Bringing homeless veterans indoors

Bringing veterans indoors

By Mark Emmons
memmons@mercurynews.com
Posted: 12/18/2010 12:02:00 AM PST
Updated: 12/18/2010 03:51:24 AM PST

Larry Morrison pulls a key chain from his pocket. Attached is one of his Army dog tags, so shiny that it appears almost brand new. There's also a pair of worn St. Christopher medals.
They honor two close friends who didn't come home with him from the Vietnam War.
"You never forget," said Morrison, 60. "But just in case, I have these."
Like many of his generation, Morrison returned from Southeast Asia a changed man after a 22-month tour of duty. Plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder, he would self-medicate with drugs and alcohol, trying to ease the episodes of apprehension and fear that would flare up unexpectedly. His downward spiral hit bottom with a year spent homeless on South Bay streets.
But in July, at the suggestion of a San Jose police officer, an ill and exhausted Morrison arrived at the EHC LifeBuilders' Veterans Service Center in San Jose. Morrison received shelter, food, medical treatment and something else:
A renewed sense of hope.
"This is a good place," he said. "They've showed me the path here. They've put me on the onramp, and I'm trying to get back to life's highway. They really care."
Homelessness is a persistent problem that hasn't been made any easier by the terrible economy. But it's a particularly vexing issue for veterans.
An estimated 107,000 vets experienced homelessness in 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Although those numbers are a sharp decline from earlier in the decade, veterans still represent 13 percent of the country's homeless population.
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Bringing veterans indoors