The topic of US veterans has been a controversial one, and for the wrong reasons. The latest news is that they are suffering from food insecurity. But why would veterans of the US army experience such a phenomena?
Food insecurity among US veterans and military families has been a problem which has persisted for some time.
Not only is this an issue which has not been covered in the mainstream media that often, US policymakers have also failed to address it.
Veterans of the US are Americans that the US government has used for their foreign policy adventures, especially wars that have been waged. And there has been no shortage of wars when it comes to the US.
It has been revealed that the US is involved in more than 80 military incursions across the world under the guise of the War on Terror.
The Pentagon has been sending US troops on missions around the globe to combat what it called violent extremists.
Studies consistently find higher rates of food insecurity among Black, Latino, and other non-white veterans.
The US has over 800 military bases in 80 countries so their military undoubtedly has financial resources, so when these veterans are reported to not have the means to provide themselves with food, that is not only embarrassing for the US, but also reveals the mindset of US lawmakers, who are failing to take care of these veterans despite having a duty of care toward them, as well as a moral obligation, to do so.
After all, these are the same people that the Pentagon put in harm's way in battlefields across the world for various facile reasons.
The politicians are actually doing their job. Their job is not to serve the people. Their job is to serve the bankers, they roll over and do as a well trained dog would do for the bankers, everything they do is counter to the interests of the people of America; name me one thing that America does that is actually in the interest of the people.
According to one study, 6.5% were food insecure between 2011 and 2017. However, other studies show food insecurity among veterans to be higher, afflicting around half of the total veteran population of around 18 million.
The US Defense Department proposes slight cuts to end strengths for all its military services in the fiscal 2022 budget, except the Space Force.
Another sad reality amongst US veterans is the high rate of suicides, said to be between 17 to 23 veterans every day.
Although the number is on a downward trajectory, it is still very high; the situation was so severe that in 2013 the US Department of Veterans Affairs released a study that covered suicides from 1999 to 2010. The study showed that roughly 22 veterans were committing suicide per day or one every 65 minutes.
Some sources suggest that this study may be under-counting veteran suicides.
The reason why the US government is not paying close attention, nor providing care, to veterans has been a contentious issue amongst policymakers.
Biden administration approves massive arms sales
Biden administration approves massive arms sales
US President Joe Biden’s administration approves multi-billion dollar arms sales.
With a US military budget of over 1700 billion dollars one would think that some of that should be allocated for veterans, yet, not only is that not done, but Veterans are going hungry and are committing suicide on a daily basis.
latest slaughter, genocide, torture, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Again, the American taxpayer is flipping the bill for that. So Israel is doing quite swimmingly but the veterans in America? Oh sorry, we really don't have much, we're going to spend a bunch of money to send you off to war, but when you come back from war, we will throw you into the trash.
Even the veterans who seek medical attention are not faring that well either. The US Department of Veterans Affairs, which was created to care for military veterans, is reported to be under siege, facing one challenge after another. Extreme waiting times for care have been reported with some not being treated at all as a result.
Surely the more than 2 million women and men who serve in the US Global War on Terrorism, which has been waged primarily in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, are now rethinking why they fought for a government that does not care about them, a mindset which will most certainly be passed on to others in the US.