Homeless vets face new enemy on the streets

[Grandpa Shooter]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/02/homeless.veterans/index.html

(CNN) -- "I can't find the right words to describe when you are homeless," says Iraq war veteran Joseph Jacobo. "You see the end of your life right there. What am I going to do, what am I going to eat?"


War trauma sends many veterans to the streets where they beg for survival.

 Jacobo is one of an increasing number of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who come home to life on the street. The Department of Veterans Affairs is fighting to find them homes.

Veterans make up almost a quarter of the homeless population in the United States. The government says there are as many as 200,000 homeless veterans; the majority served in the Vietnam War. Some served in Korea or even World War II. About 2,000 served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The VA and several nongovernmental organizations have created programs that address the special needs of today's veterans returning from war. In addition to treating physical and mental injuries, there are career centers and counseling programs. But the VA still expects the homeless rate among the nation's newest veterans to rise because of the violent nature of combat seen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Officials say many more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer post-traumatic stress disorder than veterans of previous wars. The government says PTSD is one of the leading causes of homelessness among veterans.

"They come back, and they are having night trauma, they are having difficulty sleeping. They are feeling alienated," says Peter Dougherty, the director of homeless programs for the VA.

The VA says 70 percent of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan saw some form of combat, either through firefights, rocket attacks or the most common strikes on troops -- roadside bomb attacks on their vehicles.

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That is three times the rate of combat experienced by Vietnam veterans, according to the VA.

Jacobo spent more than a year as an Army mechanic in Iraq between 2004 and 2006. He saw many of his fellow soldiers killed during attacks on his base. He suffers from PTSD and found himself homeless after being discharged from the Army in 2006, but recently moved into a VA-funded shelter in Washington.

Until he found the VA facility, he was sleeping in laundry rooms and washing himself in fast food restrooms until he would be kicked out.

Jacobo says he speaks to many veterans from Vietnam who say that if the programs veterans receive today were available to them, they would most likely not be homeless.

"Where would I be if it was not for this place? Where would I get a job to give an address to an employer? They have phones here where you can make calls, so this is the step every veteran needs to have. A place for an address, a phone where you can be contacted and this is really good," says Jacobo.

The VA and organizations that help veterans are trying to reach out to those who may not know there is help available or are not interested in assistance. Social workers walk the streets and scour soup kitchens looking for vets who might need help, working with organizations that offer shelter or medical assistance.

"Because we are convinced, and we know that the earlier the intervention happens, particularly when it is related to PTSD, the better the prognosis is for recovery," Dougherty says.

"Unfortunately, we have learned much to our detriment when we didn't recognize PTSD as an illness that people suffer with it for decades, and when they tried to get it addressed, it was a much longer and more difficult process to get that readjustment," Dougherty says.

While the VA is prepared for a rise in homeless veterans, it is taking a measured approach. Based on statistics from around the country, the number of homeless veterans is increasing slowly, which the VA attributes to the programs already in place.

Dougherty says the outlook is good for future veterans.

"We are also increasing significantly the level of services we provide, not only in homeless programs, but we are really focused more on the prevention of these veterans from ever becoming homeless in the first place," he said.

[Standing Wolf]

It's all Bush's fault.
Only O'Bama has the answer.
If you don't vote for O'Bama, you're a racist.

[vaskidmark]

All I know abpout PTSD treatment is what I experienced with the Marines and the Vet Centers after Viet Nam.  My situation was out of the ordinary for a number of reasons.

1 - Instead of being flown back to CONUS individually, my unit (3/5. 1st MarDiv) was rotated stateside as a whole - packed on the USS Iwo Jima and sailed from Danang to Long Beach in 32 days.  That time and close quarters gave us an opportunity to decompress and air out a lot of the events and emotions that are commonly associated with PTSD vets who do not function optimally on return to civillian status.

2 - After reaching CONUS we were held (pretty much against our will) at Camp Pendleton for another 60 days before we were granted leave.  While there were numerous issues and events (think rampant over-indulgence is alcohol, fights, declining morale, etc.) associated with that, there was also strong group identification and mutual support taking place.  (OK, most of the mutual support was directed towards ways to get back at the system - but at least none of it was lethal.)

3 - By the time we got back (April '71) the VA had some experience with PTSD and was beginning to explore group counseling/support as the "treatment of choice."  Whether or not that was driven by economics rather than medicine is debatable, but the end results are what the history they will be judged by.

