Oliver served in Vietnam as a communication line man. The war left him with a broken back and heavy “Shell Shock”. Although he was able to get treatment for both Oliver was left scared for the rest of his life. The “Shell Shock” severely disrupted his ability to hold down a steady job, and had a devastating affect on his family. After a long struggle of missteps and bad luck Oliver became homeless. 

He slept in garages, struggled through the winters, and lost friends to addictions and bad health. Oliver was shunned by people he met, he was made to feel unwelcome in churches, he was treated like trash and told that he was to blame for his situation.

Unfortunately Oliver’s story is not uncommon, 1 in 10 of all homeless individuals in the USA are Veterans.