Remember Missoula's homeless veterans

by: Jay Stevens

Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 06:14:10 AM MST

On the death of 68-year-old Vietnam veteran, Donald Papke:

Donald Papke first shuffled up the steps of the Poverello Center some three weeks ago. The Vietnam veteran was thin and small and frail. But he wore big sunglasses, and inside his small frame, he packed big humor, too.

Vinny Wisniewski checked him into the Pov, Papke and his fancy walker. Then, in the beginning, Wisniewski learned Papke had a bullet lodged in his back, too close to his spine to operate. And maybe, he even had cancer.

But Wisniewski didn't learn too much else. Papke set aside his walker to climb the stairs, clutching the hand rail with both hands. He moved so slowly, he earned the nickname "Speedy."

Papke died in his sleep, alone, at the Pov. Yesterday was his memorial service.

Now we've talked about the plight of homeless veterans on this site before, but I think it's a good idea to go back and mull the words of Pov director, Ellie Hill, on the recent death of Forrest Clayton Salcido:

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 that many people seem to want to hear about homeless kids, homeless women, and other marginalized demographics. We serve the many diverse faces of homelessness at our downtown facility. There is no doubt that they each need unique and expanded resources. But 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 Pov is vital to our community. It's the place where someone like Donald Papke felt comfortable dying. You can donate or volunteer. Welcome Home Montana helps many returning vets; the Pov helps many vets who have been home for decades.

Welcome Home Montana

by: Jay Stevens

Tue Apr 22, 2008 at 06:36:46 AM MST

According to jhwygirl, Budge has been involved in a very worthy local Missoula effort to help ease returning veterans back into everyday life. It's called Welcome Home Montana, and is a group of local businesses that offer returning vets a network of services. You can donate or offer your own businesses' services to the network, too.

On just about every blog in this state we talk about improving the services for returning vets. This is your opportunity to do something directly. Every little bit helps.

Thanks, Dave.

Top Stories This Week on the Our Troops Newsladder, 3.23.08

by: Jason Forrester - Veterans For America

Sun Mar 23, 2008 at 01:28:00 AM MST

Sen. John McCain, running on his foreign policy expertise, told reporters in Jordan repeatedly that Iran was supplying al Qaeda, a Sunni group, when in fact officials believe they are supplying Shiite extremists in Iraq. The fact that we even have to wonder whether he believes that or that his wires are getting crossed is enough to cause a shudder. (vetvoice.com)

The Iraq Winter Soldier hearings took place this week. Independent media were crucial to its occurrence and its viewership. (www.veteransforcommonsense.org)

The Billings Gazette discusses the very successful overhaul of the Montana National Guard's PTSD program. (www.billingsgazette.com)

Sen. Barack Obama spoke in West Virginia on Thursday about the toll the war in Iraq has taken on the economy. With the economy having replaced the war as the voters' chief concern, Obama made a case that a continuation of the war amounts to a continuation of our economic problems. (nytimes.com)

Last, a The New York Times explored the problems widows and parents of fallen servicemen face balancing grief and windfall when they receive $500,000 in survivor benefits.

Veterans of America is proud to sponsor the Our Troops Newsladder, a new tool to find the top news and articles in the progressive community by, about and for our troops.

Top stories on the Our Troops Newsladder this week

by: Jason Forrester - Veterans For America

Fri Feb 22, 2008 at 16:19:50 PM MST

Mike Mullen, the top ranking officer in the U.S. Military got an earful of tough questions when he visited with troops at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, ranging from inquiries about the gaping pay disparity between private contractors in Iraq and soliders stationed there to questions about Marines being issued older rifles than field officers.

The report from Veterans For America about the glaring lack of mental health resources available to the Army's most-deployed division, the 10th Mountain Division stationed in Fort Drum, continued to gather steam this week. Sen. Hillary Clinton responded to the crisis, saying "It is simply unacceptable that 10th Mountain Division soldiers who have recently returned from Iraq have to wait for up to two months for mental health care appointments. Not only has the Department of Defense failed to provide Fort Drum and other military installations with adequate mental health care resources, but there is also a persistent stigma within the military that discourages our servicemembers from seeking and receiving the mental health care that many of them need."

