Help a 21 year old Homeless Navy Veteran restart his life

So I’ve written and rewritten this a few times now. Sometimes there are too many details & sometimes there aren’t enough details, but it’s hard to tell the story without including the details. Trying to do this again so you get the magnitude of the story w/o having to read the full-on novel:

My 21 year old little brother, Johnathan Pringle, is rebuilding his life from scratch, and I would love for anyone whose heart is led, to join me in giving him a little bit more help. He always had military aspirations growing up, and in January of 2023, he accomplished that goal by becoming a US Navy Sailor. Fast forward to the right side of the picture above. This was on March 8, 2024, 3 days after he was released from the Navy’s Psychiatric Hospital in San Diego and became a Homeless Veteran.

During his one month hospitalization in the psychiatric unit, the medical staff worked endlessly to help him. They started by figuring out exactly what the problem was (General Psychotic Disorder leaning towards Schizophrenia), what the next steps were (Trying several medications & keeping him, as a 21 year old young man, on board to continue to take them), and a long term care plan (decided that JP was a “perfect” candidate for the Navy Psychiatric Transition Program.) It was a very long & stressful month/process for ALL involved, but he finally looked this newly diagnosed disorder in the face & admitted there did seem to be a problem with his brain’s chemical makeup. He also decided he would accept some help from people who care about him & do what needs to be done for him to get better.

Upon his release, his Command was notified he was set to discharge from the hospital. They surprisingly notified the hospital staff that they couldn’t work together on discharge, next steps, or even come get him from the hospital, because he had actually been Separated from the Navy two weeks into his hospital stay. Forget all of the questions we all have about that, the fact is that he instantly became a homeless veteran with all of his family on the opposite side of the country.

They were able to coordinate a stay for him at the Fisher House that night, but he was told that his Command would pick him up the following morning to drop him off at the San Diego Airport with a ticket to Tampa (his home of record), his wallet, credit/debit cards, ID, etc. We scrambled to try to find out where he was going to go upon arriving in Tampa, as he was homeless & living in his truck before enlisting. We agreed & had a plan, as they were pulling up to get him, that he would call w/ Flight Information once he got to the airport & we would let him know what we had arranged for him upon his arrival to Tampa. We didn’t hear from him for over 24 hours. He spent his first night homeless sleeping on a bench in Oceanside, CA.

Johnathan finally found a stranger kind enough to allow him to use their phone to call me. He said he was dropped off at the airport the morning before with no wallet, no credit/debit cards, no phone, no ID, and he doesn’t recall any flight information being given to him. (We are unsure to this day if he did receive flight info or not as he was still foggy from just being released from the psychiatric hospital the night before.) Through the grace of God, and so many amazing, good-hearted people who recognized he was a young man in trouble and helped him along his way, he was able to fly from San Diego back to Tampa on Friday night. The phenomenal San Diego Airport police (who actually CARED & wanted to HELP) helped hook him up with some TSA Agents (who actually CARED & wanted to HELP) & we team-worked him all the way back to Tampa safely, despite him not having a wallet, ID, money, or a phone.

After arriving in Tampa, he was able to get to a hotel we booked for him so he could finally safely rest & have adequate communication. Committed to his care plan, he decided to take his medication that he’d missed while on the street. Unfortunately, he accidentally took too many, which ultimately landed him back in the hospital. Thanks to the amazing hotel staff and the Tampa Police officer who took the time to learn his situation, he was rushed to the Tampa VA Hospital. The staff at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital immediately treated him with the utmost respect and care. Johnathan made great progress during his time there. Unfortunately, the VA administrative staff realized a few days into his stay that he was just two months shy of qualifying for VA Benefits, and they would have to release him.

We were able to find a Homeless Veteran Group Home, recommended to us by the VA Social Worker, that has turned out to be a great fit. He took his old pre-military job back at a local superstore, but was fired due to side effects caused by his medication that affected his work performance. He is now applying for any/every job available in the small town of Zephyrhills, FL & staying very busy with his VA appointments to try to reclass his discharge from a General Discharge w/ Honorable Conditions to a Medical Discharge.

He signed up & took an oath (that he meant wholeheartedly) to protect our Country. He wanted to better his life and make something of it. He wanted to learn to be a man, learn discipline, build some structure for his life, and change the course of the not-so-pretty life he was handed growing up. He tried. And he’s still trying.

He inserted himself into a system that has helped millions wanting Safety & Stability thinking that those things were now his. His undiagnosed mental illness got the better of that plan, but I know this isn’t the end of the road for him. Thank God he was brave enough to sign up for the military. Thank you to everyone who does. Even though it ended terribly for him, he would have never gotten his diagnosis & figured out what had caused him so many problems along his journey, had he not gone into the Navy.

We are asking for help for this very bright young man who is working through his new diagnosis & trying his hardest to rebuild his life from the ground up. His rent is $875/month & his sisters were able to help him out for the first 2 months. (His parents are unable to help, as his Mother is homeless, and his Dad passed away a couple months before his enlistment.) He was able to pay $800 of it last month himself for the first time! Again, he’s trying. It’s due again on June 1st & because he cares so much, he is STRESSING OUT right now.

He aspires to have a long term career in the IT field, and lately, based on his welding experience in high school, he is considering that trade as well. He plans to use these funds, that will be regulated by the four family members who have been helping him, to buy a car so he can immediately begin earning income by doing UberEats & DoorDash in addition to whatever daytime job he lands.

Especially now that we have had this firsthand experience, our hearts go out to every Homeless Veteran w/ a Mental Illness, and we would love to help them all. His hope is that he can use our/your help to bridge his current needs in this time of transition & then pay it forward to someone else in the same situation. Thank you, in advance, for any help you feel compelled to give & God Bless all of our Veterans who genuinely tried, but find themselves also let down & cast away.