I'll be homeless for Christmas

Realizing the sailors aboard the battleship North Carolina were homesick because they would not see their loved ones at Christmas, a chaplain collected $5 from each sailor who wanted to send a present home. The chaplain sent the money to Macy's department store, along with the families' names and addresses, asking the store to send presents to them. In addition to sending the presents, Macy's brought the family members to its store and videoed them sending messages to their sailors. On Christmas Day, 1943, the chaplain surprised the men on the North Carolina with the filmed messages from their families. That endeavor was the trigger for the song "I'll be home for Christmas," written by Walter Kent and James "Kim" Gannon, and sung by Bing Crosby"

I'll be home for Christmas

You can count on me

Please have snow and mistletoe

And presents on the tree

Homeless Veterans

The United States now has over 1.22 million veterans living in poverty and approximately 40,000 of them are homeless on any given night. Veterans make up 9% of the country's homeless population. California has the greatest number of veterans in the nation as well as the highest homeless veteran population, housing 29% of the United States' total homeless veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs states the nation's homeless veterans are predominately male, with roughly 9% being female. The majority are single, live in urban areas and suffer from mental illness and/or alcohol or substance abuse. Nearly half of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam era.

One minute they are part of a regimented institution where most of their decisions are made by a branch of the military. The next minute, veterans are on their own. An absence of direction can lead to homelessness. But the maladies of war, lack of affordable housing, access to health care, unlivable income, lack of family support and lack of social networks are also factors. Plus, military occupations are not always transferable to the civilian workforce, placing veterans at a disadvantage when competing for jobs.

There is no one reason why so many veterans are homeless. But according to the American Bar Association, whatever the reason a veteran is homeless, it usually involves a legal problem of one kind or another.

Less than Honorable Discharges

Sometimes the only way a veteran can avoid homelessness is with the help of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Medical and disability benefits are often critical to a veteran's ability to successfully launch into civilian life after serving in the military. But such help is not available to all veterans.

Eligibility for VA benefits depends upon the type of military service performed, the length of service and the character of the discharge or separation. Any discharge under honorable conditions satisfies the character of discharge for basic eligibility for VA benefits. Certain types of discharges, along with the circumstances surrounding those discharges, bar an individual from basic VA benefits. Other types of discharges require the VA to make a character of discharge determination in order to assess basic eligibility for VA benefits.

Veteran benefits might include medical care, disability benefits, employment and business benefits, vocational rehabilitation, VA loans and many other forms of assistance. When a veteran does not qualify for VA benefits, he or she can miss out on many services available to others and end up homeless.

Maladies of War

Many of our service members are coming home bearing the maladies of war. Some are just not physically or mentally capable of successfully transitioning into the civilian world and they end up homeless.

Psychiatric casualties of combat are as old as war itself. Post-traumatic stress disorder was officially acknowledged as a disabling psychiatric injury in the third edition of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" in 1987. PTSD is recognized as a human response to trauma that is beyond the capacity of a particular individual to manage. It may result from one catastrophic event, a barrage of traumatic events, or constantly performing actions that run counter to one's moral or ethical beliefs. Although PTSD is considered a psychiatric disorder, physical symptoms and alterations occur throughout the entire body. Changes occur to brain tissue, the immune system, hormonal balance, and cardiovascular function.

Soldiers also suffer traumatic brain injuries from explosive blasts. These physical injuries are common among our two million combatants who have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. A brain injury can result in sleeping issues, headaches, anger, irritability, mood swings and other symptoms, including violent behavior. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bombs and explosions can cause unique patterns of injury seldom seen outside combat. Explosions in confined spaces such as large vehicles are associated with greater morbidity. Aggression is one of the most common consequences of traumatic brain injury. Damage to certain parts of the brain can result in severe personality changes.

In addition to PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, our veterans have other health disorders such as major depressions and intermittent explosive disorders. Today soldiers survive injuries that probably would have killed them during prior wars. And, moral injuries are said to be the signature wound of those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Any of these conditions might be a factor when a veteran is homeless.

Forced Fun

One reason many veterans are homeless is alcohol. Not alcohol in the form of self-medication to drown out thoughts of combat trauma. Just drinking too much. During previous decades, drinking was not only ordinary, it was often required. Well, almost. Officers and noncommissioned officers were required to show up at the Officers and NCO Clubs on Friday evenings. Nobody forced alcohol on them, but drinking was what they did during those Friday night required club visits. Military police outside the clubs did not arrest anyone for driving under the influence because everyone knew that showing up and drinking was expected.

I went to Veterans Outreach OC to speak with three Army veterans who spent years on the streets. I wanted to glean why and how persons who volunteered to serve their country ended up homeless after separating from the service. One vet was discharged in the 1970s, another in the 1980s and the third in the 1990s. They had various duty stations all over the world. None of the three saw combat, although they did encounter some horrendous circumstances, such as watching new recruits die of frostbite during basic training or having an airplane crash within a few feet.

They are no longer living on the streets. Instead the three veterans have been living in an old house with other veterans for from two and a half to five years. They all work at low-paying jobs and face eviction if they don't pay their rent. They all started drinking heavily in the Army. At times, the Army even supplied the alcohol during work days. Those times were known as forced fun. One of the three said there was a "prevailing environment of alcohol" in the military.

When the three men separated from the service, they were so involved with consuming alcohol, they never successfully launched back into civilian life. Each went from heavy drinking in the service to heavy drinking as civilians, and each slithered into homelessness. While homeless, they committed crimes and ended up in prison.

Forced fun is not limited to the Army. One of the women interviewed in the documentary "The Invisible War" said the Marine Corps had a similar Friday night routine. In fact, the Marine Corps paid for the drinks. She was told to order a shot, but since she didn't drink, she ordered a glass of water instead. As a punishment, she was ordered to consume two shots. From that pub, the group moved on to another, and then another. At some point, she was raped.

