The Nation’s First Homeless Veteran of the Invasion of Iraq Speaks Out

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Sgt. Vannessa Turner was one of approximately 150,000 American soldiers fighting in Baghdad.

On May 18, she collapsed due to the severe 130-degree heat. Her body was full of mosquito bites. She fell into a coma and nearly died. Turner was airlifted for treatment in Germany and was further treated in Washington D.C. until she was released on July 10. She came back to her so-called "hometown" in Boston and faced a new battle. She was unable to receive treatment for damaged nerves in her leg. She was unable to have her possessions shipped to her from her military base in Germany. She and her 15 year-old daughter are homeless.

On her return, she was told by the local Veterans Affairs hospital that she needed to wait close to 3 months to see a doctor. When she attempted to secure a veteran’s loan for a house in Boston, brokers told her that her only option was to move to Springfield or Worcester.

In the past week, things have changed. Through political pressure from Senator Kennedy’s office (and Sen. Kerry's, as well), Vannessa has now been able to see a doctor in the Veteran’s hospital and is expecting her first disability check. But even with recent media attention and political struggle, she is still having trouble finding a home.

Please listen to her story on Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/02/1416256

[Cha]

1. When will they learn? How many Vietnam Vets and Gulf Vets

are Homeless?

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3. Veterans for Peace says

While no one can determine the precise number of homeless veterans in America, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates that more than 275,000 veterans are homeless on any given night and at least 500,000 are homeless at some time during the year. With such a great need, the VA reports that it is currently only able to reach about 10 percent of these vets with the assistance they require. This means that nearly 460,000 vets remain homeless and unassisted.

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Honoring_ou_nations_053003.htm

[Cha]

4. See! this is unacceptable! I think one of the first jobs of the

New President should be to make sure all our Vets have Homes!

I mean my God...what happened to the GI Bill?

[karlschneider]

6. The GI Bill? Dubya won't pay it.

:grr:

[Cha]

7. Exactly!

[Champion Jack]

10. Which is why he must go

Now!

[ObaMania]

2. Hey...

.. where are the million dollar offers for her story? Or Shoshana(?) Johnson's for that matter? These are the real stories, the real casualties of the cabal's oil grab.

It makes me sick to see a Government that does not take care of the brave men and women that take care of them.

Vetrans should be outraged! Instead, I see them show up at whistleasses' lame speeches and wave flags and cheer him on. What an f'd up world we live in!

[Cha]

5. You're right about that! "f'd up world we live in"! But it's gonna

change! Our national nightmare will, at least be, on the wane, soon!

[bigtree]

8. f**ked up war

[Nashyra]

9. Is there a place to send donations?

If Lynch can get a million dollar book deal is there anything set up so some of us can maybe send donations in the name of "against the Whistle Ass and Support for the Troops"

[Divernan]

12. Send donations for Vanessa & her dtr. c/o Sen. Kennedy

I think it would be a great thing to do - even $5, made payable to her, with a note enclosed: "With thanks for your sacrifice from a member of the Democratic Underground", or maybe "from a patriotic Democrat who supports our troops but not the war. You know at a military funeral the color guard folds up the American flag on top of the casket into a neat triangle and the ranking officer hands it to the spouse or parent or closest relative, saying "With thanks from a grateful nation."
Whatever, this single mom put her life on the line and has gone through hell. My check is going in the mail tomorrow.

[proud patriot]

11. Now this pisses me off

Thank you Kerry and Kennedy for helping out

[bigtree]

13. don't forget Fisher House

Fisher House Foundation, Inc. / Fisher Houses provide a "home-away-from-home" for service members and their families while a loved one is hospitalized at the military's major medical centers. Your donation of commissary gift certificates(http://www.commissaries.com/certificheck/index.htm) will enable Fisher House to ease the burden for families at a most stressful time in their lives.

You can purchase commisary gift certificates at the same link and designate them to Sgt. Vanessa Turner.

[izzie]

14. How can they be so thick when you know this will get out?

Is it they just do not care?

[Karenina]

15. This story has BEEN OUT

This thread is dropping like a stone...
MOST of America just ignores it as it has ignored the horrible plight of Veterans from my generation. That was 30 some years ago. I wonder how many Viet Nam Vets have been on the street ALL THIS TIME.

