HALL “I tried to be stronger than the drug. I used to tell my customers ‘Do the drug, don’t let the drug do you,” but then I found myself in the same predicament. The drugs took over my life.”

[Revilee]

AARON GLANTZ: You’re listening to “The War Comes Home.” Warcomeshome.org, project of KPFA Radio. I’m Aaron Glantz.

SOUND OF A JET

GLANTZ: U.S. Vets' Westside Residence Hall is a hulking 10 story structure, a few blocks away from Los Angeles International Airport. … It's the largest transitional housing and employment center for homeless veterans in the country , housing 700 veterans annually. Michael Hall is one of it's residents. The 31 year old staff sergeant enlisted shortly after High School and served in Bosnia, Cuba, Kuwait, and Afghanistan before being severely injured in Iraq in 2003.

MICHAEL HALL: “I was hit by an RPG, a rocket propelled grenade, and I suffer from compression of the spine. I used to be 6’4.” Now I’m 6’2 ½.” I got knocked through a wall. I just deal with it on a daily basis. I can’t ever run again.”

GLANTZ: The Veterans Administration considers Hull to be 100 percent disabled. He walks with a limp, dragging his feat with each step he takes. … He also suffers from mental problems – bipolar disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorders – conditions he didn't have before he went to Iraq. …

HALL: I’ve seen it happen. I’ve witnessed other people dying you know and we’re all… You know, um, in the military we’re all friends and we share that common bond, you know. Um, and I’ve lost a lot of people in my life due to the military you and um and I wish ‘em the best and it comes down to that I really miss ‘em and they’ll never be able to come back to their families and sometimes I feel that I shouldn’t have been the one that came back and died over there with them. But I am back and that’s something I suffer with daily.

GLANTZ Hall says his problems really started when he got back to the United States and started using methamphetamines to dull the pain.

HALL “The pains of losing loved ones on the battlefield, the pain of not being there for my children, of not knowing how to live in this society, you know. I always stuffed things down deep inside because I considered myself a hard core guy. But after the effects of the methamphetamine went away, I still felt the same, you know. No matter how much I could do or how much I could smoke the results were the same. It was the insanity of it all.”

GLANTZ Hall has four children – age seven, four, two, and one. But his behavior since being released from the military has kept him away from them. In addition to using drugs, he started dealing them as well. Since leaving the military in 2003, he has served time in federal prison in Oklahoma for felony home invasion and has had numerous other run-ins with the law. Within three years, he hit rock bottom – one of 27,000 homeless vets on the streets of Los Angeles.

HALL “I tried to be stronger than the drug. I used to tell my customers “Do the Drug, Don’t let the drug do you.” But then I found myself in the same predicament. The drugs took over my life.”

GLANTZ Hall is now goes to meetings of narcotics anonymous. While he stays at the US Vets’ homeless housing, he’s trying to learn how to live outside the military – where he was constantly under orders and all his basic needs were taken care of.

HALL “I never lived life out here on life’s terms. I always had the security of the military to go back to. Now that I’m finding out that I have to live life in a civilian nature, you know, that I have to pay my rent and you know. I just have to live and drugs cannot be part of that if I want to succeed in life and build a better future for my kids.”

GLANTZ The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 400,000 homeless veterans lived on the street last year.

You’ve been listening to the “War Comes Home,” warcomeshome.org: a project of KPFA Radio.