(AP) Homelessness affecting many veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

Homelessness affecting many veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan


(AP) Homelessness affecting many veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Stars and Stripes online edition, Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Peter Mohan traces the path from the Iraqi battlefield to this lifeless conference room, where he sits in a kilt and a Camp Kill Yourself T-shirt and calmly describes how he became a sad cliche: a homeless veteran.

There was a happy homecoming, but then an accident — car crash, broken collarbone. And then a move east, close to his wife's job but away from his best friends. And then self-destruction.

He would gun his motorcycle to 100 mph and try to stand on the seat. He would wait for his wife to leave in the morning, draw the blinds and open up whatever bottle of booze was closest.

He would pull out his gun, a .45-caliber, semiautomatic pistol.

He would lovingly clean it, or just look at it and put it away.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51882



uhc comment: The 200,000 homeless veterans represent 25% of the average daily homeless, but they represent only 11% of the general population of adults in the U.S.

[reggie the dog]

1. and veterans of Vietnam

but that's old news and people never really gave a damn anyway.

[reggie the dog]

2. this gem from the article

"Iraq veterans are less likely to have substance abuse problems but more likely to suffer mental illness, particularly post-traumatic stress, according to Veterans Affairs."
Perhaps the soldiers in Afganistan have easy access to cheap, potent heroin for some reason.......