[Divernan]

16. Can't remeber what percentage of homeless are vets, but its large.

This is one of the statistics which the VA will not bother to gather

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17. VA says,

About one-third of the adult homeless population have served their country in the Armed Services. On any given day, as many as 250,000 veterans (male and female) are living on the streets or in shelters, and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year. Many other veterans are considered near homeless or at risk because of their poverty, lack of support from family and friends, and dismal living conditions in cheap hotels or in overcrowded or substandard housing.

Right now, the number of homeless male and female Vietnam era veterans is greater than the number of service persons who died during that war -- No numbers for Persian Gulf Vets are available.
http://www.va.gov/homeless/

National Coalition for Homeless Veterans says,
With an estimated 500,000 veterans homeless, at some time during a year, the VA reaches less than 10% of those in need ... leaving 460,000 veterans still without services.
http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm#facts

Anyhow, here's my homelessness links page.
http://www.returningsoldiers.us/housing.htm
Got any I can add?

[shrike]

20. one of my in-laws says

She remembers the large numbers of homeless and indigent veterans in the wake of World War II. She remembers them from her neighborhood; none of them were dangerous, they just spent a lot of time staring that 1,000-yard stare. It was a subject that nobody talked about.

[graham67]

18. Why?

Why does it take 3 months to see a doctor at a VA hospital? OMG, this is just outrageous.

[bigtree]

21. a reason?

~Estimates are that there will be over 700,000 more veterans in 2003 than projected. The House has announced more than 28 billion in cuts in mandatory Veterans Administration programs over the next 10 years. That represents over 10 billion dollars in cuts in veteran's health care.
~90% of the Veteran Administration spending goes for monthly payments for veterans and survivors. The rest goes for hospitals, doctors, nurses, rehabilitation, training, counseling, etc. 75% of the Medical Care budget is spent on these support services.
~.The Veteran's Administration has recently announced that it will be cutting health benefits for 174,000 veterans who make more than 30,000 a year. Some, 15 billion will be cut from disability payments and pensions. 900 million to be cut from VA hospitals. 659 million is to be cut from the amount needed to keep pace with veteran's benefits in the 2002 budget.
~A veteran who applies for enrollment on or after January 17, 2003, and is assigned to Priority Group 8, will not be accepted for enrollment. Veterans in Priority Group 8 have incomes that exceed $24,644 in 2003 for a single veteran and $29,576 for a veteran with one dependent.
~Also, this administration and this Congress would impose a 250% increase in the cost of medications. The co-pay was $2, it was increased to $7 and now this would increase the co-pay to $15 a month.
~A majority of retired veterans make only 1,100 to 1,200 a month. Veterans make up at least 30 to 40% of the nation's homeless.

Although the VA's medical budget has increased by $8.3 billion in the past seven years, the agency's spending on each patient has decreased by $624. Bush had proposed a $250 enrollment fee for new veterans and was rebuffed by Congress. There is currently no fee to enroll.

All of these damaging cuts are a national shame. Every one of our soldiers who would give his or her life for this country enlisted with a promise from our government that our country would take care of their health and welfare needs, and those of their families with the same level of committment they would give our country on the battlefield.

According to: Steve Robinson, of the National Gulf War Resource Center-http://www.ngwrc.org/
~697,000 served in the first Gulf War;

~320,000 veterans who deployed in the first Gulf War have sought medical treatment from the VA;

~214,000 veterans who deployed to the first Gulf War have filed for disability;

~167,000 veterans who deployed to the first Gulf War have had their claim approved;

~40,000 veterans who deployed have had their claim denied;

~22,000 veterans have a claim pending

[RevolutionStartsNow]

19. This is outrageous

Especially when you consider how many more stories just like this we can expect when the rest of the troops come back.

Glad Sen. Kennedy and Kerry were able to help out, but the system has to change.

[SpiralHawk]

22. Vets get screwed in every war

Check back on the American Revolution and the subsequent Shay's Rebellion. Vets got screwed after the Civil War, The War to End all Wars (WW I) - in the 1930s vets protesting in DC had their butts brutally brutally by active duty troops under orders).

So it ain't just WW II, The korean "conflict", Vietnam, and Gulf Wars I and II -- it's all of them. This abuse is a clear pattern.