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I am a 34 year old man recently back from Iraq. I was a reservist activated to a unit 3 states away. Before i left i was a union millwright, proud father, and a soon to be husband. Since returning home i have not been able to get a contract thru the union in over 6 months. I have had mutiple health issues stemming from being activated and having my family move away. Since my insurance is banked on how much i work i have had to pay out of pocket expenses which have left me near broke. I have never had to ask for help before on anything before....just don't know where to turn now.

I am writing this because I am tired of hearing how our government has sent billions and plan to more to Iraq and Haiti when there are people here in the United States needing food, clothing, medical care, surgeries just to name a few.  I have nothing against wanting to help outside our country but it only fair to take of your own first.  Then this morning I heard Mr Trudeau saying that there is federal monies out there for the taking all you have to do is apply.

So, needless to say I have been looking on the internet for these links to no avail.  But, I will not give up.  I am on disability and I can't make it.  Want to hear something funny the medicare people said I am 135% below poverty and our government is sending money out of the country to help others, when there are people like myself who can even buy a new bag of socks.

It is a hard pill to swallow, but, I will continue to look for the website where you can apply for the money they say is out there.

By Jeffrey D. Barnett (a Marine officer and Iraq War Veteran):

"Before my deployment [to Iraq] I was disposed to always be active. Whether it was with work, hobbies, reading, social activities, or other things, I did not like to be idle. Now I am sometimes content to sit idle with only my thoughts. Watching the ocean, sitting in my front yard with my dog, driving at night: moments when I can contentedly reflect on life alone. Adding a few friends and a pleasant discussion to this activity is now probably my favorite pastime. I now place a much greater value on experiences, while before I almost exclusively valued achievement. And I don’t necessarily mean grand, individual achievements, but also group achievements through things like playing poker or gaming with friends.

Now, I certainly enjoyed experiences before Iraq. Going to the movies to see the latest Will Ferrell film was just as gratifying then as it is now. However, my perspective on activity has changed, and now I am content to relax and just let things happen rather than relentlessly steer every activity towards an ultimate goal. I still steer towards goals, and be sure that I am still relentless, but I now have a far more balanced desire for simple experiences. This has given me a much deeper appreciation for my experiences and those who share them with me, because I know they are just as mortal as I am.

The second change runs slightly counter to the first, causing disconnect with others: After experiencing real chaotic violence and seeing how ugly humanity can be it’s difficult to get excited about some things the rest of the world views as important. For example, about a year after I returned from Iraq a new video game was released and heavily criticized in the media for brief scenes of semi-nudity, I remember feeling frustrated that some of my friends were deployed at that time and probably facing worse circumstances than I had, yet America was in a tizzy over whether its children should be exposed to alien buttocks. At the end of the day, after you’ve seen school children walk in a single-file line past the dead body of a man executed at gunpoint, it’s difficult to care about the social degradation caused by bare buttocks in a video game."

Read the full post in NYT...

 My husband and I married September 1, 1979 and he worked at a paper mill from 1979 until the mill closed in 2004.  We have two children – a son, 28, who is currently deployed to Iraq, serving with the 10^th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, New York and a 24 year-old daughter and a 22-month old grandson who lives with me – circumstances of which are detailed below.   Just to give you some background and a timeline of our life – our son was deployed in February 2006 to Afghanistan; in October of ’06 he was able to come home on leave and a friend of our daughter’s brought a girl  to a welcome home gathering we had for him.  In December ’06, we were informed that she got pregnant when he was on leave- naming our son as the father – there is a point to telling you this. In February of 2007, our son came home from Afghanistan and returned to Fort Drum, NY. until his re-deployment in October 2008.  On March 15, 2007; we received a call from the local police department that our daughter had been drugged, beaten, raped; had broken bones and was found in the woods behind a local lounge – but she was alive.  We had been dealing with getting her healthy – mentally and physically; when my husband started experiencing headaches. My husband had never been sick in his life – and while employed  received awards for many years of perfect attendance.   We assumed it was from the degree of stress our family had been dealing with.  On June 15, 2007, my husband experienced slurred speech and facial droop.  He was seen by his physician who had him undergo a CT Scan and then an MRI from which brain lesions were discovered.  On Tuesday, June 19^th he underwent a brain biopsy. On June 21^st – my husband was told he had four inoperable brain tumors; 20 minutes after being told this; the baby was born to the girl mentioned above that stated our son was the father.  Our son came home on emergency leave when his father was admitted to the hospital and had paternity testing done which determined he was indeed the father of the child.  The baby had complications when he was born and had to undergo surgery within an hour after birth.   On July 17, 2007, my husband and I went to Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston to see what options for treatment he had available to him.  He was told he had approximately 2 weeks to two months to live and that chemo and radiation therapy might prolong his life a few months but would have to be extremely aggressive.  He opted to try the radiation and chemotherapy to achieve a goal of making it to the Holidays, and to receive his first Social Security Check. Our son was in Afghanistan for the Holidays the previous year, and my husband wanted to have one more Christmas with our children and new grandson.  At the baby’s four-week check up, July 23, 2007 – it was determined he would have to have surgery again.  He had the second surgery on July 24th – the evening prior to his surgery tht baby's mother was reported to Child Protective Services for placing him in danger - she has and alcohol and drug abuse problem. so DHHS placed the baby with me since my son was back at Fort Drum.  

