Veterans Mental Health Issues

Brooke Tupin
Mr. Elller
English 111
4 February 2015
Veterans’ Issues Veterans are men and women who have served in the United States military, and after these men and women have given years of their lives to the United States and its citizens, they are still faced with many battles. These battles include many issues such as: backlogs in veterans affairs claims, mental health, unemployment, and homelessness. Since veterans make up around seven percent of the United States population, this affects a lot of people (Martinez). One major issue is backlogging in the Veterans Affairs claims system. This leaves veterans with service connected disabilities waiting extended amounts of time for their compensation. For instance: one veteran that…show more content…
The two most common mental health issues that affect our veterans are PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and TBI or Traumatic Brain Injury. Most veterans do not have the resources to properly deal with the mental health issues that they developed while serving overseas. “730,000 men and women who served this country have returned with post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries, and major depression” (Rosenburg, Linda). Something that falls under mental health is suicide. “Untreated mental illness among our veterans is a national tragedy: Approximately 22 veterans die by suicide every day, the vast predominance of them suffering from an acute mental or substance use disorder, or both” (Rosenberg). Some of the mental health illness that veterans have, which go untreated, have caused the unemployment rate among veterans to go…show more content…
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