An Avoidable Price Of War

The Story

Veteran rights have always been near and dear to my heart and this story right here just goes to show that out of all of the politicians on the right and left, who stand on a soapbox and rant about how much they care for the security of our troops, none of them have done crap on the matter. These men and women know very well the ultimate sacrifice when they go off to a foreign land to fight for this country, but they also expect for us to have their backs when they come home. Apparently we can't even guarantee them that.

Most of America is fast asleep. They go to work, if they even do that, and then come home to sit and watch Dancing with the Stars or American Idol. They don't watch the news, they don't read anything, yet they feel compelled to voice their opinion when it comes to the war or the current administration. Even more pathetic is the fact that most of them don't even vote.

If you don't vote what do you have to complain about?

But nonetheless, they find something and they still do. Now the other group of Americans, the minority, which I seem to find myself apart of, realize what is going on in the world, realize what sacrifices are being made by these great men and women, and realize most importantly that they aren't coming home to arms wide open. Sure they may get a college education or a check, but who is really making sure that they come back to what they need?

Apparently not that many.

The Veterans Affairs Department identified 1500 homeless veterans of just this RECENT war. They've managed to get 400 of them into their programs designated towards helping homeless vets. That's just roughly 27%. Ladies and gentlemen, that is totally unacceptable.

That means that out of every group of 1500 homeless vets, taking just a small fragment of the 195,000 homeless heroes that are in this country, around 73% of the homeless vets are excluded from this program because of ineligibility or lack of awareness of these programs. The ineligible part shouldn't exist and frankly neither should the awareness part.

Any government official that says the our veterans are taken care of is a liar and, as far as I'm concerned, guilty of negligent homicide. While they sit on top of their golden parachute salary and health benefits, courtesy of the American taxpayer, that they can rake in even after being voted out of office, we have men and women who are the real reason for our freedoms dying out on the streets cold and alone.

But instead of people demanding that groups like the VA take a more direct approach to this problem we get the typical excuse making talking points. We'll hear things like:

- Obviously they want to live that way.
- They can get whatever they want as long as they ask.

Or my favorite

- That number really isn't that big.

When you have someone who is severely mentally scarred from a war experience, how in the hell would a person in their right mind think they just "want to live homeless." Was there any psychological analysis conducted to back this up? Now I'm sure that you will find a fruit loop out of every group of people, but I seriously doubt out of every 1500 homeless soldiers, 1100 of them are nuts. There definitely is something fishy with that tale.

It's about time that people in this country start putting things into perspective. If we can have lobbyists on a day to day basis trying to grab Washington by the ear for rights and freebies for illegal immigrants and people who have no right to nor deserve them, how can we sit and allow for many of our heroes and patriots to die out on the street broke and alone.

What a way to honor those who fought for all that we have. Take away all that they have.