This time, vets return to welcome

At the Army's Fort Sam Houston in Texas, developer brothers Steve and Les Huffman started Returning Heroes Home to build a large facility for wounded veterans. There, they could reconnect with their families and prepare for reintegration into the civilian world. The 12,000-square-foot facility will include dining and recreation areas, private counseling rooms, and computerized training.

"Despite the fact that the military has billions of dollars … in order to get an allocation from the military, it would take time and it would take significant levels of approval," explains Steve Huffman. "We felt very strongly that this is something that needed to be done now."

The project is funded by donations. In the course of one month, more than $1.3 million of the $3.8 million required to build the facility has been collected. "This is just a very small down payment on a tremendous debt we owe these people," says Mr. Huffman.

Just as civilian groups are organizing to help returning vets, so, too, are vets themselves.

Vets4Vets is a peer support group founded two years ago by Marine Corps vet Jim Driscoll, who served in Vietnam. Based in Tucson, Ariz., the group organizes weekend workshops, one-on-one counseling, and local discussion groups around the country.

Swords to Plowshares, formed in 1974 by six vets in San Francisco, helps veterans and their families find jobs, get government benefits, and deal with PTSD.

One variation here is vets helping their Iraqi interpreters, who have been threatened by insurgents for helping Americans there. When he got back after a year's tour in Iraq, Oregon National Guard Capt. Jason Faler started the Checkpoint One Foundation to help bring interpreters and their families to the United States.

So far this small group (Captain Faler and two buddies) has raised about $5,000 and brought one Iraqi family to Oregon. "They've risked everything," says Faler, who expects to be ordered back to Iraq. "They served with bravery and patriotism. I consider them my brothers."

Vietnam veteran Lee Thorn, who's been an antiwar and a pro-vet activist for many years, says "it's heartening to hear these stories" of Americans reaching out to a younger generation of war vets. Whether or not one takes a specific step such as helping with home construction or education for a new career, he says, there's something perhaps even more important that everyone can do.

"Treat [the vet] like a good person. Treat him like a human being, and don't ask rude questions," he says. "Let them tell their story in their own time. If you're very sincere in welcoming them back and listening to their story – whatever part they want to tell you – just quietly and without judgment and with compassion, that's going to do a lot of good."

And one more thing, he says, speaking of the politicians and officials (and ultimately the voters in a democracy) who decide it's in the national interest to send men and women to war. "If they really want to treat these guys right, then they need to understand that if you send people to war, they're going to come back different, and you better take that into account up front," says Mr. Thorn, who has been diagnosed with PTSD.

Such concern may well apply to vets of all wars. The other day, a customer called the Sign-a-Rama store in Encinitas, Calif., to ask if a free banner could be made for a Vietnam War veteran. Mr. Schicktanz quickly agreed.

"It's someone who has a rough time around every Veterans Day," he says. The banner proclaims: "You are home, Sgt. Richards. We're proud of you. Thank you."

• Tom A. Peter in Boston and Randy Dotinga in San Diego contributed to this report.

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