Posted on 01/12/2009 3:44:20 PM PST by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2009 A new research and awareness program geared toward preventing motor vehicle fatalities among veterans who return from deployments was formally launched today during a news conference at the Veterans Affairs Department here.
Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake teamed up with the Defense and Transportation departments and NASCAR legend Richard Petty to announce the creation of the Home Safe, Drive Safe, Stay Safe initiative, which he told reporters is designed with one objective: to save the lives of veterans on the highways. |
Biographies: James B. Peake Related Sites: |
Sound like pork barrel to me. They used to say “for the children”. Now it is “for the veteran”.
Many years in loss prevention and P&C insurance tell me that there are 2 relevant factors in car crashes with vets.
- Alcohol. As with everyone, alcohol is a killer.
- Attitude. Some vets have a chip on their shoulder. They don’t feel appreciated or recognized. While they were serving, others advanced their careers. Now the vets have to re-establish their careers from square one. And their spouse/fiance wasn’t appreciated for being connected to a vet. Some of them buckled under the pressure.
Should we have affirmative action for vets to get them back into the workforce ahead of those who didn’t serve?
Affirmative action for them was big after WWII and Korea. But from personal experience, the opposite occurred with Vietnam vets. Human Resource departments consciously discriminated against us Vietnam vets, fearing we were all psychos as pictured by Hollyweird.
Idiots are afraid to acknowledge that these single car, single driver “accidents” are PTSD related suicides!
The VA needs to focus on better recognizing and treating PTSD. It is very real and NOT a matter of “whining”!
“Should we have affirmative action for vets to get them back into the workforce ahead of those who didnt serve?
Affirmative action for them was big after WWII and Korea. But from personal experience, the opposite occurred with Vietnam vets. Human Resource departments consciously discriminated against us Vietnam vets, fearing we were all psychos as pictured by Hollyweird.”
I was given my job back in 1970, when I finished my two year conscription duty.
It was exactly according to the law at that time. (They liked my work before I was drafted, so I didn’t need “affirmative action”)
I DO favor veterans preferences in hiring, which we have for government jobs. Hopefully private employers will want to help a vet with a job, too. I would if I was hiring.
“PTSD”:
I beg to disagree. I’ve been deployed but not yet to Iraq, but the Army safety publications all point out how soldiers in OIF have to drive like a bat out of h#ll to avoid IED’s usually while single vehicle, but also in convoy as well.
When they redeploy back to the world, it’s hard for soldiers to give up the driving habits that helped insure survival in the sandbox. Not ruling out stress related issues, mind, but otherwise healthy individuals also have to readjust, IMO.
Please look at the stats on single vehicle, single occupant “accidents”.
Ask the VA if they’ve done any correlation with the GI’s psych evals.
I took that psych eval after I came back. I’m not sure it’s going to flag anyone, since everybody wants to answer the questions so as to appear `normal’.
Suicide by POV?
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