http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfMAY07/nf051107-5.htmNew shelter will bring badly needed services for female veterans
By Jack Spillane
snip//
With the number of women serving in the armed services growing, and with many returning from Iraq with serious physical and psychological issues, he expects the need for a women's veterans center will continue to grow in the future. And he's not impressed with what the federal government is currently delivering.
"I tell you, we can do better by these veterans than what the VA is doing," he said.
Sen. Montigny said he pleaded with Senate leadership last year to double the size of the Veterans Transition House's budget, from roughly $300,000 to just over $600,000.
Mr. Allen had told him of the need for a transition center for women, an operation that could serve as a prototype for the halfway houses women veterans will probably need in the wake of Iraq.
Sen. Montigny, whose late father William was a World War II Navy veteran of the Saipan campaign, said he thinks the problems of women veterans are going to grow as a result of the Iraq war.
"I truly believe we're going to see more mental and physical devastation of the men and women coming home from this war," he said.
And he believes we must pay back the people who put their lives on the line for the country, he said.
"If there ever were an oxymoron in the English language, it should be homeless veteran," he said.