Our Suffering Soldiers

Homeless veteran – courtesy of PBS.org

 

A very depressing statistic:

Chance that a death among U.S. service members is a suicide: 1 in 5

And this, from usnews.nbcnews.com:

Through April, the U.S. military has recorded 161 potential suicides in 2013 among active-duty troops, reservists and National Guard members — a pace of one suicide about every 18 hours. The Army, the largest contingent of the armed forces, sustained 109 reported suicides during the first four months, according its latest report.

Soldiers fight for our government from thousands of miles away, yet when they come home, the government does little for them. They can’t even get healthcare for war injuries without waiting years. They can’t find jobs. Many are homeless. They don’t get proper mental health care. When they suffer from suicidal thoughts, there isn’t adequate help for them. They don’t get much of anything.

These are our brothers and sisters. So why is our government doing this to them?

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Key Bank Won’t Forgive Student Loan of Deceased Air Force Vet

Photo courtesy of TheStreet.com

 

From Change.org:

“Other major private student lenders and KeyBank competitors have implemented policies forgiving the student loan debt of dead beneficiaries- Wells Fargo, Sallie Mae, Discover, and Citi Financial among them. In addition, loans guaranteed by the federal government are automatically discharged on proof of death.”

Mother of student:

“Collection calls are the most callous kind of reminder that you’ve lost a loved one, and I got them every day.”

Visit Change.org to read more about this mother’s painful story and sign her petition to have Key Bank and American Education Services (AES) forgive her son’s loan. Banks are rich enough- it is disgusting that they aren’t willing to just leave this single mother and her family alone so that they might grieve in peace.