In Montana, incoming Veterans Affairs secretary James Peake heard the concerns, complaints, and questions from Veterans of wars past and present. The issue at hand is seemingly random rejections of claims, long wait-times for appointments, and 500 mile drives for care that our veterans living in rural America are constantly up against.

In Washington this week, the Army angered open-government advocates by shutting down public access to the largest online collection of its doctrinal publications. All of these documents have been approved for public released but were placed behind a password-protected firewall nonetheless.

Lastly, a survey of over 3,000 high-ranking military officers provided an alarmingly negative outlook on our military's future, due to multiple and long deployments of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan that has left our military stretched dangerously thin.

Veterans of America is proud to sponsor the Our Troops Newsladder, a new tool to find the top news and articles in the progressive community by, about and for our troops.

Fort Drum: The Tip of a Tragic Iceberg

by: Jason Forrester - Veterans For America

Thu Feb 14, 2008 at 10:56:10 AM MST

After months of investigative work, talking to our troops and veterans, we released a report on the situation at Fort Drum in Watertown, New York. Since 9/11, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team has been deployed for more than forty months, more than any other brigade in the Army, and we are seeing what is nothing short of a cry for help from the men and women on the base; a cry we will answer for troops in Montana as well.

A cry for help that is also coming from the leadership on the base. In a New York Times article today about our report, Major General Michael Oates, commander of the 10th Mountain Division, says: "We recognize that there is stress on our force and their families from this conflict, but until recently, we have not fully appreciated the extent of some of the mental stresses and injuries or how to best identify them." Please read the rest of the article here.

What is happening at Fort Drum -- with Soldiers still on active duty suffering from PTSD, with Soldiers and their families in need of counseling, with Soldiers literally dying while still on duty -- is going to happen all around America unless we begin to address some of the basic issues of this war.  As our report explains, DoD itself has stated that the likelihood of troops having mental health problems increases by 60% with every tour of duty. So, in short, through ourdeployment policies, we are consciously compounding the wounds of war.

This is unacceptable to us. Veterans for America's Wounded Warrior Outreach Program will continue to address these problems from the bottom up.  

We are going to go to as many bases as we can afford to go to, see what is happening on those bases and see how we can help. If you can help us, we would greatly appreciate it.

We are going to continue our Wounded Warrior Registry Outreach -- if you or someone you know needs help getting help with PTSD or TBI, please click here.

And above all, we are going to continue to serve and help those that serve and have served us with the same level of dedication and courage they have shown. Click here to learn more about what we are doing.

Do You Know A Servicemember Who Needs Help Getting Treatment?

by: Jason Forrester - Veterans For America

Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 15:24:40 PM MST

Here at Veterans For America, where I am proud to be Director of Policy, we are determined to do something to help the men and women who have served us. Part of our efforts include our easy-to-use registry that will help us get you the help you need (or help for someone you know).

Please click here to register with Veterans for America's Wounded Warrior Registry.

If you or someone you know needs help, we will work to make sure that you get it -- it's as simple as that. We will answer every single request we get. Sometimes it can be just knowing how to fight through the bureaucracy and get the mental health appointment you need or it might be how to get your family counseling.

Please let us help you or someone you know get the help you need and deserve.

Veterans For America was founded over thirty years ago by Bobby Muller, who was paralyzed by a bullet in Vietnam while leading a Marine patrol.  Originally named the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, VFA now works all across the country, focusing on the high rates of mental health problems and mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) as a result of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This Wounded Warrior Registry will help us determine how many military men and women need help and what is the best way to get them that help.

We also have recently published online "The American Veterans And Servicemembers Survival Guide."Available free to all as a download, it is a great resource for veterans and servicemembers alike.

To learn more about what we do, and how we help servicemembers and veterans alike, please click here. Thank you for your help and support.

An open letter to Bill O'Reilly on the plight of homeless veterans

by: Jay Stevens

Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 12:36:56 PM MST

ES: I think (Edwards') message is strong and he has tremendous conviction, but I think he needs a little bit more material than just the "Two Americas" talk, he got to get a little bit deeper...