Now – at this time, I am working a full-time job at it has been determined that my husband has inoperable brain cancer and has a very short life expectancy; that he has been declared disabled by Social Security but has a five-month waiting period before his checks would start; been told by the Union Pension Plan that my husband has been denied his disability benefits because he is under the age of 55 and still not employed  I am still trying to take care of my daughter who still has issues she is dealing with from her assault; take care of my husband who was declining on a daily basis and taking care of a one-month old baby while still trying to maintain a household on one income. My husband’s insurance had a $50K annual maximum and it didn’t take long to reach that with him having a brain biopsy, chemo and radiation. 

My husband passed away on January 17, 2008 – he did meet his goals of having one more Holiday season with his children and receiving his first (and only) Social Security check on January 16 (his last goal).  My husband’s medical insurance had a $50,000. annual maximum, which with him receiving radiation and chemotherapy did not take long to reach and I then had to start paying out of pocket.  I applied for Medicaid but made just over the allowable limit to qualify. I am now burdened with thousands of dollars in medical bills; his funeral expenses and no life insurance.  

I moved out of our house and am now living in a townhouse apartment. On June 3, 2008, DHHS once again removed our grandson from his mother’s care and placed with me as my son was still at Fort Drum.  My son’s PR&R case was put on a “back burner” until the mother worked on her substance and alcohol abuse issues.  She has been living in a “recovery house” and is now pregnant again with her third child – third father.   My son was deployed to Iraq in October of 2008 and apparently his case can’t be heard until he returns from Iraq due to the Soldier/Sailor Act. 

I humbly request that you please take my family circumstances into consideration and try to put yourself into my situation to have juggled all the responsibilities that I had at the time and still have and the emotional stress I have been under. 

Currently I am living paycheck to paycheck and am behind on several bills.  I am trying to get caught up and I really need to purchase a headstone for my husband's grave.  I truly believe that once I am caught up I can stick with a budget and hopefully I can put my husband's soul to rest and be able to rest myself.  

I thank you for your consideration 

Well, here goes.  I have never done anything like this before and am not sure how it works but hell, lets give it a shot.  I am a 27 year old veteran of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars (simply put)  I believe i am a victim of identity theft and have already taken the proper measures to catch it.  The problem is this possibly may have happened while i was over seas and have no proof of anything i am horrible at keeping track of anything like that i lose everything lol i have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (commonly known as PTSD) so its hard for me to function.  I believe i am in a gray zone when it comes to getting financial help from any company do to not owing scrupulous amounts in credit card debt i have a lot of back bills to [pay and cannot get a loan to do so i make over 50,000 a year and just need a jump start to getting out of this the wife n kids are depending on a broken soldier anyone got any ideas? im tapped out.  I have tried everything to get my family out of this Please anything you have for infor or anything will help  My brain hurts.

