Vietnam Vet wants to make a difference for homeless veterans

From life in uniform to life on the streets
New program seeks to aid homeless vets with mental illness

By John Carpenter, Special to the Tribune

June 9, 2010


It took one year in the Vietnam jungle to smash Walter Newman's mind to pieces. It took him 30 years to figure out that alcohol and drugs weren't going to put it back together. Now, working with a pilot program targeting homeless veterans with mental illnesses, he hopes to show fellow vets that if he can get his life back, they can too.

Newman, 58, will be part of a demonstration program being developed by Thresholds, a Chicago-based mental health agency. The Thresholds Veterans Project will target homeless vets with mental illnesses, offering a range of services from housing to treatment to peer support to employment-skills training.

"When I first realized I needed help, the first person I talked to was a veteran," Newman said. "That made a difference. Now I want to be that difference."

Newman's story is not unlike that of many Vietnam veterans. A graduate of Englewood High School, Newman enlisted in 1970, having been told he would study administration after basic training. Instead he was slated for the infantry, and served in combat in Vietnam from December 1970 to December 1971.


When he returned he couldn't find a job. He married and started a family. But that fell apart as he descended into more than 30 years of substance abuse. Newman is now living with a diagnosis of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. But for years after his combat service, he simply felt that he was stuck in a cycle of drug and alcohol abuse. He traveled to various cities, winding up homeless in Atlanta for five years.

"I felt like that was my destiny, that I was worthless and that I would always be homeless and eventually die," Newman said.
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From life in uniform to life on the streets