Guest-blogger Roxanne here.
An article that originally appeared at CSM and republished yesterday at Military.com illustrates just how much we Americans support our fighting women and men in the armed services. Here’s a snip:
Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are now showing up in the nation’s homeless shelters.
While the numbers are still small, they’re steadily rising, and raising alarms in both the homeless and veterans’ communities. The concern is that these returning veterans – some of whom can’t find jobs after leaving the military, others of whom are still struggling psychologically with the war – may be just the beginning of an influx of new veterans in need. Currently, there are 150,000 troops in Iraq and 16,000 in Afghanistan. More than 130,000 have already served and returned home.
So far, dozens of them, like Herold Noel, a married father of three, have found themselves sleeping on the streets, on friends’ couches, or in their cars within weeks of returning home. Two years ago, Black Veterans for Social Justice (BVSJ) in the borough of Brooklyn, saw only a handful of recent returnees. Now the group is aiding more than 100 Iraq veterans, 30 of whom are homeless.
“It’s horrible to put your life on the line and then come back home to nothing, that’s what I came home to: nothing. I didn’t know where to go or where to turn,” says Mr. Noel. “I thought I was alone, but I found out there are a whole lot of other soldiers in the same situation. Now I want people to know what’s really going on.”
This is part of what makes Jonah Goldberg’s excuse for not serving –yet supporting the war so vociferously that to liken him to a feverish, frothing mad dog would be a compliment– so unbelievably shameful. In case you missed it, here:
As for why my sorry a** isn’t in the kill zone, lots of people think this is a searingly pertinent question. No answer I could give — I’m 35 years old, my family couldn’t afford the lost income, I have a baby daughter, my a** is, er, sorry, are a few — ever seem to suffice.
No, Jonah. No excuse you could give would suffice.
When people say they “support the troops,” what exactly do they mean?