Hello I would have never thought I would do anything like this. I am 25 years old and a stay at home mom to a 20 month old. I have been with my sig other for almost 8 and a half years. Okay, my like began in a small town, there I was the model student. I was in athletics, I did community service, and I was also a tutor. I graduated second in my class. I was accepted to all the schools anyone can dream of. I decided on Texas Christian University. I was there my whole freshman year. But being away from home really took a toll on me. I was lonely and I wasnt as busy as I had been my entire life. I guess it was there that my mind took a trip back in time. I remembered why I had always hated family gatherings and why I tried my hardest to stay busy. Anyway at the back of my mind I kept a dark secret. I was molested from the age of 6 til 10. Although I remember clearly now during my childhood until the time I started college I always kept it in the back of my mind for fear of embarrassment and because I did not want any one to know because I was threatened if I was to ever tell. Anyway I was away from home from the protection of my immediate family and the comfort of my boyfriend. The memories for some reason flooded over me. I really did not know how to handle it. I started doing mediocre at everything. So i decided to go closer to home. I transferred my second year to Arizona State. There I thought I was going to go to school with my high school sweetheart. But he decided to join the Marines. His brother joined and he for fear of anything ever happening to him joined to protect him. At this point I did not let anyone know of what my mind was remembering. I knew things would not be the same. I could not keep the memories inside anymore and I told my boyfriend and then my sister and then my parents. And like I always knew things were never the same. Our family gatherings were no longer gatherings or a hundred or so. They were just only my immediate family because everyone else did not want o believe what happened. My cousin molested me for years and no one wanted to believe me. Anyway it took years for me to deal with the change and take something horrible and change it to something good. I felt then like I was the only one, now I feel like I should help others who are in the same shoes as I once was. I really want to help young girls and boys to get on with their lives. All through this ordeal my studies were not being challenged by me. I put them aside and tried dealing with my problems, and me getting better jeopardized my studies. I was no longer an A+ student. At this time my boyfriend found out he was going to Iraq. I just decided that it was best that I take time off. We spent time together and he left for his deployment. We talked only a few times during the time he was gone. The only news I heard was something bad. He was with 3/25 Lima Co they lost many young men during their deployment. In fact my boyfriend almost died, his team leader, Cpl Andre Williams, was killed just an arms length in front of him. His deployment was my worst time ever, It was hard going anywhere. Everywhere I went was something about the war. But today I am so glad he came home when so many were lost. A year after he came home after 7 years of being with him, we concieved a baby boy. We named him Carter. In June 2008 John finished his duties with the marines. Now the only thing we are battling is PTSD. Some days he feels good. Some days he has the worst headache imaginable. Yet we are still trying to go through all the red tape at the VA trying to get him helped. He is in school at the time full time. We do not have very much money so I stay home and take care of our son. John hopes to be done with school in the next year and a half. We just hope by then we get some help with his disability. Cause clearly he is not the same person I have known all these years. I still love him though, he helped me through my rough patches. Now is my time to help him. I just want to finish school so we can do things on our own but our families arent rich. I owe money from when I was in school, about 27,000. If someone could help me get back in school, we will be set the rest of the way from there. Money doesnt mean alot to some people but this 27000 is a big thorn. It would never be there if so many things didnt happen.

I am a disabled Gulf War combat veteran that lives in the Nashville TN Area. I have a wonderful wife and 3 children. I am in the process of getting full disability as it has become hard to do just about anything.

I enjoy helping other especially veterans and thier families. I am a member of many different Veterans organizations and a Life Member of the DAV, VFW, AMVETS, and Iraq War Veterans. I have held many local, department, state and NAtional offices in these organization and I am currently the National Adjutant General for the Iraq War Veterans.

If you are a veteran or in a veterans family and need help them maybe I can get it for you. I am always ready to do what I can!

http://www.baghdadpups.com/

Baghdad Pups is sponsored by the SPCA to get "buddies" home to their military families, and help others find new homes away from the war. Help support this cause with donations or other.

http://www.va.gov/

This is the main website for the US Department of Veterans Affairs. They have lots of resources on their page to help you the various areas of your life. Even though at times it can seem there is a lot of "red tape", they are there to service you, and they should service you.

http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.newsDtl&did=4487

The VFW is not just for veterans who served in WWII. It is for all veterans. It is a worthwhile investment of a membership to help you connect with other serviceman/woman, along with the resources for veterans.

 http://www.ngwrc.org/

This website is for the National Gulf War Resource Center for vets who served in the Gulf War.

http://www.nvlsp.org/AdvocateTraining/index.htm

This website is for the National Veterans Legal Services Program out of Washington, DC.

http://iava.org/

IAVA is Iraq and Afaghistan Veterans of America. It is specifically for vets of these two occupations.

http://www.modernveterans.com/index.html

This website is for Veterans of Modern Warfare.

http://www.ourfinest.org/index.php?option=com_weblinks&view=category&id=11%3Aveteran-advocacy-a-watchdog-groups&Itemid=2

This website link is a list of Veteran Advocacy groups and Watchdog groups.

I don't know how to begin.

I am a recent disabled (retired) Vet. I served 18.5 years in the US Air Force and was medically retired in Mar 08. I'm awaiting my VA ratng - my DoD rating is 60% disabled.

My wife, of three years, is English and was earning and making ends meet while I dealt with my disability and looked for work.

My wife left three days ago (back to England) and I am stuck with a mortgage 2 car payments and some credit card bills. She told me she couldn't handle the stress of working and paying bills so she basically abandoned me to my fate. 

I don't know where to turn and I found this page. I will be contacting the VA and the Air Force aid society, I don't want to lose my house or file bankruptcy...please help.

Thank you,

Brian

Hello my husband/hero Kelly is serving his 2nd tour in Iraq. Our 3 kids and I live in Germany, waiting for him to come home. He has been in the Army for over 5 years and is a very good soldier. Our sacrifices for our country are made with lots of pride. He loves Harley Davidsons and it has been his lifelong dream to build a custom one. There is no way for us to afford this on our own. I wanted to see if anyone wants to show support for a brave, deserving, dedicated soldier by donating money for parts or donating parts for him to build it. He is supposed to come home Oct/Nov 08. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for anything you can do!

