With Goodfellow Air Force Base a stone’s throw away from wherever you are in San Angelo, the town in its own right is a “military town.”
However there’s an unfortunate stereotype associated with vets, as unfortunately 1 in 10 homeless adults was a military veteran.
William Gathecha, Work Life Specialist at Goodfellow Air Force Base, is hoping to help decrease those numbers.
“We always wanna make sure they know the right agencies to contact and have the experts walk them through the process,” Gathecha says, explaining the transition program for Goodfellow members that are retiring, “and give them the right information as opposed to doing stuff without having the right information or the right steps.”
It’s a process that takes five classes to complete, but Gathecha says the sessions are generally helpful in guiding members at Goodfellow from military life into retired life as a civilian.
“From day one to the very last day they leave some members do actually come back to us to tell us this is one of the greatest and best opportunities that has been presented to them in terms of taking care of themselves.”
(Victor Guzman/Reporting): “on a professional level, gathecha says despite the statistics on military veterans being as they are, he acknowledges how rewarding it feels those statistics have been slowly decreasing through the years.
On a professional level, Gathecha says despite the numbers on military vets being as they are, he acknowledges how rewarding it feels to hear those statistics have been slowly decreasing through the years.
In fact, according to the 2015 homeless assessment report, between 2010 and 2015 in the United States, the amount of military veterans within the homeless population dropped by about 36%.
The report also says the reason for the huge decrease in numbers is due to transition services provided by places like Goodfellow and other local service sites in Tom Green County and beyond.
“The goal is to try and get them started on the process within those two windows so that they can start making those preparations doing, taking care of all of the checklist things they need to take care of so that they don’t have to do this in a rushed manner,” Gathecha says.
(Information from ConchoValleyHomepage.com)
