为什么美国有这么多退伍军人无家可归?(一)
2023-09-17 龟兔赛跑 6127
正文翻译

Why are so many veterans homeless in the US?

为什么美国有这么多退伍军人无家可归?

评论翻译
John Burgreen
I probably don’t have as many numbers to give you. Quite a few of those answers sound like they came straight off of a news broadcast or what someone read on the Internet, and decided to cut and paste here. There’s nothing wrong with that — but those numbers — are just numbers. I will give you a number, in 1 hour I will be going to bed. I am a homeless Marine Corps veteran, right now, right here in a shelter in Colorado.
Realistically, this is probably going on 5 to 6 years now if you count the time I was between Japan on my way out and during my time in China, and back in the United States. Those were very complicated times

我可能没有那么多数字可以提供给你。其中很多答案听起来像是直接从新闻广播或网上读到的,然后决定剪切粘贴在这里。这没什么错,但这些数字只是数字。我会给你一个数字,一小时后我就要睡觉了。我是一名无家可归的海军陆战队老兵,现在,就在科罗拉多州的一个庇护所里。
实际上,如果算上我离开日本、在中国和回到美国之间的时间,这可能已经持续了5到6年,那是一段非常复杂的时期。

I am currently in Colorado. Am I from here? No. When you are required to exit a country you need to tell them where you are going. Don’t confuse that with thinking they care about you, the reason for that is so when the governments do their “royal rumble”, their is evidence of you safely going from “point A” to “point B”, at which “point” their responsibility for you is no more.
Colorado, was my choice because I heard someone say that there was a VA hospital here, so before they dropped me in the middle of North Dakota or something, I quickly spoke up.
I am going to fast-forward through the timeline.
Arriving at DIA (Denver International Airport), I had nowhere to go. I have not lived in the United States at all during my adult life, minus the few months I did at my final duty station in South Carolina, after which I went back to Japan to serve the Marine Corps as a NAF employee working with Marine Corps Community Services to help service-members and their families, during their time stationed abroad. The Marine Corps pretty much control of the entire Pacific with the III-MEF.

我目前在科罗拉多州。我是本地人吗?不,当你被要求离开某个国家时,你需要告诉他们你要去哪里。不要把这和他们关心你的想法混为一谈,这样做的原因是当政府发出“皇家大战”时,你安全地从“A点”到“B点”就是他们的证据,到达“B点”,他们对你不再负有责任。
到科罗拉多州是我的选择,因为我听到有人说这里有一家退伍军人医院,所以在他们把我送到北达科他州中部或其他地方之前,我很快就说出了科罗拉多州这个地名。
我让时间轴快进。
到达丹佛国际机场后,我无处可去。我成年后根本没有在美国生活过,不过我最后一个工作地点是在南卡罗来纳州,在那待过几个月,之后我回到日本,作为海军陆战队的一名雇员,在海军陆战队社区服务部门工作,帮助驻扎在国外的军人及其家人。海军陆战队通过第3海军陆战队远征军(III MEF)几乎控制了整个太平洋。

Stephen Sanford
Why do some war veterans end up homeless?
I got a divorce 2 years after the army forced a medical retirement on me. With no wife, no kids, I didn't have a reason to stay… anywhere. The thought of the freedom of being homeless was very appealing to my mind at that time.
I thought about moving to someplace warm, and just living in a park. I know how to find food almost anywhere, and even now I only eat once a day. Haveing no phone to answer, no bills to pay, no drivers license to renew, no house to constantly repar, no lawn to mow, and never any place to be… sounded like freedom to me.
It's not like I'd never slept ouside before. I wanted to say “fuck off" to society.
I didn't end up getting what I wanted. Before I could carry out my plans to divorce myself from a society I felt betrayed me, I was thwarted.
Yeah, freedom to sleep on a park bench still sounds pretty good somedays.
Sometimes its a choice, and not the worst one in my opinion.

为什么一些退伍军人最终无家可归?
在军队强迫我因病退休两年后,我离婚了。没有妻子,没有孩子,我没有理由待在任何地方。那个时候,无家可归者自由的想法非常吸引我。
我想过搬到一个温暖的地方,并住在公园里。在任何地方我都知道如何找到食物,而且我现在每天只吃一餐。没有电话要接,没有账单要付,没有驾照要换,没有房子要经常修理,没有草坪要修剪,没有地方可去……对我来说,这听起来像是自由。
我又不是没在外面睡过觉。我想对这个社会说"滚蛋"
我没有得到我想要的。我觉得这个社会背叛了我,但还没来得及实施我的计划,我就遭到了挫折。
是啊,有时候在公园长椅上自由睡觉听起来还是挺不错的。
有时这是一种选择,在我看来,这并不是最糟糕的选择。

