“I came out here in 2008 looking for some work. I’ve been homeless for about 7 years, on and off of alcohol. I get disability because I got ruptured cartilage from a car wreck in my spine. That would pay for an apartment but I need to get clean before I can do that. I was for seven months until about two months ago when I lost my Mary, my wife of five years. I was staying at her apartment with her at the time.”
“I’m a very sad man now that she’s gone. I wish I could have saved her. She froze up and couldn’t breathe. I was right there. I was laying on the sofa and woke up and she was in the freezer putting ice on herself. It almost happened about 10 days before that, but the ambulance got there on time. I called the ambulance when I saw her and had to call back three times. They took 22 minutes to get there. She was dead in 12. She died of a heart attack. My heart has been racing ever since. I gave her mouth to mouth, but she was gone. I was on the phone with 911 talking to her. They told me to give her mouth to mouth recitation, I did that, she was gone. She made this loud, horrible groaning sound and just stopped breathing. I ain’t ever saw nothing like it. I don’t have anything from her, no pictures, nothing. The landlord set everything out on the sidewalk and thieves took it all.”
“I’m a veteran on disability, the usual story with a veteran you see out on the streets. I was in armor crew for five years. I was a tanker and always worked in tanks. I’ve been a gunner, a loader, and a driver. M60 A1’s, M48 A3’s, A4’s, big tanks with the guns on them. I was assistant manner too. I started out at Fort Knox. I took my boot camp and AIT at Fort Knox, Kentucky. My first duty station was Fort Carson, Colorado. I stayed out there about 26 months and then went to South Korea.”
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