Facebook Friday: Operation Homefront
Just yesterday I came across a post talking about free houses for veterans. Obviously, this kind of a think will pique anyone’s curiosity, so I looked into it a little.
There is a program called Operation Homefront that is helping veterans raise donations. The donations are for housing, surgeries, etc. The website/ company allegedly helps raise funds for all kinds of things. I’ll post a little on what veterans are saying about it below.
By no means take me posting this as an endorsement. If any readers check it out and find that the program is not all it is cracked up to be, let me know.
Every Friday, I pick my favorite Facebook conversation. This week’s conversation comes from the Facebook group called, Gulf War Veterans, which has over 3,600 members.
Topics on the Facebook group site range from medical advances in treating Gulf War Syndrome to every day medical news on the same subject.
This post did not generate a lot of buzz, but I found the topic interesting enough to repost on my site.
Post from Veteran:
Tanya: I just found out that is is for ALL vets not just post 9-11. https://mafa.operationhomefront.net/hfvqualify.aspx
Only if you don’t already own a house can you get one to live in for free. Looks like people donate them to the vet for as long as they live there.
Now to find a program that helps us ALL with mortgage and repairs.
Comments from Group:
Ian: What a fantastic idea! I wish someone in the UK would do this.
Kelly: Only combat vets though right?
Tanya: Not sure really. I didn’t read the whole thing.
Tanya: Actually the application questions do ask if they served and where and stuff like that. You should check it out, Kelly.
Im too disabled to do work so Im back in school 39 years after quiting school and Im on voc rehab and I have problems keeping up in college and my computer is in bad shape and I don’t know how to work it very well. now I’ve failed my classes what do they do to me now? Take me out back and shoot me? I haven’t studied in a long time and now trying to read 6hrs a day and not remembering a thing and I’m a slow reader.I’m at the end of the road.
I just wanted to tell you that the Homes on the Homefront program presented by Operation Homefront is a wonderful program and it is open for all vets wounded or not and from ANY era or branch of service. So this is not limited to post 9/11 vets as some programs are. These are foreclosed homes that the banks donate or let be purchased at a low price and they are upgraded and renovated before they are given away. So far they have given over 100 homes away and they have over 50 families that are already matched and waiting for the renovations to be done in order to move into their new home. Chase bank said they plan on giving a total of 1000 homes away in the next few years.
They do find out what upgrades you need to the home and fix them to suit your needs. My husband and I were one of the first recipients of homes through the program. They installed everything we needed to make the home more handicapped accessible. So for anyone interested, please sign up and apply for a home.
I want to state that in my following comment, in NO WAY am I belittling nor mean ANY disrespect to all whom have served AND fallen in post-9/11 wars!! Wanted to shed light on what perpetuates in making the VA regulations/qualifications not only confusing but divisive as well:
One thing that has bothered me that still lingers like dog crap on bottom of shoe from the President George Bush days is making this surgical delineation of Veterans post-9/11 to qualify for this or that.
Within those very same parameters I have friends whom were Activated Air/Army Guard. WHILE they were over there, these lawmakers contrived even before their return, that they had to be Activated for 24 months **EXACTLY** or more in order to receive/qualify for long-term health and other benefits.
THAT would be all well and good **if** they had not done as they did and yanked their Units out as little as ONE DAY before that 24 month period elapsed!!! My own brother has told me that ALOT of Activated Guard were rotated as such and now only get a paltry ‘nib let of care’ and just like Viet Nam and Agent Orange, when they have developed “mysterious neurological conditions”, well, good luck on trying to make a service connection because the VA has already “fulfilled their obligation according to rewritten time-specific conflict codes” in the VA’s menagerie. I have fellow Veteran buddies that are also fighting the whole “Gulf War Syndrome” web they have woven. This all shows that wars are made for the Contractors (war profiteers) to get richer at the expense of our Veterans.
Rant over…sort of…wouldn’t make more sense to treat ALL Veterans with the same uniformity we were accustomed to living under the auspices of UCMJ? I think the VA should have to abide under the SAME UCMJ to be more efficient and just as efficient from State of Maine to California, and held accountable and sworn to tell the truth when testifying or presenting themselves before Congress!! WHY does this bother me? Because our Congressmen and Woman only need to serve ONE TERM and get a pension and Healthcare FOR LIFE! We put our LIFE on the line and have to fight FOR our lives to even get the scraps thrown to us like a stray dog!
Okay, NOW rant is over!!
IT COULD BE GOOD, AS LONG AS IT ALSO INCLUDES GROUPS OF VETS LIKE THE VIETNAM VETS WHO ARE GETTING ON IN AGE AND FIND IT DIFFICULT TO FIND A HOUSE WHERE THEY ARE ABLE TO HAVE IT RENOVATED TO SUIT THEIR NEEDS, (LIKE THE USE OF WALKERS AND WHEELCHAIRS), WHICH YOU CANNOT DO IF YOU RENT A HOUSE OR APARTMENT. THINGS LIKE THIS USUALLY EXCLUDE THE VIETNAM VETS, IS AL I AM SAYING, LONG BINH, VIETNAM 1968-1969,LOL, KUI.
This is for ALL veterans of ALL eras, wounded or not, sick or not, as long as you served and need the assistance. They help with other things as well.
Check them out.