A Velvet Hammer
Since others here are offering various tunes I’d like to offer something new that, for better or worse, captures a thing worth sharing.
I’ve seen those faces, but some of the charities referenced at the end are suspect – to me anyway. Also I wanna hope that the numbers mentioned in this tune are way wrong.
This group has been there and done that, the songs in their playlist will attest.
Category: Geezer Alert!
I too hope the numbers they reel off in that video are not true, however, even 1 homeless veteran is 1 too many.
The divorce numbers are pretty accurate though. I’ve known more than 1 person whose relationship was destroyed by deployments, as I am sure others here know as well.
In any case, Thanx for the downer Zero. 🙂 Love ya brother, but dam that’s depressing if even half true.
Wish I could disagree with your assessment. I couldn’t watch it all the way though at first, now i can’t get out of my head.
The discussion certainly needs to be had. We need to insist that the discussion extend beyond our echo chamber.
Reading through some of the comments with the video, it seems that this group is already doing quite a lot for veterans.
Watching the evening news and just saw on the news ticker that the Head of the Pheonix VA hospital, has received their pink slip. So looks like some heads are begining to roll, lets hope they keep rolling until the problems are fixed and our brothers and sisters fimally get the care they deserve!
These guys came to Iraq when I was over there – the PAO kept briefing their upcoming trip in the BDE morning BUB for a couple weeks before the show, and the CDR just ate it up morning after morning, because the name is so hilariously over the top…many thanks to these guys for coming out to see us…
Back around 2004, there was a big push up here where I live to “count” all the homeless veterans. It was done by the Baldacci administration (very anti-Bush and very leftist) as a means to help John Kerry and show that Bush didn’t care about veterans, yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, there were a surprising number of homeless veterans trotted about for pix, comments, etc. I recognized 3 fellows who most definitely were NOT veterans. They came into our local soup kitchen regularly and apparently were “paid” to show up and say they were veterans. Whoever organized the local folks here tossed them a couple boonie hats and cammo shirts and gave them a free lunch, free transport to Portland and some folding money. They were bragging about it the next week (the fake veterans that is). There was another fellow interviewed who, when asked which outfit he served with started out with “It don’t matter, man.” and when pressed, said he served “with the engineer company.” The interviewer asked which company, and this guy said something to the effect “There is only one engineer company, man.” He then turned away and merged into the crowd. Obviously, like at Gathering of Eagles in DC, there were a number of fake veterans among the marchers. A.N.S.W.E.R. was also there, with their red berets and Mao/Che shirts, organizing things and helping guys “get their stories straight for the press.” I know that there are homeless vets. I know one locally who I try to help when he lets me. However, in my experience the majority are homeless guys claiming to be vets in order to gain sympathy and handouts. They’re the original stolen valor guys, and many have been at it for decades. Folks need to remember that a number of homeless folks are homeless by choice, or because of self-inflicted wounds like alcohol or drug abuse, and a number due to mental problems. I get that, and we need to understand that a number don’t WANT help, per se. Then there’s also the folks who intentionally inflate the numbers because it’s in… Read more »
Bingo, AW1 Tim. I simply don’t trust the numbers regarding “homeless vets” you see bandied about by the VA, VSOs, the media, anyone – AT ALL. There are entirely too many damned liars out there claiming to be vets for prestige/bennies/cash/handouts.
I’d not be surprised if that turned out to be between 1/4 to 1/2 of the total. None of the groups throwing those numbers out there are worth a damn when it comes to spotting fakes. Hell, it’s not in their interest to do that. More “demand” (even if it’s bogus demand due to fraud) means they have a better argument for more tax/other dollars to “fix the problem” – and it guarantees their own jobs.