I retired from the military 2 years ago after 20 years of service, and moved to Atlanta.  I was working as a Defense Contractor and was laid off in early 2007.  I struggled with a severance package to stretch out during the duration of my layoff.  As a result, my emergency savings is completely depleted and my bills are currently more than my income.  I have a 5 year old daughter that I am supporting and with the holiday season coming up, I want her to have a nice Christmas.  I don't buy anything at all for me, and take less than $20 per week for myself, the rest goes to my sustaining my daughter, my household, and my bills.

 I've received some help from friends and family already, and need $2000 to bring all of my bills current and to get my head above water once again.  Any assistance, no matter how much or how little, would be greatly appreciated.

Hello, I am private greenlaw I served my country but my country wont serve me I am back in civilian life looking for a job but since I have been out of the army I am falling way behind on bill my electric bill is almost 800.00 with them threatning to shut me down, My rent is 2 months over due I make enough help with the state to cover the cost of food for myself and my wife & kids we do get help from family for daily cash needs but the two bills mentioned above is what is dragging me down I tried to apply for TANF but they denied me The would much rather help those cheating the system then the ones trying to work with the system any help would be appreciated thank you in advance!

7 years Security Forces in the United States Air Force

was deployed to Iraq 2004

Attending school to become a teacher

Hello.  I am new to this so I am not even sure if I am doing this properly but its worth a shot.  I am very stressed and I may vent so I apologize.

I am 25 years old and married to a soldier serving in Iraq. I have been very depressed and extremely stressed out since he left.  I have had to take on so much on top of worrying about him everyday.  My stress level has reached a new high.  I just have so much on my plate right now I just cannot handle it anymore.  We have so many bills to pay each month and it never seems like I can pay them all.  I was laid off from my job and I have been trying so hard to find a new one but it seems like there are none in my small town.  My credit as well as my husbands nearly perfect credit is now in the toilet because I would forget to pay a bill all together one month or I would forget to pay a bill and pay extra on another one to try to pay it off and then when that bill would arrive I wouldn't have the money to pay for it anymore.  The people at my husbands bank are not nice at all.  They would not let me change the address on his account even though I have full power of attorney on it, I was told  that they would not recognize it.  I went in this month to pay on his loan, they always have to look up the account for me and the teller was very rude and never mentioned to me that there was a problem with the account.  Now I did not receive the notice in the mail being they did not let me change my address and I received a call saying the account went negative on January 31 and they have been charging me 5 dollars a day ever since.  This was an error that never should have happened in the first place.  I changed a bill that was being taken out directly from that account to another one because it was easier for me to keep track of and I assumed it would stop that month but it did not.  If I was told about it I would have gladly taken care of it right away but I didn't have the chance.  I guess this is what is putting me over the edge right now.  I have more bills than I can keep track of right now.  I have way too much on my mind and I am so lost and have no idea what to do.  My husband and I were married at the court house before he left and are planning to have a wedding for our families this fall when he returns but now I am not sure if this can happen.  To top off the stress with the wedding planning the place where I bought my dress ordered it 4 sizes too big and did not order the wrap that came with it and is being very difficult with me.  I actually had to go to the Better Business Bureau about her and she continues to lie which is so frustrating.  I am just so overwhelmed right now.  I have no clue what to do anymore.  I want to find a consolidation loan but I have bad credit so I cannot get one.  Can anyone help me?  Point me in the direction of away I can get help with my financial trouble?  Is there some place that will give me a loan?  My husband will be home on leave sometime this spring for 2 weeks and I am so afraid we will have no money while he is here and I will have a break down.  If someone could help me out I would be so grateful.  You would save my sanity.  I really feel as though I am going to loose it soon.  I have so much going on on top of everything I have already wrote about.  Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. 

I was on my second tour in Iraq as a DoD Contractor. When news of my youngest daughter medical condition came about and wasn't looking good, then my wife talking to me about the stresses in dealing with all the medical appointments and treatments along with the needs of my 2 other children was putting a strain on her and needed me to come home. I knew my wife and family needed me home so I left Iraq and returned home not knowing what I would do for work. It has been hard finding a job that will meet our needs along with the time needed at home. I came home in May 2006 and we lived on our savings. Our savings are gone and I was able to find a job working nights allowing me to be home in the day. I started this job the beginning of Aug but while in training my first few checks will be small and I wont be getting normal checks till Sept. Till then we have bills that I just don't know what to do. Our church and family has helped us as much as the could and I bless God for the help they where able to give, but needs still remain until we fully get back on our feet. We still have bills from July that are unpaid along with Aug. These bills do not include medical bills which are beyond what I can think. My youngest daughter is having surgery on Aug.11th and my wife is really worried about it, I believe that the Lord will take care of her, and I place her in the Lords hands. Thank you for whatever help and prayers you can give to us.