This is a little untidy.
♪♪
[ Sighs ]
Oh, wait. That's me.
[ Chuckles ]
I missed my mark.
Hi, this is Thomas.
I'm in a fancy new housing project
for homeless veterans or formerly homeless veterans
and built as part of a series of initiatives
by the First Lady's office in the East Wing
to help out America's former soldiers.
We're just waiting for, uh, her to show up
and meet some residents here.
It's Michelle Obama. I mean --
There she is.
Hello.
Woman: Hello.
Hi. I'm just a -- Hi.
[ Patriotic music plays ]
Thomas: The White House, our nation's home office.
Through these corridors have strode some of
the most powerful men of their times,
as well as the women they were married to.
Except for Buchanan.
While the exact duties of the president
are explicitly laid out in the Constitution,
the First Lady's role is kind of up to her.
Even the East Wing office is an ad hoc mixture
of official White House staff with personnel
from various agencies attached to specific programs,
as well as outside help.
Even the First Lady's actual office in the East Wing
looks like some sort of converted dining room.
Yeah, this is her office. Nice.
Is the First Lady a big Poe, Melville,
and Twain fan or...?
I don't know.
The Obama East Wing has done a lot more
with their time in office
than pick curtains or plant flowers
in the median strips of our nation's highways.
Among Michelle Obama's biggest efforts is Joining Forces,
an initiative she started in 2011
to address veterans' issues.
This is the moment that we've been working toward
for such a very long time
as we launch this unprecedented national campaign
to honor and support
our incredible military families.
We're calling it Joining Forces. Pretty good.
Thomas: Joining Forces incorporated a number of different programs,
including the media blitz you may have noticed
the First Lady on in the last year.
The First Lady starred in an episode of "NCIS."
Thomas: Oh. Which was pretty awesome
because we --
we kind of talked with the entertainment business
about really incorporating
storylines about military families
in their kind of day-to-day circles.
Oh, okay. You have to tell someone's story
so they can understand why it's important.
Thomas: Which I guess is what I'm doing here in the White House.
The East Wing reached out to us,
a television show called "Balls Deep,"
to help them with an event they're planning
to celebrate the fifth anniversary
of the overall initiative, as well as spotlight the success
of one of its most ambitious challenges --
to end veteran homelessness.
Specifically, they asked me,
a guy whose Twitter name is @Babyballs69,
to find a veteran that Joining Forces
has helped out of homelessness the First Lady can talk to
about their experience with the program
and then invite to the White House
to speak at the summit they're having.
And I said yes.
So, I guess, now I am working for them.
Or her, Michelle Obama.
[ Applause ]
Cool cat.
It's like the new digital camo the Army started doing.
What's up?
Robinson: That's the camp cat.
Camp cat? He's still here.
I guess, you know, after most of the rat population
is down... Yeah.
...in general, e-especially around here.
Well, he's looking pretty well-fed, so...
Oh, yeah. Look at him, he's comfortable. [ Chuckles ]
It's the day before Veteran's Day.
The Coast Guard is throwing a veterans' breakfast.
Whoa!
And, uh, that is an Army cat.
Um, lot of folks in there,
lot of good options to bring back
to, uh, staff of the East Wing.
Hopefully, we'll, uh, have somebody ready by Monday
to hit the lectern.
Baker: How you doing, sir?
I haven't seen you in a while.
They working with you to, uh, to get things going?
Yep.
But they told me I was going to Vietnam.
So I said, "Forget this."
So I went to the Navy person, "Can you get me in here?"
He said, "Yeah."
Yep.
And guess what. Roz: What?
I went to Vietnam.
[ Laughter ]
[ Chatter ] Yes, sir.
Roz: How you doing, sir?
Good, good. Thomas.
Thomas? From where? Who are you?
From, uh, New York via Georgia, or Georgia via New York.
Are you a veteran? Huh?
Are you a veteran? No, ma'am. No, I'm not.
So what you here for? The free food?
Why is nobody drinking coffee?
They didn't have any ready when we got here.
The first thing we wanted was some coffee,
but they didn't have any ready.
Still going. I'm gonna check on that.
Who all wants coffee? How many coffees?
Milk, sugar, black?
Most of these vets are moving into the Conway Residence,
which is a permanent housing complex up by the Capitol,
sort of the flagship test model
for Joining Forces' anti-homelessness efforts.
It's taken a lot of work by numerous agencies
and outside groups to get it built
and occupied before the end of this administration.
Now with the First Lady coming to visit,
that's kind of really put the hustle on moving folks in.
Thomas: Are you moving to one of the --
I'm moving to North Capitol.
Oh, okay, cool. Do you know when?
They've given me four dates.
I'm supposed to move --
my first date was July the 8th.
Okay. Oh, then it was August the 29th.
