Charting a New Course: A Navy Veteran’s Homecoming

Greg’s involvement with the military began with a draft evasion.

It didn’t take long for officials to find him. Greg was playing minor league baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers when he was tracked down at the ballpark. Despite his initial hesitancy, Greg served his country admirably from 1969 to 1973 as a high-speed code operator for the Navy. He earned an honorable discharge and returned home to work on his family ranch in the San Bernardino Mountains. 

A few years after transitioning out of the military, Greg’s adventurous spirit prompted him to leave his family ranch and move to Oregon in search of gold.

At the peak of his mining endeavors, Greg had 15 gold claims along the Rogue River. He then rekindled a relationship with a woman he met in the Navy, got married, and started a family. The Navy Veteran built a log cabin in the woods, felling the trees himself. Greg and his wife were “doing that little house on the prairie thing,” he explains. And it was all wonderful…until it wasn’t. Eventually, he and his wife separated, and Greg became a single father of five. 

When many might have folded, Greg stayed resilient. He raised all five children while working a forest service job to provide for his family. A role model for his kids, Greg’s sons followed in their father’s footsteps and joined the Navy while his daughters went off to college.

Greg did his best to stay active when his children moved out.

He hit the road and acted as a camp host in Six Rivers National Forest, traveled the coast, and formed a successful security company in Hollywood, with celebrity clientele including Goldie Hawn and her husband. He used money made from selling his company to buy a sailboat. The Navy Veteran sailed around the world, stopping in French Polynesia for a two-year stint in his own “Gilligan’s Island hut.”

“You get to have one great adventure… this is it,” Greg believes about life. 

After returning from his adventure, Greg’s RV was stolen and made uninhabitable. Like too many of our nation’s Veterans, Greg found himself out on the streets. Whether mental, physical, or financial, it isn’t uncommon for Veterans to hit rough patches after service, especially if they don’t have a solid support system or resources to help them during challenging times. 

Veterans like Greg, a man who served honorably for half a decade despite his initial reluctance, deserve more than this. We owe it to our Veterans to support them with the resources they have earned and a Veteran’s homecoming. That’s where Nation’s Finest comes in.

Our Eureka team helped the Navy Veteran settle into transitional housing with our Grant per Diem (GPD) program. Through transitional housing, qualified Veterans like Greg stay at our clinical-model housing facilities and receive a range of onsite clinical services, employment and training programs, legal aid, and more. “If it wasn’t for Nation’s Finest I would be on the streets today,” Greg says.

Today, Greg lives in his own little yellow cottage that Nation’s Finest Housing Locator Kelly McGittigan connected him to. He soaks in the sun on his porch and plays with the neighborhood cats that visit. He says he would love to sail again, but for now is happy to be living indoors and watching his Dodgers.

At Nation’s Finest, we know that different service and life experiences can lead to an immeasurable variety of needs after service. These unique journeys create a wide range of incredible individuals. They also create a wide range of individual needs.

That’s why we offer a comprehensive approach to Veteran support tailored to the needs of the individual. Help us continue to support our amazing Veterans with a donation to Nation’s Finest: