I posted this at
my blog too.
Homeless Iraq veterans are showing up at homeless shelters in NYC and around the country.
Two citations here, take your pick: crazy moonie version or the vast leftwing conspiracy.
According to the Pentagon, 955,000 U.S. troops have already served in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The experiences of Noel and others like him have many observers worried that the country will be inundated by a wave of returning veterans with no place to go and reeling from psychological trauma, as happened toward the end of the Vietnam War. According to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine, up to 17 percent of troops returning from Iraq "met the screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety, or PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]."
Besides this news being appalling, it stings especially hard in light of Bush's new budget proposal, with
the Pentagon getting a raise and vets getting even more screwed.
"The Bush administration didn't plan going into the war," says Paul Reickhoff, Executive Director of Operation Truth, a growing online organization of Iraq veterans. "And they haven't planned for the back end of the war and the social services that will be needed. It's an extension of a flawed plan." Ricky Singh, of the Brooklyn-based Black Veterans for Social Justice, is also alarmed. His group was helping three Iraq vets a year ago. Now, he says it's assisting 30 Iraq vets, 18 of whom are homeless, including Noel and his family and a pregnant woman who is expected to give birth this month.
Maybe the story
has legs too. I'm ashamed that this could happen.
UPDATE:
There's more from the National Coaltion for Homeless Veterans (partially funded by the Dept. of VA)