To not get the big fuss over homes for ex serviceman?

[LibidinousSwine]

Admittedly I don't know anyone who would be in need of one so perhaps my view is one-sided. I'm happy to be educated if that's the case.

So why the hype? Our fire and police service personnel risk their lives for us on a daily basis yet there's no clamour for them to be showered with respect and free housing.

Forces veterans who are badly injured I believe can be badly let down on return to the UK which is scandalous. What I'm on about is the perfectly able bodied veterans who have finished a paid career in the forces and now come to retirement age, yet seem to have not managed to plan for this (despite knowing, often for years in advance, when their term would end) Perhaps my view is overly simplistic but as I said, I just don't get it.

Sex workers and young people leaving care get PTSD.

Emergency services risk their lives.

There are jobs where people move around a lot.

Lots of people have disabilities.

In my world, society would support anyone who needed support, regardless of what job they have done. Including veterans. I think singling any group out raises the unpleasant spectre of the 'deserving poor'. A lovely Victoria idea which means we can ignore all the homeless people who aren't veterans or 'special' in some way.

I do think it depends on what job you do in the military and your rank.

DP is an officer. He has a non-frontline role that is mainly a desk job. He admits he has a cushy life, is well paid, has a flat he rents out and has an easy life living in with his room cleaned and bed made for him etc (until we live together ) really good healthcare and a pension he doesn’t contribute to.

I fully appreciate that for many in the military, life is not like that.

My DH did 24 years. We lived apart for 13 years so I could hold down a career in the north whilst he was posted down south, Germany, Cyprus, Bosnia, Kenya, Iraq, Norway, Italy, USA, India, West Indies etc. He missed our daughters birth, the fact he was here when I was actually ovulating so we conceived her was a bloody miracle.
He was a WO1 when he left on a very good salary and gaff managed to save a good deposit for a house. But only because I was working and we lived apart. Not many relationships survive 13 years of a long distance relationship. Let's be honest not many forces marriages survive.
So yes army veterans and families do need extra help to find and maintain the stability other families have enjoyed.

In my limited knowledge the vetrans who end up homeless tend to be the ones who don't have anyone waiting on them to come home, which makes it that much harder.

Being a military spouse is no easy feat but having someone there running the home, taking care of the kids and generally remaining attached to the civvy world must definitely help. There are those service men and women who never marry and spend their entire adult lives living in service accommodation; or marry and divorce because of the stress and spend the rest of the time in service accommodation. Why would someone with no other ties rent or buy somewhere they will hardly ever be?

My relative has done multiple tours of Afghan and Iraq in very front line positions, watched his friends die and has some serious mental health issues. His first wife left him after a year of marriage and he went back to service housing. He stayed there before this and would remain there still if he never found his current wife. By the time he retires he will realistically have no parents and, had he not married, no outside life to go to. He lived very much in the now as he knows how precious life is but now thankfully has reason to plan ahead.

My other relative was front line in N.I. he found his wife and she waited for him to leave, held down the home and eventually married him. He has PTSD still but with support and a stable life he managed to get a job and now has a family.

More needs to be done to ensure the armed forces have something on their return to the civilian world.

More has to be done to ensure anyone leaving any ‘systems’ are helped. Prison, hospital, long term care, foster or children’s homes... and military.

Polarbear I think you'll find that HM Forces have their salaries restricted to 'fund' their pension, or so the then head of the AFPRB told me at a meeting.

We always had our own place, and I didn't live in SSFA until dh was appointed to a job in Belgium. I had previously lived in MQs when I was a kid.....so there was gap of about 32 years. However, I am a Navy brat, and wife, (and sister and aunt), so it's usual for the RN to have their own homes, as we can't go to sea with our serving spouses.

Of course they should get support. Not because they are heroes but because they are at high risk of mental and physical health problems.

People I know who are in the forces absolutely love it (they are all officers which may make a difference). It's their choice and I wouldn't say they are heroes. All our recent wars have been counterproductive and have probably increased worldwide terrorism. Not individual soldiers fault but let's not kid ourselves that they are making a sacrifice on behalf of the rest of us.

It's very hard on their wives though - they are the ones who make the sacrifice for their husbands career.

However talking about the lower paid positions, they aren't well paid and it's a bit harsh to criticise them for not saving when they are at risk of death. Many/most people in low paid jobs save very little. Those without family support must really struggle to readjust when they come out.

Serving in the forces can isolate you from normal civil society and make it difficult to re-enter that society afterwards. Providing help and support for ex-forces personnel seems like a reasonable thing to do given their service and that it is likely to reduce their dependency on the state long term. A stitch in time saves nine and all that.

I spent 3 years with my amazing mil putting my husband back together after leaving the forces and lots of family support. If dh hadn't had us then he'd be on the streets. There's nothing, literally nothing for the normal squaddie when they come out.

Esp lower rank, lots have no family or joined up to escape dysfunctional family's. Many become functioning alcoholics when in the army. Then all of a sudden they go from being surrounded by mates to be alone when they leave. It's a huge mental jump for many.

Except ex firemen and women aren't moving every 6 months,1 or 2 years like we did as children. They don't have to survive on one salary because partners can't maintain careers. Their children aren't disadvantaged in education( every move can cause 6 months delay). They don't live miles away from family,friends and support. Their children don't have the constant disruption of parents away on exercise. Their children aren't continuously saying goodbye then having to make new friends.They don't have to always live in rentals( which are often crap).....

I wouldn't wish a service life an any family. Out of sight,out of mind it seems to be. Any support given is more than justified imvho.

And all of that is when we're not even at war.

Nasty green eyed monster.

dontaskdonttell I appreciate that you have insider knowledge, and while it may be true that only a small percentage of ex service personnel end up homeless, that sad fact is that for whatever reason, ex service personnel form a huge proportion of homeless people.

Same statistic, different perspective.

Ex-service people are disproportionately represented among street homeless. Being street homeless has a dreadful impact on health and life expectancy (45 is the average age of death for a male rough sleeper).

Almost all are single men who would have next to no chance of getting social housing if they weren't given priority. Years of being in the forces, where an awful lot is done for them, means they often have very poor independent living skills. They are kind of institutionalised, in the same way as people coming out of prison after long sentences are.

Personally, I think the forces should do a lot more to prepare people for life in civvy street before they leave the services.

They are my least favourite client group to work with. They tend to be angry, bitter and are often very misogynistic. We've tried allocating them male workers, but they have no respect for them, either.

I find it interesting that the vast majority of homeless ex-service people are from the army, it's into the upper 90s in percentage terms. I wonder if the other services tend less to institutionalisation, or if they're just more likely to have skills that make it easier to find jobs in civilian society.