Nation: Heroes Without Honor Face the Battle at Home

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According to Cleveland State University Psychologist John Wilson, the problems are particularly acute among those who saw combat duty. Using a sample of Cleveland-area veterans, he found that of those who served in battle zones, 48% of the blacks and 39% of the whites are now unemployed, and 31% of the blacks and 22% of the whites are now divorced.

Veterans Administrator Max Cleland, 36, whose right arm and both legs were blown away by a grenade near Khe Sanh, has begun pushing programs to alleviate some of the Viet vets' problems. Among the initiatives:

> A psychological counseling program, initially costing about $10 million a year, to be conducted in storefront offices across the country. The plan, first proposed by Cranston, has been passed by the Senate three times, but not by the House, because it previously did not get strong enough Administration backing.

> A tax-credit program, begun this year, for firms that hire disadvantaged workers and give preference to veterans.

>Extension of the G.I. Bill for those who have not completed high school. The benefits currently expire ten years after a veteran has left the service. One strong complaint among veterans is that the provisions have not been as beneficial as the World War II G.I. Bill.

John Kerry, one of the founders of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, feels the VA is not generous in other areas either. He is particularly bitter about the medical care provided: "With the amount of money they pay, they don't attract graduates from the best medical schools. There are a lot of foreign doctors in the VA hospitals as a result, which is a morale problem, if not a medical one."

Psychologist Figley feels the trend toward dealing more openly with the war will be good for the disaffected veterans. After World War II, the long voyages home aboard troopships gave soldiers a chance to talk out their experiences and begin to absorb them. Viet Nam returnees often came home by jet, singly or in small groups. What is more, they came home to a society that was not anxious to hear about their traumas. Says Veteran Bill De Bruler: "After exchanging experiences, you feel cleansed in an odd way and you forget for a while that what you did was all for naught."

For the vets, one of the war's most troublesome legacies is a pervasive disenchantment, unregistered by statistics and unsolved by legislative programs. It is caused by the feelings that the service they rendered was meaningless and the nation's anguish and anger over Viet Nam were transferred unfairly to them. Not long ago, a Viet Nam veteran in Minneapolis was asked if there was anything he would particularly like to say to Max Cleland when the VA chief arrived in the city for a scheduled visit. The vet brooded for a moment, then replied, half sardonically, half plaintively: "Yes. 'When are we going to get our parade?' "

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