Retired Air Force Colonel With Three Degrees Is Homeless And Sleeps In A Van

[DamianTV]

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/retired-air-force-colonel-with-three-graduate-degrees-is-homeless-and-sleeps-in-a-van


What advice would you give to a retired Air Force Colonel that has three graduate degrees and that cannot even find work as a janitor? 59-year-old Robert Freniere once served as a special assistant to General Stanley McChrystal, and he has spent extensive time in both Iraq and Afghanistan. But now this man who once had an office in the heart of the Pentagon cannot find anyone who will hire him. In addition to his story, in this article you will also hear about several other middle-aged professionals that cannot find work in this economy either. Despite what the Obama administration and the mainstream media are telling you, the truth is that there has been no employment recovery in this country. What you are about to read is absolutely heartbreaking, but it represents the reality of what is really going on out there in the streets of America today.

A lot of unemployed Americans believe that they cannot find work because they don't have enough "education" or enough "experience". Well, the truth is that there are a whole lot of people out there like Freniere that have lots of both and still can't even get hired as a janitor...


After a 30-year military career in which he earned three graduate degrees, rose to the rank of colonel, and served as an aide to Pentagon brass, Robert Freniere can guess what people might say when they learn he's unemployed and lives out of his van:

Why doesn't this guy get a job as a janitor?

Freniere answers his own question: "Well, I've tried that."

Freniere, 59, says that his plea for help, to a janitor he once praised when the man was mopping the floors of his Washington office, went unfulfilled. So have dozens of job applications, he says, the ones he has filled out six hours a day, day after day, on public library computers.

So Freniere, a man who braved multiple combat zones and was hailed as "a leading light" by an admiral, is now fighting a new battle: homelessness.

...

(Article continues on link)

His Unemployment is obviously his own fault.

[angelatc]

After 30 years, doesn't he get a retirement pension from the military?

WIth 3 graduate degrees, you'd think he'd be smart enough to start how own business....

ETA: Found the real article (http://articles.philly.com/2014-01-06/news/45885460_1_veterans-day-homeless-veterans-hogg). Yes, he gets $40,000 a year .... plus medical I assume.

Now is when the liberals wil start yammering that $40k isn't enough to even live on, I suppose.

(Seeing that he retired at 30 years instead of 40, I think it is perfectly fair to say that his unemployment is indeed his fault.)

[fr33]

Probably made more money in his career than those below the poverty line ever think about.

[invisible]

Again, wage deflation. He's "overqualified". Companies would rather hire someone with little experience, who knows nothing, so they can pay them next to nothing.

[angelatc]

Probably made more money in his career than those below the poverty line ever think about.


Yes, in the article I linked, he says he spent a few post-military years working for subcontractors in the Middle East, jobs that I think pay pretty good.

But he blames the sequester for derailing that particular gravy train.

[mtr1979]

This guy has is separated from his second wife. His first wife probable gets half of his military pension he is also putting two kids through college. I say let the kids pay for college themselves the guy would then be left with $20,000. I've lived on less than that for most of my life.

[fr33]

This guy has is separated from his second wife. His first wife probable gets half of his military pension he is also putting two kids through college. I say let the kids pay for college themselves the guy would then be left with $20,000. I've lived on less than that for most of my life.

Had I gone to college my parents would have paid $0 for it. My 3 sisters that went to college are proof of it. And the minimum wage they worked for to pay for college was probably 1/4 back then of what it is today.

The "poor" bastard can't get a job because he's not smart enough to find one. Move your ass out of DC and stop pestering the janitors. No sympathy here.

[Cleaner44]

After 30 years, doesn't he get a retirement pension from the military?

WIth 3 graduate degrees, you'd think he'd be smart enough to start how own business....

ETA: Found the real article (http://articles.philly.com/2014-01-06/news/45885460_1_veterans-day-homeless-veterans-hogg). Yes, he gets $40,000 a year .... plus medical I assume.

Now is when the liberals wil start yammering that $40k isn't enough to even live on, I suppose.

(Seeing that he retired at 30 years instead of 40, I think it is perfectly fair to say that his unemployment is indeed his fault.)

No doubt, he gets a check every month for more than $3000 and yet he can't help but be homeless? He must be the biggest 3rd degree idiot I have ever heard of. What happened... his job working for a military contractor fell through and now he has no other options? I am glad I didn't stay in that long and was thinking ahead about my future of selling my skills. With no mortgage or electric bill, that $3333 check at the beginning of the month should easily allow him to save for an RV.

[FindLiberty]

Is this some sort of a PR/media buildup for a POTUS run? What kind of coverage is this guy getting?

He sounds smart enough.

Does he look the part and can he read a prompter and look you in the eye (and jerk tears) like Ronald Reagan?

Rand's VP selection?

[enhanced_deficit]

Fuel of neocons/MIC/profiteers/interventionists/freedomers/christian zionists/zionists endless wars. They "support the troops" though.


Veterans make up 1 in 4 homeless - USATODAY.com (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-11-07-homeless-veterans_N.htm)
usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/...homeless-veterans_N.ht...‎
Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11% of the general adult population, according to a ...

Iraq/Afghanistan wars disabled 624,000 US troops , Divorces up 42%, Foreclosures up 217% (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?424803-Iraq-Afghanistan-wars-disabled-624-000-US-troops-Divorces-up-42-Foreclosures-up-217&)

The 12-Year War: 73% of U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan Occured on Obama's Watch (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?427493-The-12-Year-War-73-of-U-S-Casualties-in-Afghanistan-on-Obama-s-Watch&p=5221296#post5221296)

[fr33]

It's weird. You've got college students and veterans complaining that they aren't doing well after doing what they were instructed to do. Duh. That's the problem. You did what people, who get paid to tell you what to do, tell you to do. Money doesn't grow on trees and most likely your govt appointed teachers are ignorant and only promoting what they did with their lives.

[RickyJ]

If he sleeps in a van then he isn't a typical homeless person that doesn't even have that. I strongly suspect that there are jobs that would take him, he just hasn't applied for them. McDonald's takes just about everyone that they think will do a good job. If they don't think this man could do a good job then there might be something wrong with him that we don't know about. Maybe he wants too much money to work. Private businesses do not exist to give ex-colonels with three degrees a high salary, they exist to make a profit.

[angelatc]

If he sleeps in a van then he isn't a typical homeless person that doesn't even have that. I strongly suspect that there are jobs that would take him, he just hasn't applied for them. McDonald's takes just about everyone that they think will do a good job. If they don't think this man could do a good job then there might be something wrong with him that we don't know about. Maybe he wants too much money to work. Private businesses do not exist to give ex-colonels with three degrees a high salary, they exist to make a profit.


Maybe he should move to North Dakota. I would be willing to bet that the oil field workers could use some bossy type people.