They Served 'You', Country, Honorably!!

Hispanic/Latino's as well as Non-Citizens from many heritages, walks of life, religious ideologies, many becoming citizens during their service some choosing not to.

CiC's - People Served - War - Veterans Of - Vietnam to Iran Nuclear Diplomacy

DeJa-Vu: “With no shared sacrifices being asked of civilians after Sept. 11", All Over Again!!

“Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” VA Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.” 27 March 2013

Collateral Damage

Almost 50% of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are African-American

July 17, 2015 - Evidence of homelessness is easy to come by in Austin – drive past Downtown and witness a line of people waiting to access services at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH). It's an unavoidable reality for any large U.S. city, but especially one like Austin, where affordable housing is scarce and the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

Within that population, one group is continually overrepresented: According to an Aus­tin Ending Community Homelessness Coa­li­tion (ECHO) report, as of January 2015, about 20% of Austin's homeless are veterans, a higher percentage than is found in any other area in Texas. (Nationwide, about 7.3% of the U.S. population has served or is serving in the military, and about 12% of the homeless population are veterans.) Veterans are not only more likely to become homeless, but are also more likely to stay on the streets longer than the average homeless person. And within that group, yet another group is overrepresented: Almost 50% of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are African-American.

According to Megan Podowski, who runs the supportive housing program at Caritas of Austin, the city's housing problem carries extra weight with veterans. "That's our biggest barrier in Austin. We're at a 98% occupancy rate, so landlords can and are charging well above fair market value. [The landlords] can be extremely picky, with any tiny blemish. We're not even talking about major criminal history all the time. If you don't have a spotless rental history, and if you've paid late a couple of times," she says, an applicant risks being rejected.

A Growing Problem

While veterans of recent wars have had lower homelessness rates compared to other vets, those numbers are rising. The majority of homeless veterans are male, suffer from mental illness or recurring disorders, abuse drugs and/or alcohol, and are from and live in lower-income areas. read more>>>

Our long time, us Vietnam, all combat theater, Veterans conservative nemesis: Sally Satel Still Selling Care for PTSD Veterans is Waste of Money

Chris Hayes: "If you can run a deficit to go to war, you can run a deficit to take care of the people who fought it" In response to Republican, long ago lost as the party of Lincoln and not just as to us Veterans, opposition to expanding Veterans' benefits on fiscal grounds

Sen. Bernie Sanders told Conservatives: “If you can’t afford to take care of your veterans, than don’t go war. These people are bearing the brunt of what war is about, We have a moral obligation to support them.” February, 26th, 2014

Neither of these recent very long war theaters, OEF and OIF, have yet been paid for, nor the continued blowback from the spread and growth from the policies implemented!
Neither the long term results from, including the long ignored or outright denied existence of, till this Administrations Cabinet and Gen Shinseki, only Government branch consistent for the past six years, Veterans issues from!
As well as under deficits most of the, grossly under funded for decades and the wars from now, VA budget is still borrowed, with interest, thus added problem creating costs, with representative who control the purse strings blaming the mostly dedicated VA personal within, that shouldn't exist!