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  1. #1
    jjmm's Avatar
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    Just feeling so screwed

    We are a military family who moved into the DC area about 4 years ago. We bought a home at an exhorbitant inflated price, and now since traffic was so bad and our son was special needs, we moved to another area of town. We are trying to rent the place, but every military renter we have has to pull up stakes due to deployment to Iraq.

    So, now we can't even rent the place. It's in a nice area of PWC, but due to all this housing mess, we keep dropping the price and are getting no renters.

    So, thanks to George Bush and all his shenanigans, we are going to head towards a financial crisis. My husband is also deployed and we will have two rents to pay come January.

    I really doubt our parents could have or ever would have faced such nonsense in their lives. Illegal immigration, a war, a falterning economy, a housing crisis, exhorbitant prices for education, housing, food . . . I feel as a family we are shouldering EVERY one of these burdens, personally.

    Sorry to whine and rant, but it's not fair. We are an American family, patriotic, we play by the rules, work hard, are busy raising three children, trying to do our best . .. .yet we're heading into financial ruin. :cry We both have good jobs, but with two mortagags to pay, we might as well be broke.

  2. #2
    Senior Member redbadger's Avatar
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    I am so sorry for your sitiuation...I have been in the sorta same sitiation..but only differnert due to a health crisis...but I learned alot from mine...I learned what is important and what is not....but it was a hard lesson....and not one I want to repeat...but I know I can only do my best....and I am not in control...I learned to let God drive for me when no one else could pick me up from my very sad place...All I can offer is pray hard , talk when you can, do not let fear of the unknown control you, and never lose faith...Time heals all....
    I do identify with your fear and frustration
    You are not alone....so we fight on
    Never look at another flag. Remember, that behind Government, there is your country, and that you belong to her as you do belong to your own mother. Stand by her as you would stand by your own mother

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    Back from Iraq - and suddenly out on the streets

