| Mr. O'Reilly,
On a recent segment of your show, The O'Reilly Factor, during an interview of Ed Schultz, you expressed doubt that there were many homeless veterans, and said to Schultz that, if he knew of a veteran sleeping under a bridge, to call you, and you would "make sure that man does not do it."
Here in my town of Missoula, Montana, there are homeless veterans. Many sleep and eat at the Poverello Center, Western Montana's largest homeless shelter and soup kitchen, but some homeless veterans do sleep under bridges in Missoula. And recently one was murdered there.
Meet Forrest Clayton Salcido. Salcido was well-known and well-liked, a man who eked out pocket change, not by panhandling, but by collecting aluminum cans, even in the dead of Montana's frigid winters. He was also a Navy veteran who served in the Vietnam war.
On the night of December 5th, he was brutally beaten, his head was stomped on repeatedly, and his body was found near the California Street footbridge - where the attack took place - the next morning. Two young men - one still in high school - admitted to the attack. His only apparent crime was that he was homeless and was on the bridge when his assailants crossed it.
According to a recent United States Interagency Council On Homeless report (pdf), "one-third of adult homeless men and nearly one-quarter of all homeless adults" are veterans of the U.S. armed forces, and, "on any given night," nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless. Additionally, half of all homeless veterans suffer from mental health problems, and two-thirds from drug or alcohol abuse.
Here in Montana we are proud that our state has sent the highest proportion of its citizens to bear arms for the United States. However, a recent report revealed that our state's veterans receive wildly inadequate mental health care, compared to other regions. As a result those men and women who have served honorably in Iraq are returning with stress disorders and other combat-related mental health issues that will go under- or untreated. No doubt the inadequate veterans' health care will mean that the number of homeless veterans here will only increase.
In a moving tribute to her friend, Forrest Clayton Salcido, Ellie Hill, director of the Poverello Center, had this to say:
"As Executive Director of the 'Pov,' I am asked to educate Missoulians about poverty and homelessness often. I am honored to do it. The faces of homelessness are diverse. I speak before civics groups, classrooms; you name it. But I have observed...when I start talking about the number of homeless vets in Missoula, I feel a visceral lack of interest or understanding of their complex barriers to housing and employment....It frustrates me.
"These honorable men and women come home from horrific conditions, often without a job, often with strained family relationships, not to mention unspeakable injuries of the body and the mind. Some of these guys will tell you that they were not prepared at all to go back to a 'civilian' life. Their money runs out. They stay in cheap motels. And they go to the Pov.
"The latest VA numbers tell us that the Iraq vets seeking help from homeless shelters are more likely to be women, less likely to have substance abuse problems, but more likely to have mental illness - mostly related to post-traumatic stress. Overall, 45 percent of participants in the VA's homeless programs have a diagnosable mental illness and more than three out of four have a substance abuse problem, while 35 percent have both...
"The Pov...runs a nationally recognized transitional housing program, the Valor House, which it operates with proven success, thanks to collaboration with the Missoula Housing Authority and the Veterans Administration. The Valor House has a waiting list of homeless veterans seeking admission into the program. It truly can break the cycle of homelessness (the program is consistently full at 17 veterans).
"In this time of obvious divisiveness about this war, please remember our homeless vets. There are so many of them down at the Pov. The Pov belongs to this community. It is yours. I urge anyone interested to come take a tour with me, have lunch and meet these brave men and women."
Mr. O'Reilly, I believe you've made a critical mistake in your comments belittling the plight of homeless veterans in this country. I urge you to put aside your political bias against John Edwards and realize that the problem he described is real, severe, and growing. I'd also urge you to visit a shelter or soup kitchen - I know Ellie Hill would welcome you to Missoula - and visit with the veterans, listen to their problems, and the dangers they face every day. You have the chance to correct your remarks and educate your viewers to the problem.
I'm sure you would agree that those men and women who have served for our country, who risked their lives for our nation's ideals, deserve better the intitutional neglect that many of them now face. It is our obligation to help those that have given everything for us. |
