Transition Assistance Program Essay

The United States Marine Corps is the finest fighting force on this planet, and at thirteen weeks, their basic training program is the longest of all of the United States Military Forces. That thirteen weeks is dedicated towards completely removing all civilian qualities from a person and changing a “whimpering civilian” into a highly trained United States Marine. If the U.S. Government is that dedicated to the concept of training and preparing their troops for what is to come, then that same dedication should be shown in preparing our troops to return to the “real world” once their service time has come to an end instead of the measly FOUR DAYS allocated for Transition Assistance Program (TAP) classes. More of an effort needs to be spent ensuring our …show more content…
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) produces two types of estimates of the homeless population with the Veteran’s Administration (VA) collaborating on those involving veterans. The first is a point-in-time count of homeless shelters, usually on a day in the last week of January when the shelter populations are the highest and the second is an estimate of the total number of people who experience homelessness at some point during the year. (Veterans and Homelessness, November 2015) Based off these estimates the current homeless veteran population is calculated at 49,885. (U.S. Census Bureau, November 2015) The causes for homelessness in veterans vary from mental issues, drug abuse, to PTSD. Additionally, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “veterans often experience difficulty returning to civilian life, particularly those without strong social support networks, and may not have skills that can be easily transferred to employment outside of the