I'm sick to death of people here not giving a shit about the homeless veteran population

[cliffordu]

I'm tired of being ignored by congress and the President and all the people here on DU.

I won't go away so FUCK anyone who tells me to take it easy or wait my turn

On the other hand, since THIS bullshit screed is the only thing I've done this month to help this particular cause I really don't have a fucking leg to stand on.

Part of the solution or part of the problem.


And just as soon as I get off my ass and DO something about it I will become legitimate in sharing this rage.


(Man, Ranting on this board is TONS easier than getting out the protest signs or gathering signatures. People here who actually DO those things know exactly what I'm talking about and I say, God Loves them.)

Flame suit ready.

[Critters2]

1. I care about homeless people, veterans or otherwise. And have the volunteer hours

at our local shelter to prove it.

[cliffordu]

4. Thanks for your service. I hope you get that gift back, times ten.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. I care about homeless people

And have volunteered at the local soup kitchen before.

[cliffordu]

11. Thank you for your effort. I hope that goodness comes back to you tenfold.

[IndianaJones]

3. whiny, defiant straight man post #896. nt.

[cliffordu]

5. Yet another keyboard activist. Actions or words.

Funny. It seems the people actually DOING THE WORK seem not to need to puke here five times a day.

[noamnety]

6. I know this isn't your point

but I would have been THRILLED if in the interest of having multiple viewpoints heard, Obama would have allowed the Iraq Veterans Against the War to address the convention when they marched to it.

I also would have been thrilled if they'd been invited to speak at the inauguration.

IVAW at the DNC:


IMHO, they should have been given a national stage.

(and I am totally down with hijacking this thread to give them some publicity.)

[cliffordu]

8. Thanks for sharing this. I need to get off my ass again and help.

[babylonsister]

7. I wish people would care more about

Vets and what's going on with them, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the homeless, here and the bloody stinking m$m, who rarely say a word.

[cliffordu]

14. The MSM has a wonderful track record of doing almost NO stories about this...

Or about the exploding homeless population among formerly middle class families.




Houseless, actually. Even a cardboard box under a bridge can be home.

[NYC_SKP]

9. Hey, cliffordu...

...didn't get around to you with this:

Happy Holidays to you and yours! :toast:

and, recommended. :thumbsup:

[cliffordu]

10. You too, my friend, and thanks for your support!

:toast:

[billyoc]

12. I can't claim credit for this, but I feel it's some of our finest work:

When everybody comes ALL the way home, THEN the war's over.

[cliffordu]

13. Yep. All the way home. Everyone.

[cliffordu]

46. I just read the information at the helmets to hardhats link....

What a great fucking idea.

If I was 30 years younger........

Thanks for the link, Billyoc!

[bluedawg12]

15. My little keyboard.

Let’s see, I spent time today on my little keyboard, after almost two hours in person, with a USMC/USA NG veteran.

He was on active duty in the first gulf war and had a service connected injury in the USMC.

He finished his contract with the Marines. Then, reupped a few years ago in the Guard.

He was called up to go to Iraq, left his wife, kids and a new born stateside.

He went to Kuwait to train up. He got assigned to disarming IED’s in his humvee and his old injury, the one that was and should have been service connected, began to act up.

He then formed an infantry platoon and was involved in urban war fare and disarming IED's on the ground, no Humvee with a 125 lb. ruck, his old injury got worse.

He came home on leave and I saw him, he had a permanently dislocated finger,
untreatable, a shoulder injury, from knocking open doors, which did respond to treatment.

He went back to urban warfare and then upon completion went to a FOB to report a new knee injury and that his original old service connected injury was worse.

For reasons unknown, he was denied service connection for the injury he sustained back in basic at Pendelton, when he stepped in a tank trap. Even though he had surgery for that injury, while AD and TDY’ed to a NAVHosp.

Every last thing about his injury is documented, from length of scar, to loss of feeling around the scar, to loss motion, to the status of the joint involved, to the functional impairment, to a dim future with the promise of more surgery. The four page report clearly states it is service connected.

As is his insomnia, tinnitus, knee, shoulder, little finger and recurrent thoughts of dead kids.

Funny what I didn’t do for a vet today. Just me and my keyboard.

[cliffordu]

16. Thanks for your service -

Now please go read the entire post and put in into terms of metaphor for the constant over the top yelling with no action over certain subjects on these boards.

Metaphor.

And yes, you and your keyboard did great work today.

[bluedawg12]

19. Your welcome.

I read it, got the metaphor.

