Many veterans in San Francisco back home without a hope

Many veterans in San Francisco back home without a hope
By: Mike Aldax
August 8, 2010

Many return home with post-trauma symptoms, a debilitating injury and an inability to readjust to normalcy after leaving for war as a child and returning as an adult. Some turn to suicide — a recent Veterans Affairs report revealed that as many as 18 veterans try to take their own lives each day in the U.S. Seven percent of those attempts are successful and 11 percent of those will try again within nine months, the report said.

Kevin Crane wants to be perfectly clear: He doesn’t have one bad comment about the U.S. military.

The 33-year-old veteran said he knew very well what he signed up for when he joined the U.S. Army after 9/11. He said he is proud of the brave souls who protect their country. Salutes are in order, he said.

Even though Crane left the service with a back injury, the responsibility to care for his kids while his ex-wife was serving in Iraq — and the struggle of competing in a tight job market — the vet, who recently emerged from homelessness in The City, refuses to badmouth the armed forces.

“There’s an old saying, ‘If the military wants you to have a family, they’d issue you one,’” Crane said.

Frank Knowlton will not talk trash, either. At 61, he still waves the American flag proudly.


Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: Many veterans in San Francisco back home without a hope