    1. Social service agencies say the number of homeless vets is rising, in part because of high housing costs and gaps in pay.
    By Alexandra Marks | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
    NEW YORK - Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are now showing up in the nation's homeless shelters.
    While the numbers are still small, they're steadily rising, and raising alarms in both the homeless and veterans' communities. The concern is that these returning veterans - some of whom can't find jobs after leaving the military, others of whom are still struggling psychologically with the war - may be just the beginning of an influx of new veterans in need. Currently, there are 150,000 troops in Iraq and 16,000 in Afghanistan. More than 130,000 have already served and returned home.
    So far, dozens of them, like Herold Noel, a married father of three, have found themselves sleeping on the streets, on friends' couches, or in their cars within weeks of returning home. Two years ago, Black Veterans for Social Justice (BVSJ) in the borough of Brooklyn, saw only a handful of recent returnees. Now the group is aiding more than 100 Iraq veterans, 30 of whom are homeless.
    "It's horrible to put your life on the line and then come back home to nothing, that's what I came home to: nothing. I didn't know where to go or where to turn," says Mr. Noel. "I thought I was alone, but I found out there are a whole lot of other soldiers in the same situation. Now I want people to know what's really going on."
    After the Vietnam War, tens of thousands of veterans came home to a hostile culture that offered little gratitude and inadequate services, particularly to deal with the stresses of war. As a result, tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans still struggle with homelessness and drug addiction.
    Veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are coming home to a very different America. While the Iraq war remains controversial, there is almost unanimous support for the soldiers overseas. And in the years since Vietnam, more than 250 nonprofit veterans' service organizations have sprouted up, many of them created by people like Peter Cameron, a Vietnam veteran who is determined that what happened to his fellow soldiers will not happen again.
    But he and dozens of other veterans' service providers are concerned by the increasing numbers of new veterans ending up on streets and in shelters.
    Part of the reason for these new veterans' struggles is that housing costs have skyrocketed at the same time real wages have remained relatively stable, often putting rental prices out of reach. And for many, there is a gap of months, sometimes years, between when military benefits end and veterans benefits begin.
    "We are very much committed to helping veterans coming back from this war," says Mr. Cameron, executive director of Vietnam Veterans of California. "But the [Department of Veterans Affairs] already has needs it can't meet and there's a lot of fear out there that programs are going to be cut even further."
    Beyond the yellow ribbons
    Both the Veterans Administration and private veterans service organizations are already stretched, providing services for veterans of previous conflicts. For instance, while an estimated 500,000 veterans were homeless at some time during 2004, the VA had the resources to tend to only 100,000 of them.
    "You can have all of the yellow ribbons on cars that say 'Support Our Troops' that you want, but it's when they take off the uniform and transition back to civilian life that they need support the most," says Linda Boone, executive director of The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.After the Vietnam conflict, it was nine to 12 years before veterans began showing up at homeless shelters in large numbers. In part, that's because the trauma they experienced during combat took time to surface, according to one Vietnam veteran who's now a service provider. Doctors refer to the phenomenon as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
    A recent study published by the New England Journal of Medicine found that 15 to 17 percent of Iraq vets meet "the screening criteria for major depression, generalized anxiety, or PTSD." Of those, only 23 to 40 percent are seeking help - in part because so many others fear the stigma of having a mental disorder.
    Many veterans' service providers say they're surprised to see so many Iraq veterans needing help so soon.
    "This kind of inner city, urban guerrilla warfare that these veterans are facing probably accelerates mental-health problems," says Yogin Ricardo Singh, director of the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program at BVSJ. "And then there's the soldier's mentality: Asking for help is like saying, 'I've failed a mission.' It's very hard for them to do."
    Beyond PTSD and high housing costs, many veterans also face an income void, as they search for new jobs or wait for their veterans benefits to kick in.
    When Mr. Noel was discharged in December of 2003, he and his family had been living in base housing in Georgia. Since they were no longer eligible to live there, they began the search for a new home. But Noel had trouble landing a job and the family moved to New York, hoping for help from a family member. Eventually, they split up: Noel's wife and infant child moved in with his sister-in-law, and his twins were sent to relatives in Florida. Noel slept in his car, on the streets, and on friend's couches.
    Last spring he was diagnosed with PTSD, and though he's currently in treatment, his disability claim is still being processed. Unable to keep a job so far, he's had no steady income, although an anonymous donor provided money for him to take an apartment last week. He expects his family to join him soon.
    'Nobody understood ... the way I was'
    Nicole Goodwin is another vet diagnosed with PTSD who has yet to receive disability benefits. Unable to stay with her mother, she soon found herself walking the streets of New York, with a backpack full of her belongings and her 1-year-old daughter held close.
    "When I first got back I just wanted to jump into a job and forget about Iraq, but the culture shock from the military to the civilian world hit me," she says. "I was depressed for months. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. The worst thing wasn't the war, it was coming back, because nobody understood why I was the way I was."
    Ms. Goodwin was determined not to sleep on the streets, and so eventually went into the New York City shelter system where, after being shuffled from shelter to shelter, she was told she was ineligible for help. But media attention changed that, and she was able to obtain a rent voucher. With others' generosity, she also found a job. She's now attending college and working with other veterans who are determined to go to Washington with their stories.
    "When soldiers get back, they should still be considered military until they can get on their feet," she says. "It's a month-to-month process, trying to actually function again. It's not easy, it takes time."
    http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0208/p02s01-ussc.htm

  4. #4
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    Re: Just feeling so screwed


    Sorry to whine and rant, but it's not fair. We are an American family, patriotic, we play by the rules, work hard, are busy raising three children, trying to do our best . .. .
    Please dont feel like you are alone in this, America has had enough
    and we are working hard to set it strait for us all.

  5. #5
    Senior Member moosetracks's Avatar
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    Sorry about your situation.