4 - When I was discharged ('72) the Vet Centers were actively advertising and doing "soft-sell" recruiting via open houses and the like.  It made it easier for vets who were not sure about PTSD and treatment to explore the possibilities without having to commit to being "walking wounded" who had no visible battle scars.

5 - With the exception of the press converting every vet who got into trouble with the law into a mentally deranged Vietnam War Vet, the press left the Vet Centers and those who utilized them pretty much alone.  That was petty much the way I saw the press handling all returning vets that were trying to make the transition back to civillian life.

I am still not sure how I felt (still feel?) about the lack of any welcome home frenzy, or about the mini-parades and welcome-home given for today's returning troops.  I do know there is something that keeps me away from those events.

One of the most important things I see happening, but not commented on, is that the vast majority of today's returning troops are not looking at discharge as soon as they get back to CONUS.  They are still part of their military unit and are facing a good possibility of return to combat at least once more before discharge.  While that may have some negative effect, I see the group identification and cohesiveness as being postiive and vastly outweighing the negatives - especially in regards to PTSD issues.

Also, I think the current generation was raised to be "aware" of their emotions, which may contribute towards their willingness to seek treatment.  If that is the case it is probably the only good thing I will ever say about the way kids born after about 1965 were raised and educated.

Just my rambling thoughts.  Thanks for posting the article - reading that the VA has become proactive is heartening.

stay safe.

skidmark

[vaskidmark]

It's all Bush's fault.
Only O'Bama has the answer.
If you don't vote for O'Bama, you're a racist.

Did you forget to add a smiley?

skidmark

[Firethorn]

Just my rambling thoughts.  Thanks for posting the article - reading that the VA has become proactive is heartening.

Sounds good, and this is far from the first time I've heard some speculation as to the effect of the changed means of transportation.  WWII, transition back to the states was nearly universally by ship.

I think Vietnam was when the majority of trips back became via air - reducing the transition from a month down to, at most, a couple days.

I would not be surprised to learn that the ~30 day transition period, on the relatively alien confines of a ship, provide a real transition point in the psyche to allow a soldier to recover, or at least bury the trauma.

[Scout26]

Just my rambling thoughts.  Thanks for posting the article - reading that the VA has become proactive is heartening.

Sounds good, and this is far from the first time I've heard some speculation as to the effect of the changed means of transportation.  WWII, transition back to the states was nearly universally by ship.

I think Vietnam was when the majority of trips back became via air - reducing the transition from a month down to, at most, a couple days.

I would not be surprised to learn that the ~30 day transition period, on the relatively alien confines of a ship, provide a real transition point in the psyche to allow a soldier to recover, or at least bury the trauma.

One of the things my dad (WWII - France to Germany) pointed out was when his war ended, the units mostly stayed to together overseas for a period of time before shipping (literally) back to CONUS as a unit .   No one went from combat today to sleeping in their own bed tomorrow.   And even after arriving back in CONUS there was still several days to several weeks before you were discharged.   Everyone had a chance to decompress, together.

Completely different from what my brothers went thru in Vietnam and I when I got out after GWI. 

[Manedwolf]

Just my rambling thoughts.  Thanks for posting the article - reading that the VA has become proactive is heartening.

Sounds good, and this is far from the first time I've heard some speculation as to the effect of the changed means of transportation.  WWII, transition back to the states was nearly universally by ship.

I think Vietnam was when the majority of trips back became via air - reducing the transition from a month down to, at most, a couple days.

I would not be surprised to learn that the ~30 day transition period, on the relatively alien confines of a ship, provide a real transition point in the psyche to allow a soldier to recover, or at least bury the trauma.

Makes sense. The ship is no longer "there", it's a safe place, but still has the routines and trappings of military life, only without fear that you might be attacked. It's not an instant transition to civilian clothes days after being in a place where people were trying to kill you.

That, and the open ocean has always been a good place to think.

[Iain]

Sounds good, and this is far from the first time I've heard some speculation as to the effect of the changed means of transportation.  WWII, transition back to the states was nearly universally by ship.

I think Vietnam was when the majority of trips back became via air - reducing the transition from a month down to, at most, a couple days.

I would not be surprised to learn that the ~30 day transition period, on the relatively alien confines of a ship, provide a real transition point in the psyche to allow a soldier to recover, or at least bury the trauma.

Read somewhere that these policies were deliberately reintroduced based on the early Vietnam experience. Believe we drew on all that when we transported soldiers back from the Falklands by ship - short conflict but they saw some nasty things (still, there is some stat about more Falklands vets now having committed suicide since than were killed in combat)

[Manedwolf]

Sounds good, and this is far from the first time I've heard some speculation as to the effect of the changed means of transportation.  WWII, transition back to the states was nearly universally by ship.

