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24/7 Veterans Crisis Line
Honor Veterans Now is a nonprofit organization that serves as the catalyst for communities across America to honor our nation’s courageous, vulnerable and struggling young veterans by eliminating their hunger. They have to following facts about veterans:
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An estimated 2 million veterans battle food insecurity
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Almost 1.5 million veterans live in poverty in the United States
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1 in 5 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are diagnosed with PTSD. And veterans count for 20% of U.S. suicides
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1/3 of our nation’s homeless are veterans
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The U.S. Army’s failure to create and maintain adequate field records has complicated and drastically delayed the benefits claim process for thousands of veterans since the Gulf War in 1991
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25% of veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan or Iraq report problems being able to acquire food for themselves or their families. With 2.5 million who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, that means that 625,000 are struggling with food insecurity
Please click HERE to read more about veterans and how you can help with abolishing their hunger.
Take a look at the following book resource for those affected by Trauma:
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The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
Please click HERE to purchase on Amazon.
History.com gives us the following facts about the veterans in the U.S.:
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There are approximately 21 million military veterans in the United States
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16.1 Million living veterans served during at least one war
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5.2 million veterans served in peacetime
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2 million veterans are women
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7 million veterans served during the Vietnam War era (1964-1975)
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5.5 million veterans served during the Gulf War (representing service from Aug 2, 1990 to present)
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Of the 16 million Americans who served during World War II (1941-1945), about 620,000 are still alive
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2 million veterans served during the Korean War (1950-1953)
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As of 2014, 2.9 million veterans received compensation for service-connected disabilities
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The VA health care system had 54 hospitals in 1930, since then it has expanded to include 171 medical centers; more than 350 outpatient, community, and outreach clinics; 126 nursing home care units; and 35 live-in care facilities for injured or disabled vets.
Please click Here to read the full article at History.com.
Motto, from the editors of Time Magazine give the following facts about what it is like to live with a veteran who has PTSD:
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It is common for a combat veteran with PTSD to relapse up to five years after combat.
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Wives of PTSD veterans become by default full-time caregivers
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Often times, PTSD is seen as weakness among the military, so those with it are forced to keep their struggles hidden
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11-20% of Iraq veterans suffer from PTSD
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PTSD awareness isn’t just about suicide
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The shame attached to combat and military-related PTSD makes the condition and recovery worse
This article highlights the mental health crisis in our military and the need for PTSD victims to remove all guilt from asking for help. Please click Here to read the full article. Also, click Here to find out more about the documentary that is soon-to-be released on this very subject.
The Washington Times has uncovered the horrible reality regarding the care of Veterans at The Phoenix Veterans Affairs office:
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More than 200 veterans died while waiting for appointments in 2015
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The Phoenix Veterans Affairs office is still improperly canceling veterans’ appointments
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Some veterans are waiting a half-year or longer for treatment, and staff are still canceling appointment for questionable reasons
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The VA is still reeling from an initial 2014 report that found top executives cooked their books, canceling appointments and shifting others onto secret wait lists to try to make their backlogs appear less drastic, hoping to earn performance bonuses
Please click HERE to read the full article for more information.
Time.com gives us the following facts about unemployment for today’s veterans.
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For new veterans aged 18-24, the unemployment rate averaged 20.4% in 2012; more than five percentage points higher than the average among non-veterans aged 18-24
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Critics fail to acknowledge that while of the same age, young veterans are entering the workforce with far more skills and experience than their civilian peers. Logically, they should be employed at higher rates, not lower.
Click Here to read the full article on what the underlying problem with veteran unemployment is.
Time.com has the following statistics about how effective PTSD treatments are for our veterans:
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More than 200,000 Vietnam War veterans still have PTSD
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Around 13% of Iraq or Afghanistan veterans who experience combat have PTSD
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PTSD diagnoses among deployed troops grew by 400% from 2004 to 2012
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Studies show that the Go-to (CPT and PE therapies) treatments for PTSD are not as effective as originally thought to be
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Up to 70% of the men and women who received CPT or PE therapies experienced symptom improvements, around two-thirds of people receiving the treatments still met the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis after treatment.