Supporting the Troops.... the lack thereof, Speaking with forked tongue Options

[Hellfighter]

This one's nauseating;
Regardless of whoever the leader is/party they represent, if they're committed to spending hundreds of billions of dollars in a 'war effort', a large chunk of that should be set aside to fully and unconditionally accomodate the needs of its frontline fighters during and after their service. Where are the neo-cons/Bush admin and their 'support the troops' rhetoric now sticking up for vets on this issue you'll read- disgusting.....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071108/ap_on_...Ys14ZD7TKBH2ocA
Can I suggest you who are able to do so, drop your Governors a line or two on this. It's not right at all.


This post has been edited by Hellfighter: 11/08/07 4:51am

[Cpt. Snot Rocket]

Care for Veterans is always difficult and challenging. Without exception they are all hero's. However, not ONE expects the the country they serve to care for their every need till they die of old age.

The military is obviuosly a job also. However, if they decide to quit that job or are not accepted back then they need to find another.

I understand about the stress that comes from combat, But you are assuming that every single one of these homeless people served in combat. This apears highly unlikely. There are 5 to 10 people in the military to support every single soldier that is in combat. How do you know that all those homeless weren't desk jockeys, mechanics, quality inspectors, chef's, mailmen, etc, etc.

You make it seem so easy Hellfighter: 'Just supply a huge chunk of money and Shazam, No more homeless'.

I read thru the article and there are many people supporting these people, some are in college, some in shelters, etc. Do we do enough, no I don't think so. However, I want to see a plan.


BTW: How come I can't seem to recall or even find any info on a major problem with thousands of homeless vet's on the streets after WWII? War trauma is the same for every war. So what happened to them?
They must have toughed it out and made something of themselves. After all, many of these people were drafted from jobs of teaching, painting, office work. They seemed to have not gone homeless after the war because of trauma. Truly the Greatest Generation!



This post has been edited by Cpt. Snot Rocket: 11/16/07 7:44pm

[Hellfighter]

Care for Veterans is always difficult and challenging. Without exception they are all hero's. However, not ONE expects the the country they serve to care for their every need till they die of old age.

The military is obviuosly a job also. However, if they decide to quit that job or are not accepted back then they need to find another.

I understand about the stress that comes from combat, But you are assuming that every single one of these homeless people served in combat. This apears highly unlikely. There are 5 to 10 people in the military to support every single soldier that is in combat. How do you know that all those homeless weren't desk jockeys, mechanics, quality inspectors, chef's, mailmen, etc, etc.

You make it seem so easy Hellfighter: 'Just supply a huge chunk of money and Shazam, No more homeless'.

I read thru the article and there are many people supporting these people, some are in college, some in shelters, etc. Do we do enough, no I don't think so. However, I want to see a plan.


BTW: How come I can't seem to recall or even find any info on a major problem with thousands of homeless vet's on the streets after WWII? War trauma is the same for every war. So what happened to them?
They must have toughed it out and made something of themselves. After all, many of these people were drafted from jobs of teaching, painting, office work. They seemed to have not gone homeless after the war because of trauma. Truly the Greatest Generation!

If you can't see those stats as alarming Mr.Rocket....well - isn't it strange or at the least reflective of a bigger issue needing investigation. It's fine to call up stats that sound rosey for people who want to be helped, but with the high proportion of distress disorders of this conflict somethings very wrong. AWOLS are going up too.

WW2 is very simple-you answered it yourself in your research; - the govt. was right there for all the vets - with very enticing re-education and job training programs after the war.

Furthermore, I wouldn't say war trauma is the same for every war at all.
Some wars called for a total society effort- meaning everyone had a more-or-less similar stake in a war effort. Some wars -like the Iraqi war don't have that total understanding- therefore when the vets return they feel disassociated due to most in society not even wanting to hear about war experiences from vets-or if they do, they'll likely make the dumbest comment to really push away that vet into feeling withdrawing from opening up further. I'm not saying vets returned from past wars didn't have trauma or reclusive issues but that's likely for 3 reasons;
First-> ptsd-war stress wasn't even a diagnosed issue back then - look at all the soldiers being shot for cowardice and desertion in WW1 by all sides because poncey officers had no idea about the involuntary nature of succumbing to war stress.
Secondly-> some wars were thought of as 'glorious' by their society with victories and fighting in a war was considered boisterous deed - Napoleonic Wars was a good example despite the carnage of those battles.
Third-> Some wars were considered a profession that ranked with a far better esteem attached to it than most employment available in societies-not to mention pensions. So military would consider themselves with some sense of prestige and not as destitute as their fellow citizens.
I wouldn't say any generation of war servers are greater than another- they're all great.

I'm not sure what you think by my making something easy- hundreds of billions of dollars are being thrown around for a grand adventure of a war, with billions more being scalped off the top by war profiteers. Don't you figure it wouldn't be a stretch to commit some miniscule portion of that amount to hire people to go after these homeless vets and get them back in order- of course you can't make horse drink, but you can do your best to lead them to water- my point is no such leading is seriously going on- and that's the same ugly story being retold by vets/military being forgotten.
I'll wager the majority of homeless war vets you see were actual fighting vets who've mentally disassociated themselves from society. We're also seeing a war where armour for troops has cut down on fatalities in place of drastically increasing the number of wounded in society-perhaps they receive care, but this may be one reason for the increase of homeless vets-ie, the number of depressed amputees/head trauma individuals who feel they can't function in regular society anymore has increased.

Hey Sabot and UD - long time no see old chums


This post has been edited by Hellfighter: 11/17/07 11:15am