Veteran shares journey from homelessness to hope at San Diego's Stand Down event

NATIONAL CITY, Calif. (KGTV) — Over the next few days, hundreds of unsheltered veterans are expected to show up at this year’s “Stand Down” event, which directly connect them to the resources they need.

“You are thrown back into life and expected to know what to do and civilian life is nothing like military life,” said Tracy Vaughn, who served in the Army. She said the challenging transition led her to life on the streets.

Vaughn said she lost everything after becoming homeless: “my kids, my family, my home, my cars.”

Even though she grew up in San Diego with family around, she had nowhere to turn.

Vaughn eventually attended a Stand Down event organized by Veterans Village of San Diego, where she was offered resources to get her life back on track, including access to medical care, housing, legal advice, and essentials like showers and haircuts.

“We bring everything they need to give them a little respite, they can relax and take a deep breath and think about how to start again,” Vaughn said.

However, that wasn’t enough to keep her off the streets. Vaughn said she fell back into her old ways until she attended another Stand Down event, where she finally made the decision to change and stick with it.

“You get clean, you get sober, you start to feel different as a person you become somebody,” she said.

Vaughn is now sharing her story at this year’s event, joining elected officials and community members working to get hundreds of veterans that same kind of help.