Community Corner

Bysiewicz: 'We Need To Do More' for Veterans

The Congressional candidate stopped in Hamden Wednesday afternoon to discuss the challenges veterans face and what more the federal government should do.

They risk their lives serving their country, but when they return home, in many cases, their country fails them, former Connecticut Secretary of State and now congressional candidate Susan Bysiewicz told a group of veterans at a forum at the Post 88 American Legion hall Wednesday afternoon.

Homelessness, inadequate health care and unemployment are some of the issues veterans face that government can help with, Bysiewicz said, but currently those efforts are falling short.

Many veteran's hospitals are not equipped to deal with some common issues veterans are facing, including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries, Bysiewicz said.

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"We have to make sure we invest in the military and hospitals to equip them to treat traumatic brain injuries and PTSD," she said.

Women in the Military

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Some hospitals also aren't equipped to treat the growing number of women in the military and their unique needs, she said. 

"More and more women are serving in the military, and it's expected that in the next 10 years the number of women serving will double," she said. "The VA is not equipped to handle the health issues women experience."

One of those issues is sexual assault, Bysiewicz said. 

"Sexual assault is a huge problem," she said.

In 2008, there were 3,000 reported sexual assaults in the military, she said, more than the number of wounded in combat that year. And from 2002 to 2008, there were 66,000 reported sexual assaults involving female military members, she said.

"That is a staggering statistic," she said. "We need full funding for prevention programs to make sure women are not the victims of sexual assault while serving their country."

Senior Citizen Veterans

Another group that needs special attention is veterans who are senior citizens, Bysiewicz said. 

"Because people are living longer, we have to make sure the VA hospitals have the funding to address the additional needs of senior veterans," she said.

Former Hamden Mayor John Carusone, who attended the forum, said he knew a World War II veteran who took part in the D-Day invasion and the Battle of the Bulge who was blind and had cancer. When he was in the VA Hospital in West Haven, he was forced to feed himself, Carusone said.

"They said they were short staffed," Carusone said. "This was a legitimate American hero who was blind and had to feed himself -- this is something that should never happen to anyone."

Finding Work After Service

Unemployment also is a growing concern among veterans returning from tours of duty, Bysiewicz said. While civilian unemployment stands at around 9 percent, it's 13 percent among veterans and 23 percent among post-9/11 veterans.

"There is a lot of work to do in the country to find employment opportunities for young people who have served in the Middle East," she said. 

Leaving to serve often means having no job to come home to, one former town official said.

"If you serve two or three tours of duty, your job is out the window," Carusone said. "I know people in that category."

Bysiewicz said she knows a couple who both serve in the military and come home only to suffer financially due to unemployment.

"It's very clear that some with multiple tours behind them are not given the employment opportunities they deserve," she said.

And, in many cases, along with unemployment comes homelessness. There are 76,000 homeless veterans in the United States, Bysiewicz said, and almost 500 in Connecticut.

"It is unacceptable to have people who have served this country living in the streets," she said.

There was recently three homeless veterans living under a bridge in Hamden, veteran Fred McCarthy said.

"That's unacceptable," he added.

Government Can Help, Bysiewicz Says

The federal government can help combat unemployment and homelessness by enforcing equal opportunity protections to their fullest and by mandating the 3 percent set-aside that requires contractors to hire disabled veteran-owned businesses for federal projects, Bysiewicz said.

Federal public works projects also should be required to hire veterans first, she said, and businesses should be offered tax incentives for hiring veterans.

Transitional housing should be offered for those returning from combat, she said, and it should be easier to access education benefits to which veterans are entitled, including paying off existing student loans. And veterans who don't want to attend college should have the option to enroll in a vocational program, she said.

As it stands now, Bysiewicz said, dealing with the Veteran's Administration can be a nightmare, with backlogs sometimes lasting months. The number of claims taking more than three months to resolve has jumped from 200,000 a year ago to 450,000 today, she said.

Key to clearing up that backlog is the digitization of VA records, she said, to make the process more user-friendly.

To pay for additions services for veterans, the government should bring home those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as soon as possible, Bysiewicz said.

"We are spending $2 billion a week on the national credit card that could be invested in veterans," she said.


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