I think you are so quick to critisize me you were unable to understand my post. Reread my post-I was not dumping on veterans but I volunteer to help those having difficulty. The reason my communities homeless are primarily veterans is because we have a large faciilty for treating veterans with PTSD and post war conditions-because of this many of them settle here so we have gone out of our way to help them obtain jobs and move back into civilian society-we have an inordinate population of homeless veterans because of government treatment facilities where I live. Amazing how a poster can be so consumed with dislike for another that they view something positive a community does as dumping on veterans.

I do not know why NF nationally it is about 25%.

Veterans make up 1 in 4 homeless - USATODAY.com

In my city it is about 70% of our homeless -the reason why is we have a government facility for treating the vets with no limbs,suicidal, PTSD, head injuries etc. we have some WW2 vet, many VN vets and we have iraq and Afghanistan vets. They are from all over the country- because of this facility many stay in our city and the severity of their problems many end up homeless. I decided not to be personal judge and jury of why ( I have never had my legs blown off or had PTSD) I just support the organization that I linked in my second post- with a monetary donation and once a year at the annual stand down I volunteer. There is a job fair-haircuts-medical assistance- all kinds of community support for this program.

Local companies try to hire these vets-just recently a friend of mine who owns a whitewater rafting company took three vets down the river for a three day vacation-many of the recreation companies are joining in.

Can you explain why supporting this effort and our community support pisses you off and is dumping on veterans?

Nice post Crow.

Why don't you call it shell shock? Then perhaps people would donate more to charities to help veterans with that affliction.

You just used probably one of the worst forms of Political Correctness. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder's very name. Made church's and Charities all but abandon providing psychiatric care to these men.


Of course you could just let them all die...


Or pass awaaaaaaayy......

__________________
"It is the Right of the People to alter or abolish the Government"
Declaration of Independence
"Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself."
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"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."
Milton Friedman

Your statement was that most of the homeless in the Peoples State of Oregon were veterans. I hear this all the time. The vets are homeless, the vets are committing suicide at some astromonical rate, the vets can't get jobs, and on and on and on.

Its just another method you use to attack anyone who has served this country. You can claim anything you want, but as a veteran I absolutely find it offensive that you are putting homelessness on the vets of this country.

__________________
Its better to have fussed and crabbed then never to have fussed at all - Lucy

Sam may be fluffing the numbers some for dramatic effect (surprise!) but I don't think she's putting homelessness on the vets as a slam.
There have been articles here recently detailing some homeless vet stories and how they came to be that way. Some showed how the vets had triumphed and some how they were still struggling. The causes were varied: One guys wife had left him while he was in Iraq and on return home, his house had been foreclosed and he literally had no where to go; another guy became addicted to pain killers and ended up robbing a pharmacy, the first step in his downward spiral.
The stories also show how there is help available to these vets yet some are too proud to ask for it. Some don't know its available.
Lumping all the homeless together as being worthless or as deserving of what they have is as silly as going the other way and saying all homeless are that way BECAUSE of the government and specifically, GWB.
Some are there due to misfortune and some are there due to their own doing. Either way, they are still human beings and to treat them as trash is simply wrong.

I think anybody that goes out very often probably has met people like those you and nathan describe. Working throughout the country I saw many of them and heard some amazing stories.
Homeless seem to congregate around large truck stops and when they saw my truck, they knew I was a "bed-bugger" that might need some help. I've hired them and had some that were excellent and some not so much.
In SanAntonio, Tx a scraggly looking guy approached me with a story about how hungry he was...could I spare a few bucks. I told him I wouldn't just give him cash but I would be glad to pay for any meal he wanted in the restaurant. Using his convoluted logic, he knew there was a steak dinner for about 15 bucks so why didn't I just give him 15 bucks and we'd be even.
I then told him I would pay him $25 to clean out my trailer...I had just made a delivery and I had furniture pads to fold...that and sweeping the trailer would take about 2 hours. He got insulted and told me about his bad back.
I finally told him I couldn't help him and went inside. He was still there harassing drivers when I left.
Here at home, I was helping a buddy of mine work on his car. One night when leaving, there was a young guy with one leg standing in the median. His sign said "Homeless Vet." It was after Desert Storm and the guy was about the right age. I gave him a few bucks. He saw my cigarettes and asked for one. I gave him the rest of the pack and drove away.
The next night, he was there again. Same sign but he had a new story. I listened as he told me he had JUST got into town and how a gang of black guys had jumped him and took all his money.
I told him it was a sad, but great story and if I hadn't seen him the night before, it might have worked. Knowing he was busted, he asked for a cigarette again. I told him I didn't have any. He pointed to the pack sitting on the dash and told me I did. I told him, "no. You misunderstood me. I meant I didn't have any for YOU."
I left to his curses. Didn't feel bad about it at all.

