Comments on: Veteran tramps walking the street

By: Support The Vets

Support The Vets — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 12:43:57 +0000

If you care about homeless veterans , I really recommend seeing the film WHEN I CAME HOME. It;s about Iraq war veterans that end up homeless in NY city after they come home. There is a trialer online at:

http://www.whenicamehome.com

Support The Vets!

By: larrywiseman2

larrywiseman2 — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 00:00:08 +0000

We have been in back in Atlanta for a couple of days, and will be in DC again tomorrow for the reading the names at the Vietnam Memorial, and will be there on Sunday to honor our Vets; we will never forget the hard work and sacrifices of all of our Vets, and we have not forgotten to pray for Sam and Erin and all of the family. I was on the plane the other day, and I sat next to a perfect stranger, and as we talked, he told me that he was from SanJose, California, and that he was born and raised in Palo Alto… now THAT was such a confirmation from God that I just needed a little reminder of Sam. I should not be surprised that God does these things. Coincidence??? I don’t think so.

By: Kathie Costos

Kathie Costos — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 21:45:35 +0000

It’s a bit more complicated than PTSD, but you’re right about the majority. When they come home, many bring the war back home with them. Even without developing PTSD, many come home changed. Family and friends have a hard time dealing with these changes and most, don’t want to talk about it. Employers often find it difficult to understand when National Guard soldiers try to go back to work, when most assume they will be able to pick up where they left off. Many come home to find their jobs are gone.

For a veteran with PTSD, it is all the above but much worse. They not only have to deal with the “usual” problems of return from combat back to civilian life, they also have to deal with the illness itself. They self-medicate with drugs and alcohol to kill off feelings they do not want to feel. Unable to work they are trapped in the system of the VA designed to help them but tortures them instead. No income will leave many on the streets. This is all especially hard on career soldiers enlisting right out of high school. They lack training in anything other than service simply because they wanted to be a career soldier or were planning on using their GI benefits to attend college.

By: Danalee

Danalee — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:00:22 +0000

Amantadine, eh? I knew it was used for Parkinsons. This is a new one for me. I wish Sam much success with the drug change. It sounds like he really needed some modifications made. I had to chuckle: the hospital didn’t have the right size needle for the Botox? Hmmm.

Regards the issue of homeless vets–I find this deplorable! I saw the report on NBC and cried. The homeless of all ilk have long been ‘invisible’ to our society. We fear behavior that does not fall under the definition of ‘normal’. Veterans require multidimensional assessment and therapy. Too many are falling between the ‘cracks’ of VA and/or community services because they do not receive assessment and treatment in a timely manner, sometimes not at all. Again, our fear of the ‘abnormal’. Even those victimized by PTSD and other DSM III or IV disorders can have an awareness that they are not ‘quite right’ and fear societal consequences of seeking assessment and treatment. Our veterans fall into this category. Clinicians long debated whether PTSD should be categorized ans an anxiety or dissociative disorder and decided on the former. Realistically, it should be both, as the lesser forms of PTSD are anxiety based, the more severe (such as borderline personality disorder and Complex PTSD) are dissociation based.

For many, the first reaction of seeing homeless persons, is one of revulsion. There seems to be a judgment call by many that these individuals have made a choice. Whether veterans, or not, who in their “right mind” would choose homelessness?

Our Veterans have put Country first. Now it is time for the Country to put THEM first.