Growing up I always had to deal with the fact that my father was involved in the military. My father was deployed twice: once in Germany, and later to Kuwait. I was only four years old when he first traveled and almost every day I asked where dad was. The second time I was fourteen, and I was devastated that my best friend wasn’t going to be home for a year. Both times he left, it was awful for my mom, my brother, and me because he was the one person that kept us together as a family and once he was gone we were just broken. A military family goes through more than a regular family does in a year. Those veterans have families, how do people think they feel. Children who live in a military family have a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and other mental issues. Although many people believe that we should send our soldiers overseas to keep our country safe, there is no reason why our …show more content…
soldiers have to go overseas when they don’t are treated so poorly back home. Instead of respect, our military personnel receive only pity. We have veterans out there that have served our country and are now homeless, and no one will do anything about it. If we are going to keep sending our soldiers overseas, then they should get the respect that they deserve. Veterans Day is a once a year holiday when we honor those who have served our country, but it’s not enough to just thank a veteran once a year for the amount of service that they put into our country. We should be thanking our veterans every single day. Those soldiers put more effort into country’s future more than anyone else, and we repay them by leaving them homeless. Those soldiers only feel pity. (Jaffe para 7-17) After our veterans return home from overseas, the majority of our veterans are left homeless due to alcohol abuse, poverty, etc.
Our soldiers can’t afford the cost of living because they enrolled in the military at a young age. Adding a drug/alcohol free facility for our homeless veterans will reduce rates for everything. If we can’t take care of our own military personnel, who will ever want to serve for our country knowing they won’t get anything beneficial from it. The majority of our homeless veterans are males with the percent of 33. Even women are left homeless after returning home with a percentage of 10. The numbers for both male and female homelessness is said to rise as more people are enlisting into the service. People in today’s society take advantage of our soldiers and veterans. It’s very disrespectful knowing that there are veterans out there on the street and not one person will do anything. People need to start taking action to make a change. Without a change being made, soldiers are going to going to continue to be homeless and lack the care they need. (Cole para
7-9) Not only do we have homeless veterans, our soldiers are not receiving the proper care they deserve after returning home from overseas. Hundreds of veterans who have enrolled into the system have died while awaiting the paperwork to be processed. There are veterans who enrolled and have been on the “pending” list for over ten years. These soldiers are not getting the care they deserve and have been dying while waiting to get the appropriate care they are in despite need of. The lack of help with our soldiers is due to the processing system constantly shutting down. The system then doesn’t notice that those soldiers have been acquiring help for the past fourteen years. Some reports say that staff has hide paperwork so they can “go back” to it at a later time. How is this fair for our soldiers? (Devine para 1-19) Not only do our veterans lack the health care they deserve, the numbers of mental illnesses are off the rector scale. 12% of military personnel will experience alcohol abuse after they return home. Ptsd (Post-traumatic stress disorder) and depression are the number one leading mental illnesses for military personnel returning home from overseas. The rate of a soldier developing depression is five times higher than the average civilian. We can also mention the rate of a military soldier suffering from a mental illness is much higher than a civilian. Nearly 25% if active duty military personnel suffer from some sort of mental illness after returning home from being overseas. Some of those soldiers who were diagnosed with a mental illness had it when they enlisted in the service of their choice. (Willingham para. 1-4) Let’s not forget about the suicide rate for veterans today. About 22 military veterans have committed suicide every day. Most suicide attempts occur back home and not overseas where the soldier is/was deployed. People forget to count those who were homeless veterans who have committed and don’t realize how many more veterans per day commit. More than 60% of all suicidal veterans were from the age fifty and up. The fact that people aren’t doing anything to help these veterans is sickening. Imagine how many life’s would be saved if we could actually get these veterans the help that they deserve. (Basu para 1- Knowing if your family member that is overseas is safe is the number one priority that any military family should know. With the rise of technology it is easy for military families to see their soldier overseas, but is the soldier really going to tell you what’s going on overseas? Most of the time when the soldier is in a dangerous area of combat, they are not allowed to share where they are so they will have to come up with code names for those places they are at. Those family members have to go days without knowing if their caretaker is safe or not. Imagine if the soldier is overseas and has a little baby at home and that parent/soldier dies, that little baby is going to grow up without knowing one of their parents. I don’t think anyone would ever want to have their child growing up without knowing who their real parents are. With our government constantly sending our troops overseas one complication occurs after each other. First our troops encounter poor health care that they deserve, after countless numbers of homeless veterans, then multiple diagnostics of mental illness, leading up to suicide rates going off the rector scale. If our soldiers/veterans keep feeling that they are worth nothing, we will see a drastic downfall in enrollment for the services.
