As I started here, if you're talking about as a homeless person, yes, that's right.
That started about four, maybe five years ago, I don't think so.
It was clear to me at that time that I had done just about everything in the traditional environment that I wanted to do.
What excited me the most of all the things I did was, during the television news photography,
in the dangerous and the active aspect of hanging out helicopters and speaking,
I had a reputation with the people in the television who gave me or who wanted me to do particular material.
I liked the action, I liked the danger.
Those things that I liked to feel comfortable with is being one-on-one with the man who became the President of the United States,
that was George Bush prior to presidency, as well as Henry Kissinger when the Chinese were first being accepted here.
I think I was in Seattle at that time with a Henry Kissinger thing where Henry Kissinger gave a press conference.
I'm trying to recall the specifics of things which occurred a long time ago but made an impression on me,
and that was being in the same room with Henry Kissinger initially,
knowing that he was going to be meeting with the Chinese to start the relationship between America and China,
and that was in the 80s.
If tomorrow all the things were gone, I'd work for all my life
and I had to start again with just my children and my wife.
I thank my lucky stars to be living here today
cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away
and I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free
and I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
and I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA
from the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee
across the plains of Texas
from the sea to the shining sea
from Detroit down to Houston and New York to LA
well there's pride in every American heart and it's time we stand and say
that I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free
and I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
and I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA
and I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free
and I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
and I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA
Every other citizen should believe in my judgment
we are very lucky to be citizens of the United States of America
A sad and stunning statistic
by one estimate nearly 50,000 veterans will experience homelessness each year
but there are new efforts to help veterans who have fallen through the cracks
and just this week a sign of progress
Here's ABC's Bob Woodruff
This is me
Last month in downtown New Orleans
U.S. Army vet Darren Duffy has finally found a home
He has been homeless for over 10 years
living in a tent in the woods and on the street
I've got windows, look at the view
Oh my goodness, for real this is fault for me
But this past holiday, he and 25 other homeless vets got addresses of their own
thanks to the work of a non-profit, Unity
These are permanent apartments where each tenant has a lease
and they can live here for the rest of their lives
This week, New Orleans will announce that it has successfully met its goal
and housed all 193 of its homeless veterans
You are a bunch of angels is what you are
One of the architects behind the New Orleans success is Roseanne Haggerty
who has been working on homelessness for 30 years
and she believes that veterans homelessness can be fixed nationwide
We talked to her in New York
New York still has a problem with veterans that are homeless?
Yeah, about 900 veterans are homeless in New York
Really still?
We know their names and we're on a course to get that solved
It's basically smart problem solving
If you were in business, you would figure out who's the customer
What do we know about them?
It's bringing that kind of discipline to solving a complex social problem
There have been big promises before
President Obama and I are personally committed to ending homelessness among veterans
and missed deadlines, but also success stories
How you doing?
Phoenix announced in 2013 it had successfully ended chronic homelessness among vets
We made a concerted effort the last couple of years to rapidly rehouse as many veterans as possible
So why are veterans at risk for homelessness?
Experts point to a variety of factors like strained relationships with friends and family
and the difficulty vets can have landing jobs after coming home
I was homeless because I never fit in nowhere and I just kept moving
That awareness of PTSD, of the hidden injuries of war
and how that can play out in people's loss of family and support
That, I think, sensitized the country
Los Angeles is home to some of the highest numbers of veteran homeless
including many Vietnam vets
A problem I saw firsthand in the city's notorious skid row
Still, nationally, the number of homeless veterans has dropped by about 33% in the last four years
largely because the VA is working closely with local non-profit organizations
But there's still work to be done for those who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan
In the last few years, I have found them outside, across the country, living in their cars
I use this side to sleep on
or sleeping on the benches
And the worst might still be to come for those more recent vets
Homelessness among Vietnam veterans did not emerge as a major issue until seven years after the war ended
The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association takes calls from desperate veterans every week
I was calling to talk to somebody and passes on the information to the VA
Now that we're winding down, they're getting out and they're coming home
and many of them are doing well, but some of them are struggling
and we've got to be there for them and have their back when they're at that tough spot
A critical effort to make sure everyone who put their lives on the line for all of us
have a home to come back to
And Bob is here with us now, along with Phil Kly, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq
and is the author of the remarkable book, Redeployment
Welcome to you both
And Bob, I want to start with you as we go forward
and you mentioned that it could be seven years out
but certainly since the war began, we're already there
Yeah, well, you know, that's true, it's seven years
but when those that come back from the last deployment, let's make sure that they get the kind of attention and help that they do
because that's the problem, it's true, the numbers have gone down
in the last four years, which you see for the first time for all veterans homelessness
under 50,000 for the first time
But the big thing is to not have the same thing happen with the Iraq and Afghanistan vets as it did with Vietnam
which means, let's do it, otherwise we're going to see this economy just slaughtered again in the future
if we don't do it now and have them keep alive on the streets
And Phil, you have written a lot about this, your book is remarkable, it is a piece of fiction, but very real
but you've also written a very powerful op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that's called
Treat Us With Respect, Not Pity
So taking that into account, how do you help these veterans, how do you approach this?
