The Battle After Service: David West’s Fight for Veterans

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Marine veteran David West joins Richard Taite on We’re Out of Time to share his powerful story of resilience, redemption, and service. Raised in a household where survival meant bringing money home—by any means necessary—David found discipline and direction in the Marines, rising to Sergeant in just three years. But after leaving the service just 15 days before 9/11, he faced a new kind of battle: homelessness, shame, and the struggle to find purpose in civilian life. He opens up about the stigma veterans face when re-enlisting—how society views them as unable to “hack it” outside—and the hard truth of returning home to instability. Living out of his car, keeping clothes in his trunk to…