Ooh, September the 21st. [ Chuckles ]
They stopped giving us dates.
Pretty big gaps, yeah.
But they still promising us that we're going,
which we are going, I know that.
Yeah. But when?!
[ Laughs ]
[ Laughs ]
It's good to meet you. Good to meet you, too.
Oh, are you guys -- Give me some love.
Give me some love. You're all done?
You're all done with breakfast? Yes, I'm all done.
♪♪
[ Indistinct shouting ]
Most of the veterans we're looking at
to introduce the First Lady live either out here
in these places or places like them.
They're pretty small, less dormy than kind of --
more like monastic cells, honestly.
But it, you know, it's a stable location,
and it's basically -- it's transitional.
They're supposed to be coming here,
getting their shit together,
and then moving on to a better place.
Wendell: It was a good experience, my going into the military.
I'm glad I did. I got to go to Germany.
I got to go to Korea. I got to go to the Philippines.
Leslie: Korea? Mm-hmm.
Well, I understand in Korea, they colder than --
Yeah, I'm telling you. I like the frozen --
I didn't think I was gonna make it back.
[ Laughs ]
Yeah, I would sleep on the streets.
They would all arrest us.
People do it on the streets, giving you a thing of cardboard.
Careful, don't go to sleep around no trash cans.
The truck come around and smash you.
[ Horn honks ]
You know, I-I enjoyed it the first couple of weeks.
I really enjoyed it, you know. It was nice and warm.
You had no -- you know, you had no problems.
But after a while, it got -- started getting cool.
And I didn't like that.
[ Grunts ]
I told you I can't stand cold.
That ain't cold.
It's cold -- it's cold to me.
We'll let you get in and warm up.
Yeah.
You know, I got this thing about wherever I go,
I like to make one -- at least one -- friend.
Thomas: Right. Yeah.
So here, I've got quite a few, and, you know...
Well, what were you doing before this, uh --
where were you before this housing?
North Carolina. Oh, yeah?
What part? Greenville City.
That's interesting. How did you end up here?
Well, I-I, uh, heard President Obama say
something on the TV one night about helping the vets,
you know, so I ended up here.
Oh.
Packed all of my belongings when I was in North Carolina,
got on the train,
and I got off to have a cigarette, right,
and got on the wrong train!
So I was, like, back in there somewhere I never got it.
When I got to D.C.,
I had nothing but the stuff I was wearing.
♪ Yeah, you know I once was a gambler ♪
♪♪
♪ But I lost my money roll ♪
When I got there,
I went outside the, uh, Union Station.
I say, "Wow."
♪ Yeah, you know I once was a gambler ♪
I saw these people laying around,
you know, "What the heck?"
♪ But I lost my money roll ♪
Then I started talking to the people,
"Oh, they're homeless," or this or that, you know.
And I said, "Well, you know what?
So am I now, you know?"
Hello, sir.
Are you a veteran, sir? I'm a veteran, yes.
Are you? Mm-hmm.
So we're at, uh, Union Station, train station in D.C.
Um, Comfort and Hector, uh,
as part of their usual kind of like canvassing grounds,
they come out and look for, uh, homeless people,
find out if those homeless people are veterans,
and then, uh, try to get them enrolled in services,
either transitional housing or permanent housing
if they're up for it,
which can be tricky with people who are, you know,
either coping with mental illness
or are just, you know, simply headstrong ex-military men
run aground against lousy circumstances.
Hi. Are you guys veterans?
Thomas: While the circumstances that lead to homelessness
are often the same for vets as they are for civilians,
many veterans have issues related to their service,
which can make outreach
and housing particularly difficult.
Comfort: Are you a veteran?
Thomas: Stuff like PTSD and injuries,
which can then lead to drinking and drug problems,
as well as just the simple difficulty
of transitioning back to regular life
with all those responsibilities.
Come on.
Good morning. My name is Comfort.
I'm a social worker from the Veteran Affairs.
Are you a veteran?
How are you doing?
Have you eaten today?
Let's go to the hospital...
so you can get real care.
If we give you money to buy a drink,
then that is not what we're supposed to do for you.
That's not what we're supposed to do for you.
Okay.
So let's -- let's go, sir, yeah.
So what I will do is have him take a cab until he's --
Thomas: Okay.
I see how hard it is, and your bedside manner's insane.
Mm-hmm.
You're right, you really live up to your name.
It's not good cop, bad cop, it's like good cop, vet cop.
[ Laughs ]
Many of the challenges
to helping keep vets off the streets
are things the Conway House model is intended to help fix.
Having VA case workers on site helps provide for a,
you know, quicker response, greater attention,
than a case worker making a monthly home visit.
Amanda: We'll be here. [ Chuckles ]
Roger: That's better than running up to VA. Yeah.
