If you ever judged Vietnam veterans, protested against them, called them names or regarded them as "crazy Nam Vet" here's your chance to apologize to them. When they came home, no one cared. No one was talking about treating the traumatized veterans differently than the general population that never once did anything like they did, went where they went, risked their lives facing what they faced, but now we know better. We see the men and women we send into combat as different from the rest of us for a reason. We know that justice demands their tours of duty be taken into consideration in deciding prison time or therapy. This is good but the fact remains in a perfect nation, they would never come home without the help they need waiting for them.
Incarcerated Veterans
In January 2000, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a special report on incarcerated veterans. The following are highlights of the report, "Veterans in Prison or Jail":
Over 225,000 veterans were held in U.S. prisons or jails in 1998.
Among adult males in 1998, there were 937 incarcerated veterans per 100,000 veteran residents.
1 in every 6 incarcerated veterans was not honorably discharged from the military.
About 20% of veterans in prison reported seeing combat duty during their military service.
In 1998, an estimated 56,500 Vietnam War-era veterans and 18,500 Persian Gulf War veterans were held in state and federal prisons.
Nearly 60% of incarcerated veterans had served in the Army.
Among state prisoners, over half (53%) of veterans were white non-hispanics, compared to nearly a third (31%) of non-veterans; among federal prisoners, the percentage of veterans who were white (50%) was nearly double that of non-veterans (26%).
Among state prisoners, the median age of veterans was 10 years older than that of other prison and jail inmates.
Among state prisoners, veterans (32%) were about 3 times more likely than non-veterans (11%) to have attended college.
Veterans are more likely than others to be in prison for a violent offense but less likely to be serving a sentence for drugs.
About 35% of veterans in state prison, compared to 20% of non-veterans, were convicted of homicide or sexual assault.
Veterans (30%) were more likely than other state prisoners (23%) to be first-time offenders.
Among violent state prisoners, the average sentence of veterans was 50 months longer than the average of non-veterans.
At year-end in 1997, sex offenders accounted for 1 in 3 prisoners held in military correctional facilities.
Combat veterans were no more likely to be violent offenders than other veterans.
Veterans in state prison reported higher levels of alcohol abuse and lower levels of drug abuse than other prisoners.
Veterans in state prison were less likely (26%) than other state prisoners (34%) to report having used drugs at the time of their offense.
Nearly 60% of veterans in state prison had driven drunk in the past, compared to 45% of other inmates.
About 70% of veterans, compared to 54% of other state prisoners, had been working full-time before arrest.
Incarcerated veterans were as likely as non-veterans to have been homeless when arrested.
http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm#incarcerated
We locked them up, let them end up homeless, let them be brought to the point where after surviving combat they didn't want to live longer back here in the states and then we topped that off with not wanting to give them jobs. History is repeating itself but at least more people in this country know about what is going on.
But we also let them end up homeless too.
Veteran-specific highlights from the USICH report include:
23% of the homeless population are veterans
33% of the male homeless population are veterans
47% served Vietnam-era
17% served post-Vietnam
15% served pre-Vietnam
67% served three or more years
33% were stationed in war zone
25% have used VA homeless services
85% completed high school/GED, compared to 56% of non-veterans
89% received an honorable discharge
79% reside in central cities
16% reside in suburban areas
5% reside in rural areas
76% experience alcohol, drug or mental health problems
46% are white males, compared to 34% of non-veterans
46% are age 45 or older, compared to 20% non-veterans
Service needs cited include:
45% need help finding a job
37% need help finding housing
How many homeless veterans are there?
Accurate numbers community-by-community are not available. Some communities do annual counts; others do an estimate based on a variety of factors. Contact the closest VA medical center's homeless coordinator, the office of your mayor, or another presiding official to get local information.
PTSD is finally becoming a common term. When you think of how far we've come when it comes to OEF and OIF veterans, we have to acknowledge that we owe the debt to the Vietnam veterans who came home and fought for all there is today for PTSD. We still have a very long way to go. Now there are Veterans Courts but they are not all over the country. This is one more example of what the need is.
From War to Prison: Veterans Caught in the Criminal Justice System
Tim King Salem-News.com
Documentary highlights conflicts between returning PTSD Combat Vets and a criminal justice system that often fails to consider their unique situation.
(LOS ANGELES) - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the impact this complex and misunderstood problem had on a young American's life is the subject of a hard driving documentary debuting online today called From War to Prison: Veterans Caught in the Criminal Justice System.
Nathan Keyes served two tours in Iraq during his 8 years in the U.S. Army. But when he came home from the war suffering from PTSD, everything went terribly wrong, and now this soldier is serving three years in prison.
His mom Jamie Keyes, says in his military service, her son followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncle; they both served in the military.
When Nathan came home from the war suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Jamie says didn’t know what to do for him.
"These boys don’t come home with an instruction booklet – how to deal with them, how to respond to them, and I knew almost nothing about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Keyes said in a report published by C. Peterson with Barrow County News in Georgia.
read more here
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april282010/in-their-boots.php
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