Let's move on for a moment.

Yes, the old keyboard has been useful, anytime I can document a service connected injury, help a gung-ho kid up in the Corps, an injured worker who has been screwed over and needs care and treatment.

As far as today, here is the thing, this young man went over there a perfect specimen. Then, with the Rummy Stop Loss, he didn't come home as scheduled and spent extra time in hellacious urban combat.

He still looks fine on the outside, I actually spent over two hours with him and he is wounded on the inside.
He can't sleep through the night. This is the same thing, or similar, to the many viet nam vets, that also needed service connected evals and ratings, over the years.

I was thinking about posting about this anyway, his story touched me because I also happened to know him personally. This thread just brought it out.

The report was another hour or more. Time well spent. He deserves every SC rating he gets, he fought and earned it. He's a good man.

[cliffordu]

23. This OP has been worth it so you can illustrate just how a keyboard CAN be used

to help, as opposed to just puke on the shoes of whoever is online here.

Perfect. Thanks.

:patriot:


(and your post should be it's own OP).

[bluedawg12]

24. Yeah, I have a funny word for vets.

Respect.

Sometime I'll tell you about my dear friend who served as head nurse off the USS Comfort, during Nam.

Now, has agent orange related lymphoma. Service connected. Nice retirement gift.

[cliffordu]

26. I just lost a good friend to agent-orange related cancer.

He was the real deal.

http://www.dmzdustoff.org/

He was with the 237th Medical Detachment (medivac) near the DMZ.

[bluedawg12]

30. I'm very sorry.

He survived MEDIVAC near the DMZ and now this.

At least my nurse friend is in remission. She was truly a leader, straightened my rebellious young ass out in a nice way, back in the day. Still keep in touch after decades!

These are good people.

[cliffordu]

32. Yep, the best.

The courage to have your back no matter what. No matter how terrified.

We need to have their backs, now.


On a personal note -

I spent some time in the hospital in country. Sure do remember those nurses. :loveya:

They did me more good than the medication with just a smile......lol......

[bluedawg12]

36. Their dedication is amazing.

All of the encounters I have had from the physicians, to nurses to corpsmen, were outstanding.

The corpsmen especially, in any war, they are out there on the front lines.

I made some friends for life. There is a loyalty there.

So the nurses got your heart pumping? LOL. B-)

[Balderdash]

18. We all care about the vets and want them home

and taken care of by the government that asked everything of them. You wagging your
finger in my face isn't ever going to make me shut up and sit down. I can care about
and champion more than one issue at a time.

[cliffordu]

21. Please re-read the op. It ain't about veterans at all, really.....

It's about the difference between ranting nonstop HERE about a problem and actually DOING something about it.


If it applies to you, fine, if not, fine.

[noamnety]

37. We know.

I kind of wish you'd have just made it about vets and left it at that. Personally, I think that's the better point to be making.

I am glad people rose above your original point though and made it about the veterans.

[cliffordu]

38. I got frustrated because of all the ranting without action

(or visible action) over real, serious, life and death issues struck a chord.

I am as guilty of it in my own right as those who annoy me.......

This will change.

[noamnety]

40. Well, you know, it's a discussion forum

you won't see any of our "visible action" here, just like we won't see yours here; you'll see discussion. I assume people who are passionate about issues here are also activists offline.

[cliffordu]

42. Point taken. Yet - those I addressed (on the sly, of course) do little discussing,

but seem content to do a lot of flamiage/scapegoating/strawman lecturing......

Fauxrage - Sometimes I believe some are not interested in the subjects they rant about - but are sockpuppets for an obfuscated cause......


I'll be talking about what I actually DO in reguards to vets and those living in the woods around here (particularly...)

[bluedawg12]

28. I see your Nam ribbon- thanks for your service cliffordu!

:patriot:

[cliffordu]

29. You're quite welcome.

:patriot:

[Jackpine Radical]

17. Why so many homeless vets? And what can be done?

Maybe it's time for a re-run of this piece that I originally posted almost a year ago:

Originally Posted by Jackpine Radical in General Discussion
Thu Jan 24th 2008, 11:58 AM


The vast majority of vets have managed to reintegrate themselves into society, not always quickly, and usually painfully, but nevertheless in some measure successfully. What's different about the ones who didn't make it, the ones living under the bridges or sleeping on heating grates or freezing to death in an abandoned basement somewhere, dressed in tatters, hand locked around the neck of a liter of rotgut?

