. >> fresh out of high school, robert rissman signed up to fight for his country.makes an 18-year-old join the army? >> i wanted to go to college and make something of myself and the army said they'd pay for it. >> it's a contract. i'm going to serve my country, but then my country's going to serve me. >> that's kind of what i was hoping for, yeah. >> where did it fall apart? it began to fall apart in iraq. you saw things that i know you don't want to talk about. >> no, i don't. >> and probably never want to talk about. >> no. >> you see, robert was in a rapid response unit. he saw action night after night. >> i got back from iraq, and i was having a lot of psychological issues. i guess you could say. >> post-traumatic stress? >> post-traumatic stress disorder. >> back home at fort carson in colorado, he started feeling like people were out to get him. a few months later, someone discovered robert's illegal sawed-off shotgun hidden in his barracks. according to army papers, robert told investigators he was suicidal. at one point, he spent a full day drinking, then

from for men like robert rissman, a 22-year-old former soldier and now drug addict. transitional housing with no idea what comes next. he's just trying to get back on his feet. >> i had to steal food at one point because i had too much pride to ask anyone. i still have that kind of pride. >> for vets like robert, the aclu filed suit to try and force the v.a. to build housing on 400 acres of land that it was given back if 1888. at first we called the head of the va and they said we can't comment on pending litigation. we called the department of justice whose lawyers are handling the case and they said they can't talk about it either. finally the va said their chief of staff wants talk to me to tell us what they're doing to help homeless vets. >> we've added 700 emergency housing and transitional housing beds. they have mental health programs, substance abuse rams and medical programs. >> they also have something else. they're known as rent vouchers. >> which enable us to put veterans in permanent housing. >> in los angeles, each voucher just for veterans is worth mor