In the last week there has been a lot in the news about the abysmal conditions, squalid housing and bureaucratic delays in outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Seems that the military has done a rather poor job of taking care of our returning wounded. Here we are 4 years into the Iraq fiasco and it's just now becoming a concern as to how we take care of our vets. W is supposed to give his Saturday radio address today (which I'm sure he put a great deal of thought into....just like everything he does) in which he will say, "... some of our troops at Walter Reed have experienced bureaucratic delays and living conditions that are less than they deserve. This is unacceptable to me, it is unacceptable to our country, and it's not going to continue."
Well, better late than never. But I don't want to lay all the blame at Shrub's feet. We've had a history for a couple of decades now of not doing enough for our vets. On the way to work this morning I passed two homeless men at different corners who were holding signs that said "veteran". The National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (NSHAPC) done in 1996, projected that: Each year, 2.3 million to 3.5 million people experience homelessness in America. By taking 23% of that range for veterans, that would indicate there are between 529,000 and 840,000 veterans who are homeless at some time during the year. That's a lot of veterans. Where has the support for them been?
It became very fashionable a few years back in this country to buy magnets (which were usually made in China) that say "Support the Troops" and drive around in one's vehicle (usually made in Japan) while burning lots of gasoline (made with oil imported from the Middle East) with those magnets patriotically attached to the back end of said vehicle. I often wonder how many of the Patriots give a rat's ass about those homeless vets or the ones forced to live in squalor at our preeminent military hospital.
Well, better late than never. But I don't want to lay all the blame at Shrub's feet. We've had a history for a couple of decades now of not doing enough for our vets. On the way to work this morning I passed two homeless men at different corners who were holding signs that said "veteran". The National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (NSHAPC) done in 1996, projected that: Each year, 2.3 million to 3.5 million people experience homelessness in America. By taking 23% of that range for veterans, that would indicate there are between 529,000 and 840,000 veterans who are homeless at some time during the year. That's a lot of veterans. Where has the support for them been?
It became very fashionable a few years back in this country to buy magnets (which were usually made in China) that say "Support the Troops" and drive around in one's vehicle (usually made in Japan) while burning lots of gasoline (made with oil imported from the Middle East) with those magnets patriotically attached to the back end of said vehicle. I often wonder how many of the Patriots give a rat's ass about those homeless vets or the ones forced to live in squalor at our preeminent military hospital.
Of course, maybe it's more of an intangible, abstract kind of support they mean to offer.
2 comments:
How can one support the troops without supporting the vets? There are many homeless vets. How can we let this happen to people who risked so much to protect us?
We need to come up with new ways to fight hunger and poverty. That's what we are doing at the Poverty, Hunger, & Homelessness Forums. Thanks!
There's an article in today's Wash. Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/04/AR2007030401526.html
about this very thing, and I can't believe that you can serve this country and then come home and be homeless. It boggles my mind.
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