50 confirmed by the author, out of hundreds of thousands? I also note from the story you posted, that the fella interviewed was getting help from the VA! Darn those "neocons" for helping him, that was your point right?
              Originally posted by lulldapull
              Well you guys got 1 billion illegitimate ppl!
              Give the insults a rest, they make you out to be a biggot.
              Originally posted by lulldapull
              Ppl havig kids even when they can't afford to
              Nobody can afford to have kids. Children are allways a sacrifice in some way, IMHO a worthwhile one.
              Originally posted by lulldapull
              I live here, and I can tell you how hard it is to find a real job these days!
              I live here too, and I don't know anyone without a job...
              No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
              I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
              even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
              He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by lulldapull
                P.S. And Btw the U.S. is not a very desirable place to be ( economically) in nowa days.....Trust me! I live here, and I can tell you how hard it is to find a real job these days!
                I live here too and I find the US a very desirable place else why would everyone want to live here??? Its not that hard to find a job. Once you find a work ethic you can find a job. You can seriously have the IQ of a rock and get a job in the military, for the govt, or working at a fast food/walmart type joint. No you won't live in a mansion working for Uncle Sam buy you can get by. I'm a cop. I'm not rich, but I get by because I work, like my husband. You exagerate unemployment. Our rate is 6%. Thats not terrible.
                "Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS…" -- Thomas Paine

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by lulldapull
                  I live here, and I can tell you how hard it is to find a real job these days!
                  Do you write your résumé the some way you write your posts? i.e with like 10 :) ;)

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    The 1 million+ legal and 1 million plus+ illegal immigrants a year sure agree with you LDP.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by lulldapull
                      Sure!!!! You need to visit here Ray, and I'll show you what type of pathetic ppl are forced to join the army as the "only' way out!

                      Man there is a lot of poverty here Ray, you just don't see it on Hollywood! :) Sometimes makes you wondeer they give all that money to those third world dictators for their own selfish interest, where in reality if them bastards decided to invest it in their own God-damn ppl it will bring a much better return as opposed to showering that piece of shiit 2 cent chamcha musharraf or them idi amins and Saddams!

                      man think about it! you think we'll cease to exist if we paid 50c more or for that matter the same money for Petrol/ gallon as the rest of the world does? I think not!

                      its the same story here buddy! The rich are getting richer and the poor poorer!

                      Saaley harami oil companies will never let the importance of oil diminish! Specially these bush and his family goons who are all tied up in oil! Aur hur koi chootiya bana baettha hae!

                      So what new man???
                      Lull, economic situations vary from State to State. It's booming here in Georgia man. If things are that tough for you, you should seriously consider relocating.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Leader
                        Do you write your résumé the some way you write your posts? i.e with like 10 :) ;)
                        LOL

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I can understand Chicago's lack of economic vigor, though. Probably the most democratic city in America, 49 of its 50 aldermen. They've run it into the ground.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            If those Iraqi vets have no job, it is not the US govts fault, if these vets knew that they were lousey at getting jobs, then they should have stayed on in the army. The army is an excellent place for employment and growth if you happen to be poor.

                            The govt can not be blamed for all ills of the society. These vets can apply in hundreds of places. If half educated Punjabis', Sindhis, and Gujratis' (who can't speak english to save their lives) can make millions in the US. Then these vets need a kick in the butt.

                            Cheers!...on the rocks!!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Lull,

                              The Sardarjis and Patels are doing great in the US.

                              How come?

                              India Today brought out an article on these sucessful guy, including one Sardarji who came from Canda, started some spiritual hooh hah and then along with that he started selling mugs and other stuff connected with the spiritual hooh hah (Americans fall for the Oriental hooh hah :)) became a millionaire and when he died the Governor of the State attended his funeral!

                              That's something what.

                              He was a farm labour in India!

                              A farm labour to a millionaire and the Governor attneds his funeral.

                              If that is not success, what is?

                              I don't know in which thread you said India is producing children in hordes. Not a bad thing. It is also a cheap exporting commodity that makes it good in the US and UK! ;)

                              Now they are exporting the manpower to Uganda and Kenya to work their farms. Good business sense, what?
                              Last edited by Ray; 11 Dec 04,, 09:39.


                              "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

                              I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

                              HAKUNA MATATA

                              Comment

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