Coming back from war is hard, here are some stories.
By VoiceWaves Youth Reporter Alyson Bryant
Last year the Veterans Administration treated almost 100,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to Democracy Now. This year suicides have reached an all-time high.
Coming back from war is hard. VoiceWaves caught up with some local intergenerational veterans to hear what they have to say about what it’s like to come back to Long Beach.
There are about 52,000 veterans actively receiving care through Veterans Affairs Long Beach each year, with 14,000 from Iraq and Afghanistan. About 3,500 are women.
VoiceWaves interviewed Kamil, who is a female army veteran and stays in a Long Beach homeless shelter for U.S Women Veterans.
A variety of important benefits and services are available to veterans and to their families, survivors and next-of-kin from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
One older veteran, Lonnie, argues that that there are sometimes little stipulations to getting help and “not all veterans get the resources.”
According to an article in USA Today, veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percentof the general adult population.
Veterans talk about settling back into Long Beach.
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