Part 42 of the "Veteran's Spotlight" series is to honour our vet's and look at the progress that has been made on helping veterans "if" they need it. I started pointing out and covering these issues since the start of this journal/ blog in 2008, in that time, so many new advocacy groups have strengthened, many from churches to community groups coast to coast ... to philanthropist's and even corporations have jumped in to help veterans ... President Obama and the First Lady have really tried to put out for our veterans as well, and progress has been made. Unfortunately we are still dealing with 10's of thousand's of homeless vet's, and more with need's to get back into the swing of society when coming home. And I will assume we will have many more to come with increased military needed, my guess is we will also add more troops in Syria than what we are hearing right now, and we are still not out of the woods in Afghanistan or Iraq. For me, veterans and active military are one of our most importante assets ... after all, if not for them, looking at the history of our country, where would we be today? especially if folks like in the past for example such as Japan or Nazi Germany got their way ... it is because of our defense in large part, that even these folks like Japan and Germany are some of our strongest allies today ... and we act as watchdog's and police force/ defense for the Saudi's, Israelis and much of the Arab world and major international corporations around the world currently as well. When these men and women volunteer to defend our interest's, allies and country ... they put it all on the line without question and focus on their mission ... we should put it all on the line as well for their defense and what they gave. Like many other American's, I have familia past and present who has served in every branch of our military ... along with several friends and associates over the years who have served, which is one of the reasons I have a 42 part series in this journal dedicated to veterans. I have also different idea's on how to do more for our veterans, and think if we budget our defense spending much better considering what we spend and waste, it can easily be done.
But the output and outreach to our veterans coast to coast in cities/ communities in every state from folks has been really better than I ever seen it in my life ... this is what I look at as "real" American exceptionalism, being how Americans across the board will do what need's to be done, even when our politics fail us. At the same time, I try to look at what we can do in our defense spending to be more efficient and maximize the bang for our buck ... and taking care of our veterans is an obligatory expense, not just big defense contracts and multi- national business interests. Some say it is a complicated mess trying to do for the needs in taking care of our veterans ... no doubt there are challenges ... but I try to simplify things as much as possible, and strictly thinking complicated doesnt do that. I have my own views on tackling these issues for our veterans ... when I look at some of the useless waste we lose billions on, I know that there can be improvements on spending ... just look at this recent article from last week on the $43 million dollars we spent to build a gas station in Afghanistan for just one simple example on our waste and inefficiency in spending. Although our exceptionalism from American's across the board has been great in this area ... it should NOT be the obligation of our churches and communities to have to do this, any more than helping our citizens with social services needs should be the obligation of non- profit groups either ... but this is set into our thinking ... my thinking on this is different.
My way of solving these issues with homeless veterans is more simple and straight, and based partly on how we spend and squander. It is true that giving tax exemptions to those who help is a plus, and voucher programmes also are good being spent in communities for business, and money put into HUD to help is good. My approach is simple because it doesnt depend on those groups and make it so they can help in other areas of our society in the meantime ... I look at veterans expenses as simply defense spending. For example ... say we estimate 50,000 homeless right now and annually to come ... I would start by building and buying apartment complexes coast to coast that are specifically for use by veterans who need them, all paid for out of our defense budget, and when a vet get's on their feet, they can continue to stay there if they choose and pay a modest rental fee or move, their choice ... with no time limit on how long they can stay ... I feel with all our defense spending, we owe that to them. I would like to start it by building up to say a quarter of a million/ 250,000 units right now, if less is needed in the future, then we can use them for other purposes ... it's a good investment ... on the way, it creates jobs in our country building new structures and remodeling existing structures that we purchase ..., and helps reduce some of the fraud and predatory practices that are targeted at our veterans in the private sector.
Some video and links below ... and Thank You to our Veterans!
LA's ambitious plan to house every homelss veteran ... Thanx to PBS NEWSHOUR
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***** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: Homeless Veterans/ Resources
***** NATIONAL COALITION For HOMELESS VETERANS
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50,000 Homeless Veterans Nationwide ... Thanx to ABC NEWS
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***** PD/ RCJ: "VETERAN'S SPOTLIGHT" PART'S 41 THRU 1
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***** RANCH CHIMP JOURNAL "WELCOME" POST
***** RCJ MUSIC/ ART'S HONOUR ROLL SOCIETY (my hand- selected music/ arts picks)
***** RCJ/ THOMAS PICKERING: GOOGLE+ (video posts)
***** THE RESISTANCE/ PERIL'S OF THE POWER POSSE (inspiration for hope & change) ... to be viewed as a "profit- see", not a "prophecy".
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