Homeless Veterans

     One thing I've never understood about veterans is how they become homeless. While working in Philadelphia for two summers, I saw many homeless people, and at least 25% of them claimed to be veterans. Some of them had missing limbs or were otherwise disabled, and it was amazing to me that someone who risked their life for our country could be left on the street to suffer.
     Transitioning from active combat to normal civilian life can be extremely difficult, especially for those who suffer from PTSD or physical disabilities. Although some veterans are able to find jobs without much trouble, others are left searching. Some choose to pursue careers like Firefighting and Law Enforcement, which have similar ranks and training systems to the military, but others have limited education and are unable to find work.
    According to an article on Military.com, one of the biggest factors that causes veterans to become homeless is their inability to responsibly handle finances. According to the article, veterans are "less familiar with household budgets, more likely to be targets for predatory lenders and “may not have the opportunity to learn the skills necessary for being financially independent and managing money." According to a statistic from Veterans, Inc., approximately 33% of homeless males are veterans. Although there are other factors, educating veterans and other military personnel about financial responsibility would be a fairly easy and inexpensive way to address and help reduce the amount of homeless or otherwise financially unstable veterans.
     The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hopes to end veteran homelessness by 2015, saying that "no one who has served our country should ever go without a safe, stable place to call home" (VA). Although some may see this as improbable, everyone can agree that no veteran should be left on the streets, ignored by most. With help from government funding, donations, and volunteers, perhaps eventually homeless veterans will become a thing of the past.

Sexual Assault: The Victims and the court system

     While working on the "Problem" project where Kristen Wolfe and I focused on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in returning veterans, we made some interesting discoveries. One of the soldiers we talked to, Major Jon Black, told us that since he has retired from active duty, one of his new responsibilities involves dealing with sexual assault in the military. According to Black, it is much more prevalent in the military than one would expect. He says it happens in many different forms (male assaulting female, male assaulting male, female assaulting male, female assaulting female), and male victims often have the hardest time talking about their experiences.
     According to The Daily Beast, 26,000 military personnel reported being victims of sexual assault in 2012. This information was obtained using an anonymous survey, and greatly differs from information provided by the Pentagon, which only accounts for 3,374 cases in 2012. Some say this is due to the military withholding information, but the problem goes deeper than that.
     When it comes to sexual assault, military commanders have the power to decide which cases get investigated and go to trial, and which ones do not. Therefore, if a military commander is a perpetrator of sexual assault or wants to protect someone who is, they can choose not to send the case to trial. The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate Armed Services Committee are working to pass new bills that could change sexual assault in the military forever. These bills would "strip commanders of their ability to overturn jury convictions, install civilian review of decisions to not prosecute cases, mandate dishonorable discharge or dismissal for anyone convicted of sexual assault, make it a crime to retaliate against victims who report a sexual assault, require commanders to include sexual harassment in performance evaluations to track and prevent further misconduct, eliminate the statute of limitations in these cases, and many others" (USA Today). However, some are fighting these new bills, saying that stripping the commanders of their power over these cases would "risk decreasing the level of accountability in the process."
     Luckily for victims, the government shutdown has not impacted their ability to get help with these issues. The Pentagon, home to the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO), has determined that those who work with sexual assault victims are essential to the military's efforts. According to ThinkProgress, Victim services available through the DoD Safe Helpline are uninterrupted at SafeHelpline.org