October 14, 2010 12:51 PM
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Homeless Veterans: Trying To Find Help and Hope
Saturday morning, we met Marguerite Somers and learned about something else that's new: there are more women among homeless vets because women now make up 14 percent of our forces.
Somers is a former sailor who served until 1999, and she too had trouble making that transition from military to civilian life. Shortly after getting out of the Navy she got divorced and began drinking heavily. Now, homeless three months, she's desperate for help for her alcoholism and meth abuse.
"I have more potential than that. And I don't want to waste my life anymore. I'm tired of it. And this has given me new hope," she told Pelley.
"You said that you'd lost everything. And your family," Pelley remarked.
"I lost my son a year ago because of my abuse issues. I owned a home. I lost that. I lost my family's support. I lost my job. Wound up with a bunch of legal issues. You know, I was facing prison time. Just nothing good came out of it," she said.
Addiction is a big reason some vets remain on the street for years.
It's part of the deal at Stand Down that they come to meetings that might be the first step to recovery.
The best shot at rehab attracted Marguerite Somers to one of the tents: it was a chance to go to Veterans Village of San Diego (VVSD), which sponsors Stand Down. Nachison, Van Keuren and several others founded VVSD in 1981. At the time, it was known as Vietnam Veterans of San Diego.
Now, Veterans Village is an $8 million-a-year program, much of it funded by the VA. Among its services is a recovery program that offers nearly a year of inpatient rehab.
But that's overwhelmed: funding is limited, and those running rehab programs were taking applications because they could choose only 68 patients out of the 947 at Stand Down.
They were looking for people who seemed motivated. Somers wouldn't find out whether she made the cut until the next day, Sunday.
As we walked around the camp, we found some of the reasons that homelessness among vets is a chronic problem. Although the VA says the number is falling, there were some quarter of a million who experienced life on the streets last year: a lot of it is addiction and debilitating illness.
Bill Yarling was more typical of those at Stand Down. Older, an Army medic during the 1980s, he been disabled by years of epileptic seizures. At the campout, Yarling knew what no one else could see: that the soldier inside hadn't surrendered.
He washed off a year of homelessness and, if nothing else, enjoyed a ceasefire from the struggle on the street.
"It's hard to explain. It really is. But it just makes you feel better about yourself," Yarling told Pelley, after getting a haircut, a shave, and a clean change of clothes. "You get back in touch with reality."
"The person you were before you were homeless," Pelley remarked.
"Exactly. And as you can tell, I did, you know? But, it's not easy living on the streets, okay?" Yarling said.
Copyright 2010 CBS. All rights reserved. Somers is a former sailor who served until 1999, and she too had trouble making that transition from military to civilian life. Shortly after getting out of the Navy she got divorced and began drinking heavily. Now, homeless three months, she's desperate for help for her alcoholism and meth abuse.
"I have more potential than that. And I don't want to waste my life anymore. I'm tired of it. And this has given me new hope," she told Pelley.
"You said that you'd lost everything. And your family," Pelley remarked.
"I lost my son a year ago because of my abuse issues. I owned a home. I lost that. I lost my family's support. I lost my job. Wound up with a bunch of legal issues. You know, I was facing prison time. Just nothing good came out of it," she said.
Addiction is a big reason some vets remain on the street for years.
It's part of the deal at Stand Down that they come to meetings that might be the first step to recovery.
The best shot at rehab attracted Marguerite Somers to one of the tents: it was a chance to go to Veterans Village of San Diego (VVSD), which sponsors Stand Down. Nachison, Van Keuren and several others founded VVSD in 1981. At the time, it was known as Vietnam Veterans of San Diego.
Now, Veterans Village is an $8 million-a-year program, much of it funded by the VA. Among its services is a recovery program that offers nearly a year of inpatient rehab.
But that's overwhelmed: funding is limited, and those running rehab programs were taking applications because they could choose only 68 patients out of the 947 at Stand Down.
They were looking for people who seemed motivated. Somers wouldn't find out whether she made the cut until the next day, Sunday.
As we walked around the camp, we found some of the reasons that homelessness among vets is a chronic problem. Although the VA says the number is falling, there were some quarter of a million who experienced life on the streets last year: a lot of it is addiction and debilitating illness.
Bill Yarling was more typical of those at Stand Down. Older, an Army medic during the 1980s, he been disabled by years of epileptic seizures. At the campout, Yarling knew what no one else could see: that the soldier inside hadn't surrendered.
He washed off a year of homelessness and, if nothing else, enjoyed a ceasefire from the struggle on the street.
"It's hard to explain. It really is. But it just makes you feel better about yourself," Yarling told Pelley, after getting a haircut, a shave, and a clean change of clothes. "You get back in touch with reality."
"The person you were before you were homeless," Pelley remarked.
"Exactly. And as you can tell, I did, you know? But, it's not easy living on the streets, okay?" Yarling said.
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