Lanette is a homeless veteran living in her car in Inglewood. When she got out of the military, Lanette returned to Compton to reconnect with her family. The structure that Lanette learned in the military made it hard for her to adjust to civilian life.
Lanette has PTSD after serving in two tours in Iraq. She was a hospital corpsman and believed that Marines couldn’t die. Lanette says witnessing the death of Marines does something to a soldier’s soul.
She started to smoke Spice to help deal with the PTSD, but eventually, her family asked her to leave because she was using the drug. Her only choice was to live in her car.
Lanette is full of life yet because of PTSD and a drug addiction, she is vulnerable out on the streets. The back window of her car was missing she says as a result of a gang shooting.
Somewhere along the way, we failed Lanette. We must be able to provide veterans with the support they need before they end up living in a car or worse.
