Military Veterans need Old Age Homes (Retirement Homes) : AWHO and AFNHB must build Old Age Homes Instead of Residential Houses
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MILITARY VETERANS NEED OLD AGE HOMES
AWHO and AFNHB must build Old Age Homes Instead of Houses
Musings by Veteran VIKRAM KARVE
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It was interesting to see post on our Pune Veterans Group that they were planning an Old Age Home for Veterans and their Widows
(the post asked us to contact Colonel Veterans Pune for details which I have done)
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This post reminded me of a blog I had written many years ago suggesting that Army Welfare Housing Organization (AWHO) and Air Force Naval Housing Board (AFNHB) start building Old Age Homes for Veterans instead of building houses which they are doing till now.
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Here the blog…
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MILITARY VETERANS NEED OLD AGE HOMES
AWHO and AFNHB must build Old Age Homes Instead of Houses
Musings by Veteran VIKRAM KARVE
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Sometime in the 1970’s — the Army started a residential housing scheme for Army Personnel and Veterans under the aegis of Army Welfare Housing Organization (AWHO)
In the true spirit of “jointmanship” — the Army had excluded the other two sister services from the AWHO.
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(Navy and Air Force Personnel and Veterans were not entitled to buy residential houses from AWHO which was exclusively for Army Veterans)
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So — the Navy and Air Force started a similar scheme for Navy and Air Force Personnel and Veterans called Air Force Naval Housing Board (AFNHB)
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These two housing schemes were meant exclusively for Armed Forces Personnel and Veterans:
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1. AWHO for Army Personnel and Veterans
2. AFNHB for Navy and Air Force Personnel and Veterans
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Sometime ago I happened to visit one such military veteran “fauji” housing complex and found a large number of civilians inside.
I asked my friend who lives there why there were so many civilians in a housing scheme meant exclusively for Defence Personnel, serving and retired.
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My friend said:
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“This military veteran residential complex is more than 30 years old — so many of the original military veteran owners who were allotted houses over here have since died — and their houses have been inherited by their children.
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As you know very few “Army Brats” join the Army now-a-days and they prefer to work in the civilian world — so many of the civilians you see are kids of erstwhile “fauji” owners.
Many “Army Brats” are settled abroad or work in other cities — so they have given their houses to civilians on rent — since civilians give higher rent.
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Gradually — as the old military veteran “faujis” die — their civilian children will inherit their houses — and this will become a civilian colony.
In due course of time — this military veteran “fauji” colony will actually become a civilian housing colony and will be “fauji” only in name…”
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So — in effect — are the AWHO and AFHNB building houses for civilians…?
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This seems to be true at least in the long term when all AWHO and AFNHB houses will be inherited by civilians and these erstwhile Military Veteran Housing Complexes will become civilian colonies.
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Hence:
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I feel it would be better if AWHO and AFNHB build Old Age Homes instead of houses.
These old age homes can be allotted to senior citizen Military Veterans on monthly rental basis till they die.
At least — this way — the ownership will remain with the military and a larger number of needy ex-servicemen will benefit.
In any case — children of most military veterans are settled abroad — and even those who live in India are busy with their careers and may not live with their military veteran parents.
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The needs of Military Veterans and their Widows abandoned by their children in old age will be better served by Old Age Homes with various concomitant geriatric facilities like Assisted Living, Medical Care, ECHS, Hospitals, CSD etc.
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So:
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Does it not make sense to scrap the existing AWHO and AFNHB and create a Defence Services Old Age Home Scheme (DSOAHS) covering all the three Defence Services…?
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I recommend that the Armed Forces should stop building houses and start building Old Age Homes for Military Veterans (Ex-Servicemen) and their Widows.
This will give Veterans and their Widows a sense of security in their old age.
Do you agree…?
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VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve
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Link to my source blog post in my writing blog: https://karve.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/should-awho-and-afnhb-build-old-age-homes-instead-of-houses-for-military-veterans/
My article is also posted at url: https://vikramkarve.medium.com/veterans-need-old-age-homes-1102ed22f312 and https://karve.wordpress.com/2022/10/05/military-veterans-need-old-age-homes-awho-and-afnhb-must-build-old-age-homes-instead-of-houses/ etc.
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