Some Iraq war vets go homeless after return to US
 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The nightmare of Iraq was bad enough for Vanessa Gamboa. Unprepared for combat beyond her basic training, the supply specialist soon found herself in a firefight, commanding a handful of clerks.

"They promoted me to sergeant. I knew my job but I didn't know anything about combat. So I'm responsible for all these people and I don't know what to tell them but to duck," Gamboa said.

The battle, on a supply delivery run, ended without casualties, and it did little to steel Gamboa for what awaited her back home in Brooklyn.


When the single mother was discharged in April, after her second tour in Iraq, she was 24 and had little money and no place to live. She slept in her son's day-care center.

Gamboa is part of a small but growing trend among U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars -- homelessness.

On any given night the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) helps 200 to 250 of them, and more go uncounted. They are among nearly 200,000 homeless veterans in America, largely from the Vietnam War
for full article...

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsAr...lso_on_reuters

Single moms have access to all kinds of money (TANF, etc.)

That this lady doesn't seek out those benefits seems questionable. Also, that she doesn't have a job is also questionable. Clearly she's a capable person, so why no job? The article here only tells us as much as it wants us to hear.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I definitely have that nagging thought that the United States doesn't do enough to take care of its veterans.

Born on the 4th of July

-Rudey

Maybe I'm just ungrateful, but the U.S. doesn't promise things like housing, etc. when a soldier is discharged. The veteran does, however, have a ton of really nice benefits not available to you or me. They the benefit of the G.I. bill, the V.A., and access to a whole host of services.

What level of service is enough for vets? This article seems to take the position that we should be giving them additional services even thought they do nothing for us as ex-soldiers. I don't buy that a stint in the military entitles one to a lifetime of gimmees.

Not so sure I agree here ktsnake.

If a soldier comes back and they have a problem with physic or desease from a conflict, they should be taken care of with the best care that can be given.

Korea was worse as There Was no War, jsut a Police Action.

For years, after the Viet Nam Conflict The US denied there was a problem of saying Angent Orange had anything to do with problems.:(

My Dad never asked for any benefits from WWII, but, on the other hand, I have many Vets who come into My store and I hear horror storys about The VA. I beleive "Con-grose" has cut benifits over the years.

One of My Customers Husband just lost both legs, I hope that The Govt. helps Him to get back on His feet so to speak and become available in the work force.

That's why we have the V.A. They're supposed to do that. Of course, we're not talking about that. We're talking about a single mom who for whatever reason has decided to live out of her car instead of finding a job or going to school.

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One of My Customers Husband just lost both legs, I hope that The Govt. helps Him to get back on His feet so to speak and become available in the work force.

He'll get decent cash payouts for disability, and qualify for a ton of other things. He should be okay.

Will find out later and I pray that You are right on!:)

I think the article does a poor job of laying out its position, and I think it provides a poor example.

There's part of me that thinks that this woman knew what she was getting into when she entered the armed forces, and that she should have planned ahead for when she came home (or had something set up so that her children would be well taken care of).

I think veterans are entitled to some extra benefits, don't get me wrong. I think there should be mechanisms in place for them to get acclimated back into society, and support as they get back into the workplace and the community as a whole.

I just don't know how far it should go. I've never been in the armed forces, so I can't understand what it feels like to come back from war/service and go back to square one. Most of what I know is information I've heard from my dad; he's a veteran of Vietnam, and he's told me how there was some help in place, but basically he got back from Vietnam, had a week to gather himself, and started work almost right away. I'm wondering how many people now are planning for that reality, and how many don't even think about that when they go overseas.

I've often wondered about how it works when you're discharged. It does seem to be a bit harsh to be just flown to some state and be told "See ya", with nowhere to live and no job. From what I hear, military pay is barely enough to live on, so a savings is unlikely, especially if you're a single mom. I did think that they got a designated amount of money based on their length of service upon discharge, but I don't know why I think that. Perhaps some of our ex-military folks on board can clue us in.

I also think that recruiters do a really good job of convincing people that they will leave the military with a marketable skill and this is sometimes true, but often it is not.

However, there does seem to be a bit of a Catch 22 here. How do you get a place to live without a job? How do you get a job without an address and phone number for someone to call you?

The article did say that she was starting a job, but it didn't sound like one that you can raise a family on. It must be a psychological challenge to go from Iraq to home almost overnight too. I feel for them.

If I recall correctly, single parents who enlist are supposed to have someone take over power of attorney of their child(ren) during their deployment, up to 6 months after their arrival to prevent this exact thing from happening. I had a WTF?! moment when I read the story. There's probably more that they're not saying.

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I think veterans are entitled to some extra benefits, don't get me wrong. I think there should be mechanisms in place for them to get acclimated back into society, and support as they get back into the workplace and the community as a whole. I just don't know how far it should go. I've never been in the armed forces, so I can't understand what it feels like to come back from war/service and go back to square one. Most of what I know is information I've heard from my dad; he's a veteran of Vietnam, and he's told me how there was some help in place, but basically he got back from Vietnam, had a week to gather himself, and started work almost right away. I'm wondering how many people now are planning for that reality, and how many don't even think about that when they go overseas.

