Military Service, Mental Health, and the Need for a Real Safety Net

Military service is strongly associated with mental health challenges, including PTSD, depression, substance abuse, and suicide. According to the RAND Corporation and the Department of Defense, nearly 1 in 4 post-9/11 veterans has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, and rates of alcohol and drug misuse are significantly higher among active-duty personnel than in the civilian population.

This burden does not fall evenly across American society. The vast majority of enlisted service members come from working- and lower-middle-class backgrounds, while the officer corps and the wealthiest Americans are largely shielded from the hardships and trauma of service .

When these men—often young, single, and lacking family support—return home, they face a civilian world unprepared for their needs. Many struggle with substance abuse, with rates of alcohol use disorder among veterans roughly double that of civilians . Too often, they end up on the streets, cycling through homelessness, addiction, and jail. Families and communities try to care for them, but the resources are inadequate and the cycle repeats .

If we truly value their service, we must provide real support—not just platitudes. This means making sure every veteran and returning service member has a welcoming place to come home to, where the ideals of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are real and attainable.

The solution is clear:

Free, high-quality education opens doors to new careers and a sense of purpose.

Universal healthcare ensures that no veteran is left untreated, whether for physical wounds, mental health, or addiction.

America owes more than thanks. We owe every veteran the tools to build a new life—because the price they paid should come with a guarantee of hope and opportunity, not struggle and neglect.

The working classes have paid with their blood and lives fighting the rich men of the United States’s wars. They come back with no support and working class families are burdened with alcoholics, or worse, they end up on the streets. It is about time the wealthy gave the working class its due for bearing the moral and physical consequences of war. We need free education and universal healthcare so we can pursue our own life, liberty, and happiness.

In theory, trade and freedom of choice sound fair—but in reality, when a small group controls all the resources, “trade” becomes coercion for everyone else. That’s exactly what happens when working-class people are expected to pay with their bodies and their futures to defend a system they can barely access.

Many of us end up in the military not out of pure choice, but because it’s the only path left to education, healthcare, or a stable life. We pay to protect the rights and property of those who already have more, and when we come home, we’re too often left without support.

If the country truly values “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for everyone, then the cost of that freedom shouldn’t fall only on the poor. Funding education and healthcare for all is how we make those rights real, not just promises on paper.

No one’s rights are violated by making sure the people who defend this country—and everyone else—have a fair shot at the very things America stands for.

Citations:

RAND Corporation. Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG720.html

Department of Defense. 2018 Health Related Behaviors Survey (HRBS) https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR4222.html

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Substance Use and Military Life https://nida.nih.gov/…/drug…/substance-use-military-life

OPA. Population Representation in the Military Services: Fiscal Year 2020 Summary Report. https://www.opa.mil/…/population-representation-in-the…

Pew Research Center. The Changing Face of America’s Veterans

https://www.pewresearch.org/…/the-changing-face-of…/

RAND Corporation. The All-Volunteer Force: Thirty Years of Service https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG265.html

U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH). Veteran Homelessness. https://www.usich.gov/…/focusing-truths-our-work-end…

SAMHSA. Veterans and Homelessness. https://www.samhsa.gov/find-support/how-to-cope/veterans