Navy gets it right with Veterans Village

Veterans Village opens doors to homeless vets

Friday, December 07, 2007

By MC1 Christal A. Bailey Navy Compass Staff

Homeless veterans now have a place to call home during the cold, damp winter months thanks to a partnership with the City of San Diego, Veteran's Village of San Diego and VVSD Navy Region Southwest.

All three entities were represented during the grand opening at the Homeless Veterans Shelter located in the Midway/Rosecrans area of San Diego Dec. 5.

According to VVSD Vice President and Chief of Operations Officer, Andre Simpson, the shelter was home to more than 475 unduplicated homeless veterans last year. He said he hopes the shelter gives these veterans the chance to find the help they need.

"We have homeless vets living in the streets," he said. "Here's a way, we as citizens, can help someone who has given so much for their country."

The shelter is in its second year of a five year contract with the Navy. The Navy provides the land every year where the winter shelter is located. Naval Base Point Loma Commanding Officer, Capt. Mark Patton said this agreement helps avoid the hassle of the city having to vote on land use.

"It's important for the Navy to associate with the city to work on issues like this," Patton said. "The Navy had some extra land. This is much easier to do on Navy property than city property."
go here for the rest
http://www.navycompass.com/news/newsview.asp?c=231159

I get reports from all over the country on homeless veterans. They tug at my heart harder than veterans with PTSD do. They have fallen so far through the cracks that they can't see a way out. They don't trust anyone. Trust is something that had been beaten out of them from too many years of holding out their hand for help, only to have it slapped away. Family and friends abandon them as they feel they have nothing left to give, they end up on the streets. Hope is a foreign word. For the homeless veterans with PTSD it is worse because most also feel there is something wrong inside of them that makes them undeserving of any kind of help. Our military men and women have self determination drilled into them, pride, courage and whatever it is that they were born with making them hold such a deep need to defend this nation, all stand in the way of them seeking help.

I've heard it all through the years, along with a lot of regret, there is pain, hopelessness, but what I hardly ever see is bitterness. They never regret their service and most would do it again if they were asked to. Yet we need to wonder what it is inside of them that would make them willing to defend any of us, when we have forgotten them. kc