A veteran of the U.S. Army spoke during a federal veterans affairs public hearing in Columbus, earlier this week. He choked-up a few times in testimony about his time in Iraq and dealing with veterans affairs after coming home. James Powers is a 12-year Army veteran who was deployed to the middle east for two years.
"Some things that I and veterans all across this country would like for this committee to think about," said Power, "tonight, when we go to sleep, over 40,000 veterans will go to sleep homeless."
Powers said the rate of suicide among vets is too high, drugs are being prescribed too much, and wait times of more than 30 days are too common in the VA.
"I've been prescribed medications over the years, at times 3 to 5 medications," said Powers, who added increased dosage and additional medications appeared to be the doctors' solution to "fix any problem."
Powers found his voice in front of two sitting members of Congress, the head of veterans affairs in Ohio, and the head of the VFW.