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Shelters take many vets of Iraq, Afghan wars
Also housing those from earlier eras
By Anna Badkhen, Globe Correspondent | August 7, 2007

NORTHAMPTON -- After Kevin returned from Iraq, he spent most nights lying awake in his Army barracks in Hawaii, clutching a 9mm handgun under his pillow, bracing for an attack that never came.

His fits of sleep brought nightmares of the wounded and dying troops whom Kevin, a combat medic, had treated over 16 months of suicide attacks and roadside bombings. He kept thinking about an attack that killed 13 of his comrades. He hated himself for having survived.

Soon he was drinking so heavily that the Army discharged him. He moved back in with his parents in Narragansett, R.I., and drank even more, until they asked him to leave. Less than two years after he returned, Kevin became one of a growing number of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who are now homeless.

This is one of our nation's unspoken shames...the plight of many of our ex troops and actual fighting men & women.

As I've posted in the past before my temporary disability I worked as a manager @ one of the nation's largest shelters, here in NYC & sad to say have seen many homeless veterans in my career. I also represented (although a non vet) my program at NYC veterans meetings and lended assistance in NJ on an OPERATION STAND DOWN in Newark, NJ.

It irritates me that certain elected officials and groups are so ready to bend over backwards for illegal aliens, providing all kind of benefits yet we will have veterans tonight sleeping on our streets.

Where are the churches, where are the flag pin wearers, where will a helping hand come from????

Does anyone have any suggestions, web links or personal stories ?????

It's literally a crying shame.

_____________________________

BROOKLYN'S BLURBS..Check Us Out W/ Your Morning Joe..& Before You Say Your Prayers @ Night:

Could Obama strike down all state pro-life laws?

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Risk and Protective Factors for Homelessness amoung OIF/OEF Veterans

Posted: 2/22/2007

The following preliminary report briefly outlines the risk factors and transitional responses which will contribute to chronic homelessness among veterans of Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom or OIF) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom or OEF). This paper presents some of the findings of Swords to Plowshares' Iraq Veteran Project – an effort to gather information about the issues facing new veterans and their families, to identify gaps in services and to make recommendations to improve policies and programs for this population.

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Both the Veterans Administration and private veterans service organizations are already stretched, providing services for veterans of previous conflicts. For instance, while an estimated 500,000 veterans were homeless at some time during 2004, the VA had the resources to tend to only 100,000 of them.

"You can have all of the yellow ribbons on cars that say 'Support Our Troops' that you want, but it's when they take off the uniform and transition back to civilian life that they need support the most," says Linda Boone, executive director of The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

After the Vietnam conflict, it was nine to 12 years before veterans began showing up at homeless shelters in large numbers. In part, that's because the trauma they experienced during combat took time to surface, according to one Vietnam veteran who's now a service provider. Doctors refer to the phenomenon as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Stand Downs are one part of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ efforts to provide services to homeless veterans. Stand Downs are typically one to three day events providing services to homeless veterans such as food, shelter, clothing, health screenings, VA and Social Security benefits counseling, and referrals to a variety of other necessary services, such as housing, employment and substance abuse treatment. Stand Downs are collaborative events, coordinated between local VAs, other government agencies, and community agencies who serve the homeless.

The first Stand Down was organized in 1988 by a group of Vietnam veterans in San Diego. Since then, Stand Downs have been used as an effective tool in reaching out to homeless veterans, reaching more than 200,000 veterans and their family members between 1994-2000.

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ORIGINAL: brooklynsblessed1

I was proud & honored as a non-vet to have volunteered on a NJ OPERATION STAND-DOWN, they are highly effective. We set up a tent city on a university athletic field where vets could come & "camp out" for a few days while getting free state ids, veterans cards, examinations, food, showers, clothing & social services all under one umbrella, ina safe enviornment away from the general population.

Your church might want to donate clothes, food or have fellow veterans spend a day or two just being supportive, not sending people to hell-but just being present.

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ORIGINAL: brooklynsblessed1

I was proud & honored as a non-vet to have volunteered on a NJ OPERATION STAND-DOWN, they are highly effective. We set up a tent city on a university athletic field where vets could come & "camp out" for a few days while getting free state ids, veterans cards, examinations, food, showers, clothing & social services all under one umbrella, ina safe enviornment away from the general population.

There are STAND DOWNS in many areas check this list, your local vets organization or city hall volunteer liasion:

Stand Down

quote:

Stand Downs are one part of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ efforts to provide services to homeless veterans. Stand Downs are typically one to three day events providing services to homeless veterans such as food, shelter, clothing, health screenings, VA and Social Security benefits counseling, and referrals to a variety of other necessary services, such as housing, employment and substance abuse treatment. Stand Downs are collaborative events, coordinated between local VAs, other government agencies, and community agencies who serve the homeless.

The first Stand Down was organized in 1988 by a group of Vietnam veterans in San Diego. Since then, Stand Downs have been used as an effective tool in reaching out to homeless veterans, reaching more than 200,000 veterans and their family members between 1994-2000.

http://www1.va.gov/homeless/page.cfm?pg=6

Your church might want to donate clothes, food or have fellow veterans spend a day or two just being supportive, not sending people to hell-but just being present.

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ORIGINAL: rabstark

Unfortunately, lack of care and respect for veterans and active duty personnel is an almost eternal and universal problem. I've always thought Rudyard Kipling did about as good a job of expressing it as anyone in his poem "Tommy". Saddly, the attitudes of an awful lot of people haven't changed much since Kipling wrote it.