Why Does Johnny Come Marcing Homeless:

[dtotire]

Send this to Bill O'Reilly



Soldier On is staffed entirely by homeless veterans. A handful who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan, usually six or seven at a time, mix with dozens from Vietnam. Its president, Jack Downing, has spent nearly four decades working with addicts, the homeless and the mentally ill.

Next spring, he plans to open a limited-equity cooperative in the western Massachusetts city of Pittsfield. Formerly homeless veterans will live there, with half their rents going into individual deposit accounts.

Downing is convinced that ushering homeless veterans back into homeownership is the best way out of the pattern of homelessness that has repeated itself in an endless loop, war after war.

''It's a disgrace,'' Downing says. ''You have served your country, you get damaged, and you come back and we don't take care of you. And we make you prove that you need our services.''

''And how do you prove it?'' he continues, voice rising in anger. ''You prove it by regularly failing until you end up in a system where you're identified as a person in crisis. That has shocked me.''

Even as the nation gains a much better understanding of the types of post-traumatic stress disorders suffered by so many thousands of veterans -- even as it learns the lessons of Vietnam and tries to learn the lessons of Iraq -- it is probably impossible to foretell a day when young American men and women come home from wars unscarred.

At least as long as there are wars.


This is from the third page:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Homeless-on-the-Homefront.html?pagewanted=3

[fenriswolf]

1. marching has an h fyi good article though.