INITIAL 07-20: I just was involved in one of the most heart wrenching things i have ever dealt with...

There is an iraqi war vet who has been living in a parking lot in the Frederick, MD area for the past 5 years. his car doesn't run at all, so he is without AC or heat, and some perp actually stole two of the wheels a few months ago. he sleeps sitting up in the honda, and cant even close one of the doors all the way. i've tried helping him before, and he refuses most of it.

but today i was able to convince him to accept an older minivan i was going to junk, so he can have a bit more room to sleep. the doors can actually close and lock. it has transmission issues, but it starts and will run. i threw a luggage carrier on top so he has extra room for storage, and put a mattress in the back, so he doesnt have to sleep sitting up anymore.

i hope this helps him feel a little more comfortable, and have a bit more room.

but i feel absolutely horrible that this is how one of our former servicemen has to live, while we are giving all sorts of benefits to people who are not legally in our country.

just seems wrong

While i am venting, i need to say just how disappointing it is to know that lots of people have driven by him while he was sleeping in his car, and NEVER in 5 years stopped to check on him.

and that includes some of us...

some of the silence is astonishing ☹️

i don't know whose beat, sector, or patrol squad handles this area. but community policing isn't doing that running man challange nonsense. it is helping people like this, and getting others in the community to help as well.

so what happened?

UPDATE 07-24: Picked him up this morning, and he pushed back on accepting a bagel and diet soda. Finally got him to accept it after about 15 minutes of watching me wolf mine down.

We went to the Frederick MVA, and got the paperwork completed and submitted to get the minivan titled in his name. Saw that we could get him registered to vote, and that was a stumbling block for him.

apparently he was sincerely worried that if he registered to vote, that somehow the VA might find out where he lived... ☹️

finally got him to fill out and submit the voter registration card, but that was all he could handle this morning. he asked if i could take him to the Doctor and the Social Security office on wednesday, so that's what we are going to do. i dropped him back off at the van, and went to talk with the owner of the local car dealership.

after telling him about Roger and what we were trying to do, he agreed to have his mechanics look at the van, and write up estimates for free, to see how much it would cost to get it fixed to pass inspection, and for getting the transmission fixed. it's a good start.

Army peeps listen up, because i'm not sure that i caught or remember this correctly...

Roger said that he was in the 11th Artillery, 2nd (battalion or division), and was stationed in Schofield Barracks when state side. he didn't mention the MOS (?), but said that he did the trajectory calculations and plotting for artillery rounds.

now the wait until wednesday.

has anyone here ever dealt with someone like this?