My VA doc recently told me they're planning to reform mental health ratings to "account for those that can hold a job" and that they want to revisit including medication and symptom management in decision determination.
Absolute regressive madness
this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2026
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Looks like you need to start pretending to be a screaming street preacher. Your story is the kind of thing I want to yell at kids who are being talked to by recruiters. These fuckers go to comicon trying to talk to my teenagers. Nobody should join the military, especially now. You’re just gonna get sent to Iran any day with a red armband and a skull on your helmet. Just don’t
Sounds like their table needs to be flipped in the temple that is Comic-Con.
Someone start fashioning a whip out of tree branches
33,000 would be the absolutely bare minimum.
Its kind of notoriously difficult to ... poll, or count, people... who do not have permanent addresses or known working phone numbers.
They're nomadic, essentially.
Also: No one really fucking cares to attempt that job properly.
Source is me, I used to be the data analyst guy at a major nonprof that serves the homeless.
(I've also, perhaps ironically, been homeless for a few years, so I kind of have the theoretical as well applied knowledge here)
In Trump's term so far, roughly 80% of the funding going toward assisting the homeless has been cut.
Section 8 / SNAP now have work requirements, so functionally that means most people living in Section 8 housing will now either have to find a private sector job in the worst economy in my life time, or, basically get gangpressed into involuntary labor of some kind, essentially a kind of 'community service +' type system.
A not insignificant portion of people in Section 8, are people trying to qualify for Disability, but either didn't or it hasn't been processed fully yet, so they're living off of SSI + SNAP, as opposed to SSDI... SSI + SNAP is generally low enough income that you qualify for Section 8, SSDI is, perhaps ironically, often over the income threshold limits to be considered for Section 8.
What the Trump admin is doing, is they're literally building concentration camps.
President Donald Trump is vowing a new approach to getting homeless people off the streets by forcibly moving those living outside into large camps while mandating mental health and addiction treatment — an aggressive departure from the nation’s leading homelessness policy, which for decades has prioritized housing as the most effective way to combat the crisis.
You know, like he has consistently said that he would:
(2022)
Trump also said authorities should round up America’s homeless population—roughly half a million people—and incarcerate them in camps built on cheap land far from major U.S. cities. This, he argued, would hide an American embarrassment from visiting foreign leaders and motivate the homeless to stop being homeless.
(Again, that 'roughly half a million' figure is a dramatic undercount, more like multiply by 4 or 5)
Oh also, being homeless is just a crime now, in case you missed that:
Homelessness crackdowns have exploded since the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for elected officials and law enforcement agencies to fine and arrest people for living outside. Since June, roughly 150 laws imposing fines or jail time have been passed, with about 45 in California alone, said Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director for the National Homelessness Law Center.
Aka The Grants Pass Decision, which functionally says that if you are homeless, you are a criminal, and thus under the 13th Amendment, may be legally enslaved.
(That's how all the private prison labor force shit works, the carve out for criminals in the 13th Amdnt.)
So if you wanna try living in your car, good luck, if you fuck up at parking, or your car dies, off to the concentration camp for you.
God help you if you don't have a current and valid ID on you.
America is a scam that wants you to die.
The “fun” thing about the post-military is they are pretty good about keeping stats because they ask you nearly every time you interact with them. Most veterans, especially those at risk, do interact with the VA periodically.
Granted, it does require interacting with them.
But if you do, they relentlessly ask obnoxiously invasive questions. To the point that you don't want to interact with them unless you have to.
Their “new” thing, at least in my area, is making you confirm your contact information every single fucking time you talk to them. Even in front of a group of people you don't know. No fucks given. Have a VA identification card? Too bad, confirm your full name, address, and telephone. Don't want to do that for some reason? You don't get to see a doctor, even though you waited months for the appointment. (What happened when I tried to decline confirming in a busy waiting room because it was my fourth damn time doing so that month alone)
And then at least once a year they pester you with questions about wanting to commit suicide (not that it matters, I had to wait 6 fucking months after telling them I was suicidal to get -screened- for care.. good thing it passed or I’d be a statistic) how much you drink (too much because you wont provide proper mental health..????) and whether you feel at risk of homelessness, not having enough food, etc.
They clearly said "In the United States military".
They just never mentioned getting fucked once you're out of it.
or they'll just claim you aren't a citizen
I was going to make a snide joke but the White House's statement is wrong on so many levels. I can't make lite of it.
They just don't do this. They leave Americans behind it's an objective fact that they do this.
Walk into any American Legion or VFW post.
And ask any random old guy at the bar, if they know somebody who knows the process
There's people all over the country who just do a circuit every couple months helping people out.
To add to this, get in touch with your local VA peer support. They aren't in every city but if you have a regional center they will have at least one peer support. They have the connections to help you get whatever records you need. The military "lost" my dd214 and the only reason I have it now is because of an incredibly persistent peer.
They are also great shoulders to lean on through the process, because it sucks. You will be made to feel like you are less than others for your service connected disability, and sometimes you may question whether you have one at all because of it.
Hang in there!
The military “lost” my dd214
Depending on age, it was probably the St Louis fire...
An absolute shit ton of military record caught fire, the sprinklers kicked in, and they had people try to reconstruct the records based on pieces that were unburnt.
But everyone should grab copies of their own shit now while they can. Print a copy, email it to yourself, save it on a thumb drive. Have that shit everywhere.
