I was doing my Evelyn Woods speed reading trick through the papers this morning and happened upon what appears to be an error.  I have seen numerous refences to the fact that we are 26+ million in number. Some have put the number as high as 28 million. The article brought me up short because it said we have shrunk to 22 million. Actually, it didn’t take into account we are losing 18 a day to suicide or another statistic that 18 Veterans of WW2 die every day as well. That 18 number sure pops up a lot.

So, what to do to resolve this? Off to Bing, n’est pas? Confusion and old age reign there. The links I found variously say : 23,532,000 million in 9/30/2007

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_US_veterans_are_there

23,816,000 in 2007

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081021045451AACvNXT

24,500,000 in 2006

http://uk.ask.com/question/how-many-veterans-are-there-in-the-us

26,000,000 with no date

http://www.chacha.com/question/how-many-veterans-are-there-approximately-in-the-united-states

I’m worried. If no one knows how many of us there really are, how can there be any apportionment of monies for us? Somebody knows but they’re not giving us recent   data.

I’m anal about numbers. Just for shits and grins, let’s assume  a  few other things. The article I’m reading says the government wants to spend $1 billion on a “Veterans Job Corps” over 5 years for 20,000 Vets.  This munificent program will employ soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen to focus on building roads and trails on public lands. Before I crunch those numbers, look how many the President is hoping to employ- 20K. Next, does anyone remember the Civilian Conservation Corps by our peanut farmer President in the 70’s? They insulated hot water tanks and stapled visqueen “storm windows” on houses- all for about $4.00/hr. I know few are alive who remember the Works Progress Administration on the 30’s. Anyway, one billion divided by 5 years is $200 million per year. $200,000,000 ÷ 20,000 Vets = $10,000.00 per Vet per year. In the 70’s, a CCC employee could hope for $7680.00/year before taxes. Inflation says that should be about $16K now. This is 2012 so $10K is a slap in the face-to Vets no less.  Mighty slim pickings as my dad used to say. If you can exist on a salary that small without a mobile zip code then you are amazing.

In the same article it mentions that the budget of the VA is slated (read hoped) to rise 10.5 % from  $126.9 Billion to $140.3 Billion. This $13.4 Billion dollar increase (less the $200 million above) will go to ameliorate the dismal mental health and women Vets’ issues that seem to refuse to behave.

Try as I might, I can find no definitive number for the actual number of Vets who are actually “disabled”. That is a very nebulous term. It could be said a Vet with ingrown toenails who receives compensation (and 0% is compensation) is disabled within the realm of the meaning. Using that as a yardstick, there are possibly 3 million + who might fit the sobriquet. My search kept leading me astray to the Disabled American Vets site which was no help. They did contribute the factoid that 257,000 Vets are 100% disabled as of 2007.  I would appreciate it if one of you fellow Vets out there would tell me the truth. This is 2012. Why is everything on the Internet seven to nine years out of date? Don’t they ask these questions on Census forms? My last one wanted to know whether I had any Indian, black , yellow or blue blood in me. I don’t remember seeing one for “check this box if you are more than ¼ Veteran.”

Getting back to numbers-$126.9 Billion. That’s $126,900,000,000.00 dollars. You want to see something ugly? If there are even 4 million of us disabled, and I err to the high side, think how much they are spending per Vet. That would be $31, 725.00 per.  A large number have small ratings. 10% X12 months is $1.524.00/yr. 20% is $3,012.00.

Bing tells me only 257,000 are 100% P&T as of 2007. Excuse me? What was so important about 2007? Is this one of those mainstream media ploys to blame Bush by showing the numbers are dramatically higher now?  I guess that will surface during the debates. I’ll bump that to 400,000 and extrapolate from there. With the exception of Bent Brain Vets, most of us are married-statistically speaking. A Vet + spouse with no rug rats gets $2924.00/mo. X 12 mos. = $35,088.00/yr. Let’s  just ignore the government is paying us below the poverty line and proceed. 400K Vets X $35,088.00/yr is $14,035,200,000.00 billion dollars. That sure leaves a lot of bucks for hammer toes. In fact, it leaves $112,864,800,000.00 Billion. Apparently it isn’t enough to help the Vets with brain issues and the homeless women vets. That will take another $13.2 Billion. I’ll betting we could go out and buy repos for all the  homeless Vets (men and women)  and hand them the title for less than that.

I asked why my taxes used to be so high years ago. I don’t ask now because I get a ‘bye from my grateful nation. If we are going broke, doesn’t it seem logical to start looking where we are spending every dollar? I certainly do not advocate short-changing Vets. I simply question where and why. Mark my words. You heard it here. I suspect-no-predict that the VA will soon  discover the PTSD pandemic has subsided based on fewer Vets diagnosed with it. Control the doctors’ paychecks and you control the statistics. The same will soon be true soon for homeless Vets. With this red hot,  booming economy we keep hearing about, the rising tide will lift all boats. Homelessness among Vets will become statistically insignificant. God bless America. Onward through the Fog,  ladies and gentlemen. Vote for Oat Willie this fall. Rumor has it he was a Veteran.  And for those of you in Chicago, vote early-and often.

Postscript. Cupcake  figured it out. This is still slightly stale but extremely close. The correct number is 24,699,642 souls.  She rightly extrapolated that we are 8% of the population ( 308,745,538). That percentage has to be an absolute because I have seen it widely bandied about.