{"id":26512,"date":"2023-09-08T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=26512"},"modified":"2023-09-09T06:41:19","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T06:41:19","slug":"veteran-achieves-goals-and-direction-after-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=26512","title":{"rendered":"Veteran achieves goals and direction after prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shar-Ron Buie spent 25 years in prison, was homeless and lost his daughter prior to VA helping him turn his life around. Now the Marine Corps Veteran dedicates his life to helping other Veterans thanks to VA\u2019s HUD-VASH program.<\/p>\n

Buie was raised by his grandmother. They never lived in a single location for more than a year, and he found himself shooting at someone when he was 11.<\/p>\n

A few years later, he found the military.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a>
Marine Veteran Shar-Ron Buie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen I left for the Marine Corps, I was floundering. I didn\u2019t believe it was possible for me to do anything but go to prison, shoot someone or be killed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During his four years in the Marines, he served as an audio visual technician and as a Training NCO. Two years after his discharge, Buie was convicted of intentional homicide and sentenced to life in prison after getting into an altercation with someone else carrying a gun. After lobbying for his release and being denied parole 19 times, Buie was released after 25 years.<\/p>\n

Did not let those years go to waste\u2026 earned degrees<\/h2>\n

\u201cWhile I was in prison, I completed my bachelor\u2019s degree in business and almost completed my master\u2019s degree in criminal justice. I did end up getting my master\u2019s degree from\u00a0UW-Platteville\u00a0after my release, and now I\u2019m getting a Ph.D. in criminal justice. I teach College Success at\u00a0Marquette University\u00a0where I\u2019m also the associate director of the Education Preparedness Program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite his accomplishments in and out of prison, adapting to life after prison wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter I was released, I was officially homeless. I was able to stay with my sister for a bit, but I had no idea where to turn. I remembered hearing about VA\u2019s HUD-VASH program while in prison and decided to call and see what they could do,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Buie applied for and was approved for HUD-VASH funding. The program helps homeless Veterans and their families find and sustain permanent housing and access to health care, mental health treatment, substance use counseling and other resources they need. With the aid of the program, Buie began moving his life in the right direction again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got an apartment before using the VA home loan program to purchase my own condo. Ever since my discharge, I\u2019ve used my education and knowledge to assist other Veterans by connecting them to resources, providing peer support and legal services to impacted and marginalized individuals,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cResources are there if you connect.\u201d<\/h2>\n

His daughter, Carrie, was always his motivation. She died suddenly in 2018 at the age of 31, and it changed the course of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she died, I realized none of this was about me anymore. I made a commitment to smile every single day and to help someone every single day. I\u2019m going to make a difference and that\u2019s because of my daughter. If I was to allow my situation to consume me, if I were to allow myself to be upset all the time, what sort of disservice am I doing to Carrie?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Buie credits VA\u2019s HUD-VASH program for him successfully transitioning from prison and achieving the goals he set. His only regret is not discovering VA and its services in 1982 upon his discharge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a patriot. I\u2019m a Marine. I love VA. My problems have been brought on by my own ignorance. But the resources are available for everyone who wants it. The receiver is the key. The resources are there if you connect. It would have made all the difference in my life back then. It did make all the difference in my life in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s information about the HUD-VASH<\/a> program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shar-Ron Buie spent 25 years in prison, was homeless and lost his daughter prior to VA helping him turn his life around. Now the Marine Corps Veteran dedicates his life to helping other Veterans thanks to VA\u2019s HUD-VASH program. Buie was raised by his grandmother. They never lived in a single location for more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,654],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-hud-vash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26512"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26515,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26512\/revisions\/26515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}