    But our parents did face horrible situations.....the great depression, wars, Viet Nam vets, came home and were spit on, there were price increases for sugar, coffee & gasoline in the '70's, the only thing that might be different in such a mass invasion from Mexico into the USA.

    I believe we have to keep fighting these illegals, the fact that they get so much of our tax dollars, and the massive amount of dollars given to foreign countries...when this money could be spent on USA citizens, help the "robbed" S.S., help our elderly, etc.

    I do hope you find a renter soon, and God Bless!
    Do not vote for Party this year, vote for America and American workers!

  6. #6
    Senior Member BetsyRoss's Avatar
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    There are worse things than not finding a renter, like finding a bad renter that looked good at the start. That's what one of mine was, and so now I'm renting out the dream house in the mountains (at a loss), having had to take back a house on the plains that was too damaged to rent out again. I understand the feeling of fear, mine was in the back of my mouth, at having two houses to pay mortgages on. The advice to pray is good. Pretty much everything that didn't sell in my area is now up for rent. My area sold and rented heavily to illegals, too.
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  7. #7
    jjmm's Avatar
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    Thanks, all, for your words of wisdom, and also of understanding. No, we'r e not homeless, my husband does well at his job, and I have a new job, and we're not facing discrimination or ill health. It could be much, much worse -- but it just seems it should not be this bad either.

    Yes, I suppose generations before us did suffer -- just none in our immediate family. They all had it pretty nice, and are now out enjoying wonderful retirements.

    I guess we did the wrong thing by buying a house in an inflated market...NEVER DO THIS, as all you can do is go down.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Gogo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jjmm
    Thanks, all, for your words of wisdom, and also of understanding. No, we'r e not homeless, my husband does well at his job, and I have a new job, and we're not facing discrimination or ill health. It could be much, much worse -- but it just seems it should not be this bad either.

    Yes, I suppose generations before us did suffer -- just none in our immediate family. They all had it pretty nice, and are now out enjoying wonderful retirements.

    I guess we did the wrong thing by buying a house in an inflated market...NEVER DO THIS, as all you can do is go down.
    I feel for you, but at least you can afford it. We sold at the beginning of the housing inflation and now we can't afford to buy. It's scary not having my own house anymore in my old age. One good thing about it, if I get bad neighbors I can move easily not having to try and sell. We have houses in our community that have been on the market from 1-1/2 to 2 years. Some are selling but as you said, they are dropping the prices by $100,000 or more.
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  9. #9
    Senior Member SOSADFORUS's Avatar
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    My greatest fear is people will not wake up in time to fix this country. I am so amazed how self obsorbed Americans are in thier own lifes, for some reason unless all or any this is affecting them personally they just can't see what is happening to their fellow Americans.

    I am fortunate it has not hit me or my family, but I just can not turn my head to the pain and suffering some of my fellow Americans are facing, From the type of problems you are having to their job, towns, schools and hospitals that are being destroyed to the rising crime in their towns and states.

    I live in a very European type community but I tell people all the time if you thing it won't come here think again and what about our American citizens who are facing these problems now.

    I feel for you and hope it all works out, keep your head up and fight,fight, pray and hope Americans wake up soon and start fighting back to save this once great nation of ours, before it is to late to reverse.
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  10. #10
    jjmm's Avatar
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    Well, I've got to ask, what caused the inflated market in the first place? Greed? materialism? People overbuying, living above their means, wanting more, bigger, etc. Asking higher because they could . . .

    I think GREED and just this rampant materialism is what causes a lot of problems for us all. Greed and unchecked spending, and an unchecked government.

    We allow our government leaders SO much power. Look at what Bush did in regard to Iraq, what he continues to do. I know a lot of the news is good lately, but we give this president so much power to just spend all this money, send all these troops.

    I talked w/ an agent who says there ARE no buyers right now. Not a one. Everyone is scared. I don't know where they're living, however . ..must all be in cramped little town homes or wherever. I don't get it. This is a market where people were competing for contracts about 2 years ago.

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