It has come to the attention of my friends and I (all military veterans) that there is little to no opportunity for veterans once released from service. Bill is a double edged sword, very few businesses offer "veteran preference", the VA offers pretty great coverage but no actual health insurance plan, the Yellow Ribbon program is a mediocre scholarship at best, and the government shows little int
erest of what becomes of it's nations heroes once released from service and dumped back into the normality of the civilian world. My friends and I aim to change that by building a utopia for our fellow brothers and sisters in arms. Two of my best friends whom I was stationed in Germany, and deployed to Iraq with and myself have begun the start of a monumental project to renovate an entire city in hopes of providing a beacon of hope to fellow veterans from across the nation to join in our effort- Providing homes and jobs for our countries most important asset- It's patriots. How the idea was formed - I struggled to acclimate to civilian life again in Orlando, FL once I was officially honorably discharged from my enlistment in February of 2011. My best friends were all either 1. Still serving or 2. scattered across the US. I did what most people would do- I started going to school, as not to waste my G.I. Bill, but I constantly felt alienated among my peers since we shared no common bonds, experiences, etc. My life had become a boring, mundane grind of repetition. Nothing overly good or overly bad, just a never ending boredom. I became extremely depressed and had no one to turn to. I spoke to my friends via social networks occasionally and they too seemed to be caught in the same void of despair. One by one they began to get out, back into the civilian world that TAPs never prepared them for. My best friend Eli finished his enlistment in March of 2012 and returned to his rural hometown of Brownsville, PA. He informed me of the nearby city of Uniontown and told me about the low cost of living, average selling prices for houses, the colleges nearby, etc. He managed to purchase around 5 properties when he first got out for pennies on the dollar. He had two in particular that he wanted to keep but needed help renovating. I didn't quite believe him at first but it sparked my interest so I started researching all the information he'd given me. Our other buddy Jake immediately hopped on board and moved to PA from Oregon to provide what ever aid he could and is now finishing his BBA at Penn State. Once I found Eli's info to be credible I applied to Penn State. Once accepted- I too moved from Orlando, FL to Brownsville in hopes of not only reuniting with my family, but also buying my own house in Uniontown and attending Penn State. So far Eli (who happens to be a jack-of-all-trades for construction) owns his current house in Brownsville as well as a large commercial building in Uniontown and I've purchased a large residential property several blocks down from his. The three of us have been working tirelessly on renovating the commercial property into a temporary residence for transitioning veterans. All the money spent on it has come out of our own pockets, and we have already agreed to work on each other's residences free of charge. But three men (with limited funds) can only do so much to expedite the process. Two more of our brethren have decided to move here as well in hopes of finding their own niche and adding to our community effort. Kyle - from KY, and Jer - From MA. I spoke with a member of the local committee for the community in Uniontown and he said he would ask if they might be able to find some properties to donate to us to renovate since there are many decrepit properties in Uniontown in dire need of renovation (a symbiotic relationship). I believe that having a work force of veterans would not only lower the crime rate of the city, but would increase the value of the nearby homes and the community as well as bring in much more commerce for the city as a whole.