原创翻译:龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Ralph Watermeier
Should a veteran that never got deployed deserve the same amount of respect that veterans that have deployed get? Does it even matter?
Several years ago, I ran into an old soldier in the Washington Navy Yard food court. When I say he was an old soldier, I mean he was an OLD SOLDIER! He was a veteran of WW2 and Korea! We talked for a few minutes; then he asked if I had also served. I told him I was former Army, a Cold War Warrior. “But I never did anything as important as you did!".
He said, and I quote (I will never forget what he told me); “you couldn't be more wrong, Sir.". He then quoted John Milton to me. “He also serves who stands and waits.".
That a man like he would validate MY service means the world to me.

一个从未参战过的退伍军人应该得到与参战过的老兵同等尊重吗?这有关系吗?
几年前,我在华盛顿海军场美食广场偶遇一位老兵。当我说他是一名老兵时,我的意思是他是一个年老的参战士兵!他是参与过二战和朝鲜战争的老兵!我们谈了几分钟;然后他问我是否也服役过。我告诉他我是前陆军,冷战时期的战士。“但我从来没有做过像你这样重要的事!”。
我引用他的话(我永远不会忘记他对我说的话“你大错特错了,先生。”然后他对我引用了约翰·米尔顿的话。“准备参战的人也是服役”。
像他这样的人会认可我的服役对我来说意味着一切。

原创翻译:龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Timothy Mauch
How come there are many homeless veterans in the USA? Don't they get a decent pension for their service in the military? I am not an American, but I think a country should be responsible for keeping it's ex-military in a good state.
I will answer the second part of the question with a personal experience.
When I was discharged from the Navy, it was as a “Weight control rehabilitation failure.” In other words, they contended that I was overweight because I was a “Compulsive Overeater”. When I claimed I was NOT overeating, and could provide food logs to prove it, they said I was lying and in denial. At the time, I had been a Chief Petty Officer (E7) for five years, and had been battling this problem for nine years. I was physically fit, doing better on the fitness tests than most of the people ten years younger than me, and I didn’t LOOK overweight.
At the time of my discharge, here is what happened:
I was given five days notice to move my family out of Base Housing.
I was denied the usual “discharge rights” and “VA rights” training.
My “discharge code” was RE4, which meant that I could never join any military service in the future, even if I met every requirement (such as weight)
I was discharged two years before the end of my contract, so I had to repay two years worth of my last reenlistment bonus (several thousand dollars)

为什么美国有很多无家可归的退伍军人?他们在军队服役,难道没有体面的养老金吗?我不是美国人,但我认为一个国家应该负责让它的退役军人保持良好状态。
我将以个人经历回答问题的第二部分。
当我从海军退伍时,我被认为是“体重控制康复失败”。换句话说,他们认为我超重是因为我是一个“强迫性过度进食者”。当我声称我没有暴饮暴食,并且可以提供食物日志来证明这一点时,他们说我在撒谎、在否认。当时,我已经当了五年的上士(E7),九年来一直在与这个问题作斗争。我身体健康,在体能测试中比大多数比我小十岁的人做得更好,而且我看起来没有超重。
在我出院的时候,事情是这样的:
他们给了我五天的时间让我全家搬出基地住宅。
我被拒绝参与通常都有的“退伍权利”和“退伍军人权利”培训。
我的“退伍代码”是RE4,这意味着我以后再也不能服兵役了,即使我达到了所有的要求(比如体重)
我在合同到期前两年被退伍了,所以我不得不偿还我最后两年的入伍奖金(几千美元)

Because of the above debt, the Navy kept my last paycheck.
I was ineligable for a pension, short by six years.
I was ineligible for unemployment insurance.
I was denied any opportunity to look for a job.
So, there I was, penniless, homeless, and with a family. The only thing that kept us off the street was that my family was nearby. It took us six months to save enough money to rent anything.
Four years later, I was diagnosed with a pituitary gland problem (Cushing’s Disease), which was WHY I had been unable to lose weight. I was NOT lying or in denial. I was also not overweight, because the hormone problem skewed the normal measurements.
Bottom line: The military bureaucracy and most American politicians don’t care a whit about veterans, no matter how much they repeat “Thank you for your Service.” If they did, they wouldn’t allow the many VA Hospital scandals. If they did, they would build many veteran’s homes.
Veterans have EARNED every benefit that could be given to them.

