Originally posted by reinfeldI meet old homeless vets all the time. There's a dude down the street who I've seen wearing his Marine Paratrooper jumpsuit. I smoked him out (I happened to have some especially good stuff on me) and thanked him for serving.
there has not been a draft in the usa since the days of richard nixon and a vietnam "vet" has to be as old as me...60..see alot of 60 year olds on the street claiming to be vets....
Of course, he might not be the real thing, but he had some card that looked official declaring him a vet.
Originally posted by AThousandYoungYes, it was during the Viet Nam war. Only kept in touch with one, he's a retired high school principal. When I got out at the ripe old age of 21, I found that the people I knew in high school hadn't changed much, seemed inexperienced and less mature than the people I knew in the army of the same age. The military will definatly get your head screwed on straight, and it's a big leg up for a lot of people that otherwise would be out on the streets doing nothing, or working in a mini-mart. Got nothing but good to say about what the military did for me, I'd have never gone to college without it. People who say the military screwed them up were screwed up to begin with.
Did you serve with draftees?
Did you follow up with them to find out how they did later in life?
Originally posted by Green Paladin50,000 US soldiers died in Vietnam.
I've heard that more veterans committed suicide after Vietnam than died in conflict. Is this just rubbish?
The total estimates of those who committed suicide after the fact range from 20,000-150,000.
It is difficult to determine an accurate count.
Most reputable sources acknowledge suicides at the lower end of the range.
Unfortunately this thread is both nonsense and useful. There hasn't been a single citation in any of the post, and all these arguments are passion driven. The good side is it sparked a debate as to how or why people are homeless. The only credible facts in this thread is that the U.S. has homeless people. How many? Nobody can know. I was just reading Freakonomics and they had a chapter intro regarding this subject, and how Kennith Gilbreth admittedly "mis-quoted" read inflated the actual numbers to make the issue more media notable.
Originally posted by cheshirecatstevensSecond that motion.
Unfortunately this thread is both nonsense and useful. There hasn't been a single citation in any of the post, and all these arguments are passion driven. The good side is it sparked a debate as to how or why people are homeless. The only credible facts in this thread is that the U.S. has homeless people. How many? Nobody can know. I was just read ...[text shortened]... dmittedly "mis-quoted" read inflated the actual numbers to make the issue more media notable.
Originally posted by cheshirecatstevensEvery word I say is a credible fact 😠😉
Unfortunately this thread is both nonsense and useful. There hasn't been a single citation in any of the post, and all these arguments are passion driven. The good side is it sparked a debate as to how or why people are homeless. The only credible facts in this thread is that the U.S. has homeless people. How many? Nobody can know. I was just read ...[text shortened]... dmittedly "mis-quoted" read inflated the actual numbers to make the issue more media notable.
Originally posted by Red NightOr we could ask the Canadian government to hold an inquiry.
That is certainly a possibility for SOME.
However, it is more likely that SOME veterans were damaged by the war and ended up homeless as a result of their service.
Determinging percentages would require a lot more research.
OR, we could all just LEAP to the conclusion that satisfies our own agenda.