Up to 48,000 Afghan, Iraq vets at risk for homelessness
.. I wish the people who were so ready to send people into harms way, would be just as ready to help out vets when they come home and need our help in any way. .... "Is there anybody out there??".... ready and willing to help.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/16/veterans-homeless-afghanistan-iraq-wars/4526343/
Nearly 50,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were either homeless or in a federal program aimed at keeping them off the streets during 2013, almost triple the number in 2011, according to numbers released Thursday by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The number among this generation falling on hard times is rising sharply even as homelessness among veterans of all ages and conflicts has been on the decline, according to the VA.
Advocates for the homeless say many of the estimated 2.5 million Americans who served in the two wars went into combat zones on multiple deployments, something many veterans of previous conflicts never had to endure.
"They're coming home to a bad economy. The country is different. Their families are different. They are different. Plus they are dealing with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and other issues around mental health," says Gregory Scott, president of New Directions For Veterans, a non-profit assistance group in Los Angeles.
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