全球智库信息集成服务系统

Key Findings

1. Metro Detroit's veteran population differs from the area's nonveteran population. Metro Detroit veterans also differ from the national veteran population with respect to service characteristics, though they share concerns about post-service transition, employment, and mental health with veterans in other communities.
2. Mental health problems are common among veterans, particularly those exposed to combat. Veterans in the metro Detroit area expressed concerns about their own posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance use problems.
3. Many metro Detroit veterans are neither aware nor take advantage of available supports and resources. Michigan veterans are among the least likely in the nation to receive or take advantage of their federal Department of Veterans Affairs benefits.
4. Metro Detroit organizations that provide services and support to veterans sometimes limit access based on an individual's military service and discharge status, leaving some veterans who have mental health problems without access to needed services.

The recent challenges confronting the metropolitan Detroit area^[1] ("metro Detroit") are well known — the decline of the auto industry followed by high unemployment and eventual bankruptcy. As the region begins to turn around, however, information is needed about how its 225,000 veterans are faring. Little is known about the specific challenges these veterans face and whether the available benefits, services, and resources are supporting them sufficiently.