I think I read awhile back some studies on the homeless population in Phoenix which is substantial. The percentage of the homeless that were addicted to drugs, alcohol and exhibited mental health issues was about 9 % . The rest were men women and children who had fallen victim to unemployment and other causes of poverty separate from the view that most homeless were simply druggie and booze bums. A popular perception held by the conservative majority in this state.
At least 2,250 of Canada’s veterans are homeless due to alcoholism, drugs and mental
- Thread starter B00Mer
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I certainly wouldn't bet my first born on that statement. I think there's a perception (possibly quite accurate) that extreme stress is more prevalent among soldiers, marines etc. than among waitresses!
I don't know the answer to the following, but it's worth asking. How does the extreme stress of the soldier compare to the prolonged stress of his children.
The soldier's stress might be short-lived,let's say the few-years duration of a war. Even ten years would be short'lived compared to what I'll mention below.
Now his child might be emotionally or otherwise abused by his father as a result of his father's PTSD perhaps from birth right up until he leaves home at 18.
The father might have the advantage of having developed a healthy mind prior to going to war. The child has no such benefit, no alternative experiential point of reference, that stress being the norm for him. While the father might be aware of how the war changed him the child has no experience of a trauma-free past.
Of course there are simplification here. If his grandfather also suffered PTSD, then his father might also have been raised in a traumatic environment. Being raised suffering from Transgenerational trauma and then going off to war himself would likely exacerbate the trauma. But worse yet, that father might not recognize the symptoms since he would have been raised with PTSD himself,making it even worse for his child.
Then when we consider the WWI and WWII and Korean War, the Balkans, Somalia, Afghanistan generations, we can ask ourselves, how many Canadians might suffer transgenerational trauma at the hands of PTSD-ridden parents, and how might that have affected our culture generally, at least with regards to addiction and mental health issues.
If my mathematics are correct...
Those numbers show that veterans are about 1.9% of the total Canadian population of 35,160,000
Yet they make up 2.7 % of the total population who use homeless shelters...
I would say that they are over represented....non?
What's the difference between being homeless and using a shelter? Homeless figures for the general population are somewhere around 200,000 according to Wikipedia and homelesshub.ca. That's about .6% of the population. At 2250, that's .3% of the veteran population.
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Hey Jerk off....I'm just going by the stats that you posted...now you're going to mix and match stats from different sources.......?
Quit Bob and weaving and you can keep arguing with yourself....you're done!!!
Quit Bob and weaving and you can keep arguing with yourself....you're done!!!
My life has been pretty stress-free compared to lives of our veterans. Yet, recently I went months with a peculiar heart rate which was having a serious impact on me. I thought I was having a stroke or nearing one. Was given every imaginable test. Physically all was well. Instead I was diagnosed with a PTSD-type anxiety thought to have been caused by a traffic accident a while back. I can say that I have a new found appreciation for mental illness, and the impact it can have on a person's life. I can only imagine what some of these vets have gone through.
Excellent post Machjo, thankyou. It was excatly this last parragraph that I was thinking about last night. The transfers are sometimes a great cause of family strife.
I think many forget that while some choose the military lifestyle, their spouses and children don't. Yet in reality the military provides little to no support for such children before the age of maturity, and definitely none afterwards. Worse yet, if a parent transfers soon after the child reaches 18 and already moved out of the house and working, he suddenly finds himself perhaps with friends but certainly not family not only in his city, but even in his province. Now you've got an 18-year-old needing to buy a flight ticket just to visit his parents; and unlike a university student who is planning a temporary stay of a few years, possibly financially supported by his parents, he's establishing himself there alone, and that's on top of possibly suffering PTSD if he was raised by a parent who suffered from it.
Well just doing it roughly in my head I arrived at about 2%, Pete got 0.5% so I guess the correct answer is in there somewhere!
I'd be curious to know how many civilian children of military personnel end up on the streets. Of course they would included in the civilian count.
No doubt the number is dropping rapidly as the last of our Second World War veterans pass on. Even with the small armed forces that we have, the numbers add up over the decades. I was on a ship called Protecteur a few years after her commission. She was just decommissioned this year. Her crew was about 300-350 and an Admiral commented during her decommissioning that 10,000 men and women (mostly men) had served on her over the years. That little trickle of people sure add up over the decades.
Cannuck you have been really busy waffling while I was gone.
Kind of funny watching you twist while others call you on your B.S.
Thanks for making it so easy.
You don't have to answer that original challenge, walk away from it, or blather on to try and divert.
Either way you're a real wimp.
Kind of funny watching you twist while others call you on your B.S.
Thanks for making it so easy.
You don't have to answer that original challenge, walk away from it, or blather on to try and divert.
Either way you're a real wimp.
Do you ever find being tough, accomplished, intelligent, creative, free, and deeply loved by a wonderful woman to be a burden, RCS?
I would also like to thank the likes of canuck and machjo for doing such a bang up job of moving this thread away from the problems our military vets have with homelessness and moving it to the general population. Thus, once again, regulating our veterans to the back burner once again. Excelent job.
"Relegating." Just sayin'.
I can see both sides of the issue. On one hand, it's a legitimate question why somebody who spent three years filing papers in Manitoba should receive special treatment. On the other hand, that paper-filer did raise his hand and swear to go into harm's way if so ordered.
Here's a notion. What would you think about giving a low tier of benefits and assistance to veterans (not much above that available to workers), a higher one to combat veterans, and the highest one to wounded veterans?
Let's break it down and see:
- Tough? I don't consider myself tough in the physical sense. I've won some I've lost some.
- Accomplished? When I consider myself accomplished it will be time to retire.
- Intelligent? I think I have an exceptional intellect, but I am always willing to learn.
- Creative? It is my joy, second to only one thing.
- Free? Yes I feel very free. Everyone in the West should.
- Deeply loved by a wonderful woman? It is this I hold above all else.
Why don't we just deal with the homeless problem regardless of the career choice (or lack of career choice) of the homeless people.