Stand Down steps up for vets

It started with some tents on a playing field and an open invitation to homeless Vietnam War veterans to get off the streets for a weekend and maybe get help for their troubles.

Now, two decades later, Stand Down has grown into a major outreach to military veterans here: more than 50 tents, support from the Navy and Marine Corps and participation from government agencies, healthcare providers and veterans groups. It also has spawned similar efforts in nearly 100 cities from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Fairbanks, Alaska.

Stand Down is sponsored here by the Veterans Village of San Diego, a residential program. Last year, the three-day event drew 864 people.

An equal or greater number is expected at this year’s 21st annual Stand Down, which began Friday on the lawn behind San Diego High.

“I thought I’d give this a try,” said Anthony Bush, 44, an Army veteran. “I was sober for a while but then I relapsed. I know I have to get off the booze or I’ll die.”

Dave Adams, 50, who also served in the Army, hoped to find help for his diabetes. “I need help, I know it,” he said, his eyes misting over as a volunteer pointed him to the medical tent staffed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Sharp HealthCare and the Naval Medical Center.

As the gates opened at 6 a.m. with breakfast sponsored by a local Optimist Club, volunteers were at the ready. “For those of us who lost buddies in combat and couldn’t do anything about it, this is cathartic,” said Joe Ciokon, a member of the Veterans Village board of directors and a Navy veteran who served in Vietnam.

“It’s a way to heal ourselves by helping others,” said Ciokon, 69, who was severely injured in the terrorist attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.

It is too early, he said, to expect veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan to come to Stand Down for help. But it’s not too early for them to volunteer.

“I want to do something to help my less-than-fortunate brothers,” said Lawrence Camacho, 48, who just returned from Iraq as a member of the California Army National Guard. “Two years ago, I was one of the guys here until I got straightened out and got back in the military.”

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tony.perry@latimes.com