Well, most of those people are addicts or alcoholics or both. Some are psychotic as well. Most of them began their addictions when they were still in the military. The psychoses mostly showed up a little later.

A funny thing about addictions and addicts--people say "He's an addict" and lean back as if they have not only explained something, but have given themselves an excuse not to get emotionally involved. They treat the addiction as if it were the root cause of the problem, then they assume that the addiction arises because of some moral failing in the addict, so it's really the veteran's own fault that he's sleeping under the bridge, and that relieves us of the obligation to be concerned. What a wonderful, comforting blanket of self-justification for inaction one can weave.

The problem is, addictions don't just arise out of thin air. People start using drugs and alcohol for a reason. And, incidentally, the addictions are not primarily physiological problems. Cut off the supply to one drug, and they will simply switch to another. The meth epidemic began when people could no longer get cheap cocaine.

Addictions are not about poor moral fiber, and they are not primarily about physiological dependence. They are about something else. They are about drugging away psychospiritual pain. People do drugs for the most part because the drugs quiet the demons in their heads. People get those demons, for the most part, as the result of experiencing severe, emotionally damaging abuse, neglect, or trauma. The dry psychiatric term for these demons is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD for short.

There is nothing quite as effective as a war for creating psychospiritual demons. Thousands of veterans are still living with the demons they acquired in Vietnam, and we are about to be flooded with hundreds of thousands of new demon-haunted veterans from Iraq.

Most drug and alcohol treatment programs are quite ineffective. One massive study of inpatient VA programs showed that only 20 to 25 percent of the graduates were still abstinent after one year. The reason for this is that the treatment programs work on what is often termed a "medical model." They believe that they are dealing with physiological problems, that the major issue for the user is coping with physical cravings for a substance to which his body has become habituated. But the physical habituation is only part of the problem, and in most cases is the least part of the problem. Conventional treatment does not address the real issues, which are the psychological ones.

We have a new generation of techniques for coping with PTSD and related emotional problems brought on by exposure to extreme abuse and trauma. One such method is called EMDR (short for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Another involves a combination of brainwave biofeedback and talk therapy. However, these methods are relatively expensive because they are conducted in series of individual treatment sessions and require extensive training on the part of the therapists.

Thus the veteran problem is by no means an easy one. Most of these individuals will require a combination of expensive psychotherapy and substance abuse treatment. Some of them, particularly those with severe mental illnesses, will require hospitalization while treatment is provided. They will need help learning new job skills. They will need housing, food, clothing, medications, training, and jobs.

We will only manage to cope with the problem of homeless veterans when we own up to its enormity and commit ourselves to providing the care and help that they need. Are we willing to do that? Are we willing to do that at a time when we find ourselves trembling on the verge of a new global depression?

[cliffordu]

20. Excellent piece - it SHOULD be it's own OP about once a month.

The problem is about to explode. Like after WW 1.


Bush et al should be tried for war crimes for the way they have treated OUR veterans, let alone the folks who were tortured.

[bluedawg12]

22. Yeah we're willing to do that as a nation. Shinseki is a good choice for VA affairs.

Reagan pulled the rug out from under these guys. It's time to make it right. If possible. This late.

[tomp]

52. beautifully put and accurate.

i will only add that as a society we are far too willing to start the next war before we solve the problems of the last one.

the ultimate solution to this type of ptsd is not to have wars.

[leftstreet]

25. Yes, people should stop talking about anything

They should leave the Intertubes - where the potential for shared words becoming action is greater than in ANY OTHER medium at ANY OTHER time in our history - and just go "do" some action.

:eyes:

[cliffordu]

27. Or, organize here and then act.

But I could be wrong. Be sure to take my metaphor and shit all over it without refuting the basic premise.

makes you look like a fookin' genius.

[leftstreet]

31. Oh, so talking is okay then?

Good

[cliffordu]

33. Jesus.

:eyes:

[Uzybone]

34. So am I, and I'm gonna do something about it

Let me rec your OP.

[cliffordu]

35. Thanks!

[nannah]

39. The idea of creating affordable (not subsidized) housing

is a critical issue for our culture. We have focused on developing housing that added to the profits of the developers and housing industry rather than creating options for affordable, low cost housing accessible to many. Also, millions of dollars have been allocated to providing services for people who are homeless. As a social worker for many years, the absence of advocacy to create low cost or affordable housing has be a huge white noise; we subsidize, which keeps housing prices high, but little effort is directed at making housing more affordable and accessible.

many who are homeless are on SSI disability income. they can't sustain housing because they can't maintain the rules; often their inability to sustain work (a primary criteria for SSI eligibility) is due to the inability to follow instructions or comply with reasonable expectations in a workplace.