I got out in 2006, that fire happened in 1973
I mean...
Depending on age,
But 2006?!
It's not lost bro...
https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records
They have it if they don't try the VA or OPM. Or your old branch even.
Even if the incredibly slim chance they don't have a dd214, they can (and you absolutely should make them)recreate it.
Like...
There's a shit ton of benefits you're missing out on not having that thing. It's worth the effort to get one
I'm 100% service connected.
But yeah, they did lose it. I have emails from opm and the va just three years ago telling me they couldn't find it. I don't know where my peer found it, but I'm lucky she did. That was half the point of my comment above
Nah dude, I worked in admin while I was processing out in 2007 and they for sure lost shit enough to prompt me to make a copy of my entire record while working there. The people who worked admin full-time told me to do it for my own sake because that was pretty common.
That was before everything was digital by default. Lots of records went missing for no good reason.
Out in 2011 and at any point I would have wanted it, I could have pulled it almost immediately.
But yes, like I said everyone needs to make and keep multiple copies because especially now you can't count on them retaining shit.
You could have pulled it almost immediately because we worked to digitize everything, i was part of that process, yeah.
But that’s not at all the case for someone processing out in 2006, or 2007, and beyond that i don't know.
I just got downgraded for a problem that has gotten substantially worse while being upgraded for another thing I wanted assessed in tandem, because they feed each other.
The whole process must not have even glanced at my medical records nor the statements in support of my claim, else they'd have been like yeah ok, that is worse.
I talked to an acquaintance who helps vets with claims in an unofficial capacity, and he said they regularity downgrade people for things they think the veteran wont notice. In my case the downgrade doesn’t actually make a financial difference (if it stayed the same), because of secondary issues being half-valued, but its so much worse i hardly drive anymore because I cant, i get trigger point injections now, and so on. Ive been unemployed for three years because I cant find anything that works with my problems, and my rating was low enough that I've just been living off savings from when i was employed, and never going anywhere ever (incredibly isolating..). I wouldn't have had it reassessed if it was better, I'm not stupid. It should have gone up, as it prevents me from working any job with a physical component. But the assessment didnt’t even look at the right place, and i had a migraine hangover and wasn’t in a good position to advocate for myself.
Dehumanizing. The entire thing.
But they do sometimes leave military personnel behind when they snatched their new spouse and send them to an immigrant concentration camp. So there's that, I guess.
But what can you expect from an administration led by a guy who once referred to military POWs as "suckers" and "losers".
That's like 6 aircraft carriers worth of servicemen that's homeless!
But they are all in America. Right.
Right?
Ah but they're homeless in America! Checkmate libs!
Didnt this Mofo cut VA funding?
Join the army, fight for democracy (extreme Capitalism)
Join the army., defend a nation that refuses any form of public support (socialism will cost millionaires and trillionaires a tiny tiny tiny proportion of their wealth)
The tragedy is: join the military and get 3 square meals a day and have your education paid for. You just need to risk everything.
Yep. I hate to say it, but the system is rigged to push people into serving.
I grew up in a relatively rural part of the south. Among the people I went to high school with, most of the ones who managed to get their lives in order by their 30's either:
-
Came from money, or married into money.
-
Had a degree, no student debt, and a nice VA loan to buy a house.
The idea that one can just work hard and opportunities will come is a myth. A lot of brilliant people I knew from high school deserved better than they were offered. I was at least able to go to college and suffer through the process of earning an advanced degree, and now at my age am just barely beginning to pick myself up out of literal decades of struggle. But there are amazing people I know who deserve that shitty overpriced piece of paper way more than I do, yet never even had the option.
But then when you hear that Kevin, the D student who used to sell weed beneath the bleachers, now has a degree, a good job, and a nice house because he enlisted and spent 4 years deployed in Korea just monitoring radio equipment...it's a bit demoralizing.
I'd like to say that my decision not to enlist at least puts me on some sort of moral high ground, but we're all basically complicit in the violence of capitalism at this point just by doing whatever we do that keeps the machine running. I never had to worry about the guilt of killing brown people in the desert, but my taxes still bought the guns.
think about all the ptsd and moral injury you've avoided. When you meet new people you can present yourself as a good person without it being a lie.
I don't think the mere avoidance of military service inherently makes someone a good person, though. It's not as though we uphold Donald Trump's draft avoidance as a virtue, for example.
I try to be a good person where I can. However, the mere circumstances of my life and the social system I grew up in, and which I remain complicit in, will certainly disqualify me from being considered a good person under someone else's standards. I regret that, but I also accept it.
I'm just trying to eke out a sufficiently stable life for myself in the remaining time I have on Earth, during a moment in time where that is becoming less and less viable or ethical to do.
Its just a story told to encourage young men to be used up.
Huh. I worked on her campaign back in 2020. Obviously we lost. I wonder what she's been doing since then.
No lie detected.
Homeless and desperate is where they want us all to be.
You get those bennies, gurl (nongendered). Every cent we spend on the VA we're not spending on bombing foreign countries, so you're doing us a double service.
The US military isn’t responsible for veteran homelessness in any direct way. The VA needs to be able to remedy these situations before homelessness happens. I’m not sure if it’s a money thing or something statutory but whatever it is it needs to be worked out. I have nothing but positive things to say about the VA in the four states I’ve lived in, but my experience doesn’t seem common.
"Direct" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there