From the Ranks to the Street (Homeless Vets)

[Barrett808]

From the Ranks to the Street
Sat May 29, 7:55 AM ET
By Jocelyn Y. Stewart Times Staff Writer

After the homecomings are over and the yellow ribbons packed away, many who once served in America's armed forces may end up sleeping on sidewalks.

This is the often-unacknowledged postscript to military service. According to the federal government, veterans make up 9% of the U.S. population but 23% of the homeless population. Among homeless men, veterans make up 33%.

Their ranks included veterans like Peter Starks and Calvin Bennett, who spent nearly 30 years on the streets of Los Angeles, homeless and addicted.

Or Vannessa Turner of Boston, who returned injured from Iraq (news - web sites) last summer, unable to find healthcare or a place to live.

Or Ken Saks, who lost his feet because of complications caused by Agent Orange, then lost his low-rent Santa Barbara apartment in an ordeal that began when a neighbor complained about his wheelchair ramp.

"I'm 56 years old," Saks said. "I don't want to die in the streets…. This is what our are coming home to? They're going to live a life like I have? God bless them."

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20040529/ts_latimes/fromtherankstothestreet

[Eloriel]

1. And now we're creating a whole new generation

It's shameful.

Veterans Affairs and Homeless Vets is one of Cynthia McKinney's key agendas, which I've always been very proud of her about.

[Soloflecks]

2. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

"Or Ken Saks, who lost his feet because of complications caused by Agent Orange, then lost his low-rent Santa Barbara apartment in an ordeal that began when a neighbor complained about his wheelchair ramp."

Not only do the govt agencies charged with helping veterans not care; neither do the people back home these war ravaged men and women thought they were protecting. Gawd! Let those pampered armchair warriors try to live on the street for just one day and see if they could handle it.