Video Transcript:

GLORIA PENNER (Host): The face of homelessness crosses all boundaries including military veterans. In San Diego, one out of four homeless is a veteran. And a growing number of those veterans are women. Like many vets one common problem is alcohol and drug abuse. Dwane Brown reports on how female veterans face an even greater challenge.

DWANE BROWN (KPBS Reporter): These are the faces of military veterans who've served this country and fallen on hard times.

SANDY BORUM (Air Force Veteran): Once you've been in the military and come back to the civilian world, that's a transition all in itself. Whether you've been to war or not. 

BROWN: Sandy Borum is an air force veteran and former air traffic controller. After leaving the service she slowly slipped into drug addiction. 

BORUM: Oh yeah, I lived in a dumpster. 

BROWN: I'm sorry, 

BORUM. I lived in a storage container. A 20 by eight by eight dumpster with double locking doors.

BROWN: A storage container? 

BORUM: A storage container from waste management. 

BROWN: That was ten years ago. Today she's Director of Development for Veterans Village San Diego. 

BORUM: Men don't have to worry about the sexual trauma on the streets. The other thing is you have a lot of women who have children and are not going to admit that they're homeless for fear of losing their children. 

BROWN: Good things are finally happening for Army Veteran Carol Goodloe. 

CAROL GOODLOE (Army Veteran): Yes, I'm going to be reunited with my kids. Hopefully within a week or so. 

BROWN: A year ago, she was homeless, separated from her children, and on the verge of divorce.

GOODLOE: I do have the apartment. It's in writing and he said my move-in date is today.

BROWN: After nine months of drug rehab at the veterans village, she's moving on with her life.

GOODLOE: Don't ever think you're too high where you can't fall and have things happen in your life that can put you in a homeless situation. 

BROWN: Dawn Richardson is a Navy Vet. She went from volunteering to participating in the program. 

DAWN RICHARDSON (Navy Vet): I thought I had learned everything and that's hwere you can get yourself in trouble. Because you not only have to learn it, you have to live it. 

BROWN: Like her bunk mate, Jaqueline Casiano, these two women are suffering from non-combat stress disorder. Dawn was raped as a young navy recruit. Jacqueline faced a cort martial after accusing her army superiors of sexual misconduct.

JAQUELINE CASIANO: (Army Veteran): "I'm learning to snap out of my shell and live with myself which is part of my recovery. 

BROWN: For 21 years now the Veterans Village has put on the annual "Stand Down" event. It's where veterans get much needed access to care and services. 

BORUM: I want the public to know- it's not just woman veterans, but as women we're somebody's mother, daughter, sister. And we hit the same hurdles and pitfalls in life and we do need that hand up. 

BROWN: Like the proverb it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to raise a veteran from the depths of dispair. For KPBS, I'm Dwane Brown.