Veteran Helping Veterans: Anthony’s Consistency and Camaraderie

Anthony is a U.S. Navy Veteran who served in the Vietnam War. He went through a period of houselessness due to an injury sustained during his military service, and his experience receiving support services inspired him to “give back.” Today, he works for Do Good in one of our permanent supportive housing programs, Clayton Mohr Commons, supporting both Veterans and families. 

This is his story in his own words.

Reintegration after the military can be a difficult process, especially being a Vietnam Vet. Part of the problem that a lot of us Veterans had was that we were ostracized. We weren’t welcomed home like a lot of the Veterans are these days… We were spit on... we were being harassed going through airports.

That hurt me deeply, because I was proud of my uniform. I was proud to be in the military. So that hurt me deeply, and psychologically I felt “Well, is there something I did wrong? Being in the military... is that something I wasn’t supposed to do?”

I was in the U.S. Navy from late 1971 until 74.

Working on board the ship, I fell down a ladder, and hurt my leg and my knee. It was not healing properly, so they let me out of the military. I got out on a medical discharge.

From there, I just went to work in civilian life. I worked just any other civilian would, and had no connection with the VA or the military whatsoever. When they let me out of the military, they let me have a 10% disability rating, and that stayed in effect until…maybe 2014.

My knee injury went up to my hips. From my hips it went to my back.

My back was hurting me so bad I could no longer work. And if I couldn’t work, I couldn’t pay my bills, I couldn’t pay rent. I got evicted from my apartment. All from that one incident back in 1974.

Experiencing houselessness, it’s a very challenging and scary thing, because—a person like myself, who is used to working most of their lives, and then all of a sudden this happens to you. You’re devastated. You’re down on yourself. You feel like this is your fault. What could I have done better?

At the time I had my son, my girlfriend, her three kids – all living at the same place. Once I got evicted, everybody kind of dispersed.

I was basically on my own.

That’s when I reached out to the VA. They hooked me up with the Salvation Army Veteran and Family Services. They took me in, I had a case manager…just like I’m a Case Manager now.. With him, we set up a program to where I could go through RentWell and get my stuff back together.

I’ve never been one not to work. So being homeless was something totally new to me, and I stayed there for about a year and a half. I got through that situation. Got my own place again. Got my family back in tow. And the rest, as they say, is history.

When I was in the military, and coming under fire in North Vietnam, the ship would rock back and forth any time a shell would explode next to it. And me being young and dumb at the time, I didn’t really think about fear. I thought about that stuff after I got out of the military. After, you know, “Oh my God, I could have been killed.” And that took its toll. Thinking about stuff like that.

I still think about taking on fire, and I still think about one of the guys I was on board ship with. He was up on the “Bird’s Nest”, and he’s supposed to be looking out for where the fire was coming from. They called up to him several times, and no response. So, they’re thinking he got hit by a shell or something like that. When they went up there, he was gone. He was gone.

The explosions had scared him so much—and I’m wondering to this day what he’s going through—they put the fear of God in him. He took off and went back down below. So, I just wonder what he’s going through right now.

After I experienced homelessness myself, I always wanted to give back.

I felt that the VA had helped me out tremendously in getting housing again and getting back on my feet again. So, I wanted to give back to Veterans specifically.

I was going to go back to school, and I went to work as an intern for Multnomah County Aging, Disability, and Veteran Services. I went into what’s called Americorps Vista, and I got to work with Multnomah County Veteran Services. My last 4 or 5 years I have worked with nothing but Vets. I worked for Washington State University… again, working with Veterans up there and trying to get their education and getting into the agriculture program.

Then when that was over with, I came back down here and said, “Well, I’m just going to be retired now. I’m just going to kick back, relax, and be retired.”

But that didn’t work out too well... because I’m not the type of person who is just going to kick back and relax and do nothing. That’s why I’m here. I said, “Well I want to work until I’m around 72 or 73 years old and then maybe, just maybe, I’ll retire permanently.”

Connecting with the Veterans here at Do Good is very good. I relate to them. A lot of Veterans don’t want to talk to anybody else but a Veteran, because they feel like Veterans understand what they’ve been going through. I’ve gotten that sense from a lot of Vets here. They know I’m a Vet. They find it easier to talk to me than a lot of people.

I know a lot of times Veterans get frustrated and these things take a while sometimes, but those programs are there if you just look for them. That’s what we’re here for at Do Good. It’s navigation. We help Veterans navigate, and that’s what helped me over there, because I would get frustrated too, and the case managers over there would help me out with that. But you too have to be consistent, and you too have to keep wanting to make this happen for you.

Since sharing his story in 2021, Anthony bought his first home in August 2022 and is now happily married. After working at multiple shelters and motels throughout Do Good, Anthony is now thriving as a Case Manager at the Clayton Mohr Commons.