I am sorry that you believe that people who volunteer for the organization I linked are dumping on veterans including myself. I never said that people that served their country were less able to help themself. I explained numerous times that my community has a veterans hospital that treats combat vets who are affected longterm. Because of the location and not in a major city to absorb the numbers we have a dispropotinate number of vets who are homeless. I explained this clearly and you have chosen to twist this into dumping on veterans or something negative. The point I made if you read my initial post was clearly that homeless are that way for a variety of reason. I then went on to explain something about the homeless in my community related to a long term care facility location and rather then a handout- the community has organized an effort to help-this was in response to a post from someone who liked to yell at homeless.

I never said Oregon-I stated very clearly my community and the reason.

Any sane person reading this thread can see that clearly no one was dumping on anyone or even making a partisan post. I was tryng to show that one could help those who needed through these type of organizations. I explained a unique situation in my community. I will continue to donate money and an annual 8 hours of time. It is not a partisan reason or political. It is my way of serving those who have suffered trauma in combat. I am sorry you chose to make this ito one of your negative attacks on me.

I do not think one poster blamed any political party or GWB-a few thought they deserved to be treated like trash however clearly if you read my posts that was not my sentiment. Again please reread my posts-as I said there are many reasons and although nationally it is 25%-I am in a smaller community with a large longterm care facility and two regional acute care facilities so we have a disproportinate number of homeless veterans. The community responded in an empathetic way to lend a hand to help combat veterans. There was nothing but compassion and sincerity in my meaning and post-again I am sorry NF chose to twist it that way.

I simply pointed out to nathan that I did not believe you used homelessness as a slam against vets, as he seemed to think. Pardon me for supporting you.

Homelessness in America

Homelessness in America

The two links above show where cookie, in her infinite wisdom, blames Bush specifically and the government, which in cookie speak , is Bush.

Some of the attitudes about the homeless are just sickening. Blaming adults for their situation is one thing, but the kids have no choice in the matter. How anyone cannot feel sympathy for the homeless is beyond me. How they got there is a different story. But dismissing them all is heartless. IMHO.

Sam, Most Homelessness situations is because that person have no
family or friends to get help from. As a Mental Health Counselor some
is homeless because of their low self-esteem, and because of no
education or learning skills. Believe me I have seen the so-called
rich and middle class working people go from sugar to shit, and most
Vets are homeless due to the effect of which ever War they fought.

There is nothing wrong with handing someone 50 cents or a Dollar,
but there is slick sorry ass people who is to lazy to work, and if you
watch their moves..their moves will tell on them. Those are the kinds
who is making it hard for the real needy to get help.

Sam, When I first entered the Mental Health profession. I ran into
this guy who would be begging everytime I would see he. So one
day he asked me for coffee money (I wasn't going to give it to him),
but I did anyway (being the kind hearted person I am), and after I
gave it to him him and his fellows brought a pint of gin from that
point he got nothing from me.

You are 100% right about yelling at people who is pan handling
to survive in the streets, and one day the yeller just might need
that same person to help (we never would know).
Another rewarding experience was seening (what I thought) was
a homeless man, come to find out this guy was conducting a survey
on human behavior, and once his mission was completed the man
was the CEO of a well known nationally charity foundation that help
poor people.

In closing, that reminds me of the Rich man and poor man in the bible.
The poor begger was begging everyday until he died. The Rich man
died later on, but the differences the begger died peaceful, and the
Rich man died in pain. The moral of the story after the Rich man had
heard how happy the begger died peacefully.....he wished that he
was not a selfish/self-centered man doing his lifetime.

If we can't help..then who are we to judge. " Happy New Years "
Sam.

__________________
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I will fight you back.

Happy 2008 Ghostdog-thank you for the poetic post. As a counselor you know the agony and pain of some peoples lives-people are homeless for many reasons- mental Illness, drug addiction, learning disabilities, combat veterans who have been injured, and deadbeats- all different reasons. In general I do not hand out money to strangers but if I believe someone is in real need handing a buck is not going to make or break me and I have a decent instinct for people and their motives.

I like supporting the local homeless veterans group and the results of the organization have gotten many off the street. I do not judge people so harshly- possibly I think too deeply-if I were to yell at a group of homeless-even if they appeared to be deadbeats I could not look at myself in the mirror. I would even wonder if my harsh words knocked someone back down who was thinking of making a change in their life.