I am writing to inform you of the current homeless situation in Australia and how we solve fix it.
Today we will be talking about homeless veterans and what I believe should happen to them. First I believe that all veterans deserve a home, food, running water and some money. I believe that the department of veterans affairs should get on this because according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
While soldiers are away from home, many things might change that they aren’t there for, for example, family problems and disasters. In addition, veterans might come home to a whole different world than when they left, and this already makes their lives more challenging to go with these changes. In addition, soldiers might also come back with physical injuries, like a lost limb, or loss of hearing. As a result, this makes everyday tasks much harder than they actually are. Veterans also might be mentally scarred from war. For example, a mental disorder called post traumatic stress disorder, makes life for the veteran and family much
In the article, Numbers, it states, that the estimated number of homeless veterans in the United States was 200,000 (Lamarque). This article was based on the statistics of homeless veterans from 2006, meaning the number of homeless veterans has increased. This statistic represents how many veterans are homeless and how much is not being done about it. According to Veteran's Inc, between 529,000 and 840,000 veterans are homeless at sometime during the year. This means that since 2006, the number of homeless veterans have doubled, possibly even quadrupled over the past few years. Homeless veterans make up a huge portion of the homeless
We see these people everyday; we thank them for their service. There is several holidays to honor them. Some are our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, or even someone that we hold dear to our hearts. They are our veterans of many wars and conflicts that America has been in. We salute them, give them parades, and special parking at different establishments. However, what about those who return from war with nothing? No home, family, and money for whatever reasons. They are homeless veterans.
Living in a time of war is not easy for anyone, and the expansive nature of the current war can make it even harder. Though many people in America may not feel as if they have been effected by the ongoing war, it is likely that everyone has in some way, shape or form. One group most effected are those who have loved ones serving in the military. People with family members that are serving have to face significant hardship and challenges as they cope with a person they care about being in danger. Being away means that family members often don’t have as deep of emotional relationships and while technology can sometimes make that easier, it can also be more frustrating. I don’t know where my uncle is now, and millions of others have the same issue. War truly is hell, for the people fighting and the families back at home. It effects everyone.
Homelessness in the United States has been an important subject that the government needs to turn its attention to. There has been announced in the news that the number of the homeless people in many major cities in the United States has been increasing enormously. According to United States Interagency Council on Homelessness reported that there was an estimation of 83,170 individuals have experienced chronic homelessness on the streets of the United States’ streets and shelters on only a single night of January 2015, which is a small decrease of only 1% from the previous year (People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness, n.d.). The United States must consider this subject that most of the people underestimate it and not pay attention
Veterans that are homeless should be housed. This is important because more and more people are signing up to join the army. The more people that sign up means, there will be more veterans that are homeless. The more homeless people that roam the streets means bad neighborhoods and even worse schools. More effort should be directed to help homeless veterans to get their lives back.
