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Welcome Home Young War Vets (Now Pretend You Are Normal)

By Jim Murphy

Tonight, after you've finished reading this article, I want you to think about these numbers: 75,000—the minimum number of veterans that are homeless tonight; 200,000—the minimum number of veterans incarcerated right now in state and county jails. Exact numbers are unknown because no one is compiling accurate data. The numbers quoted are probably minimal estimates. The next question is, how many of these incarcerated veterans are Iraq and/or Afghanistan Veterans? Using the percentages compiled by California and Pennsylvania, 35,000 (or more) are veterans from the aforementioned wars.

Welcome Home. Welcome home to these graduates of our high schools following 12 years of saying the 'Pledge Of Allegiance', high schools that welcomed the military and their promises of "being all you can be." Welcome home to these believers of the military recruiters that they would probably not serve in a war zone, that they would get excellent career training and that their education would be paid for if they simply applied to any college. Welcome Home! Veterans and concerned citizens are usually not allowed into high schools to talk about the morality of war, the sheer brutality and how it colors the rest of veterans' lives.

The primary predictors for incarceration are past violent behavior followed by alcohol and drug abuse and aggressive behaviors. These are also main factors for having a successful suicide. Out-dated studies (2004) claim that PTSD has presented in over 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Overlapping that number is that number the veterans that suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI) estimated at 330,000.

We still haven't studied those veterans' issues after the Vietnam War. When we came home from Vietnam, we weren't able to self-analyze the changes in our behaviors. I believe that would be true of WWII, Korea and the young men and women coming home today. My friends and I truly believed that the sleepless nights and depression would go away. Alcohol became the center of many of our lives and to a lesser degree, marijuana. Heroin was also around for those that had had a taste in Vietnam. Self-medication was the habit of the day then and it is now.

Over 50% of the incarcerated veterans are in jail for drug-related crimes, often part of a self-medication schedule to help with PTSD and/or TBI. If the only job that you can complete is drug dealer, you may do it. Crimes committed under the influence of alcohol are also a major contributor to the number of incarcerated veterans. The Veterans Administration (VA) has developed several very effective methods for helping veterans with PTSD and/or TBI but they are overwhelmed and the immediacy of the need will never be met. Two promising, non-VA programs that are showing great success for incarcerated veterans are a special court system, started in Buffalo, NY, that serves war veterans specifically. Drug rehabilitation and alternatives such as unique counseling programs are available to the young war veterans. For those already locked up, San Francisco County Jail #5 is a structure that houses only war veterans and provides specific health, education and job training services to help many of these young veterans to finally come home.

We have started a group reading program whereby groups of incarcerated Iraq and Afghanistan veterans do a group read, all reading and discussing a chosen book. Then they all do a speed write/critique and follow up with a written statement of feelings in prose or poetry form. We will then print chat books from the group to be shared only with friends and family. The first book sent to groups in eight prisons was Martin Luther King's Where Do We Go From Here. Our second book will be Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried. If you have contacts in prisons or that you would like to become involved in the Veterans Prison Reading Project, please contact Jim Murphy at ivetsfor@gmail.com or write to FOR at 521 N. Broadway, Upper Nyack, NY 10960.

Jim Murphy served in Vietnam 1966 (TDY) and in 1968. High School Dean in NYC from 1981-2004. Presently retired in Ithaca, NY. Anti-war activist from 1971 with VVAW and currently with VVAW, VFP 038 and Veterans Fellowship Of Reconciliation.