Why would US citizens believe that Veterans are homeless due to laziness instead of war induced mental problem

Question

How can we educate citizens that it is proven that Veterans become homeless due to untreated mental issues as residue of military war service?

How can we get citizens to understand that existing VA programs do not address the issue of - do not even try - stabilizing and reintegrating the homeles men and women Veterans back into society?

Would you surf the net to discover these truths?

http://upwardveterans.tripod.com

Answer 1

Because it makes them feel less guilty about not addressing the issue.

Answer 2

As a veteran on disability pay through the Veterans Administration, I can tell you that from my point of view you don't really know what you're talking about and haven't really thought it through.

I don't doubt that some Americans (especially moronic conservatives, and there are a few) would think that homeless vets are lazy. Most conservatives probably understand better than this, but I won't vouch for the idiots on our side of the aisle.

Existing VA programs can't address the issue of Vietnam war vets because there's no way of proving or disproving that a mental illness is due to military service.

Perhaps you're not aware that most (if not all) of these homeless veterans are receiving disability pay and need not be homeless. Veterans who are not receiving disability pay are not disabled, and they are therefore capable of working, and if they're not the fault is theirs.

(By the way, having worked with homeless teens and young adults, I never met a single homeless man who was a veteran. I'm sure they're out there, but they are few in number.)

Answer 3

It seems to me that the only time Republicans want to support the troops - past and present - is when it is convenient for them to do so, when it gets them votes.

But when veterans speak up, when veterans become ill or homeless then the Republicans do not care about these veterans. I have seen Republicans in my community call veterans who were homeless or who had spoken up the most horrible things. Just recently a Vietnam era veteran who had spoken out against the war in my home town was accused by a local Republican mouth piece as being off his medication.

Answer 4

You have no idea about the VA bureaucracy, the delays , the paperwork, the poor training of personnel. the set aside jobs created only for minorities. I have resisted using the VA for years, the one time I did seek my medical records through the Internet, it took about a month for them to come through, and when did they did, they were some other guys records who had the same name as me, but was in ten years later, washed out of boot camp, and never did serve. After that, I gave up because the fool who sent this information also had my length of service, my military ID number, my social security number, and perhaps even my rank, to no avail because all he or she looked at was the name. The other guy was from Rhode Island and I'm from the Midwest.

Most veterans with mental disorders really just want to be left alone. They don't want some big @ss bureaucracy hounding them and dictating their life, years after they left the service.

The VA doesn't send these people back to society, they just go. It's far to large an organization to be really efficient, the vets realize this, so many like me opt to find our own way to work things out.

Answer 5

You are completely right about the Vietnam Veterans that are homeless.. I think it's extremely sad and the Military needs to step in and help them... however.. not all homeless are Vietnam veterans... I saw a documentary I think on showtime where they gave a homeless man something like $10,000 to see what he would do with it.. within 6 months he was down to hardly anything, and still had no job, and he was NOT a Vietnam Vet.... there are a lot of homeless people that are homeless due to laziness...

Answer 6

The Veterans in my town are for the most part *uneducated* and do too many drugs and drink whiskey all the time. ( I have tried to help them by taking them to the V.A. Hospital ) After treatment they go back to drinking and drugs. What happens? They become homeless and live under the two bridges in town and steal from cars and homes. Offer them a job and they refuse to work. They were once so called proud troops fighting in Iraq and Vietnam but once they came back they could not find jobs in this great USA country and then they now drink/drugs and are homeless. However, we have 500,000 Arabs in the area and they all work and are not homeless. We have 167,000 Iraqi people in our area and they all have 200,000 dollar homes and good jobs. So what's wrong with the USA Veterans?

Answer 7

There are social programs on top of social programs to help the mentally ill, and generations of veterans did just fine readjusting to civilian life without Big Brother holding their hands.

President Reagan was correct 25 years ago: If you're homeless in this country, apparently, you choose to be homeless.

Answer 8

I didn't look at your link. But my grandpa is a veteran, so I know. He still worked when he came home. But he's seen a lot of strange and horrible stuff. I can't even imagine having to deal with that crap in my head everyday. I would probably go nuts. So don't let others discourage you. You did what you were suppose to. Let them be ignorant. Some people love to bask in it.

Answer 9

Just because some 'homeless' person has on a fatique jacket with unit patches does not mean that person is a vet. And if he gives a sob story about being a vet, a few well placed questions can bust him for lying. If you want to read about FAKE VETS, check out STOLEN VALOR.

Answer 10

Because they are probably suckered to believe that all war veterans are as crazy and energetic as those they see on the Reality TV shows and have the health or ppen-opportunities to earn their way, like those TV Reality Show idiots and jackasses!

Answer 11

I am already fully aware of that, being a veteran myself. These are people who answered the call of their country, being willing to do things many would not think of doing. Their country needs to be there for them in return.