[frogger]

+1000.

Let's not just thank them, but keep them in mind when you're think about community service / charitable giving.


Vets are 1 in 4 of homeless
A surge looms as soldiers who served in Afghanistan and Iraq already are trickling into shelters. Experts worry about a flood of mental-health woes.
By Kimberly Hefling
The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 11/07/2007 11:57:02 PM MST


WASHINGTON — Military veterans make up one in four homeless people though they are 11 percent of the general U.S. adult population, according to a report to be released today.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has identified 1,500 homeless vets from the current wars and says 400 of them have participated in its programs specifically targeting homelessness.

The Alliance to End Homelessness, a public education nonprofit, based the findings of its report on numbers from Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau. Data from 2005 estimated that 194,254 homeless people out of 744,313 on any given night were veterans.

In comparison, the VA says that 20 years ago, the estimated number of veterans who were homeless on any given night was 250,000.

Some advocates say such an early presence of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at shelters does not bode well for the future. It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless.

Advocates worry that repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable.

"We're going to be having a tsunami of them eventually because the mental health toll from this war is enormous," said Daniel Tooth, director of veterans affairs for Lancaster County, Pa.

While services to homeless veterans have improved in the past 20 years, advocates say more financial resources still are needed.

With the spotlight on the plight of Iraq veterans, advocates hope more will be done to prevent homelessness and provide affordable housing while there's a window of opportunity.

"When the Vietnam War ended, that was part of the problem. The war was over, it was off TV, nobody wanted to hear about it," said John Keaveney, a Vietnam veteran and a founder of New Directions in Los Angeles, which provides substance-abuse help, job training and shelter.

"I think they'll be forgotten," he said of new veterans. "...It's not glitzy that these are young, honorable, patriotic Americans. They'll just be veterans, and that happens after every war."

Keaveney said it's difficult for his group to persuade some homeless Iraq veterans to stay for treatment and help because they don't relate to the older veterans. Those who stayed have had success - one is now a stock broker and another is applying to be a police officer, he said.

"They see guys that are their father's age and they don't understand, they don't know, that in a couple of years, they'll be looking like them," he said.

Iraq vets seeking help with homelessness are more likely to be women, less likely to have substance abuse problems, but more likely to have mental illness - mostly related to post-traumatic stress, said a VA official.