'Stand Down' on 60 Minutes illustrates the need for America to take better care of its war veterans

I felt sick to my stomach watching a segment on 60 Minutes about what may a last refuge for our war veterans who are in despair, especially the homeless  from as far back as the Vietnam War to the current blood shed on foreign soil in in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Courtesy photo / CBS

This is a photo from the 60 Minutes segment by correspondent Scott Pelly on the  annual encampment, 'stand down'  in San Diego where veterans can find hope.

They were attending a “stand down," which is a gathering. so named because that is the term used by servicemen and women where they put their figurative guns down and stop fighting the system that has let them down all too often. The meeting is the brainchild of veteran-turned-psychologist Dr. Jon Nachison who saw the need and took it upon himself to try to help.

Word of this year’s “stand down” had gotten around and more than 900 men and women showed up. Consider, this was in California only, so only local homeless attended, and still, over 900 homeless people including families with children came looking for help.

How many more are there in the whole country then?

Very sad to think about isn’t it?

The services provided during this meeting were medical, dental, an actual court with a black-robed judge held in the outdoors for those who had tickets or other legal issues that need to be adjudicated, providing a safe place to sleep, even if it was only a cot in a tent for the nights of the meeting.

There was counseling for substance abuse since so many of these people are haunted by the things they saw and did during their service( some who had proved themselves were transported to a rehab center in hopes of reclaiming their lives), assistance in finding a job, a place to shower, get clean clothes and a good meal .

There are more women than men these days since women have become more and more prevalent in combat in recent times.

A few hundred found a place to live or a rehab placement, in other words a place to go to and get off the streets. The rest of the 900, more than 600, went away with nothing more than what they came with, knowing they were going to have to fend for themselves until next year’s “stand down."

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