Articulate and friendly in demeanor, Frosty has intense things to say -- for example, that the VA has only 19 suicide hotlines in the whole country, and that a caller reaches only a recording and gets only a recorded promise of a callback within 24 hours. "The VA doesn't care," he says, noting that the suicide rate among veterans is currently estimated an 18 a day, and likely under-reported.
Like the other vets sharing the sidewalk in front of the VA, the first thing Frosty wants is to establish a veterans' council that will have direct access to the VA, and to which the VA will have to be responsive. Some of the veterans are trying to work with Congress to make this happen, to improve VA response to all veterans' issues, but especially suicides, homelessness, and joblessness.
Current estimates cited by vets are that there are more than 750,000 homeless veterans in the United States, about a quarter of the total homeless population of three million. The Department of Veterans Affairs puts the number much lower, based on a January 2011 survey. The VA Secretary, retired general Eric Shinseki has, according to the VA website, "announced the federal government's goal to end Veteran homelessness by 2015." In May 2011, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the VA's "unchecked incompetence" was an unconstitutional of veterans' benefits.
The current jobless rate for veterans aged 18-24 is 29%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
No One's Talking About Depleted Uranium
Poisoning, Yet
Not all veterans are supportive of Occupy the VA. The website "This Ain't Hell, But you can see it from here" refers to the vets at the VA as "a bunch of scruffy-looking folks claiming to be veterans," then misrepresents why they're there. Among the mostly hostile comments is this one from November 6 (which was immediately attacked):
I
was there just yesterday, and I have to say, those scruffy people are
Occupiers, they want a different world, and there is nothing wrong with that.
they are supporting those that are standing up for our veterans. To put them
down is a symptom of what is wrong with this country. Didn't we ignore our
veterans when they were in Vietnam, and did not learn a lesson. They are not
getting their benefits, because of a new computer program, and the vets are
900,000 behind, and are waiting a year or more for those benefits. 18 soldiers
commit suicide a day because of no mental health treatment. Wake up, stop
criticizing people who are standing up instead of sitting at a computer. By the
way my husband died of Agent Orange at age 47, my neighbor 29 Afghan vet shot
himself in the head, so don't put down those standing up. Shame on you.
Veterans Affairs has been a troubled agency for decades now, sometimes better, sometimes worse, rarely adequate to meet the need. After Viet-Nam the agency was in denial about Agent Orange poisoning the troops and Vietnamese alike. Later it took a decade or more for the agency to accept the reality of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder. Today, only Frosty is talking about depleted uranium poisoning the troops, Iraqis, Afghanis, and people anywhere else our military has used it.
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