Well, I think there's always a balance between acknowledging and thinking about the very real problems that veterans often face
particularly in that transition period
and realizing that when you're talking about the veteran population, you're often talking about people with a lot of potential
If you look back in history when we invest in veterans, that's really good for us as a country
You're talking about people who often signed up to do a very hard, difficult job out of the sense of idealism
and that continues once they go back into the civilian sphere
But during that transition period, people can face a lot of difficulties, which is why I think it's important to have the kind of networks in place
to support them through that
But you don't want everyone looking at the military as all heroes or certainly all victims, and I hear the same thing
But Bob, this is particularly PTSD and brain injury are a very real problem
You, through your wonderful foundation with your wife Lee, the Bob Woodruff Foundation have helped so many of you wounded
I will disclose that I'm on the board of that as well
But how have you approached that, taking into consideration what fillers are?
Absolutely, they need dignity and we also need to tell people that it's more like 25% that have been affected by these kinds of issues when they come back
Maybe 75% of them are actually very good
And we know that companies that have hired them have been incredibly impressed with how well the veterans do when they come back
Because they've got discipline, they've got world experience, all of those, and they're generally older when they go to their first job in a company
So they've been really in some ways successful once they get to those companies
So that's exactly it, don't make it post-traumatic stress disorder, take out the disorder and treat them that way and they're good
Phil, what really worries me going forward is, you know, we just talked to General Campbell, we still have 10,500 people there
But I don't think people are thinking about that at all
So what worries me is that it's going to be further in the background of the civilian population
And there's got to be some way to bridge that gap
The military too, the military tends to say, nobody understands us, well we'll stay over here, you guys over
Right, absolutely, and you know, that disconnect was already very present when I came back from Iraq in 2008
And it only continues to widen, I think
We don't know what to make of Iraq and Afghanistan particularly as the situation continues overseas
And so we often don't know what to make of our veterans or how to feel about them
And I think, you know, for me, oftentimes it's not so much whether someone has a particular political agenda or policy proposal that I agree with
But whether I think that somebody is seriously engaged with the issue, what it means to be a veteran, what that experience might be like
Instead of blanketing them into this kind of stereotype of you're either a hero or you're some kind of victim who is possibly dangerous
Very, very quickly Phil, what would you want people to say to you as a veteran, or they should say to other people?
I mean, I just want to have a conversation, right? There's no one thing, it's more about where what you're saying is coming from than any one cash phrase
Okay, thanks so much to both of you and thank you for all your work, Bob Wooder, for on this issue
And we end with some good news, the Pentagon did not release any names of service members killed this week in Afghanistan or Iraq
That's all for us today, thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us, check out
We don't think about them that much until they're headed off to war
And that's when we get behind them and give them all our support But we sometimes take for granted that they've always been around
Each one of them a hero for defending this sacred ground
They keep us safe and they keep us free, they make this country proud From one American to another
It's time they heard these words out loud
Thank you for the job you do so well, risk it all in freedom's name, sometimes go through hell
Thank you for the sacrifices made for the ones who never came back home, high price has been paid
It's about time we stand some gratitude, let me be the first in line to say
Thank you
I wanna offer my thanks to those men inside at BFW tonight
Cause they were willing to do whatever it took, including laying down their lives on land on sea and in the air a tough job day in and day out
But that's what being an American soldier is all about
Thank you for the job you do so well, risk it all in freedom's name, sometimes go through hell
Thank you for the sacrifices made for the ones who never came back home, high price has been paid
It's about time we stand some gratitude, let me be the first in line to say
Thank you
Thank you for the job you do so well, risk it all in freedom's name, sometimes go through hell
Thank you for the sacrifices made for the ones who never came back home, high price has been paid
It's about time we stand some gratitude, let me be the first in line to say
Thank you
