Homeless American Veterans

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Why Do American Veterans Become Homeless?

American Veterans become homeless for several reasons.

 Among those are psychological reasons which cause veterans to not feel like they fit in.

Working side by side with people who often times don't care if they even get to know you is a far cry from fighting beside people who become your family and depend on you just as you do them to stay alive.

 The psychological effects of taking the lives of other human beings are a lifetime effect. It often takes years to accept that these things will always be there and dealing with them is the only true answer. It is easy to say that, not always so easy to do that.

 Coming home from war and a paycheck every month to no job and no idea of where to get a job can be a very frightening thing.  Remember that most veterans went into the military right after high school and have likely never had another job. Entering the work force as a Veteran is an entirely different experience.

 In the military you deal with problems differently than in civilian life. Soldiers tend to respect each other more as well as respecting the high stress life that each one lives.

 Potential employees often make it difficult for Veterans to obtain work. They do so despite the fact that they say how proud of the Veterans they are, when the truth is, they are afraid of us.

 After all Combat Veterans have killed people. Never mind that those people killed were our enemies and trying to kill us. They are still afraid of us. They wonder when we will snap and go berserk. As idiotic as this sounds, it is indeed a fact.

 Many of the problems are simply feelings of not fitting in any more. How do you come home from the frontlines and fit in the next day?

 Most of these issues could be corrected with some effort and are generally dealt with by the average Veteran. Those who can not learn to deal will become outcasts, homeless and lost. In my eyes, there is simply no excuse for letting this happen to our Veterans.

 If you know a Veteran, no matter what war they were in, welcome that Veteran home and thank them for their service. Not because they expect or need you to do that, but because it is the least we can do.

After all, it is our freedom they have fought to preserve.

Some Facts 

300,000 are Homeless every night

One Third of Homeless Vets were in a war zone

Almost half of Homeless Vets served during Vietnam era

 

Books Of Interest For and By Veterans 

Why Do I Keep Blowing Myself Up?

Why Do I Keep Blowing Myself Up?

by: Larry Matthews

Amazon Price: $9.35 (as of 12/31/2009) Buy Now

Shopping Cart Soldiers

Shopping Cart Soldiers

by: John Mulligan

Amazon Price: $17.95 (as of 12/31/2009) Buy Now

Services for homeless veterans and housing loans for Native American veterans: Hearing before the Committee in Veterans' Affairs, United States Senate, ... Equity Act of 1992 : April 9, 1992 (S. hrg)

Services for homeless veterans and housing loans for Native American veterans: Hearing before the Committee in Veterans' Affairs, United States Senate, ... Equity Act of 1992 : April 9, 1992 (S. hrg)

by: United States

Amazon Price: (as of 12/31/2009) Buy Now

Unbabbling

Unbabbling

by: Reyoung

Amazon Price: (as of 12/31/2009) Buy Now

Dues: A Novel of War and After

Dues: A Novel of War and After

by: Michael H. Cooper

Amazon Price: $10.16 (as of 12/31/2009) Buy Now

War Photos 

SoldiersThen, Veterans Now !

IMG_1614 by digitonin

IMG_1614

Viet nam Tragedy by OakleyOriginals

Viet nam Tragedy

Veterans remember Prisoners of War by The U.S. Army

Veterans remember Pr...

War Remnants Museum - Saigon by dane brian

War Remnants Museum...

200911 Washington DC Vietnam Memorial 3 soldiers by Jan Seifert

200911 Washington DC...

200911 Washington DC Vietnam Memorial names by Jan Seifert

200911 Washington DC...

by ruben i

the tiger cages by ruben i

the tiger cages

by ruben i

by ruben i

automatically generated by Flickr

Reader Feedback 

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  • Reply
    skylar skylar Nov 23, 2009 @ 2:54 pm
    ths is so true.I think our vetrans are so under thanked.I think Obama should come out with a plan that takes our freedom fighters off the street and puts them in homes;insted of giveing big corporations bale outs.come on help somebody who needs help.
  • Reply
    wolfgardens wolfgardens Jul 17, 2009 @ 3:15 pm | in reply to AtomicWarBaby
    I can relate to that.
    Young men went to a war believing they were defending their country, rights, freedom an apple pie.
    Soon they became aware that nothing they had believed in applied to Viet Nam.

    These young men came back home with a new feeling. That every belief that had been raised to have was different from what they had learned.

    Sadly so, this is still the truth. How beautiful it would be if all those things were true. But they aren't and soldiers will always come home with different visions from different eyes.

    Some will find what they were looking for. Others will see what they are forced to see. Others will see the world through entirely different eyes.
  • Reply
    AtomicWarBaby AtomicWarBaby Sep 25, 2008 @ 1:59 am
    Found my way to you by Larry Matthews' "Vietnam War Songs" which led to "Why Do I Keep Blowing Myself Up?" I once had a boyfriend who served in Vietnam, on Navy Aircraft Carrier;came home & like many Vets used GI Bill,chose my SIU College, Carbondale, Illinois. He grew his hair long, got clothes at Army Surplus stores,joined the new "homegrown" counter-culture that grew like weeds among "straight Reagan America's "garden",
    Vietnam Vets came home & turned on Dick & Jane to MARY Jane, anti-war protest songs & movement grew like the green leafed plants suddenly dotting backyards and forests all over America."Red State" America turned against their own "native sons" they'd sent off to fight,who didn't feel like singing "Green Beret" song anymore.

    My boyfriend, worked as a Welder one Summer to earn money for College. He was beaten up by four redneck thugs, in a blue-collar Polish Chicago suburb, walking with his dog, because of his LONG HAIR, "Hippie" clothes! Like BUSH thugs now!
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by wolfgardens

Hello,
I am Jim Windwalker. Founding Director of the First Nations Outreach Project.

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