The unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans — a group the government labels Gulf War-era II veterans — was 15.2 percent in January, up from 12.5 percent in the same month a year ago and well above the 9.6 percent rate for non-veterans, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
We know mental health problems are associated with unemployment, and we know a large percentage of veterans suffer from (post traumatic stress disorder) symptoms or depression,” said Terry Schell, a behavioral scientist at the RAND Corp. think-tank in Washington, D.C., who has focused much of his recent research on veterans with PTSD. General Tommy Frank’s in his book An American Soldier coined a phrased for his attacking Divisions in Iraq 11, “speed kills”-in the worst of ironies, the lack of speed in getting competent outreach behavioral health services to our returning warriors is killing them w/ the same type of speed; on average 18 a day from suicide. We at the Invictus Foundation will stay on message that one is to many and the debt of gratitude owed to this Nation’s warriors and their families must extend beyond a debt of gratitude to real world issues of jobs and outreach services that will have a meaningful impact on their lives. We will never be able to repay them for what they have done for us however focusing on real world issues such as jobs and more plentiful outreach services for them would be a good faith down payment