Today's veterans are not coming out as prepared for the real world as WWII and Vietnam era veterans were. No, I don't have any evidence other than antecdotal to support that, but this is an all-volunteer armed forces filled with young kids who didn't really understand what they were getting into. Since so much of the enlisted force came in before 9/11, all they had ever known was a peacetime army. I don't think that men going to Vietnam 40 years ago had any illusions in their head. They knew that war was going to be hell. Their fathers experienced it in WWII or Korea, and their grandfathers in WWI. These kids now don't have the experience of growing up around a ton of veterans willing to share their experiences.

VA benefits are pretty decent, but not if it's your only means of support. My father is a Vietnam-era veteran who has a serious Agent Orange-related illness. The VA hospital is great with free prescriptions and general check-ups, but he still has to use his private insurance to see specialists related to this condition; fortunately his employer held his position and paid his regular salary while he was recovering. Some vets don't have those safety nets in place, and that's where they start suffering. At the very very least, the VA should provide for complete care of service-related injuries.

I'm not so sure about that -- at least in terms of the Vietnam veterans. The all volunteer "professional" Army is supposed to have smarter soldiers than our armed forces of the past.

The "average" grunt in Vietnam was 19 years old, likely to have a high school education or less, a minority and probably drafted soon after high school. That doesn't give you a whole lot of preparation for life. As the article says, the vast majority of homeless who are former soldiers are from the Vietnam era.

Finally, the troops returning from Vietnam were hardly greeted as heros as our troops today are.

That men and women who served in our Armed Forces end up homeless is terrible -- but it is hardly a new thing.

It depends on the way that the lady was discharged as to wether or not she would be elegible for benefits or not. If she was dishonourably discharged, it would explain a lot, as I'm not sure as to wether benefits are available if that happens.

As a supply clerk though, at the very least she should of been able to of found a job at a transport company, or if she was really finding it hard: re-enlist, requesting a state-side position in supply, due to her young child.

1. What's the "average" grunt in Iraq? I'd imagine that they're not much older and have about the same level of education--but have a much more naive view of what war's about. The minority thing I'm not going to speculate on. Nearly every 19 year old that I know who enlisted did it because they didn't know what else they were going to do, and the Army especially has a really great PR machine that lets these kids believe they're going to do tons of fun things.

I do stand by my assertion that the kids from earlier war eras--if only because their fathers and grandfathers served--had a slightly better idea of what they were getting into. The kids who are serving now can't remember a time when the US was in a major war. I mean, in early 2001, my cousin enlisted out of HS because he wanted to marry his girlfriend right away. Do you think anyone did that in 1966?

2. Not every soldier was spat upon when he/she returned from SE Asia. Back to the case with Daddy Munch, who returned to a military hometown. For the most part, the people tended to be just as welcoming then as they were now. Not everyone came back to towns like Berkeley or Ann Arbor.

I'll agree with that - my father heard the occasional comment, but upon his return from Vietnam he said people in my hometown were for the most part welcoming, and just happy that he came back alive. There was a heavy concentration of WWII vets in the city, so that may have had something to do with it.

I'll agree with you on the other point too - there are less and less people going to war who can get first-hand experience accounts from their parents and grandparents.

On a slightly different note: Judging from the stories I've heard from my dad (and you've probably heard from your dad), they might not want the whole story. When I was considering West Point in high school, my dad made sure to give me a clear picture of what he went through; not to scare me, but more to educate me.

Anyone can get a hotmail account, and you can access it from any public library or any other place that has free wireless.

I agree that there's a huge piece of this story missing. Who was watching this single mom's kid when she was in Iraq?? If she was close enough with that person to trust them with her kid, could she not stay with that person until she got a job??


ETA: You can get a pre-paid cell for pretty cheap anymore. That would be my first step if I didn't have a phone # and was looking for a job. Hell, even a pager (do they still sell those??) where a potential employer could leave a message so you could call them back on a payphone. Something.

I think that the difference in this case is not the age, but level of education. The all volunteer Army at least gives lip service to wanting high school diplomas or GEDs. The draft went for any warm body -- as I said above, the average grunt had a high school diploma OR LESS. There was a huge number of high school dropouts in the Vietnam era Army.

I don't know about being more naive. My dad is a WWII veteran, but I had never experienced a (time of) war until Vietnam. Now, I would guess that a fair number of our armed forces members in Iraq have fathers who are Vietnam vets.

Anyway, it's a shame but homeless veterans are not a new phenomenon.

Not to mention that a significant portion of Vietnam troops were addicted to heroine when they got back to the states because it was made readily available in Vietnam. I was watching a special about drugs in America and I believe it said something like 1 out of 5 troops were addicts when they got back to the states. I am sure that would play a significant role in the lifestyle of troops when they got back.

No question that drugs were a significant problem in the military in the Vietnam era.

Twenty percent of returning troops seems like a pretty high number when the drug is heroine, but more "recreational" drugs were certainly rampant.

The military continues to fight drug use.

Bases have family support services that can take care of your children while you are deployed, so her kid may have been staying at a boarding house while she was in Iraq. Also, we are living in a time where the economy is not so great, many people out of work, and more people are applying for the same jobs. Employers have the opportunity to be more selective with who they hire. Hell, I've had my credit history checked by employers before they hired me, so I can only imagine the difficulty trying to get a job in todays economy while not having a place to live. Homelessness carries quite a strong stigma with it that turns a lot of people off, especially employers.