I think Vietnam was when the majority of trips back became via air - reducing the transition from a month down to, at most, a couple days.

I would not be surprised to learn that the ~30 day transition period, on the relatively alien confines of a ship, provide a real transition point in the psyche to allow a soldier to recover, or at least bury the trauma.

Read somewhere that these policies were deliberately reintroduced based on the early Vietnam experience. Believe we drew on all that when we transported soldiers back from the Falklands by ship - short conflict but they saw some nasty things (still, there is some stat about more Falklands vets now having committed suicide since than were killed in combat)

I thought it was more the Argentine soldiers seeing some nasty things when they ran into the Gurkha regiments. Like that the kukris are not for show.

Though, both sides were fighting with FALs, and 7.62x51 does tend to do nasty things to people.

[Grandpa Shooter]

I posted this so that we could see that at least some effort is being made to do more for the present day combat vets.  When I came home it was on a military medical airlift by way of Alaska.  The VA did nothing for me in regards to PTSD until 1982 after the Marine Corps barracks in Lebanon was blown up.  That kicked me in the groin since I had been at the Annapolis Hotel in Saigon when it was attacked.  I still struggle with issues to this day.

PTSD is real and insidious.  It affects people in ways still not clearly understood by mainstream America.

[HankB]

. . . One of the things my dad (WWII - France to Germany) pointed out was when his war ended, the units mostly stayed to together overseas for a period of time before shipping (literally) back to CONUS as a unit . 

My Dad (WWII - Pacific Theatre) told me that while his unit spent some time in Japan as occupation forces, guys were getting their discharge papers at random intervals and shipped back on whatever transportation was available. He came back on a ship with virtually NONE of the guys he'd spent the last couple of years with. Lost some stuff to thievery, but was getting $75 apiece for Jap Nambu pistols.

In the matter of PTSD, while my father said it was undeniable that a few guys flipped out (he called it "shell shock") he was VERY adamant that the sheer number of cases attributed to combat in Vietnam was so much BS, and was likely as not due to drugs. Two of my uncles - also WWII vets - agreed. All spent more time in combat than the average Vietnam draftee . . .

[Leatherneck]

I too look at the hooplah bestowed on today's returning vets (which I heartily support, if I need to say that) and reflect back on how alone I felt in '69, and say "Huh." My issues took a while to show themselves, and were not severe, but they were very real. I think that accounts for the deep revulsion I feel for people like John Kerry, and why I can't find it in my heart to say much bad about John McCain, no matter how much I disagree with some of his policies.

TC

[Scout26]

. . . One of the things my dad (WWII - France to Germany) pointed out was when his war ended, the units mostly stayed to together overseas for a period of time before shipping (literally) back to CONUS as a unit . 

My Dad (WWII - Pacific Theatre) told me that while his unit spent some time in Japan as occupation forces, guys were getting their discharge papers at random intervals and shipped back on whatever transportation was available. He came back on a ship with virtually NONE of the guys he'd spent the last couple of years with. Lost some stuff to thievery, but was getting $75 apiece for Jap Nambu pistols.

In the matter of PTSD, while my father said it was undeniable that a few guys flipped out (he called it "shell shock") he was VERY adamant that the sheer number of cases attributed to combat in Vietnam was so much BS, and was likely as not due to drugs. Two of my uncles - also WWII vets - agreed. All spent more time in combat than the average Vietnam draftee . . .

Possible difference is due to the fact that the European war ended before the Pacific War and the some/most of the troops in Europe where getting ready to go to the Pacific for the Japan Invasion.

[Grandpa Shooter]

I have been thinking about this issue, of means of transport and re entry into society, and while it does have merit, I am not sure it really is the answer.   My father and mother were depression era people, my mother was let out as a domestic to a well off family at the age of 14.  My father was in the Civilian Conservation Corp and went throughout the states cleaning up forests and planting new trees.  My father went into the Army as a medic and was in the first troops to hit the beaches in Normandy.  Both of my parents suffered from the separation, but knew it was for a good cause.

World War 1 and II were generally acknowledged to be just wars.  Wars that were pushed on us, and therefore were accepted and supported.  Korea was an iffy police action, but generally accepted.  Vietnam, Gulf War I, Afghanistan, Irag are generally fewed as the "politicians wars" or "special interest wars".  I don't want to get into a major pissing match about whether they were or are "just" wars.  That is for each of you to decide in your own hearts.

