Reply #2: Makes sense in a way... [View All]

[Maine_Nurse]

I'd be willing to bet most of them are Marine and Army vets, and probably predominantly combat arms troops.

I was homeless for a few weeks a couple years after I got out. It wasn't that big a deal to me. I slept in worse places and ate worse food while in the military than while on the streets. I think most non-veterans see it as a horrendous thing and will do anything to avoid it. I'd guess the vets see it as less of a threat to survival, and have probably endured far worse. In my case, I knew I had a job coming up and just didn't have enough to rent a place in the meantime. There were places I could have gotten some assistance, but the paperwork and bullshit was so bad I said screw it.

Some of my volunteer work is now at a homeless shelter and even though we have a lot of homeless vets, we don't have that many come in for beds unless it is down at zero F or below. Some of those that do come in for placement help, end up getting fed up with the bureaucratic crap and just head back out on their own. I'd expect to see even more and more of that as our current crop of combat vets return. Being homeless is pretty minor compared to what they've already survived.