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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 2012)
Street roots Jan. 6, 2012 VETERANS, from page 8 to Alison Hickey, Under Secretary for Benefits at the U.S. VA. “Those claims are coming in far more complex than we have experienced in past conflicts, largely for a good news reason,” Hickey said. “Our veterans are ... 10 times more likely to survive a major injury or illness and that’s a good thing, but that means that we are going to be taking care of many more people for some very serious injuries for a long time.” McNabb, in addition to his PTSD, suffered a traumatic brain injury, which has impaired his memory. Landau said they see many veterans with knee, back, shoulder and neck injuries as a result of the 80 to 100 pounds of equipment they carry on missions - injuries not outwardly apparent as combat related. Donovan said there is an increased risk of substance abuse in U.S. veterans who suffer debilitating injuries because doctors often prescribe potentially addictive painkillers. John Alford, 57, turned to the bottle after serving in Northern Ireland. Blinded in one eye by a nail bomb during his service with the First Gloucestershire Regiment, he saw two colleagues shot by snipers. “You can never forget something like that,” he said. “After I left the army, I found it difficult to fit in and settle anywhere, and drink becomes something you suppress it all with. I lost a lot through it. I’ve been married four times.” Alford is sober now and is establishing a new life, assisted by the Forces Self Build Scheme in Bristol, a program that is helping ex-service personnel build their own housing. Such grassroots initiatives, national veterans’ charities and government agencies have launched scores of programs in recent years to help military personnel with everything from housing to job training and advice. Many also connect veterans with veterans to give them a new sense of community and common experience. Angell says many of the staff at the VA’s 300 centers across the United States are former combat veterans like McNabb who understand the trauma of life under fire. ryan Green, 64, a former staff sergeant in the UK’s Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers, found it hard to adapt to civilian life after a quarter century in the military and suffered a breakdown three years ago. He finds the sense of belonging at Norcare’s veterans’ center invaluable. “It takes a long time to re-adjust. Bills and everything else have been done for you, so you don’t have a clue. And you’re not part of a team. Suddenly the army is B gone. A door has been shut in your life,” Green said. “When I can talk about these things with these guys, people who have been through the same things, it means a lot. ... Bills and everything else have been done for you, so you don’t have a clue. And you’re not part of a team. Suddenly the army is gone” Phil Quesnelle, recently released from the Canadian Forces on disability after receiving a diagnosis of PTSD, sits on the board of the South Mid Vancouver Island Zone Veterans Housing Society, which founded a transitional residence devoted to ex-service personnel struggling to find shelter. He also acts as a peer counselor, offering others the benefit of his experience. “It’s not a switch you can turn on or off,” Quesnelle said. “But people expect you to go back to normal over the span of that 10-hour flight back to Canada. It doesn’t work that way and people just don’t understand it.” Conscious of the disproportionate numbers of ex-service personnel in the ranks of U.S. unemployed, the VA has hired 400 formerly homeless veterans to act as peer counselors for those trying to find work. They coach on resumes, talk through interviews and are at the end of a telephone to give support through the sometimes stressful early days on a new job. It has also set up a new human resources office that helps job-seekers translate their work in the military into civilian job skills along with guidance on applications. “We’re being very proactive because honestly since poverty is the definer of the pathway to homelessness, if at least we can drop that unemployment rate for our newest veterans coming back, that should be a big prevention strategy,” said the VA’s Angell. The VA also negotiates with lenders to help veterans who can’t afford rent, and says its efforts kept 9 percent more veterans in their homes last year compared to prior years. “It can be quite expensive to try to get someone who has been chronically homeless for many years off the street and stabilized, compared to what it might take to prevent it,” Angell said. “You can help someone with two months’ rent, compared to what it would cost in 10 years to help this person get off the street and deal with other health issues.” Hugh Milroy, who served in the first Gulf War and is now CEO of UK charity Veterans Aid, believes veterans are actually “citizens-plus” in Britain, with the government as well as 3,000 charities offering support. He worries that too much focus on the homelessness issue may brand veterans as victims. He agrees the situation is tougher in the United States, in part because of the absence of universal health care and a strong social safety net. Denmark’s support for its returnees is not as pronounced as in some other countries, according to street newspaper "Those claim s are coming la far more complex than we have experienced la past conflicts^ largely for a good news reason. Our veterans are ... 10 times more lik e ly to survive a m ajor In ju ry or illness and that's a good thing, but that means that we are going to be taking care of many more people for some very serious Injuries for a long tim e /' ™ ~ ALISOM HtC«¥ U N D E R S E C R E T A R Y F O R B E N E F IT S A T T H E U N IT E D S T A T E S D E P A R T M E N T O F V E T E R A N S A FFSA RS Hus Forbi. The Ministry of Defence there puts returning soldiers through a three- month acclimatization program. Six months after their return, they are asked to fill out a questionnaire. One-third of veterans never reply. Donovan of the National Coalition for the Homeless in the United States says the increases in funding under the Obama administration will inevitably reduce the number of veterans on the streets, but he worries Congress may turn its attention elsewhere once the United States has withdrawn from Iraq. “We’re a country suffering from ADD. and when we aren’t at war we’re going to stop thinking about veterans and we’re going to think about something else,” Donovan said. The key, he said, is ensuring that enough permanent housing is built via programs like the VA’s Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program, where veterans get vouchers for housing organized by local housing authorities in the United States. “It reminds me of antibiotics,” Donovan said. “If you give somebody two doses the first day and another dose and another dose and all of a sudden they start feeling better and you don’t give them the last three days, what happens? The person’s going to get sick again and when it comes back, it’s going to be medically resistant, it’s going to be treatment-resistant. That’s what happens with these populations. You don’t solve the problem. You pour tons of money into it, you pay attention to it, but you don’t solve the problem and it becomes socially resistant.” A dditional reporting by Joanne Zuhl/Street Roots, Portland; Yvonne Robertson/ Megaphone Canada; A dam Forrest/The B ig Issue UK; Sim on A nkjœ rgaard/H us Forbi and Danielle Batist/Street News Service. as part o f a full weekend o f activities VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR ALL THE DETAILS! http://sistersoftheroad.org/ w w w . sis to rso fth Genevieve Nelson Aw ard recipient will be honored at peaceroots during M L K weekend SISTERS OF THE ROAD C Sr 133 N W 6th Ave. Portland, Oregon 97209 503-222-5694 Humana Tea by Aaron Randazzo This seemingly dual being, humanity Distraught with thought, placated with vanity Murmurs in the wind may help us to see Mankind is drinking from a bad cup of tea A journey to nowhere can seem so long Simply ignore the “right” and “wrong” The human spirit, so lost and oblong Need only listen to a dove’s gentle song: “See the still tree ... be still Feel the kind Earth ... be kind Know the silent spider ... be silent Love being ... be loved” Rain upon reign with chants Meanings we soulfully incant Spare the intellectual rants Connect spiritually like the ants Question authority for its deceitful glamour Dampened by thought, driven by clamor Build trust in the Mother of all things Who shakes the Earth, dances and sings: ‘Welcome home!’ Check out Street Roots Vendor Sam Al-Jondi's new book, "Code of Conduct." Al-Jondl writes about his experiences and offers a fresh aerspective about the world we ive in. The books can be purchased at the Multnomah County Central Library on SW 10th Ave, on Kindle, Amazon, and for $10 through Street Roots at 211 NW Davis St, Portland, OR 97209.
