Sigh. This is truly sad. It’s really a shame we don’t support the troops once they come home.
TheStar.com – Many U.S. Iraq vets homeless
Many U.S. Iraq vets homeless
Some are poor, traumatized by war experiences
Jun. 24, 2006. 04:48 PM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — 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.
The reasons that contribute to the new wave of homelessness are many: some are unable to cope with life after daily encounters with insurgent attacks and roadside bombs; some can’t navigate government red tape; others simply don’t have enough money to afford a house or apartment.
They are living on the edge in towns and cities big and small from Washington state to Florida. But the hardest hit are in New York, because housing costs “can be very tough,” said Peter Dougherty, head of the Homeless Veterans Program at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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