Vets Battle Unemployment and War Injuries [View All]

[unhappycamper]

Vets Battle Unemployment and War Injuries
Aaron Glantz Author, The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans
Posted: November 23, 2009 11:36 AM

Recently discharged vets of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are joining the swelling ranks of the country's unemployed. They bring to the job hunt both special skills and training and, often, the terrible traumas and injuries of their military experiences.

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A 2007 VA survey found that 18 percent of recently discharged veterans were unemployed and that of those who had found a job 25 percent made less than $22,000 a year. And that was before the recession began.


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But it's not just the recession that can make the job search difficult for returning vets. According to a recent study by the Rand Corporation, nearly 600,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have suffered wounds that affect their ability to think.

Rand found that 300,00 returning veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or major depression, while another 320,000 thousand have sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury -- literally brain damage often caused by roadside bombs.

"When you're suffering form PTSD, you have all these triggers," said Walter Williams. "Sometimes you don't even realize the triggers. So you can be at work just doing your job and someone can make a movement or a gesture and just with muscle memory you might react."


Rest of article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-glantz/vets-battle-unemployment_b_367638.html



unhappycamper comment: Did you know that veterans:

* comprise 25% of the homeless population.
* comprise 25% of the incarcerated population.
* comprise at least 18% of the jobless population.

So much for 'Support Our Troops'.

I personally find all of the above disgusting.