It is estimated that 30 percent of the nation's homeless population is made up of military veterans.
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It's hard to comprehend why Americans, who owe so much to veterans of the armed services, so often suffer lapses of appreciation.
Apparently, it goes back a long way. Before World War I, there was no national holiday to honor those who defended their country. Nov. 11, our Veterans Day, began as Armistice Day (and Remembrance Day in some countries) only to honor those who served in "the Great War."
World War II, which most Americans felt or experienced without ambivalence, was followed by a generous rise in appreciation - just consider what the G.I. Bill did for the lives of those who came home from that war.
More recently, Vietnam and the Gulf, Afghan and Iraq war veterans have seen diminished enthusiasm for their contributions - a sad statement about our society, when you consider that these men and, increasingly, women, fought as hard and suffered as much as any world-war combatant.
With modern medical and military advances, more service members survive conflict than in past wars - but what they come home to is truly tragic: unemployment, domestic strife, long-term disability and mental illness.
And many "come home" to the streets.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, there were about 68,000 homeless veterans in early 2011. And nearly 145,000 veterans spent at least one night in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program in a given year. The numbers are alarming and are the result of a variety of factors that conspire to overburden the very people who have sacrificed the most for this country.
On this Veterans Day, there will be remembrances for those who have left us, and parades bright with medals, flags and brass bands. But also on this day, we urge Americans to dedicate themselves to help fight this enemy that renders these brave men and women invisible in society.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in 2009 announced the Homeless Veterans Initiative, which provides health care, housing, job training and education to homeless vets through a variety of programs. The initiative's stated goal is to end veteran homelessness by 2015. This is a tougher problem than can be solved in three years, obviously, and the VA only a part of the solution.
Too often, we as Americans are content to leave veterans assistance to the federal government, but officials at that level cannot reach that many individuals who obviously have no mailing address. We can, however, lend help to local organizations who are committed to helping homeless vets.
One of these is Operation Stand Down Nashville (OSDN), which is VA-approved to help veterans with transitional housing and other social services. This organization and others are working with limited resources to help homeless and jobless vets, and they need more people to contribute and participate.
The nation's military veterans are often stereotyped as "forgotten" people. Groups like OSDN have not forgotten them, but their task is great. Until the rest of us realize that there is more to be done than applaud the honor guard accompanying the national anthem before football games, more veterans will end up with nowhere to go and no one to turn to.
We are headed into what by all accounts is expected to be a cold winter through most of the U.S. Regardless of your feelings about self-reliance and self-sufficiency, no one deserves to be on the streets - least of all, America's protectors.
---The Tennessean, Nashville