1. Kellie Spann
AP Lit/Comp
Ms. Tillery
18 November 2011
Neglected Veterans
American soldiers experience tragedy upon tragedy and are haunted by the daunting
sights they see during war. They leave behind lives of luxury in which American civilians are
living while the young, the old, and the experienced young soldiers are fighting to privilege that
lifestyle to them. They live and die by America’s freedom and see to it that that independence is
not lost, for they are the only reason America still holds on to its liberty. They fight for their lives
and the lives of their compatriots, too, yet what they get in return is a long life of fear and
loneliness. Their veteran lives are composed of haunting memories and paranoid reactions in
response to their slowed-down veteran lives. All war veterans suffer one way or another when
they arrive back to their home country for peace and settlement; however, they suffer most from
the negligence and abandonment from their countrymen and even their own family members and
friends.
Naturally, when people have problems they need with discuss to someone, they tell their
closest friends or family members for support. However, on one hand, when veterans go back to
live at their native home, they find that none of their loved ones can understand their pain and
trauma that they are grieving from. They cannot explain their indescribable experiences, nor can
they bear to relive those occurrences. On the other hand, many Americans ignore veterans
because they would rather not speak of their nation’s disasters, and the veterans are an “…
uncomfortable reminder of a subject no one wanted to speak about” (“America Since the War

2. (1976–Present)”). Because of this, it is easy for American civilians to degrade veterans. As
mentioned in America Since the War (1976-Present), “…movies and television shows typically
portrayed [veterans] as pitiful, drug-addicted losers or homicidal maniacs.” As a result of this
lack of understanding, ignorance, and dehumanization in their most desperate time of need,
veterans develop depression, and they feel absolutely alone.
In response to their loneliness, a substantially large amount of veterans try to escape their
pain by drinking it away or getting high on drugs so that they cannot physically or emotionally
feel it. Upon returning home, many American veterans become alcoholics. Studies show that
“heavy drinking in the military has been an accepted custom and tradition” (Bray). Usually, in
the follow up months of a war screenings result in close to 27% of veterans reported for alcohol
abuse. Along side with heavy drinking, drug abuse is a huge problem among American war
veterans. According to Military, Drug and Alcohol Abuse in the United States, 20% of America’s
ex-soldiers of the Vietnam War have used narcotics, and an additional 20% have been reported
for addiction. The same percentage pertains to most of America’s wars. Resulting from the
alcohol and drug abuse among American veterans, mental illness drives a sufficiently ample
amount of them crazy. In a news video on CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta states, “As many as one in
three soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan suffers from traumatic brain injury, severe
depression, substance abuse, or P.T.S.D.” (A veteran's descent). Test results proclaim, “in
another study of returning soldiers, clinicians identified 20 percent of active and 42 percent of
reserve component soldiers as requiring mental health treatment. Drug or alcohol use frequently
accompanies mental health problems and was involved in 30 percent of the Army's suicide
deaths from 2003 to 2009 and in more than 45 percent of non-fatal suicide attempts from 2005 to
2009” (National Institute on Drug Abuse). Because of this adoption of heavy alcohol and drug

3. abuse, and the mental health issues that result from that abuse, families disown their brave
troopers.
Additionally, instead of welcoming their beloved soldiers, families disown them because
they are afraid of the violence that is brought home with the soldiers. Naturally, it is hard
transitioning from eating a hot pizza to drinking ice cold water; most of the time, this transition
results in extreme pain among a person’s teeth. Likewise, veterans struggle with their
expectation to transition from a violent, bloody, every-man-for-himself lifestyle of wars to
peaceful, slow, and routine lives of average American civilians. The Blue of California
Foundation has researched and has reported, “81% of [all American ex-combatants perform
some sort of violence towards their families]” (Preventing Violence in the Homes). Some
veterans subconsciously act violently towards their loved ones; sometimes, they have PTSD
episodes where they are in a trance-like state and practically dream they are harming their ex-
combat enemies when in reality, they are wounding their own spouse, child, sibling, and
sometimes even their own parents. Others, however, do not know how to leave the violence they
have accumulated through the military on the battlefields, and so they continue to use it on their
families when they arrive home. Subsequently, depression occurs because they feel like they are
monsters because they have injured or killed men and their family members. Consequently,
families tend to disown their relatives who come back from wars due to the danger their lives
would be in.
Apart from the emotional tolls that causes families to disregard their own countryman
that patriotically risk their lives for the protection of their country, the American society as a
whole has developed habits of overlooking those veterans as well. After being rejected by their
dearest comrades, they also struggle to find jobs. During an interview with a female Iraq War