由于上述债务,海军扣留了我最后一份薪水。
我没有资格领取养老金,只差六年。
我没有资格参加失业保险。
我被剥夺了任何找工作的机会。
所以,那时的我身无分文,无家可归,却有家人陪伴。唯一让我们远离街头的是我的家人就在附近。我们花了六个月的时间才攒够了租房子的钱。
四年后,我被诊断出患有脑垂体问题(库欣病),这就是我无法减肥的原因。我没有撒谎或否认。我也没有超重,因为激素问题使正常测量结果出现偏差。
一句话:军事官僚机构和大多数美国政客对退伍军人毫不关心,无论他们多么重复“谢谢你的服役”。如果他们关心退伍军人,他们就不会允许退伍军人医院发生那么多丑闻了。如果他们关心退伍军人,他们将建造许多退伍军人的家园。
退伍军人已经赢得了所有可以给予他们的福利。

Rocky Bindhamer
It is complicated by the fact that not all veterans are created equal:
Some homeless claiming to be veterans never served.
Some enlisted, but may not have even made it through Basic Training or Tech School before being “Washed Out”.
Some got out on less than honorable discharges because they were F-ups and committed crimes. These ones are going to have a harder time getting employment than a Joe Blow off of the streets.
Some have mental and/or physical issues and some of these had bureaucratic asshats in the VA who decided didn't qualify for treatment.
Some have simply given up, turned to destructive substances and behaviors and don't even care if they go on living. The suicide rates can be alarming.
Some ran into extreme financial hardships, outcast by family or have no surviving family, or may have warrants out for them and are in hiding.
There is no one perfect solution for the problem. Some would be taken in by soldiers and sailor's homes. Some may not know this is an option or not know the location of one.
I am a single, retired vet living on my small fixed income pension barely scraping by. I physically can no longer do the career I was trained for because of medical conditions, but I do have a roof over my head and food even if I don't have the money always available to keep the utility bills paid up. Congress has been a poor steward of he military. They kept our pay less than the cost of living, but will toss money instead at programs that help only a small percentage of us and list them as “Benefits and compensations” while they give themselves excessive raises all of the time.

并非所有退伍军人生而平等,这一事实使情况变得复杂:
一些自称退伍军人的流浪汉从未服过役。
有些人应征入伍,但可能甚至没有通过基础训练或技能培训,就被“淘汰”了。
有些人因为犯了错,犯了罪,所以无法光荣退伍。这些人要找工作可比街上的流浪汉难多了。
有些人有精神和/或身体上的问题,退伍军人事务部有可能存在官僚混蛋,他们决定让他们变得不符合治疗条件。
有些人干脆放弃了,转而使用破坏性物质和行为,甚至不在乎自己是否能活下去。自杀率可能令人担忧。
有些人陷入了极度的经济困难,被家人抛弃或没有幸存的家人,或者可能被通缉并躲藏起来。
这个问题没有一个完美的解决方案。有些人会被士兵和水手的家收留。有些人可能不知道这是一个选项,或者不知道如何找到他们。
我是一名单身的退伍军人,靠微薄的固定收入养老金勉强维持生计。由于身体状况,我无法再从事我接受过训练的职业,即使我没有足够的钱来支付水电费,但我确实有一个栖身之所和食物。国会一直是军队方面的糟糕管理者。他们把我们的工资压得低于生活费用,但会把钱花在只帮助我们一小部分人的项目上,并将其列为“福利和补偿”,而他们总是给自己加薪。

Sam Morningstar
Veterans are not dramatically over-represented within the homeless population. They are nearly representational, based on their per capita figures (within the larger US population).
About 11-12% of homeless are vets. And vets comprise about 7% of the US population (there has been a sharp decline over the last decade). So, there is just a slight over-representation, somewhere in the 4-5% range. But, while homelessness within this community is declining, along with the population itself, there is an inflated perception that there are dramatically more homeless veterans out there that may have "slipped through the cracks." Certain non-governmental social welfare and advocacy groups tend to promulgate inflated - and unsupported numbers - that say 1 in 4 (or more) homeless are veterans. And panhandlers often use "veteran" status specifically (to garner more sympathy/money/assistance), and consequently, this all helps perpetuate the stereotype of high veteran homelessness.
Here is just the real situation:
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/AHAR-2013-Part1.pdf

