National Guard, Reserve and 60 Minutes

[120mm]

Secretary Hall, who recently visited reservists on duty in Kuwait, says he hears what the companies are saying, but his priority is the troops, and their job security. He expects the USERRA law to be enforced, which is why he made this astonishing offer.

"Let me make this commitment right on the air, if I could just for a moment. If there's any guardsman or reservist or family member that has a problem, call my office. Call me personally," he told Stahl. "My number is 703-697-6631. And I will ensure that I put a case worker on it. If necessary, I will call the head of the company or the agency personally. I don't just make that offer just precipitously. I mean that because we're concerned about it. My office will react, and I invite people, if they have a problem, tell me."

Other then the "scolding" given to violators, the worst case I know of, personally, was "resolved" by the SM getting his job back. Period. And once he got it back, his employer made his work life a living hell. Which the employer had every legal right to do.

Frankly, the one case I tried to pursue under USERRA was dropped because I managed to get another job. In order to keep pursuing the case, I would have to be the kind of complete loser who sat on my butt at home and waited for the Guard/Reserve guys to get my job back. If you get another job, you haven't been damaged.

USERRA is a bad joke. And no amount of fine-tuning will ever change that.

I have a special hard-on for the homeless vets, thing. Every war since at least WWII has resulted in the reporting of homelessness, unemployment, shiftlessness, mental disease, murder and mayhem, all being committed by vets, and every time a few years have passed, valid statistical data has been produced that exposed these things as myth.

Most vets coming back from this particular war are coming back with decent money, (which they tend to blow) and pretty much the same challenges as non-vets.

[reed11b]

120, nobody is saying vets are homeless because of "damage" or "poor character". A certain percentage of the population is homeless, some of them are vets. The point is that we are seeing younger vets accessing the VA homeless veterens service (for which they have to PROVE there veteran status). Someone at the VA HVS was simply wondering outloud if the increase may have had a connection with the increased deployment tempo. My guess is that there is an increase in homeless young adults (20-30) across the board and we are just seeing the corresponding increase in the homeless vet population.
Reed

[120mm]

120, nobody is saying vets are homeless because of "damage" or "poor character". A certain percentage of the population is homeless, some of them are vets. The point is that we are seeing younger vets accessing the VA homeless veterens service (for which they have to PROVE there veteran status). Someone at the VA HVS was simply wondering outloud if the increase may have had a connection with the increased deployment tempo. My guess is that there is an increase in homeless young adults (20-30) across the board and we are just seeing the corresponding increase in the homeless vet population.
Reed

I think your guess may be right. A friend and I chose to be homeless in college in order to save money. We were both military and had come from rural backgrounds and didn't see the point of paying for something that was basically free, once you figure out the tricks.

And the University lifestyle was conducive to things like free showers, free refrigerators (all you have to do is put a name and date on your stuff, and no-one will touch it) and even free big-screen TVs at various places on campus. (Of course, we were often pursuing more comfortable living relationships at all times, being 20-something healthy males, with absolutely fascinating stories....)

Actually, the more I think about it, I just don't "get" the stigma Americans put on homelessness. Mostly we tend to see the mentally deranged, the professional panhandler, and the criminal homeless and lump everyone else who chooses economical and unfettered lifestyles into that mix. As a contractor, I've met all kinds of folks who choose not to pay for their housing. I even met a guy once who was living in his rollaround tool box.

[120mm]

Actually, here was the post I wanted to make, prior to Reed11b distracting me into telling stories....

I belong to other military forums, and here is a post by Renee, a moderator on Lightfighter.net that most effectively describes my post-military/post-deployment experience in the "civilian" world.

The context of the comment is in discussing the plethora of anti-war/veteran as victim movies that bombed in the box office over the last few years. I'd like to incorporate it into a paper on the differences between the military/civilian cultures and the problems it causes to those who cross the line:

I'd like to see a modern movie about a guy who comes back and no one understands his ####. His examples of leadership dont fit the company's description of leadership and are, therefore, discounted. He is often labeled inexperienced because he didnt make shift leader at Jamba Juice, for example. His can-do attitude (or at least his "let's get to the work to be done even though it's ####ty" attitude) engenders hostility from other lazier workers in the work place. His ingrained sense of discipline and respect for the rules is seen as rigid, and inflexible - difficult even. Finally, his ability to speak plainly, briefly, and honestly is seen as rude and even mean. He is surrounded by incompetence everywhere he goes - from the grocery store line on up. He must pass by protesters without ever actually seeing them, and always he must forebear any insult or mistake, else risk being viewed as some sort of sad "time bomb" because he actually showed some kind of anger or emotion.

That kind of movie would reflect the veteran's issues I see.

[Schmedlap]

... here is a post ... that most effectively describes my post-military/post-deployment experience in the "civilian" world.

My favorite experience is in interviews for internships or a job when I am informed that whatever joke of a job or undemanding internship that I am applying for is "stressful" and I am then asked how I will cope with that stress. Clearly the interviewer has either failed to read my resume or read it but did not understand it. Last I checked, no job in the United States involves dodging roadside bombs or having grenades thrown at you - except maybe inner city public school teacher. But I'm not crazy enough to apply for that job.

[selil]

Try being a corrections officer in a large jail system with a raging gang war occurring.