Figure my girlfriend quotes is 40% of the homeless are veterans.

All these numbers don't quite jibe.

Mike

On 11/11/07 8:25 PM, "Sam Conant" <samcvt@COMCAST.NET> wrote:

> I heard the figure 1 in 4 vets today ... Whether that is 1 in 4 vets are
> homeless or 1 in 4 homeless are vets ...I didn't catch that
> SamC
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Pensioner" <al_knoll@PACBELL.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2007 9:14 PM
> Subject: One more veterans day NVC
>
>
>> I post this from time to time.  The number at the end has been adjusted
>> downward from 250,000 to the most recent estimate.  Some of these veterans
>> need a handout some just a hand up.  Hire a vet, he's already paid.
>>
>>>>>>>
>>
>> Soldier in the rain.
>>
>> It had been a long time since he'd heard that eagle scream.
>>
>> It had rained hard at the river camp where he and others had spent the
>> night.  In the drizzle before dawn, he wrapped his sleeping bag in the
>> plastic tarp and gathered his things.  It was only a couple of miles to a
>> corner out of the rain near the park.  He stumbled coming up the slippery
>> bank and as he picked himself, up the mud on his tattered clothes brought
>> back memories of  mud in another place, now so far away.  He wandered
>> through downtown, but at this early hour few noticed the bedraggled figure
>> with his bedroll and muddy clothes.  The corner near the convention center
>> would be dry just across from  the park and the sun would warm things up a
>> bit he thought as he crossed the trolley track.  Memories of long ago were
>> powerful today as he thought of friends whose faces would never age like
>> his
>> had over the years.  His  reflection in the glass door of the auditorium
>> embarrassed him and he stopped to try to straighten his hair and brush off
>> the mud.  Just around the corner,  he set down his bedroom and leaned back
>> up against the building.  The parade would be by in a couple of hours and
>> he
>> could warm up here while he waited.   There was a little bit left in the
>> bottle and it felt good going down.  As the  commute traffic along the
>> street next to the capitol picked up for the  morning, the sun peeked out
>> and illuminated his corner behind the hedge.  He  remembered last year
>> when
>> he and his buddy had shared the corner.  His friend  had died that winter
>> from alcohol and abuse, this year he was alone.  From inside the tattered
>> jacket he took three grimy medals and carefully pinned  them on.  The
>> street
>> was quiet now, closed off for the parade.  He sat in the  corner and
>> thought
>> how things had gone these past years when he couldn't hold  a job and lost
>> his home.  Dark images from the past had stolen his resolve  and ambition
>> and pulled him down to where he was today.  He could hear the  parade
>> music
>> as they turned onto the street a block or so away.  Wiping away  some
>> inner
>> rain, he stood up and gently took an old green hat out of his bag.  He
>> smoothed his tangled hair as best he could and put the beret on at just
>> the
>> right angle.  As he stepped from behind the hedge towards the street he
>> could see the flag bearers at the front as they marched toward him.  The
>> sparse crowd at the curb moved aside as he approached.  When the flag drew
>> close, he snapped to attention and held a razor sharp salute as it passed.
>> Sometimes all you have left is your pride and your memories.  He'd made it
>> to one more Veterans Day.
>>
>> The Veterans Administration estimates there are over 175,000 homeless
>> veterans in the land of the free this winter.
>>
>> (c) Al Knoll 1999, 2007
>>
>> <<<<<