在无家可归的人口中,退伍军人的比例并没有明显过高。根据他们的人均数字(在更大的美国人口中),他们几乎具有代表性。
大约11-12%的无家可归者是退伍军人。退伍军人约占美国人口的7%(在过去十年中急剧下降)。因此,这个代表性轻微过度了,大约应该是在4-5%的范围内。但是,虽然这个社区的无家可归者人数随着人口本身的减少而减少,有一种夸大的看法认为,有更多无家可归的退伍军人可能因“漏洞百出”而未被统计。某些非政府社会福利和倡导团体倾向于公布夸大的、未经证实的数字,即四分之一(或更多)的无家可归者是退伍军人。乞讨者经常专门使用“退伍军人”身份(以获得更多同情/金钱/援助),因此,这一切都有助于保持退伍军人在无家可归中比例过高的刻板印象。
以下是真实情况:

https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/AHAR-2013-Part1.pdf
See, but in the current socio-political climate it is almost seen as uncouth or mean-spirited to use realistic numbers and reject inflated or exaggerated statistics or claims about "social justice"-related things. Its a modern impulse to exaggerate problems and highlight victim or marginalized status. So, for example, if you say the situation is not as dire as it is being claimed, or generally perceived, its like you "don't care about vets" or are ignoring the problem.
No, that is not the case at all.
Here is the reality:
A certain percentage of people that just so happen to serve in the military become homeless. The same could be said for the civilian population too, couldn't it? There are a myriad of reasons for this, but mental health and addiction issues rank very high in the list of causes or factors. Many of these folks may have even been booted from military service for these reasons. However, those that received Honorable discharges will be able to utilize VA services (however, limited and bureaucratic that may be). But, a higher number left on the street were either those that got shit-canned from the military and received dishonorable discharges, or are lying about serving (maybe they got kicked out of Bootcamp , or did a year or two of lackluster service before being booted). A lot of panhandlers just make it up a "veteran" status whole cloth, and are - in other words, total liars.

看,但在当前的社会政治气候下,使用现实的数字,拒绝夸大或夸大的统计数据或有关“社会正义”的主张,几乎被视为笨拙的或卑鄙的。夸大问题、突出受害者或边缘化地位是现代社会的一种冲动。所以,例如,如果你说情况并不像人们所说的那样可怕,或者通常认为的那样可怕,那就好像你“不关心退伍军人”或者忽视了这个问题。
不,根本不是这样的。
现实情况如下:
一定比例的且恰好在军队服役的人会无家可归,平民人口也是如此,不是吗?造成这种情况的原因有很多,但心理健康和成瘾问题在原因或因素列表中排名非常靠前。这些人中的许多人甚至可能因为这些原因而被踢出军队。然而,那些光荣退伍的人将能够享受退伍军人事务服务(然而,这可能是有限的和官僚的)。但是,街上剩下的更多的人要么是那些被军队开除,被开除军籍的人,要么是那些在服役方面的事情上撒谎的人(也许他们被赶出了训练营,或者在被开除前服役了一两年)。很多乞丐只是编造了一个“老兵”的身份,换句话说,他们是彻头彻尾的骗子。

Another thing to consider is that being a veteran is not always a matter of having served in combat. In some cases, it is just a job and military status is rather inconsequential. People can join, do some crappy job for a short enlistment, and never be involved in combat. It's not always particularly interesting, actually. In fact, the military can often employ those that have fewer job prospects. So, they attract some real duds from time to time too.
However, there are services for actual veterans that are struggling with homelessness, and the underlying issues that might be involved. My local chapter of the VFW also sponsers vets and veteran families in specific cases where they need assistance. There is a support network that these folks can tap into. However, in some cases it is a matter of hooking them up with these services in the first place...sometimes they may not know what services they could be eligible for. Also, in very hard cases, intense mental illness or extreme drug/alcohol abuse will be harder to treat...and these vets might find themselves out on the streets more consistently.

另一件需要考虑的事情是,成为一名退伍军人并不总是意味着参加过战斗。在某些情况下,这只是一份工作,军人身份相当无关紧要。人们可以参军,在短时间内做一些蹩脚的工作,而且永远不会参与战斗。实际上,这并不总是特别有趣。事实上,军队经常可以招募那些没有就业前景的人。所以,他们时不时也会吸引一些真正的笨蛋。
然而,有一些服务是为真正的退伍军人提供的,他们正在与无家可归作斗争,以及可能涉及的潜在问题。我所在的退伍军人协会的当地分也在特殊情况下为需要帮助的退伍军人和退伍军人家庭提供资助。有一个支持网络是这些人可以利用的。然而,在某些情况下,首先要把他们与这些服务联系起来……有时他们可能不知道他们有资格获得什么服务。此外,在非常困难的情况下,严重的精神疾病或极端的药物/酒精滥用方面的情况将更难被治疗。有这些情况的退伍军人更可能在街上流浪。

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