The military has taken steps to stop the "prevailing environment of alcohol." Nowadays, military personnel are no longer officially pressured to join clubs. There is also the Army Substance Abuse program. One of ASAP's objectives is to encourage all levels of command to provide alcohol-free leisure activities. Soldiers are offered rehabilitation programs when a problem is detected. Today there is also General Order No. 1, describing "prohibited activities for soldiers." That order prohibits possessing, consuming, introducing, purchasing, selling, transferring or manufacturing any alcoholic beverages while deployed.

Vietnam

In the textbook "War Psychiatry" (Office of The Surgeon General, 2004), medical doctors wrote that community support and effective integration of soldiers returning from battle appear to have the greatest influence on the development of long-term psychiatric problems. We left Vietnam over 40 years ago. Yet nearly half of today's homeless veterans are from the Vietnam era. When Vietnam soldiers came home, there were no parades. Many changed out of their uniforms before going into public to avoid confrontations. Some Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion chapters refused to admit anyone who served in Vietnam. There's a lot we have learned from what we did after Vietnam.

I would say the primary difference about the approach of the American people toward those who served in Vietnam and those who served in our current wars is that we have all learned we can hate a war, but still love our warriors. Today there is widespread community support. One of our main concerns has been to help our veterans heal, while avoiding incarcerating them if possible. We want them to get better and then become employed, and that is more likely to happen if they don't carry the baggage of a criminal conviction.

Legal Problems Often at the Root of Veteran Homelessness

Legal problems homeless veterans face might be as basic as the loss of a driver's license or overdue civil fines that disqualify a veteran from participating in government and private-sector programs that provide services. In fact, the VA assesses that half of the top 10 needs that homeless veterans face require legal assistance. And when a veteran does not qualify for VA benefits due to a less than honorable discharge, legal assistance is needed to apply for a discharge upgrade. According to the ABA, a veteran's access to a lawyer can mean the difference between living under a roof or under a bridge.

At a legal clinic for veterans sponsored by the Los Angeles County Bar Association in October, I spoke with a homeless veteran. For some reason, his disability benefit check from the VA was late. Because it was late, he did not pay his rent and was evicted. After the VA made him whole, he was again in a position to pay rent, but landlords would not rent to him because their investigations into court records disclosed the eviction and they didn't want to take a chance on him.

A Few of the Lawyers Trying to Make a Difference

Numerous legal clinics and individual lawyers throughout California are trying to do their bit by helping veterans get on their feet. Creativity and tenacity are absolutely necessary in most of the cases.

Through her Veterans Legal Institute, located in Orange County and the Inland Empire, Antoinette Balta was able to help a chronically homeless and schizophrenic Vietnam veteran. She filed for veteran benefits and was able to prove he had PTSD and traumatic brain injury as a result of his service in Vietnam. He now receives regular healthcare through the VA, is no longer homeless and receives disability compensation each month to pay his rent.

While working at Swords to Plowshares, Rose Goldberg represented many homeless vets. She expressed frustration with how often the VA denied disability benefits earned by homeless veterans, pointing out the necessity for constant legal help for these veterans.

Stand Down is a military term signaling the removal of exhausted combat soldiers from battle to provide them an opportunity to rest and recover in a place of safety and security. Retired San Diego deputy public defender Steve Binder works on Stand Down Court for homeless veterans, helping them with outstanding criminal warrants. His project began because he saw so many Vietnam vets receiving no legal help from anyone. "I was inspired to do something when I saw how Vietnam vets were shunned," Binder says. He described one vet who came to Stand Down with 25 citations or charges against him. The next year, he had only three. The third year, he had none, but came to the Stand Down just to thank the lawyers and the judge. Since then, he comes every year to help his fellow vets.

Lawyers Jodi Galvin, Beth Warner-Sterkenburg and Evelyn Zneimer all volunteer at LACBA's clinic and were honored this year for their dedication to veterans. Jodi worked long and hard to find placement for a homeless woman vet who needed treatment. When she finally located a program, the woman didn't want to abandon her service bird, Bocelli. Undeterred, Jodi found a foster home where the bird remained while the vet went to treatment. Beth goes to Stand Downs where she helps homeless veterans iron out their criminal problems. Evelyn helped a veteran and her family with some major family law issues, and the case went to different courts and took almost two and a half years to bring to fruition.

Attorney Paul Freese is working on a project in Los Angeles to house recently discharged veterans with foster kids who turn 18 and are tossed out on their own. Both groups face similar difficulties. Service members and foster kids have experienced the trauma of being uprooted at a moment's notice without knowing where they would live next. Once on their own, they need life skills development. Paul hopes that by bringing the two groups together, the veterans, who usually have a desire for community service, will benefit by mentoring the kids, and the foster kids will profit under the vets' guidance. The plan is to house them while they complete their education.

Conclusion

With its modern anti-drinking programs, the military's history of turning young men and women who entered the service with patriotism in their hearts back to the civilian world as alcoholics might be ending. But change remains to be seen since alcohol continues to play a role in almost all ceremonial activities within the military, indicating consumption of alcohol is still important in the armed forces.

California's Legislature did an abysmal job on veterans' issues after Vietnam. For the last 15 years, however, it has been very supportive of veterans. Community and church efforts for veterans are ubiquitous.

While these changes in the military, the Legislature and the community certainly help, ending veteran homelessness in California largely depends on how much of their time and energy lawyers are willing to give. Because so many of the problems leading to homelessness revolve around legal issues, there is still much more that needs to happen. Throughout California, volunteer lawyers are needed to help veterans. 