Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 24. juni 2006 / Time Line June 24, 2006
Version 3.506/24/2006
Many U.S. Iraq War vets return to homelessness
But Dougherty makes no secret of a truth few Americans know: about
one- quarter of all homeless adults in America have served in the
military - most of them minority veterans.
There are now about 200,000 homeless vets in the United States,
government figures show.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/24062006/2/world-u-s-iraq-war-vets-return
- homelessness.html
NEW YORK (AP) - As a member of the U.S. army National Guard, Nadine
Beckford patrolled New York City train stations after Sept. 11,
2001 with a 9 mm pistol, then served a treacherous year in
Iraq.
Now, six months after returning, Beckford lives in a homeless
shelter.
"I'm just an ordinary person who served. I'm not embarrassed about
my homelessness because the circumstances that created it were not
my fault," said Beckford, 30, who was a military- supply specialist
at a base in Iraq that was a sitting duck for around-the-clock
attacks.
Thousands of U.S. veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are
facing a new nightmare - the risk of homelessness. The U.S.
government estimates several hundred vets who fought in Iraq and
Afghanistan are homeless on any given night across the country,
although the exact number is unknown.
Long before the current war, the Homeless Veterans Program had
guided men and women back into daily life after service n Vietnam,
Korea and the Second World War. But Dougherty makes no secret of a
truth few Americans know: about one- quarter of all homeless adults
in America have served in the military - most of them minority
veterans.
There are now about 200,000 homeless vets in the United States,
government figures show.
"In recent years, we've tried to reach out sooner to new veterans
who are having problems with post-traumatic stress, depression or
substance abuse, after seeing combat," said Dougherty.
"These are the veterans who most often end up homeless."
Across the country, 350 non-profit service organizations are
working with Veterans Affairs to provide a network that breaks the
veterans' fall.
But they still land on a hard bottom line: almost one-half of the
2.7 million disabled U.S. veterans receive $337 or less a month in
benefits, the VA's Veterans Benefits Administration said.
Fewer than one-10th of them are rated 100-per-cent disabled,
meaning they receive $2,393 a month, tax free.
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