I agree with this picture 100%. How do you feel about the current state of Veteran support in our country?

I do not believe that serving should guarantee there will never be a homeless hungry vet, but on the other hand, no vet should be in the position where service related issues resulted in homelessness or hunger. People make decisions outside of their military life that ultimately have negative consequences. However, there should be a support network in place to help vets suffering from service related physical or mental issues that effectively treats vets. Rather than a monopolistic bureaucratic quagmire like the VA, vets should be able to receive quality care from civilian or military providers with the cost footed by Uncle Sam. I'm guessing that in the end this would cost less than the current system. What bothers me more is that congress and the whitehouse seem to care more about those who illegally entered our country than those who served to protect it and were injured as a result.

I am not sure exactly what this means. Does it mean veterans should expect the government to ensure they have food, housing healthcare etc for the rest of their life if they need/want it? I hope not. Being a veteran does not entitle anyone to an unlimited benefits stream from the taxpayers, sorry. As a matter of fact, veterans should be better equipped to take care of themselves than most. I grow concerned seeing veterans portrayed as a victim class in this country that need the protection of and benefits from the government in order to survive.

Veterans need to take care of themselves just like every segment of society. Set aside those that have serious/life altering injuries received during service. We owe those folks the best treatment possible to get them as close as possible, back to normal.

There is a group of veterans that served post Vietnam and prior to 9/11/01 that have almost zero education benefits or others to lean on. Not everyone has access to the same programs so there is that disparity.

No veteran has to do without these things. There are plenty of programs to help...getting them connected is the hard part.

CW4 (Join to see)
The motorcycle association I'm a member of, Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association (CVMA: Vets Helping Vets) locally supports a veteran's homeless shelter here in Tucson, Escalante En Esperanza (EEE): http://www.eeeveterans.org/

I don't think it is possible to apply a blanket fix to a complex issue. Mental Illness and ability plays a huge part in the problem and a lot of people refuse to accept that. Just because you serve doesn't mean you are mentally ill, but ask yourself how many of your friends got out and have succeeded in civilian life? I am confident that the overwhelming majority of your service connected friends have done well enough to survive.

I am also confident that homeless veterans have other obstacles to overcome that are not so obvious. It is a shame to see people who struggle with reality this way.

As usual it sucks.