The New Generation of Homeless Veterans

Veteran of the Afghan and Iraq wars Peter Mohan, right, hugs Vietnam veteran Robert Whitfield, of Haydenville, Mass., left, in a hallway at a veterans homeless shelter, in Leeds, Mass., Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007. Whitfield is a Veterans Administration employee. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (Steven Senne - AP)



Veteran of the Iraq war Mike Lally pulls a clothing cart through a walkway at a homeless shelter, in Leeds, Mass., Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007. Lally did two tours of duty in Iraq while serving with the Marine Corps. Lally, who is participating in the program "Soldier On," pulls the cart as part of the work he does to pay his way in the program. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (Steven Senne - AP)

New Generation of Homeless Vets Emerge
By ERIN McCLAM
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 19, 2008; 11:52 PM

LEEDS, Mass. -- Peter Mohan traces the path from the Iraqi battlefield to this lifeless conference room, where he sits in a kilt and a Camp Kill Yourself T-shirt and calmly describes how he became a sad cliche: a homeless veteran.

There was a happy homecoming, but then an accident _ car crash, broken collarbone. And then a move east, close to his wife's new job but away from his best friends.

And then self-destruction: He would gun his motorcycle to 100 mph and try to stand on the seat. He would wait for his wife to leave in the morning, draw the blinds and open up whatever bottle of booze was closest.

He would pull out his gun, a .45-caliber, semiautomatic pistol. He would lovingly clean it, or just look at it and put it away. Sometimes place it in his mouth.

"I don't know what to do anymore," his wife, Anna, told him one day. "You can't be here anymore."

I know I posted this story before but now there are pictures to go with it. I've been posting on Sancho Press, as well as my own blogs, and this thing with O'Reilly has been really ticking us off. One of the members thought it would be a good idea to get the homeless veterans on film and send it to O'Reilly. BraveNew Films beat us to it. Before I could arrange to go to the local veterans homeless shelter in Orlando to film, they already had one up to confront O'Reilly's delusion and/or stupidity. I still plan on filming them and telling their stories.

While we take a look at the veterans lucky enough to get into a shelter, we forget about the thousands across the country who don't. From cities and towns all over the country there are people trying to get them out of the woods, out of their cars and into shelters. The problem is, most of the veterans sleeping in the woods and under bridges can't find room for them and others don't trust anyone enough to even try. Ask anyone who tries to help with Operation Stand Down how hard it is to get them out of the woods even for one day to get a hot meal, some fresh clothes and get cleaned up.

While O'Reilly lives in comfort and never has to worry a second about paying bills between his fat paycheck for shooting his mouth off on FOX and writing books claiming to be all about "watching over the little guy" these men and women, who served the nation find there is no place for them to call home. He can deny it all he wants, find excuses for as many times as his mouth can move, but in the end, he hasn't a clue what it is like to serve this nation only to find the nation has forgotten you.