This War Vet Was Traumatized After Iraq. Then He Did Something Incredible to Find Salvation
In the midst of a bleak Oregon winter, the rain hammers down on the lone Jeep. A solitary man shelters inside, forced to fight for survival on the very fringes of society.
The man in the Jeep is a homeless veteran stricken by depression and post-traumatic stress. He struggles to find the motivation to keep going, consumed by a sense of hopelessness and despair.
Stephen Simmons, from Bluefield, West Virginia, signed up with the United States Army in 1986. More than two decades later, he came back home from his final tour in Iraq.
Traumatized by the things that he had seen in the military, Simmons found it difficult to readjust to the reality of civilian life. He tried to get medical treatment for PTSD, but his claim was rejected twice.
Then, in 2012, Simmons decided to move thousands of miles across the country from the eastern United States to Grants Pass, Oregon. There, he found himself homeless with only his Jeep for shelter.