Military veterans represent just ten percent of the population, yet they make up 25-percent of our nation’s homeless. For decades, the Veterans Administration and veterans support groups have been working to alleviate the problem. One way is with an event called a Stand Down. One was held this past weekend on the former Fort Ord and 400 homeless veterans came looking for help.
Tracey Smith stands before a dozen homeless veterans at what used to be the motor pool yard at the old Fort Ord. It now is a temporary tent city that will serve as the vets home for the next three days.
Smith…everybody calls him Smitty…will make sure the vets get a sleeping bag, a cot and a hot meal. Later they will be given clothing, boots, socks and underwear. They can also get a haircut, see a doctor, a dentist and get help with housing, finding a job and they also get a chance to be with other homeless vets.
Smitty says, “we call it Veteran Brotherhood.”
Stand Down is an old Vietnam War term for a place where soldiers could get a hot meal, rest and catch up with mail. Everything at this Stand Down feels like the military. The tents are called barracks, the cots are bunks and the meals are chow.
That’s where Smitty comes in. He is a Tent Leader, a sort of Sargent who will help the men take advantage of all the services available during Stand Down. Today he is a volunteer, but not too long ago, he was a homeless vet himself.
He became homeless after an out of control brush fire left him with burns over 70 percent of his lower body. In and out of hospitals and the constant pain forced him from his job as a diesel mechanic, and he spent 5 years on the streets.
Smitty says, “I have pretty much been in every shelter that there is from Santa Clara County to you name it…you know I slept behind a church in San Jose for a long time.”
His turn around began at a Stand Down in Boulder Creek about 5 years ago.
“They just put me on the right path…I have been on this goal now for four years. I am not going to let nothing stand in my way,” says Smitty.
Terry Bare is the Executive Director of the Veterans Transition Center in Marina, the group behind this Stand Down.
He says, “Vets lives are changing by the minute here, changing by the minute.”
The VA and local veterans groups have been staging these events since 1988. More than 200 are being held around the country this year…31 of those in California.
He speculates the reason veterans make up twenty five percent of the homeless population in the nation is because war changes people. Veterans have seen things and done things most people don’t want any part of.
Bare says, “So when they come back they don’t fit in anymore so maybe they lose the family structure...family doesn’t recognize them...they don’t recognize the family…can’t work together anymore…Family structure gone…job structure…community structure…that’s all gone”.
For him the Stand Down is more than the clothing and meals…it is about giving the Vets an opportunity to change their lives.
“We have several …success stories…at every Stand Down. If we can change the lives of a half a dozen right away…I’ll be happy with it,” says Bare
Change like what happened to Smitty. He’s no longer homeless, he has a part time job at the Veteran Transition Center and is hoping to return to his career as a diesel mechanic.
His advice for other homeless vets -- no matter what…don’t’ give up
Smitty says, “I want all of you guys to care about yourself. No matter where you are right now.”
The next California Stand Down is outside of Fresno next weekend.