A. “We’re supporting our servicemen and women in the field of battle…” These are our president’s remarks from a November 6, 2003 speech. “With this act of Congress, no enemy or friend can doubt that America has the resources and the will to see this war through to victory…” And while President Bush recognized the need for an $87 billion dollar military supplement to finance a war on foreign soil, he did not request even a fraction of that amount to support those same servicemen and women who continue to fight battles on American soil after they return. According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans website, last accessed February 28, 2004 an estimated 500,000 are not supported because their battle is not recognized. It is fought under bridges, behind streets, and tucked away in dark allies.
B. Today, we will examine the problems of homeless veterans; consider the causes behind this regrettable occurrence, and the steps we can take in getting those 500,000 heroes off the streets.
C. These people are fighting a war against poor medical care, unpaid benefits, lost jobs, and dysfunctional relationships – all the aftermath of their service to our country. Because of the lack of government follow through with the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act of 2001, Inadequate access to health care and job opportunities, and the effects of Post Traumatic stress disorder and substance, abuse veterans are not properly taken care of upon returning home after their service. We as a nation must now support those who have supported us, those who have sacrificed their youth, their health and in some cases their lives.
The Essay on The Change Of American Lives In Support Of The Second World War
Since the end of the First World War, the American had no intention of getting involved in any war, and they were ready to sigh and isolation policy in 1940s. Though the will to sigh the policy was there, the Americans felt hurt when Japanese attacked their allies in Europe on the 7th December years 1941 (U-s-history.com. 2014). This resulted in the turnup of the events, and the country decided to ...
A. The Broadcast Interview Source of February 10, 2004 explains that there are currently “460,000 veterans that are forced to sleep on the nation’s streets” every night. According to the previously cited National Coalition for Homeless Veterans website, estimated that number of veterans who experience homelessness during an average year ranges from 500,000 to more than 800,000 out of 27 million former servicemen and women.
1. Unfortunately, many see fit to leave this problem to shelters and medical facilities which is not a reasonable answer or even possible. Many shelters currently impose restrictions upon those who are allowed access to them; the worst being evictions back to the street.
2. While this may prove beneficial to the stable administration of a shelter, it does not present an ample opportunity for recovery from drug and alcohol addictions, post-traumatic stress disorders, and violent tendencies. Many veterans need serious counseling and rehabilitation facilities to phase out their problems over a period of time.
The Boston Globe of January 7, 2004 states that “barring the homeless from shelters has long been controversial and pushing people out of a refuge often defeats the efforts of outreach workers. Even if shelters had more money, they don’t employ sufficient staff with the medical authorization to treat the mentally ill and hard-core drug addicts, many of whom end up in the emergency shelter system.” If there are no homes or stable living situations provided, where the problems of veterans can be addressed over time, then there is no hope.
B. Now that we’ve seen the problems surrounding homeless veterans, we can look to the causes, lack of government follow through with the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act of 2001; Inadequate access to health care and job opportunities; and the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and substance abuse.
The Term Paper on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Of Gulf War Veterans
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of Gulf War Veterans Military personnel involved in service in the Gulf War have a greater prevalence of self-reported and medically detected medical and psychiatric conditions than those serving elsewhere in the military during the same time. Deviations from normal psychiatric conditions varied significantly from cognitive dysfunction and symptoms of alcohol abuse ...
1. The Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act of 2001 was originally passed to “Encourage all Federal, State, and local departments and agencies and other entities and individuals to work toward the national goal of ending homelessness among veterans within the decade.” While this act encourages those Federal, State and local agencies, it does not implement action nor does it appropriate funds to organizations.
To overcome the issue of inadequate access to health care and job opportunities we must first look to recent decisions made by the House of Representatives. According to the Associated Press of November 8, 2003 the House “voted to cut veterans’ health care services by $28 billion over the next 10 years all due to trillion-dollar tax cuts benefiting the wealthy.” Clearly, this is unacceptable. Due to an insufficient amount of money from the government, only one in every 10 homeless veterans receives the funds necessary to acquire healthcare or employment. Finally, the effects of warfare leave most soldiers with not only physical scars, but mental and emotional scars preventing them from reentering social networks. The Sunday Telegram of January 25, 2004 affirms that, “the cause of homelessness among veterans is often attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder and effects from their combat assignments.” Post Traumatic Stress Disorder occurs when our servicemen and women are subjected to death camps, hostage situations, torture, and even less significant events such as urban combat. When these are compounded with factors that are common within a homeless environment, such as alcoholism and drug addiction, it makes the road to recovery even longer.
2. We as a nation must come together and support those who have supported us and in order to do so, we must first start with the problems previously mentioned.
C. The solutions that exist are two: First, on a governmental level and second, on a personal level.
1. The Washington Post of January 30, 2004 demands a need for “more than a temporary fix for a day or a week; we need a meaningful public policy.” Many of these don’t require spending large amounts of money. The president needs to incorporate a national media campaign for veteran awareness and support. Such a campaign would include things as increased depth, quality, and accessibility of training programs for reentry into civilian life; increased efficiency of the disbursement system that currently exists to ensure efficient use of taxpayer money and ensure that the dollars actually get to the veteran. I will make available a letter I have written to congressman
The Essay on Student money problems affect performance
Student money problems affect performance Many students believe that financial problems are having an adverse effect on their academic performance, a survey of University of Central England undergraduates has shown. The survey, carried out by UCE’s Centre for Research into Quality (CRQ), found that 51.9 per cent of the 1,139 full-time undergraduates polled believed their academic performance ...
Chet Edwards from Texas, who is actively engaged in pushing veterans’ rights and getting the NVCAA act up and running. Please sign the letter before you leave today.
On a personal level, we can increase our own awareness of homeless veterans within our communities. Visiting the website for the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, VetsVision.org, and the Department of Veterans Affairs at va.gov, volunteering at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital in Columbia, observing Veteran’s Day on November 11th, or even supporting our troops across seas through the “Adopt a Soldier” program are all good ways to increase our own awareness. If any of you are interested in becoming involved with the “Adopt a Soldier” please contact, for further information.
2. Essentially, if we create more unified partnerships to streamline services, eliminate the duplication of services and programs, and ensure efficient use of taxpayer money we eliminate the majority of problems that exist on the national level.
A./B. Today, we have covered the problems confronted by homeless veterans; the causes behind those problems; and finally, we have looked at the efforts required to win the war against this social crisis that our heroes, home from war, face every day.
C. Many veterans are too weak to speak, too feeble to stand, too confused to ask for help. So, we, as appreciative, caring Americans should speak, stand and ask for the support they so richly deserve. Our freedom has been bought at a costly and precious price. The very least that we should do is validate the struggle by shedding light on it – As our nation’s first Commander and Chief, George Washington said, “the willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars and how they were treated and appreciated by their nation.”
The Essay on Veterans of the United States Military
... -third of the adult homeless population are veterans. America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, the Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Afghanistan ... present themselves as a problem. From the lack of proper healthcare to the issues of homelessness, our war veterans should never half to ...
