PDA

View Full Version : Marines erect tents; homeless vets file in



thedrifter
07-19-03, 06:46 AM
Marines erect tents; homeless vets file in
Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton
Story Identification Number: 200371721420
Story by Pfc. Macario P. Mora Jr.



SAN DIEGO, Calif.(July 11, 2003) -- Joseph Julian is a former Camp Pendleton Marine who served in Vietnam. His career field while enlisted - intelligence.

Julian still conducts intel by night. He scouts for a place to sleep.

Julian is homeless.

But he took a vacation from looking for a bed last weekend. That's because community members - including Marines from the same base he used to prowl - built him a place to stay.

"I'm just happy to be here," Julian said, standing amid a tent city next to a line of homeless vets seeking employment as part of the 16th annual San Diego Vietnam Veterans of San Diego Stand Down. "What they're doing is great, and I'll be here every year, until hopefully someday I don't have to be."

Roughly 80 Camp Pendleton Marines, along with sailors from Camp Pendleton and San Diego, volunteered to help approximately 500 hundred homeless veterans in the weekend outreach July 11 through 13 at San Diego High School. More than 75 service agencies and close to 3,500 volunteers took part, according to Ron Stark, an event organizer.

Capt. Mimi Cottrell, a native of Las Cruces, N.M., and an Inspector Instructor for Marine Wing Support Squadron 473, Marine Aircraft Group 46, said the Pendleton-based Marines were there since Monday, setting up military-style tents and camouflage netting.

"I set it all up and wanted to see the finished project," said Cpl. Christopher B. Bevers, a native of Fort Worth, Texas and a reservist with MWSS-473, who was still on hand Friday. "I wanted to see the work we did."

Bevers is part of a Fort Worth reservist group activated Feb. 13. The group volunteered the whole week to set up tents. Bevers also volunteered over the weekend to see how well their work held up.

Stark, a retired Navy sonar man, coordinated logistics from start to finish.

"I'm the do-stuff guy - anything that comes up, I fix it," said Stark, a native of Neosho, Mo.

Service agencies taking part included the American Legion, Saint Vincent DePaul and agencies involved in drug-abuse and employment counseling, he said.

The tent city included medical and dental services for the homeless as well as barbers and other quality-of-life resources, Stark added. Legal specialists provided help to those with warrants for minor "infractions" such as loitering, said Stark.

"We're helping them with alternative sentencing," said Stark. "We don't want them to just get off, but doing something similar to what we do, like picking up trash to pay a parking ticket."

The homeless veterans also were treated to live entertainment.

Organizers also stored vets' belongings.

"Any resources the homeless needed, they were provided ..." said Stark.

Inside their tent homes, the veterans assumed a pseudo-military lifestyle, Stark said. Homeless "squad leaders" were appointed to manage the living space, he said. Petty Officer First Class Cedric Veinstein, a quartermaster, provided security, along with other sailors from San Diego. He set and explained rules and guidelines to the residents.

According to Veinstein, prospects had to be listed on a veterans' database to get into the shelter.

"They have to be drug- and alcohol-free," said Veinstein. "They can't have any personal items except for purses and fanny packs."

Stark said veterans account for one-third of the local homeless population.

Many others are young adults, Bevers noted. "It's sad to see all the homeless kids," he said.

Susan Moreland, a part-time receptionist who volunteered at the children's tent, was just happy to "give back to the vets."


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2003717211834/$file/homeless%206%20low.jpg

Cpl. Frank Frias, a motor vehicle operator for Marine Wing Support Squadron 473, Marine Aircraft Group 46, spent time with 6-month-old Victoria and other homeless children at the 16th annual Vietnam Veterans of San Diego Stand Down July 11.
Photo by: Lance Cpl. Jenn Steimer



Sempers,

Roger
:marine: