Sscarfone_WrittenassignmentECMod4_112623
docx
keyboard_arrow_up
School
Rasmussen College, Florida *
*We aren’t endorsed by this school
Course
ENGLISH CO
Subject
English
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
7
Uploaded by sammie6200
1
Veterans do not receive the appropriate help and support when they return home from service
Samantha J. Scarfone
Rasmussen University
ENC1101: English Composition
Professor Rebecca Baldwin
12/10/2023
2
Veterans do not receive the appropriate help and support when they return home from service
When veterans return home from services, they lack the appropriate assistance and
Support is a critical issue that demands attention and action immediately. Veterans need assistance with many things when returning to the civilian lifestyle. They need assistance with
housing, education, healthcare, employment, disability compensation, and pensions. Some veterans need caregiver support also due to being hurt or paralyzed in the service. According to studies, 71.03% of veterans do not receive the support they need and deserve. (
Reese,
2020). Now let's dig a little deeper into what veterans should be getting and what they are not getting for support and assistance from the government.
Starting with veterans' education, they do get a great amount of training and experience in their specific fields but no degrees or certificates to go with them. In an article I read while researching the author states “
Many veterans join straight out of high school
therefore, when they come back into the civilian lifestyle, they do not have a degree or
experience in a field to get a job. This issue brings another issue which is homelessness, without
a job veterans cannot make money for their living situations.” (
Blinded Veterans Association
,
2023) The issue of homelessness then brings out more issues. Due to depression and or
3
trying to manage their mental illness with drugs to numb the pain the ability to get a job to provide is harder and nearly impossible. The article I mentioned above also stated “
One out of every ten veterans alive today was
seriously injured in the service preventing them from getting a
job now.” The injured also suffer from major self-esteem issues, which creates depression and suicidal thoughts. All mental health gets bad stigmas so many veterans don’t like going and seeking the care and medicine they so desperately need. I work in an ALF, and I see a lot of veterans every day and get to see firsthand what medications they take and how they have been affected by not getting the correct support. For example, when my residents are using the VA for
their medicines and as their doctor’s office, we have quite a lot of trouble getting their medicine on time and scheduling doctor appointments promptly. The VA also refuses to speak with the nursing staff or family members even if the patient has a diagnosis of dementia and can no longer speak for themselves.
The author then wrote. “What Are the Biggest Problems Facing Veterans Returning
Home from Conflict?” Mr. Juth says most veterans come back home with severe issues from the
service. Most veterans suffer from anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder,
problematic alcohol use, and suicidal thoughts. Some are also victims of sexual trauma in the
service. Several studies have shown many veterans get no help treating this disorder once home
or they are unaware of how to apply to get the health coverage they deserve. Veterans have
issues falling back into the routine of a “civilian” lifestyle they used to live. Many veterans from
the newer wars also suffer from traumatic brain injuries. Veterans also run into the issue of
transportation to get to the VA or working around their schedule. As I mentioned in my last
paragraph the VA is a very difficult office to get ahold of. It is also difficult to go from being in
combat to a ‘regular’ way of living all of a sudden, the small noises we hear on a day to day like
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
4
a garbage truck or a horn on a car might be a trigger for a veteran who is freshly home from the
service. Mental health services are in such demand at the moment it is expected that veterans
have to wait at least a month before their essential appointment with the psychologist. Due to the
demand only 18 veterans and one active-duty soldier reach out a day for treatment the rest suffer
without. Up to 840,000 risk everything to serve our country but America cannot provide the
correct resources to them promptly. “26% of the homeless population are veterans.
45% of these
homeless veterans suffer from PTSD or another mental illness.” (
Lawes, 2013) In the military, you have a specific job and get an understanding of how to do it. Still, in civilian life when going
for a job the employer will choose someone with that degree or certificate in the specific field over them, leaving them jobless. For veterans to get the medical help they may require that means time off work and jobs need to understand that.
Now I do agree with the article The difficult transition from military to civilian life
, Pew
Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project explains and gives statics about how
some
veterans have it easier than others. It is stated that if said
veteran had already gone to
college and
gotten their degree, they are more likely to come home from
service and succeed in
civilian life. The people who faced traumatic injuries or knew someone who
passed due to
combat have a more difficult time readjusting themselves. Quite a few veterans suffer from
flashbacks making it
difficult to do a job, or they have triggers that will randomly happen at
work and put
their job on
the line. Marriage and family life are other things that are affected and
do not receive correct
support for veterans.
In conclusion, Veterans do not receive the appropriate amount of help or support
when they return from service. As people who served this country and fought for our freedom we
as a community can do much more to help them. There is no reason our veterans should be out
5
here fighting to live on the streets and struggling to find good jobs that understand what they
need to better themselves. Society needs to stop judging others for having a mental illness and
then veterans will not feel judged when they go to receive the help that they need and deserve.
6
Reference List
Association, Blinded Veterans. “Challenges Veterans Face When Leaving the Military.” Blinded Veterans Association
, 9 Oct. 2021, bva.org/challenges-veterans-face-when-leaving-the-
military/. Center, S.R. (2021) Challenges veterans face when leaving the military
, Dr Paul’s By The Sea
. Available at: https://drpaulbythesea.com/challenges-veterans-face-after-leaving-military/ (Accessed: 20 November 2023). Juth, Terrell Smith. “What Are the Biggest Problems Facing Veterans Returning Home from Conflict?” The Science Behind It.
, 11 Nov. 2019, thesciencebehindit.org/what-are-the-
biggest-problems-facing-veterans-returning-home-from-conflict/. Lawes, A. (2013) Why don’t U.S. veterans get the support they need?
The Good Men Project
. Available at: https://goodmenproject.com/conflict/why-dont-u-s-veterans-get-the-support-
they-need/ (Accessed: 20 November 2023). Morin, R. (2011) The difficult transition from military to civilian life
, Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project
. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-
trends/2011/12/08/the-difficult-transition-from-military-to-civilian-life/ (Accessed: 20 November 2023). Reese, B. (2020) “Veteran Statistics in the United States - the Complete Guide.” Veterans Statistics in the USA
, 19
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
- Access to all documents
- Unlimited textbook solutions
- 24/7 expert homework help
7
Apr. 2020, vaclaimsinsider.com/veteran-statistics-in-the-united-states/#0-veteran-
statistics-summary-of-our-key-findings. (Accessed 3 Dec. 2023).