Occupy Norfolk
By Colleen Gundlach

He told me, “There are 120,000 veterans living on the streets. 38,000 of them are females.  There shouldn’t be even one of these people who risked their lives for this country living on the streets.”  He went on to say that he had met former Green Berets living in the bushes in Washington, D.C.  He said that we need to stop talking and do something about it.  He was right
His mission was a good one. He planned to camp out in his tent until people started paying attention to the plight of homeless vets.  He wanted to draw attention to the cause.  Choosing Norfolk village proper as the place to pitch his tent was brilliant.  No one would miss his lone tent and tarps in this town, that’s for sure.
The journalist in me wouldn’t allow me to resist stopping to talk to him.   I drove by him three times before I finally stopped, identified myself and said, “Ok, you’ve got my curiosity up.  What’s your story?”  I was impressed.  He was articulate, well-educated and seemed to be working for a definite cause.
He was right about the homeless vets.  In Connecticut alone, ten percent of the people in shelters and transitional housing are veterans, according to the state’s Office of Legislative Research (OLR).  As of September, 2012, there were 443 homeless vets in Connecticut, but those are just the ones who report  to shelters.  That does not include the people who are on the streets, under bridges and in bushes.
An OLR study published last November reported that unemployment among returning veterans is double the national average, primarily due to substance abuse that begins during their service, post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and depression.  The OLR cites an article in the American Journal  of Public Health indicating that more than one-third of this country’s Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the Veterans’ Administration health system were diagnosed with a service-related mental health problem.  Twenty-two percent had PTSD, 17 percent were depressed and seven percent were alcohol addicted.
The problem is real.  More than 9,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been homeless, according to the Veterans’ Administration (VA.)  Jon Nachison, a clinical psychologist who works with veterans, told Scott Pelley of CBS’s “60 Minutes” that redeployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on the servicemen and women.  “When you go back and you are re-traumatized it also brings up all the old stuff”, says Nachison. “Go back again, and it layers over the top of that. And so, now we’re getting to the point where it’s going to be difficult for the person to function.”
So Norfolk’s tent dweller had the right idea.  He had the facts and he had the absolute attention of the townspeople.  He could have driven his point home.  After all, Norfolk is a town built on volunteerism.  If he had used his notoriety, his ten minutes of fame, to call productive attention to this disgraceful plight of homeless vets, our town could have rallied and maybe made a real difference.     (continued—–)
Instead, he became caught up in a personal vendetta and verbal attacks on Norfolk people who had been kind to him.  See Kirk Sinclair’s letter to the editor on page ____ of this issue.
Maybe the readers of Norfolk Now can pick up the ball where he dropped it.  Find out what you, your friends and our community can do to help veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Explore the Veterans’ Administration website at va.gov/homeless to learn about the VA’s programs for vets and how you can volunteer to help.
Veterans who need housing assistance or who are in danger of becoming homeless are encouraged to call 1-877-4AID-VET for help 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We can continue where he left off.