4. veteran, a CNN reporter explains, “the unemployment rate for recent veterans, [11.7%], is higher
than the national average, [9.1%]. With a jobless rate of 14.7% September, [2011], female
veterans have faired worse than their male counterparts” (Henry, Jones, and Helman). As also
justified in this interview, some veterans can not find jobs because they do not know how to fill
out a resume due to the fact they have never had to fill one out before, and people so not care to
help them. Others, however, struggle to find a job because managers do not wish to hire veterans
because of their history of excessive alcohol and drug use, mental illnesses, and violence and
abuse. Statistical studies assert, “The jobless rate for veterans of all eras combined [is] 8.7
percent” ("Employment Situation of Veterans"). On top of being friendless and loveless by their
dearest loved ones because of their unutterable experiences, their drug and alcohol intake, their
insanity, and their violence they carry home alongside them, the American society altogether
pushes them away and leaves them jobless.
As a result from being jobless, veterans are left broke, and homelessness in America
increases greatly during and after wars. A statistics article affirms, “about one-third of the adult
homeless population are veterans…[the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs] estimates that
131,000 veterans are homeless on any given night” ("Homelessness Overview"). Without
affordable housing, livable income and access to healthcare, veterans desperately search daily to
find shelter. Stemming from the rise in homelessness among veterans, United States citizens
thought of veterans as even more of a burden to America.
Although negligence of American veterans is very common, attitudes towards the
Vietnam War veterans began to change in the early 1980s. Veteran support became a popular
topic among some of the nation’s political leaders, such as Ronald Reagan, who announced that
the effort in Vietnam was a noble cause and that the veterans deserve America’s gratitude,

5. respect, and continuing concern. A sense of appreciation for the servicemen began to grow in the
United States, and American communities initiated taking steps to make up for their previous
treatment and behavior towards veterans. As stated in the article America Since the War (1976-
Present), “The single biggest factor in America's changing perception of its Vietnam veterans
was the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, [which contained the names of all
Americans killed in Vietnam.” The Vietnam Veterans Memorial created a wave of admiration
among American inhabitants for the country’s servicemen. Alongside the construction of this
memorial, the media started to portray veterans differently from how they formerly presented
them. Indicated in a Vietnam War follow-up research article, “unlike earlier works, many of the
books, films, and television shows of the 1980s portrayed veterans in a positive or even heroic
way” ("America Since the War (1976–Present)"). As far as drug and alcohol abuse, since 1981,
drug testing has been conducted on soldiers entering the military and veterans coming home
from war, and alcohol rehabilitation therapy has been offered to all American war veterans who
need it. Mental health facilities, such as the Atlanta VA Medical Center and the Blue Shield of
California foundatin, have also been opened up for veterans specifically, which also help with
reducing violence in homecoming veterans. Housing systems, such as the National Veterans Park
in Las Angeles, have been built specifically for the shelter of veterans. Measures are still being
taken to help end the unnecessary unemployment of veterans. A recent unemployment press
release pronounces, “[To help encourage hiring of veterans,] the Returning Heroes Tax Credit
provides firms that hire unemployed veterans with a maximum credit of $5,600 per veteran. The
Wounded Warriors Tax Credit offers firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities
with a maximum credit of $9,600 per veteran. The three executive announcements that Obama
will make include a new online service to help veterans find work; creating a veterans job bank;

6. and a veterans "gold card" granting them special services and care at career centers” ("Obama to
Announce"). Another recent press release proclaims, “The first initiative [Obama has set forth]
will encourage community health centers to hire 8,000 veterans over the next three years. The
second will improve training opportunities for military medics to become physician assistants”
("Obama Plans to Lift"). Finally, generous actions have been taken by American societies since
the 1980s to ensure the health and support of their country’s military participants.
All things considered, negligence of returning soldiers has been an escalating issue in
America for decades up until the 1980s. Inattention to troupers has substantially decreased since
measures have been taken.