Vets living on Canadian streets like leaving someone behind on battlefield

Vets living on Canadian streets like leaving 'someone bleeding on the battlefield
The Canadian Press

The weathered, beret-wearing veteran is a constant image on Remembrance Day.

Proud elderly men and women, their chests adorned with long rows of medals, will gather at cenotaphs across the country this Nov. 11 to pay tribute to their fallen comrades and soak up the adulation of a grateful public.

Few Canadians will give a thought to the veterans who are filling lines at soup kitchens and crowding beds at homeless shelters - those who ended their military service so psychologically scarred that it was impossible to fit back into life at home.

Their marriages have broken down, they have fallen into cycles of substance abuse and addiction.

Now they are on the street.

Although other countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have programs and special shelters for homeless veterans, advocates such as retired colonel Patrick Stogran say Canada has ignored the problem.

Warriors come back from combat without the proper support, he says.
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