I wonder if the rate of PTSD hasn't jumped drastically because of the lack of support at home.  I know that a lot of the WWII vets call us whiners.  They can do that if they choose to.  I have watched that generation, and studied the effects of the war on them.  They suffered and many still suffer from the horrible things they went through.  Back then it was the manly thing to do, to suffer in silence.  But they did suffer.  If you look at some of the Vietnam, GWI, Afghanistan, Iraq vets, you will see people who are suffering, for whom life will never be the same.  You will see the disconnection from family and loved ones, the substance abuse, the anger, the isolation.  It is there, just like it has been for generations upon generations. 

I for one don't want the kids coming home to suffer the way I have for 38 years.  We owe them better than that.

[Hawkmoon]

My Dad (WWII - Pacific Theatre) told me that while his unit spent some time in Japan as occupation forces, guys were getting their discharge papers at random intervals and shipped back on whatever transportation was available. He came back on a ship with virtually NONE of the guys he'd spent the last couple of years with. Lost some stuff to thievery, but was getting $75 apiece for Jap Nambu pistols.

In the matter of PTSD, while my father said it was undeniable that a few guys flipped out (he called it "shell shock") he was VERY adamant that the sheer number of cases attributed to combat in Vietnam was so much BS, and was likely as not due to drugs. Two of my uncles - also WWII vets - agreed. All spent more time in combat than the average Vietnam draftee . . .

Nope. Not BS ... and nobody who served in WW2 is remotely qualified to comment of Vietnam veterans and out PTSD. Well, almost nobody. The Marines who took the Pacific islands have some idea, because they were fighting under the same sort of conditions -- jungle, dense foliage, no visibility, no defined lines, and no idea where the enemy was or when they'd attack.

One of my good friends was a Captain in the Marines in Vietnam. He had a platoon sergeant who was an Apache Indian tracker ... really knew his way around in the out-of-doors. They were on a patrol at one point. As always, they posted sentries. My friend said the Apache sergeant was sleeping next to him when they turned in. The next morning, the sergeant was nowhere to be found.

At one of my stations in 'Nam, there was a helicopter group. One night the trip flares went off and the perimeter opened fire. Free fire zone. I wasn't on guard that night but I think I recall some of the guys feeling real proud that they got a couple of the infiltrators. ... Until the chopper mechanics discovered that the birds were all booby trapped. Yeah, the infiltrators got in, did their thing, and were almost all the way out before one of them hit a trip flare.

That kind of stuff will give you nightmares. Except maybe in the Pacific islands, the guys in WW2 didn't have things like that to worry about. My father served in WW2. There was simply no way he could relate to the Vietnam experience. Not possible.

[wmenorr67]

Each and every conflict and theater of operations has it own unique set of circumstances.  Unless you have been in combat and seen action you are in no postition to talk.  I myself being a "Combat Vet" cannot even talk because I have not seen any action.  Yes the separation away from my family has been hard but I know that I have not seen anything and hope I don't.

[Grandpa Shooter]

Each and every conflict and theater of operations has it own unique set of circumstances.  Unless you have been in combat and seen action you are in no postition to talk.  I myself being a "Combat Vet" cannot even talk because I have not seen any action.  Yes the separation away from my family has been hard but I know that I have not seen anything and hope I don't.

Good point.  I know more than a few guys who call themselves "combat vets, or 'Nam vets" who never set foot in Vietnam, let alone did any actual fighting.  I don't talk about what I did, only illustrate my points with sharing what happened to me.  I was there, did my share, and that's enough.

[Firethorn]

Good point.  I know more than a few guys who call themselves "combat vets, or 'Nam vets" who never set foot in Vietnam, let alone did any actual fighting.

In many of the studies I've seen, I have noted that they placed insufficient controls to verify that the people they were interviewing were telling the truth - lying about military service is common.

[ilbob]

PTSD is real and insidious.  It affects people in ways still not clearly understood by mainstream America.

It is also not well understood by psychiatry either. It is an area of the human experience that is just difficult to get a handle on.

[RoadKingLarry]

I am still not sure how I felt (still feel?) about the lack of any welcome home frenzy, or about the mini-parades and welcome-home given for today's returning troops.  I do know there is something that keeps me away from those events.

Around here the mojority of these things are organized by Nam vets.

[wmenorr67]

When going through Bangor, Maine both to and from theater and in Dallas several of the people there to meet the planes were military vets from all eras.