Robert (left) was homeless for eight months. He is a U.S. Army Combat Infantry Veteran during Iraq War and has 100% disability. He went through a lot of tough times but got himself together and now has a one-bedroom apartment close by. The Veteran on the right is Doc, a disabled Navy Corpsman and currently homeless. They are proudly standing in front of Doc’s new “Home.” Together, we are working to remove the “skid row” stigma of homelessness and create a new mission by upgrading the fenced-off area directly outside the VA into a “Veterans Pride Row.”
Editor’s note: Robert Rosebrock is director of The Old Veterans Guard and not affiliated with The American Legion. The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The American Legion Department of California.
Fellow Veterans and Friends of Veterans: As most of you know, the Los Angeles VA recently opened what is nothing shy of an “internment camp” inside the VA to temporarily shelter a few homeless veterans.
This was not out of humanitarian goodwill or goodness of the heart, but because a federal judge notified LA County and City officials that they had to provide public portable toilets for all the homeless during the Coronavirus lockdown.
For years, we have been respectfully requesting pubic portable toilets and showers for the homeless Veterans living directly outside the Los Angeles VA but have been repeatedly rejected. Now they are bowing to the federal judge’s order and providing these humanitarian facilities inside the VA and veterans who sign away their life and freedom can live in a pitifully small “pup tent” and have access to public toilets and showers — only during the virus lockdown.
We offered to provide 14×10 walk-in tents with cots so the veterans would not have to sleep on the cold and damp asphalt.
As would be expected, the VA rejected our offer and instead created a fenced-in, imprisoned, skid row-like internment camp directly inside the VA. And to no surprise, the VA refuses to allow veterans who choose to live outside the VA from using the portable toilets and showers inside the VA.
See attached photos of VA’s lockdown internment camp.
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But thanks to Judicial Watch and U.S. Marine veteran James Spencer, we are successfully working together to remove the “skid row” stigma of homelessness and create a new mission by upgrading the fenced-off area directly outside the VA into a patriotic “Veterans Pride Row” that will include American and U.S. military branch flags.
It’s important to point out that the City of Los Angeles spent $5 million and took more than 18 months to build an industrial-size tent inside the VA to house 50 homeless veterans within a large non-private room.
On the other hand, for $250, we can provide a homeless veteran with a 14×10 walk-in tent including a cot that will be their own private domain, and we can put it up in less than 20 minutes.
Our primary mission is to house 25 homeless veterans outside the VA on “Veterans Pride Row” for $6,250, and it will be built pronto.
We currently have eight new tents installed and moving forward.
Thanks for all the cooperation we are getting with our team. If you would like to provide a homeless veteran with a 14×10 walk-in tent and cot, or know someone who would, please e-mail me (rrosebrock1@aol.com) or call me at 310-490-6495.
“Veterans Pride Row” set up outside the fence of the West Los Angeles VA
Following is an article that Judicial Watch published Monday in its “Corruption Chronicles” also regarding the aforementioned. Big thanks to Judicial Watch for taking a leadership role in pursuing legal action against the VA, leadership in making donations for the 14×10 tents at “Veterans Pride Row,” leadership in investigating the never-ending crime and corruption at the Los Angeles VA, and publicly reporting about it and the abuse of our homeless veterans.
Author: Robert Rosebrock
Robert Rosebrock is founder of the Old Veterans Guard group.