Development of housing, respectful of the needs of single adults with disabilities, would go a long way toward providing housing for many people with chronic conditions that make it difficult to sustain traditional housing. Design of housing possibilities that met special needs and provide on site ADL (activities of daily living) training/assistance would be useful to people around the globe.

[boppers]

41. 1. Fuck Reagan for shutting down in-patient mental health-care.

2. It's not just the veterans, homeless people in general have been getting shat upon and told to "pull themselves up" since the 80's.

3. Unless you live in a fairly rural area, there are lots of opportunities for you to help.

4. Fuck Reagan.

5. I didn't miss your point. There are opportunities in GLBTQ outreach, poverty outreach, veterans outreach, mental health outreach, etc.... My local fave (sadly, I've given more equipment than time) is http://freegeek.org , which has the amusing side effect of enabling more people who are "in need" to actually get on-line, find services, connect with others, and oh, and write screeds. :D

6. Fuck Reagan.

7. If you want a list of places/opportunities to make real change near you, feel free to drop me a line and I'm sure I can find you a list of places to contribute.

8. If you know of a good URL about groups targeting homeless veterans, please share. The situation for our OIF kids looks even more fucked up (a fucking depression, too? really?) than a lot had it under Nixon/Ford/Carter/Reagan.

9. Fuck Reagan.

[cliffordu]

43. Fuck Reagan, and the Congress that aided and abetted that shit. I remember it well

I have worked off and on for 20 years with addicted vets in various capacitys

I got sick a couple of years ago and limited my involvement - I know how to reconnect with the boys. (and, more and more, the girls, too...a new generation)

Here ya go:

http://www.homelessadvocacyproject.org/veterans-project.shtml


http://www.nchv.org/page.cfm?id=92

[boppers]

44. Nice. Up here in OR, our shelters are pretty swamped right now. Freaking winter.

Not to totally Hijack the thread...

But do you have some ideas about regularly spurring growth and involvement, on a social level, on DU? (I assume that was one of points of your post, beyond a simple "Stop Bitching, Start Working".)

Maybe regular GDP postings about 'Obama asked me to serve, here's what I'm doing, how about you?', or something of that sort?

[cliffordu]

45. I thought and suggested a while ago an 'activity' category - as in

"DU:Activity" for announcements of activities, riots, protests, group gropes and clusterfucks....but it really didn't go anywhere.

Where are you at in Oregon??

I'm up in Port Townsend.

[boppers]

47. I'm in NE PDX.

When I was moving here, N/NE seemed to be the main areas to intersect with culture, ethnicity, variety.

Well, that, and I can't stand to live more than a mile from a A)decent Asian food market, B)Carcineria, and C)Bodega.

WRT activities, I'm going to try a thread...

[boppers]

48. Thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8036797&mesg_id=8036797

[Fearless]

49. John McSame should lend them a few of his own...

You'd think he would be obligated to do so.

:shrug:

Seriously though, it is a testament to the bullshit that we pull that those who fight for us often can't even feed themselves.

[Number23]

50. Hey, I like this thread. Thanks for this

[cliffordu]

55. Shaw 'Nuff

:patriot:

[unhappycamper]

51. My chapter of the VFP (Smedley Butler Brigade) will be opening

another sober home for Veterans in the Boston area shortly under the auspices of the Oxford House --> http://www.oxfordhouse.org/userfiles/file/

We've been working for almost a year to get grants and we're ready to go. We may be noisy, but we're also effective.

[cliffordu]

56. Excellent. Thanks for posting this.

[NaturalHigh]

53. It's a disgrace that we have so many homeless in our nation.

Nobody should ever die from lack of shelter or food. Nobody should be forced to live in the streets.

[cliffordu]

57. I think you are exactly right. There should be some sort of penalty attached

to the state of affairs of the homeless, as far as political careers go.


Which means heads should roll from the city councils to the white house.

[lonestarnot]

54. K & R!

[grantcart]

58. A practical suggestion who will be motivated to do something for veteran's by Cliffordu's ironic OP

If you live near a VA hospital you can volunteer.


They have a great need - from helping people get around inside the hospital to picking people up for appointments.


Happy New Year.

[cliffordu]

59. Thanks, grantcart.

:hi: