Let’s be real. When you think of the phrase living in the streets or being homeless more often than not, one’s mind begins to picture: drugs, prostitution, assault, and a whole list of other crimes as well as filth, disease, trash, and a totally unsafe environment. We know it’s a way of life that is dangerous, full of uncertainties, and outright scary, to say the least. Someone who finds themselves in this environment is immediately vulnerable to attacks, abuse, disease, and so much more. Keeping quiet about what they see, hear, and endure is important to their survival. Why? Because the payback and retaliation from others involved in the streets become too dangerous of a risk.
Let’s take this a little further, shall we? An individual homeless person is labeled and looked at, no matter the circumstances to the truth, as a nuisance, and someone to fight against by non-homeless “normal” citizens. They are a class of folks who the police “seem” to not have on a high priority list. A class of people that politicians “seem” to not act for so quickly compared to the rhetoric they speak, and a demographic that society as a whole just wants to ignore. This is truth and a reality that we all must be willing to acknowledge. So to recap, in a single sentence:
Street People and Homelessness are infested with crime, unsanitary conditions, and life-threatening situations that all aspects of society want gone and most often just ignore it, pretend it doesn’t exist.
Where do these homeless go for help? For protection? For a safe clean environment to help them get out of their situation? It’s tough I get it. All the things involved that need attention are simply mind-boggling. However, some groups do step-up to the plate and make a difference, trying to help this homeless situation across America, as the rest of society is jumping to help fund them, to feel good about helping, without having to get personally involved. Within this homeless subculture there are just as many demographics as there are anywhere else in the overall society of our country, but one piece of data stands out as a slap in the face to our nation, and that is the portion of military veterans that are living in the streets, and at a higher percentage than any other demographic when compared to our overall society. (These statistics are mentioned in the introduction of this series of articles).
When organizations are formed to tackle this crisis, focusing first on our homeless veterans, We The People are pleased and want to help as much as we can with funding, so that these companies can do their good works. Now we also have the Veterans Administration jumping at the chance to support these organizations for the same reasons, and feel that they can provide a solution to the problem. The VA gave over $418M to over 260 of these non-profit organizations promoting it all to be in the best interest of our Veterans, but going back to reality, what if I tell you that in these highly respected organizations and facilities there are Veterans that are living in the same culture as they do in the streets, and in some cases, even worse. Veteran, Garrett Jester, has tried to convey this situation for a very long time only to meet the same type of corrupt mindset as he found in the streets. So much so, that he tells us of homeless veterans that go back to the streets because they feel just as vulnerable in either place. As expressed by Mr. Jester,
“The problem for most of us is that if we quit, leave, or get put out of the facility, we are recorded that we have failed a VA program, which in turn affects our VA benefits.” However on July13th 2021, Jester left this facility because he wanted to tell all who would hear about the atrocities that indeed happened within this U.S.Vets facility and felt his risks in the street would be in his best interest over staying at that site while doing so.
Among the many organizations funded by the VA are the well-known national U.S.Vets, whose mission statement includes the following, and is also the program that Mr. Jester covers the most:
“U.S.Vets is on a mission to end veteran homelessness in the United States. ‘The Streets’ are simply no place for veterans; no place for the many men and women who volunteered, giving of themselves and their youth, to protect our great freedoms. We believe all veterans deserve every opportunity to live with dignity and independence. It is our duty at U.S.Vets to deliver on our promise to always serve those who’ve served.”
“How can anyone live with dignity, in a cockroach-infested facility, with black mold, water dripping from outlets, with the allowance of the same street culture within the site as is found in the streets itself? And in some cases even worse while housing crime and putting individual veterans’ safety at risk, continuously.” Can you see anyone living with dignity in a facility like this? This is a U.S.Vets’ facility, that from the perspectives of homeless veteran residence and past staff members, report of retaliation, and coverups, and continues to allow the street environment they are trying to get out of, to thrive within their programs.
You see, whistleblower Veteran, Garrett Jester is trusting that his reports, documentation, and recordings will be heard by someone who will make a difference, so that future Vets will not have to go through these continuous situations in their lives. They need to heal and move forward. He says:
“I don’t want this to be about me, I just want this all to be stopped. Veterans give an oath to fight our enemies both foreign and domestic, this is very domestic. If I fail then this effort fails everyone, if we succeed then we all succeed. I simply cannot fail. I don’t care if someone hates me or likes me, its not about that. This has to be addressed.”
And Mr. Jester is right if we fail getting this word out, then we all fail our veterans past, present, and future.
Mr. Jester dares any Congressman, Senator, Governor, National USVets Board of Directors, and any City Official to visit with him and see all the video, photo, and audio evidence proving all he is reporting is true, then take him with you to tour the Houston U.S.Vets facility at 4640 Main Street unannounced he would be happy to show you exactly where it all has been covered up. You see, Mr. David Lopez, the U.S.Vets facility Director at this site, started what he called an “interface project” back when Mr. Jester was still a resident. He asked Mr. Jester to be a part of a Veteran council that would act as a liaison between the residents and staff to help with the program’s assessment of the environment within their facility, and when Mr. Jester stood up for what he experienced with other homeless veterans, it led him to this current situation.
Let’s recap before we move on to details. In the introductory article of this series, we covered the data of veteran homelessness, including the mindset society surrounding transitioning veterans from active duty to the civilian sector and the effects caused by the aftermath of active duty. In this article, we set the stage of how millions upon millions of dollars in the response to this, run through our government’s Veterans Administration, then handed off to so-called veteran-focused organizations that preach a good game to get funding, only to cover up and many times dismiss failure at the very level that is supposed to help our veterans. Now we are going to focus specifically on details that homeless veteran, Mr. Garret Jester, was asked to do by the very facility that hosted him and asked of him by his oath given to our nation.
Stay tuned for next article describing the facility’s unconscionable physical living conditions and U.S.Vets’ enabling of a “Culture of indifference”.

Till next time “Charlie Mike” (Continue The Mission)