By Dennis S Murray Sr.
What has this country come to when men and women whom have left there homes and entered into a world of service with know return. Sense World War I men and women have fought for this country only to come home alienated from society and the world.
Just visit a Veterans Hospitals (VA) waiting room, clinic, and unemployment office and you will witness the disappointment and outcry for the lack of real assistance and it inaccuracy. Too many Veterans across this country have lost everything after serving their country thereafter, while America Corporate greed and Government has turned their backs on them except when it comes too Veteran’s Day when the retail outlets are having a sale; city/town or county is having a parade; the President elect or elected officials are placing a reef for our honorable warriors at cemeteries nationally.
Why are so many Veterans homelessness, unemployed, and lack of real health care in America?
Each time these brave men and women serve this country the media and government officials praises them as warriors of distinction with medals and photo ops; but when it comes to helping them we fall short of lifting these warrior sprits. There are programs to help these veterans but not nearly enough to make a dent in the millions of veterans homeless and unemployed from Vietnam to Afghanistan 2011 and counting. Many corporations and financial industries have benefited from our soldiers protecting this country and there oversees investments, but lack the compassion to hire them whom are well qualified to meet the expectations of the position.
The federal government has the Veteran Recruitment Action (VRA), Veterans Employment Opportunity Act of 1998, as amended (VEOA) but none of this seems to work when millions of Veterans that are capable of working and are highly qualified to hold many of the thousand of positions in the federal government and private sector, but are not giving the opportunity. Director, John Berry of the Office of Personnel Management signed a directive that came from President Barack Obama which made it a priority for the government to employ more veterans in the civil service via Executive Order (EO) in 2009. However, he too lacks the sensitivity to response to Veterans that are writing him regarding Veteran Discrimination and hiring practices of the Federal Government.
But it happens to these veterans over and over again even with this slow economy. Government and corporations are not doing enough to help and honor Veterans who serve this country and have retrain or increase their skills to be marketable in this economy now 2011. Where is the dedication to serving our Veterans? We have Veteran’s Day and statues surround this country but we also have veteran that can’t feed themselves nor feed their families and are sleeping outside next to these statues that honor them. Visit the Veteran Memorial in Washington, DC in the morning and your will see Veterans sleeping in the park by the memorial wall. If we are really proud of our man and women why are we so reluctant to do the right thing by them? We send them to War but forget them when they are home.
In my discussions with Veterans on the streets, at homeless shelters, at the Veteran hospitals their biggest complaint is the lack of caring and passion for them. Many often say while interviewing for a job that the interviewer neglects them and eliminates them from the hiring process within 20 seconds. Many of them don’t get the job or have been told that we hired someone else. When asked the question whether they hired a veteran they avoid you completely with a sour face. I have heard and read about Veterans committing suicide after leaving a job interview and you feel shamed that we still after 60 years of soldiers serving we don’t get it. Many of these interviewer never served in the military nor have any compassion for those that have, despite there false impressions. But time and time again we praise them for serving and losing their lives protecting this country our home.
Are we really proud of our men and women that serve this country or are we pimping them like the women on the street corners?
The President has said that we are up 25% in hiring Veterans, but we don’t know the percentage before 2009 of his Veterans Employment Initiative via Executive Order 13518, Employment a/ Veterans in Federal Government, on November 9, 2009. The EOC established the Council on Veterans Employment, co-chaired by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. Each of these strategic partners that include Department of Office of Personnel, Department of Defense, Department of Labor, Department of Veteran Affairs, and Department of Homeland Security all say that they have increase in Veteran hiring. But what are the rest of the government agencies doing to hire Veterans or is this a smoke scene.
Congressional Members of Congress and the Veteran Administration is not allowing veterans to collect their disability payment that they deserve. The process of veteran’s getting payment is to long and many are denied early in the process and then they have to wait additional 18 months or longer before their appeal is look at. Some veterans have been waiting on disability approval for 40 years and counting. I recently spoke to a man at the VA Hospital that was 57 years old and have just started collecting his disability benefits 8 month ago 2011. Often they die before getting their disability approved and this is documented. Is this the nation that we serve, that rather throws these Veterans out with the wash instead of honoring them as honorable man and women? Have these policy makers sit in at a Veteran Hospital (VA) waiting room, clinic, or review the interview process that deletes veterans from the hiring process or getting services. Ask your self our nation why.
National media references:
According to CBS, the Veterans Administration estimates 9,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars are or have been homeless. It is believed the Iraq and Afghan wars have produced a new generation of veterans with a greater degree of mental health issues. More than 300,000 of the estimated 2 million Iraq and Afghan war veterans have requested mental health services from the Veterans Administration because of head trauma from roadside bombs and psychological trauma such as post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, in part due to a greater number of repeat deployments. The VA, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, estimates at least 107,000 veterans are classifiable as homeless on any given night in America, though the actual number could be far higher. According to a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, during one night in January 2009 an estimated 75,609 veterans were classifiable as homeless, 43 percent of whom were on the street or squatting in a location “not meant for human habitation.” For the year of 2009, an estimated 136,334 veterans spent at least one night in a homeless shelter.
Reasons for veterans becoming homeless vary. Many encounter hard times because of drug and alcohol abuse, and others cannot secure gainful employment. According to a 2008 article on UVa Today, a site run by the University of Virginia, an estimated 1.1 million American veterans were living in poverty, though the poverty rate for veterans was lower than the overall rate of poverty in the United States. The average homeless veteran is single, male and lacks a college degree but many of them due have college degrees. Veterans have access to financial aid through the G.I. Bill, but according to a 2008 article in the Boston Globe, successfully filing for and receiving benefits is difficult, and the G.I. Bill doesn’t always provide adequate funding for the full cost of a college education. More…..
(CBS) For 25-year-old Herold Noel, this winter, like the war, has not been kind, reports CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts. More…
After serving her country, female veteran struggles to find a job 
October 30, 2011|By Shirley Henry and Athena Jones, CNN More….
U.S. Vets, Suffering From Unemployment and Homelessness, Support Occupy Protests: By Olivia Katrandjian Oct. 29, 2011 More……
Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old two-tour Iraq veteran whose skull was fractured by a rubber bullet or tear gas canister fired by police during an Occupy Oakland protest, has become a symbol for the Oakland, Calif., protests and put a spotlight on veterans' solidarity with the Occupy movement. More…..18 veterans commit suicide each day
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Troubling new data show there are averages of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department but are in need of others services as well. Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don’t succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months. The numbers, which come at a time when VA is strengthening its suicide prevention programs, show about 18 veteran suicides a day, about five by veterans who are receiving VA care. More…….
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