Stand Down Offers Hand Up for Homeless Vets

For the past 22 years an increasing number of homeless, American vets walk for hours, in some cases days, to reach National Stand Down, a life-changing event set in a temporary, horseshoe-shaped encampment of military-style canvas tents, camouflage netting and "water buffaloes" on the dusty fields of Veteran's Village. For three days in San Diego, Calif., weary men and women are given the opportunity to transform the immobility and despair of homelessness into the momentum necessary to get into recovery, resolve legal issues, seek employment, access health services, reconnect with community and feel "safe."