American vets: they fought for their country, but now 200,000 of them are sleeping on the streets...

Roy Lee Brantley shivers in the cold December morning as he waits in line for food outside the Ark of Refuge mission, which sits amid warehouses and artists lofts a stone's throw from the skyscrapers of downtown San Francisco.

Brantley's beard is long, white and unkempt. The African-American man's skin wrinkled beyond his 62 years. He lives in squalor in a dingy residential hotel room with the bathroom down the hall. In some ways, his current situation marks an improvement. "I've slept in parks," he says, "and on the sidewalk. Now at least I have a room." More...

See also:

1. A war veteran talks about his time in Iraq...
2. Disabled Iraq war veteran pays a powerful tribute to Tom Udalls...
3. Why are so many war veterans in prison?
4. 22,000 calls at suicide hot line for war veterans...