So there I was, surfing through news sites this morning when I came across this article from the Boston Globe, More female veterans are winding up homeless.
WASHINGTON – The number of female service members who have become homeless after leaving the military has jumped dramatically in recent years, according to new government estimates, presenting the Veterans Administration with a challenge as it struggles to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.
As more women serve in combat zones, the share of female veterans who end up homeless, while still relatively small at an estimated 6,500, has nearly doubled over the last decade, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
For younger veterans, it is even more pronounced: One out of every 10 homeless vets under the age of 45 is now a woman, the statistics show.
And unlike their male counterparts, many have the added burden of being single parents.
“Some of the first homeless vets that walked into our office were single moms,’’ said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “When people think of homeless vets, they don’t think of a Hispanic mother and her kids. The new generation of veterans is made up of far more women.’’
Now just think about this for a bit. I grew up in the Vietnam era and have known homeless vets from that war. I served in the US Air Force with a lot of women, women who were just beginning to break into fields that put them on the flight line.
Now, with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, we not only have a new source for Post Traumatic Stress, we now have women veterans becoming homeless from this, with significant numbers of them being single parents, assuring us that these problems will continue to play out for future generations.
Lovely.
What in the HELL have we done?
And because I can:
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….and are still doing. to our men and women and to the long-suffering afghanis and pakistanis and iraqis.
and for what? to enrich the weapons manufacturers? to squander the money we could be using to develop alternatives to the oil and gas in the middle east? to destroy our economy? what did i leave out?
What in the HELL have we done?
Why in the HELL are we still doing it?
Good question, dakine01.
hey, front page dakine! way to go.
of course, i’d rather the facts of this article didn’t exist and you (and all the rest of us) could just anonymously live in a country that has sane policies that benefit humankind.
Exacerbating the problem is that vets (and many others) are rapidly being priced out of higher education.
Even after the new GI bill?
Those women soldiers should have known better than to quit killing all those A rabs in order to keep a roof over their head.
At least we elected someone who is still slaughtering.
I’m waiting for the Right Wing to use this as evidence women should not be in the military.
My understanding is that it’s full of outs for the military. Time in service requirements, pay deduction requirements also with time rules attached, all kinds of stuff. The Army is also famous for recording that various conditions existed prior to entry in the service in order to keep vets from getting service connected disability payments from the VA.
I’ve seen some women Marines that could shoot the balls off those reichwingers at 400 meters over iron sights.
link
doubt I have to tell any one here that college costs have doubled in the last 18 months – a de facto halving of those able to receive benefits
tragic in that so many of these young people saw the military as a means towards higher education
It’s still way way better than it has been.
Where did you get that college costs have doubled in the last 18 months? Listen, when I came home 40 years ago I got the same DOLLAR amount my old man did in 1948. I had to borrow money and work as a fucking night janitor in a dorm to make it. It took years of fighting to get the bill up to where it was half way decent. This bill is not a blank check but, again, it is a major improvement. Also recall that McCain and shit head didn’t want to pass it because it would encourage troops to get out.
USA Today, 1/9/2009
College costs have skyrocketed in the past 10 years. At public campuses, for example, in-state costs are up 37%, according to data from the College Board, a non-profit group that tracks annual tuition increases.
The idea that good benefits might encourage enlistment seems to have escaped them.
I wasn’t knocking the Bill. I worked/cajoled/shamed/lobbied on it’s behalf
I don’t know why so many post 9/11 veterans are having trouble other than we are all having trouble meeting any expense these days
as for tuition – certainly ours and every other family with a high school graduate we know is facing double the tuition – and I’m talking about state schools – go ahead, google “tuition doubles” and see what comes up
Um, this is sort of what I do for a living.
Here’s a summary if the Bill.
Tuition and Fees
If you are eligible, VA will pay your tuition & fees payment directly to the school. This payment is not to exceed the highest undergraduate tuition & fees rates at a state operated college or university (Institution of Higher Learning). This payment rate is based on the state in which the school is located – not your state of residence.
Members on active duty receive the full tuition payment – it is not limited by the state maximum payment rate.
In Georgia we have record enrollment and record budget cuts at the same time. Tuition is set by the individual institution (34 in Georgia) but the increase is no where near double in the last 18 months.
Question:
there was a big issue in Vietnam was addiction to drugs especially heroin, is anyone seeing that with our Iraq & Afghanistan Vets?
Via Military.com
According to Dr. Ian McFarling, Acting Director of the Army Center for Substance Abuse Programs, less than one half of one percent of soldiers in Iraq have tested positive for illegal drugs. “That’s a testament to the kind of leadership we have is that they believe that that’s not the place that they should be doing drugs,” said Dr. McFarling.
But Dr. McFarling said that once soldiers return from Iraq the positive rate doubles to over one percent. In addition, Dr. McFarling said five percent of soldiers back from Iraq seek help for substance abuse issues from clinical providers.
The U.S. Army does offer treatment for soldiers dealing with drug abuse and Fort Carson has a busy Army Substance Abuse Program. But some soldiers are forced off post because Fort Carson offers no in-patient services; others get treatment in the community to avoid the stigma associated with seeking help, soldiers and advocates said.
Dope was everywhere in the Nam. By late 68 it was virtually out of control, especially in the rear (which is where most of us were). There is no where near the availability now days and they test the troops regularly. What happens back in the world is a different matter. Alcohol, IMHO the worst drug of all, is certain to be a problem.
again, was just speaking from personal experience – a state school that a year ago was charging $22,000 is now charging $42,000. and, one of our other kids re applied to a grad school (public) that had prev excepted her – the cost, you guessed it – all but double
in light of what you do, (thanks)it would be interesting to see if some states are outperforming others in terms of enrollment and support
I know it certainly varies, who knows what’s going on in California. We have this jive ass Hope Scholarship, a lottery based (tax on the stupid that sends white middle-upper class kids to school)”free tuition program” that does help but that doesn’t account for tuition “costs”.
and your point is well taken, it is a bitch out there!
I’ve had kids in college since 2000, when my daughter started ASU as instate tuition it was $1100/semester, it went up every year and by graduation it had gone up to $2300. My youngest started when it was around $2000/semester and not sure what it has gone to….. Arizona colleges have some of the lowest tuition rates that is why we get a lot of out of state students.
“What in the HELL have we done?”
you at Firedoglake and the rest of the Progressosphere worked hard to elect a candidate who you knew would continue the wars and occupations, rather than bring the soldiers home.
this will result in more broken families, and more vets with PTSD, and more homeless vets, and of course tens of thousands more dead Iraqis, Afghans and Pakistanis.
not even the new President can articulate a real mission for these wars, just more flimsy cover stories.
Impeachment now. Screw 2012. We’ve got another Bush. Let’s get rid of this shithead and try Biden. 5 months of war crimes are 5 months too many.
We have military bases all over the United States with empty housing, why are any vets on the street?
This Comments stream really shows a gorgeous community, rich with real world experience, and, in truth it seems, some wisdom…as is not uncommonly demonstrated hereabouts, anyway…
That said, the Johnny Cash thing is quite nice, but I was struck by some unfamiliar phrasing, so I went and got what is purportedly the original, by John Prine, and it’s curious to see what line Johnny Cash changed (second line of the chorus by Cash is, roughly, “He was hurtin’ real bad then, I suppose”):
from: http://www.jpshrine.org/lyrics…..stone.html
Sam Stone
©John Prine
Sam Stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.
Chorus:
There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin’ I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don’t stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.