Agents Green

Richard's Story
Life for an American Veteran – When Hope Turns to Ashes. 

Richard had been homeless since September 2015. He had a VA ID card which he used for medical treatment at the VA. On multiple occasions he asked if they had any openings in the homeless program.

The answer was always the same; “We are all booked up and there is a waiting line to get in.”
In early December Richard got a different response. He was told they could put his name into a slot for the program. What would that slot do for him, he asked? 

Richard was told the VA would provide him with housing, clothes, food, training and OR education and transportation if needed through the use of a Bus Pass. It was like he had won the lottery. Richard’s face lit up and he began signing papers. While he was signing they even mentioned getting him a haircut.

After everything was signed and papers carefully stapled together for Richard’s packet, Richard was then told that he was no longer be considered homeless. With the signing of the papers he was listed as being trained or being sent back to school to get the education needed for him to have a productive life. 

As the person behind the desk stood up to shake Richard’s hand, Richard was told to return about Mid-June 2016 when the slot will open.

With a sinking heart Richard asked what do I do in the meantime?

Richard did not know the reality he faced. The VA routinely puts up to 5 people in the same slot, just like Richard. Over-booking airline seats is the closest equivalent. But that does not usually kill you. 

In six months most Veterans cannot appear to receive the promised help because most will either have given up and moved elsewhere, been picked up for vagrancy by the police, been in trouble for sleeping in a public place, or for taking food from a dumpster. Many take their own lives during this period. 

The VA understands all too well one Veteran may survive long enough to get into the program. If two Veterans make it…one is told to come back in another 90 days.

But the VA is off the hook. This is how the program is designed to 'work.'

How this connects to energy and the environment. 

Every Veteran today was serving to carry out a mission on behalf of the oil industry. Every one of the Veterans who come home with injuries, PTSD, or other problems was serving in the Oil Wars, intended to ensure the future supply of oil to these companies. Many young people sign up because jobs have disappeared overseas. Thanks Bill and Hillary for that. Thank the Bush Administration for lying us into those wars. 

It was all about oil, the energy supply which destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of military and Veterans while they trusted their commanders and our government, keeping the oaths they had made.