American Veterans Research Paper

Who Are U.S. Veterans?
According the United States Census Bureau, There are approximately 21.8 million veterans in the United States. There are about 20.2 million male veterans. There are 1.6 million female veterans. OF those 21.7 million veterans, 17.5 are White alone not Hispanic or Latino veterans. There are 2.4 million Black veterans. There are 265,000 Asian veterans. There are 157,000 American Indian or Alaska Native Veterans. There are 28,000 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander veterans. 1.2 million Hispanic or Latino veterans. This data only covers those who reported a single race.
According to the United States Census Bureau, cities with a high percentage of Veterans include: Killeen, TX: 28.9%, Clarksville, TN: 24%, Jacksonville, …show more content…
The first barrier is the requirement to have an honorable or general discharge to receive Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits. A veteran must have been honorably discharged or released. Also, the veteran must have served in the active military, naval, or air service or must have served as a reservist or National Guard member called to active duty and completed his or her full call-up period. The rules for minimum service to be eligible for care changed after 1980. Since then, veterans must have served at least 24 continuous months, or the full period for which they were called to active duty, to be eligible. These minimum duty requirements may not apply to veterans discharged for reasons of hardship, discharged early, or discharged owing to a disability incurred or aggravated in the line of duty. Veterans with these discharge characterizations are not eligible for any benefits, including health care. General, honorable, and OTH discharges are assigned by the veteran’s commanding officer. OTH discharges can be issued for drug use, absence without leave, and/or other misconduct. Those with combat-related PTSD and other psychiatric disorders are at an elevated risk of misconduct.

A second barrier is the long waitlist for care, which is related to a shortage of health care providers, poor scheduling practices, and problems related to seamlessly transitioning from active-duty military care systems …show more content…
An estimated 13.2 percent of veterans reported driving while under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs in the past year compared with 12.2 percent of comparable nonveterans. Daily cigarette use was more common among veterans, with an estimated 18.8 percent smoking cigarettes daily in the past month compared with 14.3 percent of comparable nonveterans.

Unemployment

According to an article written in the Washington Post in 2011 by M. Fletcher, Unemployment rate for veterans supersedes the civilian rate. Recent veterans are more likely to be unemployed than their civilian counterparts. According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in October 2011, veterans who left military service in the past decade have an unemployment rate of 11.7 percent, well above the overall jobless rate of 9.1 percent.

Joblessness and downturn in economy may be adding to increase in suicides. Senior Army officials speculate that the increase in Guard and Reserve suicides may also be part of a broader national trend driven by elevated levels of joblessness and a bad economy (G. Jaffe, Washington Post, Jan. 19, 2011).

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