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The Veterans Multi-Purpose
Center has provided housing
for homeless veterans with
substance abuse problems for
the last 15 years with out
government assistance.
We are now partnered with
other non-profit
organizations to provide
Homeless Housing management,
Individual Case Management
and Recovery Programs for
veterans making the
transition from the street
to shelter to Independent
Housing.
We all have a vision of
homeless veterans, the cause
and so-forth. I want to tell
our story this way.
Wednesday, August 03,
2005
Support the Troops:
Especially When They Come
Back with Substance Abuse
Problems
Published on Tuesday, August
2, 2005 - by Tony
Everyday I pass homeless
people on the subway and
streets. Many of them hold
up signs saying that they
served in the Vietnam War.
Sometimes I don't allow
myself to think about it. I
hand them a dollar and go
back to reading my
newspaper. When I do think
about it, I try to imagine
what these veterans have
seen and been through.
What is it like to be shot
at during war and know that
any day may be your last?
How does one deal with the
pain of having friends
killed in your arms? What
does killing other human
beings do to your emotional
stability?
It is not hard to imagine
how these experiences lead
to self-medication and drug
addiction. How could you not
try to numb out the pain
that must accompany fighting
in a war? When passing
homeless people, it seems
clear that some of them have
spent years dealing with
substance abuse and mental
illness.
I have been thinking about
our current war in Iraq and
wondering what the impact
will be on the men and women
fighting there. I get a
shiver down my spine when I
imagine what it would be
like for me to leave my
fiancée and family, depart
the city I love and go fight
in Iraq! It is horrifying to
think of shooting at other
human beings, seeing
families getting blown up in
cars and houses, feeling
bullets whiz by me, seeing
explosives take off the leg
or arm of a close buddy. I
couldn't do it.
Seeing many Vietnam Veterans
with mental problems who are
often self-medicating with
drugs, I have hypothesized
that veterans from the Iraq
war, many who are going
through similar horrors,
will also have similar
problems with drug abuse.
Many of us struggle with
dependency on cigarettes,
marijuana and alcohol, while
attempting to cope with the
pressures of our hectic
lives, and obviously our
problems are nothing
compared to people coming
back from Iraq missing a
limb.
According to the military
publication Stars and
Stripes, my hunches are
correct. In a July 25th
story they report that
alcohol and other drug use
problems are common
throughout the forces in
Iraq. "Some of the young
soldiers just can't handle
the stress and turn to
alcohol or drugs to
self-medicate", said
military defense lawyer
Capt. Chris Krafchek.
Today in a story by the
Associated Press, the Army's
Surgeon General said that a
survey of troops returning
from the Iraq war found 30
percent had developed mental
health problems three to
four months after coming
home.
What is going to happen to
all of these people who are
suffering from depression
and suicidal thoughts? Many
will end up using drugs, as
many of us civilians do. Now
on top of everything else
going on, many of these
people are going to have to
worry about getting caught
with drugs and being
arrested. Our prisons are
already filled with
non-violent drug offenders,
many serving mandatory
sentences of 15 years to
life for small amounts of
drugs. Service members being
incarcerated and separated
from their families because
of a drug addition that is a
result to fighting in Iraq
will be yet one more
instance of "collateral
damage" of this war.
It is easy for people to buy
a bumper sticker and demand
that we "Support our
Troops". If we are going to
walk the talk, we better be
ready to offer compassion
and treatment.
HELP IS WHAT WE OFFER
HOMELESS VETERANS WITH
SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROBLEMS AT
THE VETERANS MULTI-PURPOSE
CENTER |
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