People that fight for our freedoms end up on the side of the street begging for a meal. That is morbid to think about. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) it states that “In January 2014, communities across America identified 49,933 homeless veterans during point-in-time counts, which represents 8.6 percent of the total homeless population.” The numbers are outstanding for how many homeless veterans there are. I have experience with my dad being a veteran, he served 25 years and he does not get any benefits compared to the people that are currently in the military. This needs attention because to this day there are still homeless veterans out on the
Veterans are viewed as the strongest people in the United States. They constantly deal with daily struggles such as disability and unemployment after their services. After serving in a branch of the United States military, many veterans have trouble finding work. While there are, at times, things that need to be overcome for veterans to be able to work, they are often skilled workers and deserve the opportunity to succeed in the civilian workplace.
"The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country” (-General George S. Patton Jr). Here within our borders we are the lucky ones, we have been blessed with the pleasure of so many brave men and women; to volunteer in the world's greatest military; and put their lives on the line for something that they believe is a moral obligation. But, think of some other countries, that have conscription (the practice of ordering people by law to serve in the armed forces) laws. We as a nation have some laws on conscription, and if you are male and above the age of 18 you have already signed the slip of paper stating that in the time of war; if our great nation re-instated the draft then there is a great chance you will be serving on the frontline of the next Great War. This brings me to my first topic of this page, is it ethical to have a draft? My second topic that I will discuss will be on if it is morally acceptable to "draft dodge". What I mean on the second topic is if you have a right; that morally allows you to not go fight in the war.
Some veterans utilize their time served as a stepping-stone to further their opportunity and move on to an improved lifestyle. However, some find themselves homeless. Homeless veterans are inevitable amongst us today and it created a discredit to their branch of service and ultimately themselves. Who is at fault, the government or the individual? The Government has programs in place to assist veterans before and after released from the service to have a smooth transition into the civilian population. The military itself does not constitute a greater chance of veterans becoming homeless. It ties directly to the individual and their choice to become homeless. Some claim the blame to the military that leads veteran to become homeless. The assumption is not true. The service of the military is a contributing factor for veterans to become homeless. They were not homeless prior to entering the service, why should they be homeless now. What many failed to understand is how the veterans’ situation resulted in their status. Many homeless veterans have attempted to use the program that’s been offered but most of the time the acceptance rate is not well due to reasons like “lack of funds” (GPD, 2013)by the government assistance. Homeless veteran have many reason why they are homeless such as Post Traumatic
Veterans are overrepresented among the homeless population in the United States at 40% as it relates to poverty (Fargo, et al. 2012). Research indicates that poverty, lack of support networks, mental illnesses, finances, childhood experiences, substance abuse, and overcrowded or substandard housing are some factors that contribute to homelessness among veterans. Additionally, study shows that homelessness among veterans is at a higher percentage in the categories of age, race, and gender as it relates to the contributing factors (Fargo, et al. 2012). Donna Washington, et al. (2010) observed certain characteristics associated with homelessness such as sexual assault during military service, unemployment, disabled,
In an interactive tool map titled “Ending Veteran Homelessness Map,” found on the National Alliance to End Homelessness website, California and Los Angeles’ numbers in regard to veteran homelessness can be found. And even though the numbers of homeless people are huge, the numbers of homeless veterans in our nation are just astounding. It’s a surprising realization that the soldiers that fought and served us with their lives are now homeless. Half of America’s homeless veterans served in Vietnam, two-thirds served for three years, and one-third were stationed in a war zone according to the “FAQ About Homeless Veterans” by the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. These statistics only serve to emphasize once again how many veterans resort to homelessness. And since few truly effective plans have been created or brought to the fore, at least not until these past few years, it’s no wonder this situation hasn’t gotten any better for
Throughout the streets, and within abandoned buildings, lies the generations holding our future. Imagine coming “home” to what these teens only know as benches or underneath highways, the hardships faced on the streets, shelters, and the inability to move forward. Is there a solution to such a cruel outcome? We can acknowledge the conflict that the homeless teens are facing by utilizing ways to acquire effective ways to provide them with essential necessities, such as shelter, education, and a sense of security.