That's what the BBC is saying to Americans today. Memorial Day smells still linger on in our homes and we are greeted with these headlines:
US army suicides at record level
US veterans sue over 'poor care'
Veterans 'quarter of US homeless'
It is a bit overwhelming to see these listed on the BBC site. We talk about these things here, but we do little else. Our mercenary military seems to be a conversation piece but it does not really get us very excited. I'm one of those people over 70 (Sorry Hillary, not this veteran) who is looking forward to electing a president who will care about this. I am looking forward to electing a congress who will care about this. Yet I look at these headlines and feel a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Please read on as I try to understand why.
I've tried to deal with my misgivings in a number of diaries here, but it all gets lost in the frenzy of the candidate histeria. Before that I guess there were other reasons. Being the old codger that I am my memories of my three years as a USMC officer have faded somewhat. My memory is good enough to recall that veterans I knew seemed to be different people back then. No one dumped on them and the country seemed genuinely grateful. Some of them had been wounded and some had emotional problems, but not on this scale. In the BBC article on homeless ness we read:
The National Alliance to End Homelessness said that on any given night in 2006, some 194,254 out of 744,313 homeless people were veterans.
The non-profit group called the figures "shockingly disproportionate".
In its report, the group also said that 495,400 veterans were homeless at some point in 2006.
The report, Vital Mission: Ending Homelessness Among Veterans, said that veterans made up 26% of the homeless population.
In addition, 44,000-64,000 veterans were chronically homeless, and just under 500,000 veterans were "at a high risk" of homelessness.
The findings are based on figures from the Department
I don't remember homelessness as a problem way back when.
It is our responsibility as a nation to support those who have served our country by, at a minimum, providing them with the stable housing and necessary supports to avoid homelessness," the alliance's president, Nan Roman, said.
Wow! That guy is sure a radical! Pardon the snark, but it is half serious. Why should he even have to say that? My head is swimming with memories of people making sacrifices and risking themselves during the anti Vietnam War protests and then organizing groups to help Vietnam vets. But there were too few and their voice was lost in the country's guilt and shame for having waged that sick war. I am beginning to see a pattern in the rhetoric that we experienced about prominant war veterans who went on to become political candidates. I read the chapter in Scott Peck's book The people of the lie where he castigated the country for sending their young to Vietnam to end up in situations where they were caused to break down to the extent that they committed attrocities and then colluded in a large scale cover up. In his Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character, Johnathan Shay, M.D., Ph. D., spells it all out in great detail using Homer's Illiad to draw parallels between the ancient's accounts of war damaging young men and the repetition of these abuses to young people in our time. Thtrough my diaries about this
Mai Lai 40 years ago Sunday: We are doing it again!
The universal soldier: from Homer to today(Book Rev)
Does the entire Nation have a form of PTSD?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Veteran
I have been calling attention to the fact that we have a real, widespread, and damaging problem. It is a problem so threatening that it makes the phoney wolf cry "terrorism" look like a bad joke. Here's more from the BBC:
US veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are suing the government, claiming inadequate care is leading to an increase in suicides.
A San Francisco court will hear the class action lawsuit against the Department of Veteran Affairs.
The veterans say the department has been unable to deal with the growing incidence of depression and suicides.
But government lawyers argue the department has been devoting more resources to mental health.
In court papers the two non-profit groups representing the veterans write "that failure to provide care is manifesting itself in an epidemic of suicides".
"The bottom line is that we're not taking care of the veterans and we need to change that," says lead lawyer, Gordon Erspamer
Does anyone else find something akin to a blow to the gut when they read this? People are killing themselves and we argue with lawyers about whether or not the government has done enough?
An average of 18 war veterans kill themselves each day - five of them under Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) care - according to a December e-mail between top department officials that has been filed as part of the federal lawsuit.
The Rand Corporation has recently released a study that shows some 300,000 US troops - about 20% of those deployed - are suffering from depression, or post traumatic stress disorder, after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"We find that the VA has simply not devoted enough resources. They don't have enough psychiatrists," said Mr Erspamer.
In 2006 suicide rates were reported to be the highest in 26 years, at 99 confirmed suicides.
What I would like to see from the VA is that they actually treat patients with respect
Bob Handy,Veterans United for Truth
Well pardon me folks but there are not enough lawyers and not enough psychiatrists on the face of the Earth to solve the problem the way it is being handled now. We write diaries and use lots of words but that too is not going to solve the problem. The entire Nation is sick if we can be in this situation. I can not make that charge strongly enough. The Nation is very sick and I do not know what will be needed to heal it. Maybe underneath all this bickering about primaries is some sort of seed of a rebirth? Maybe the popularity of the concept of "hope" is coming from a subliminal desperation about what we have done to ourselves? I hope with all the hope that I can summon that we are going to rise up as a Nation and stop the maddness.
UPDATE My first recommended diary. Thanks all! I know this is a tough pill for some to swallow, but it goes well beyond our own feeble efforts. Please let's all do more to help our veterans!