Battle continues for veteran home from war (Homless Iraq Vet)

[matcom]

<snip>

Three months ago, Vannessa Turner was in charge of a small unit, drove a 5-ton truck through ambushes, and wherever she went in Iraq, the Army sergeant held her M-16 at the ready.

The single mom's war ended in May, when she collapsed in 130-degree heat, fell into a coma, and nearly died of heart failure.

Now, after more than a month recovering in Germany and Washington, D.C., the muscular Roxbury native spends her days riding city buses to ward off boredom, roaming area malls looking at things she can't afford, and brooding over how she and her 15-year-old daughter are suddenly homeless, sleeping on friends' couches and considering moving into a shelter.

"I almost lost my life in Iraq -- and I can't get a place to live?" said Turner, 41, who Army officials say is the first known homeless veteran of the war in Iraq. "Yeah, I'm a little angry. Right now, not having a home for my daughter is the greatest burden in my life."

Though Army officials said they're trying to help, Turner, still wearing a leg brace and limping from nerve damage in her right leg, blames the service for not doing more.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2003/08/21/battle_continues_for_veteran_home_from_war

[Jivenwail]

1. What a disgrace

This poor woman. Unfortunately, she is not Pvt Jessica Lynch. So she gets no homecoming, gets no new house, gets no parade, gets no scholarships and gets screwedinstead.

When will this country wake the hell up??????????

[UpInArms]

2. only if a highly placed goverment official

notices that someone who just served in Iraq is homeless, does something happen????

Not sure whether her case is a fluke, Turner wonders whether other veterans should expect the same treatment. In the past two weeks, the Army has promised to ship her possessions back from Germany, she's seen doctors at the veterans' hospital, and she's been told to expect her first disability check next month. But the help, she said, only came after the office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy intervened. For example, she said, the Army refused to fly her brother and sister to Germany to bring her daughter home. Then the senator's office called and suddenly a flight was offered.

[HawkerHurricane]

3. Kipling said it well

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=109139&mesg_id=109139

[ninkasi]

4. Yes, he said it well...

I'm a Kipling fan anyway, and I've always loved this poem. I discovered it during the VietNam fiasco. True then, true now, true always, it seems.