BO: Well, we're still looking for all the veterans sleeping under the bridges, Ed, so if you find anybody, let us know, because that's all the guy said for the last three nights...

ES: Well they're out there, Bill. Don't kid yourself.

BO: They may be out there, but there's not many of them out there. Okay? So if you know where one is, Ed...

ES: Well, actually...Now, wait a minute...one in ..

BO: Ed, Ed. If you know where's a veteran, sleeping under a bridge, you call me immediately, and we will make sure that man does not do it. Is not there.

The profound ignorance in these remarks spurred me to write a letter to O'Reilly, and challenge him on his word.

The text of the letter is below the fold. Copies were sent to Keith Olbermann and John Edwards.

Montana vets receive poor mental health care

by: Jay Stevens

Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 10:03:17 AM MST

A must read, and a problem that must be dealt with. I think the Good Guv sums it up best:

"The federal government does a remarkable job of converting a citizen to a warrior," said Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat. "I think they have an equal responsibility converting a warrior back to a citizen."

On the Poverello Center and homeless veterans

by: Jay Stevens

Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 10:39:38 AM MST

Last Wednesday, two Missoula men - one, a senior at Hellgate High - stomped to death homeless Navy veteran, Forrest Clayton Salcido, near the California Street footbridge. The attack was unprovoked and random.

In response, director of the Poverello Center, Ellie Hill wrote a moving comment on 4&20 Blackbirds about the plight of homeless veterans in the country and in Missoula, specifically. In short, she knew Forrest Clayton Salcido.

The Poverello Cneter is the largest emergency homeless shelter and soup kitchen in Western Montana, and serves hundreds of veterans each year.

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 that many people seem to want to hear about homeless kids, homeless women, and other marginalized demographics. We serve the many diverse faces of homelessness at our downtown facility. There is no doubt that they each need unique and expanded resources. But 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 (For example, the reaction some in our community recently had to what was viewed as a sudden increase in the number of our chronically homeless citizens panhandling downtown; letters to the editor referencing "the unwashed".) 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.

Go and read Ellie's words. Get informed about the plight of homeless veterans, here, in Montana, here, in Missoula. Whether you agree with the war or no, it's clear that we owe a great debt to the everyday Americans who fought in our military, and who were broken by their experience.

I realize we've been hitting you up for giving a lot here at Left in the West. And you've responded, giving over $700 to the Montana Food Bank. And now I'm going to make a plea on behalf of the Pov. The Poverello Center is supported by local donations and local volunteers, and relies on people like you to function. So consider donating, or, if time is short, consider volunteering. A few dollars to the Poverello Center is the perfect gift for that certain someone who already has everything he needs...

More of Rehberg's recent House voting against women, children, and veterans

by: Jay Stevens

Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 17:05:52 PM MST

--As mentioned, he voted against health care for children. (So much for "family values.")

--He voted against extending time between Iraq deployments for U.S. troops. (So much for "supporting the troops.")

--He voted against extending the period in which you can file a discrimination complaint against an employer, countering the recent SCOTUS decision, which, in essence, legalized gender discrimination at the workplace. (So much for women's rights-oh, wait. To be fair, that's not his schtick.)

Steve Benen:

In the broader political context, all available evidence suggests the Republican Party in Washington is in freefall. They have weak leadership, no policy agenda, faltering public support, minimal prospects for the future, and if the polls are right, they're on the wrong side of practically every policy debate. Worse yet, they're burdened by new and expanding scandals, and a woefully unpopular president. All of this, just nine months after the GOP lost both chambers of Congress in a historic rebuke.

House Republicans have decided to respond to this dynamic by ? voting in lock step? United in their opposition to popular legislation? A certain electoral panic should be setting in right about now, but instead, they're acting like sheep.

I've neglected to highlight Dennis Rehberg's Congressional accomplishments lately. I admit it's because he's slipped through the cracks, a low-ranking and loyal member of the opposition party in a time of national crisis. He really doesn't stick out much, eh?

I promise to do all I can to keep his profile visible here at Left in the West.

Update (by Matt Singer): Bill Kennedy