When I can run right downstairs to you.
Yeah. Yeah. That's the --
yeah, that's the idea. Right.
So community solutions will be here.
Property management.
These will be our offices.
Okay. Huh, not bad.
The reason the East Wing picked this place to have the, uh,
First Lady visit for her Joining Forces initiative
is it's, uh, kind of a new model of, uh,
addressing veteran homelessness.
The Conway House people just -- who run this place --
take a housing-first approach to homelessness,
where previously,
the notion was you got people into shelters,
and then you tried to address drug problems
they might have or do job training,
and you kind of made them
earn their housing on the other end.
The new approach basically is predicated
on the idea of, like, how do you get a job
and go through drug rehab and stuff like that
when you can't even be sure of where you're sleeping at night?
So solve the actual problem of homelessness,
which is home-less-ness, by putting them in a home,
and then work on the other things from there,
which is kind of, "No, duh," when you think about it.
But it took, you know, 50 years to get here.
So this Conway housing tower sort of epitomizes the new way
of thinking about that.
Instead of a nasty institutional building,
you have something that looks like
somewhere people would like to live.
Just needs to open now and have people move in.
♪♪
Thomas: So there's four days until the First Lady's visit,
and we still need to pick which veteran
she is going to meet here at Conway
and take to the White House.
So, yeah, we just wanted to talk about who --
who it's gonna be.
Hello, sir.
How you doing? I'm all right.
Magruder was very nice, but has, like, very hard,
like, medical conditions that he's, like, kind of rough
and very soft-voiced.
So say a couple of words, Mr. Magruder.
Uh, thank you. [ Laughter ]
Mr. Ford was a former Army boxer.
Boxer? Boxer.
Is that what you did in the military?
Yeah. Box?
He was interesting, but he was
kind of a little taciturn, uh, outside of, like, interacting with Banks.
[ Both laugh ]
Roz, who's moving in here, but not in the first set.
Roz: They put me way in the back, guys,
because I make the most noise.
Okay, let me tell my room some men coming --
some men coming in here!
[ Laughs ]
I mention her because she was super personable, very friendly,
and it's interesting to hear a woman's perspective on --
on subjects that are, you know, so traditionally male.
Mr. Banks' deal is he was in the Army
for six years in the '60s
and then the Navy, went to Vietnam.
Did you like being in the Army and Navy?
There was times when it was enjoyable,
and there was times when it wasn't.
But, to me, it was the way to get somewhere,
to do something, you know, see other places,
you know, and get paid for it.
Right. I like him. He's really good.
Uh, he's funny.
Um, he's got the best speaking voice of everybody, actually.
Actually, he's a really good candidate
now that I think about it.
Look, my nickname is Obama. Yeah?
The only other guy I had was Rico Robinson,
but he's housed -- Yeah.
Um, he also sells bootleg Obama gear,
so that probably --
President Obama watches, Obama hats.
[ Chuckles ] Obama, uh, shoes, Obama posters.
I guess it sounds like Mr. Banks is the best one.
Thank you, guys. Amanda: Yeah.
This is really helpful. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay.
Okay.
Thomas: Oh, look at that.
That's my old Word War II plane.
Thomas: Do you think a lot about, uh,
your time in the service and Vietnam?
No. No.
Gonna say, it's, uh, it's been a while.
If I'm not around anybody that's a vet or whatever,
you know, I don't even think about it.
Yeah. Hey.
Kids don't ask questions? Ask for stories about...?
No. No?
'Cause I never bring it up.
They -- a lot of them don't even know I've been in the military.
Yeah.
I know my baby son, he went to, uh, Iraq.
Mm-hmm.
But he never talk about it, so I don't talk about it.
Ah.
You think it's just too painful? I don't know what it is,
but something happened that he don't --
just don't want to talk about it 'cause, uh,
when he first came back, I'd try to get him
to talk about it, but he wouldn't.
Yeah. So I just let it go.
When the guys told me my --
before if I ever went out on the ship, he said,
"The best thing you can do for seasickness
is eat a can of sardines."
Ah, that guy was messing with you.
Yeah. Yeah, all right.
Man, did I get sick.
[ Chuckles ]
And they all sat around laughing, you know.
Oh, man, did I get sick.
That's some rough hazing.
Uh-oh. You got a call.
Where is it?
Hello.
Well, I was told yesterday we wouldn't be moving in.
Okay. Bye-bye.
Mm. What's that?
Said I might be going to North Capitol tomorrow.
Tomorrow? Yeah.
[ Chuckles ] [ Laughs ]
You know?
♪♪
Okay, let's go see your apartment first
before we do any of this paperwork.
Okay.
Now, this particular unit, when you walk in here,
you would have your living-room area here,
and you have your kitchen area here.
In the summertime, this is really nice
because we're gonna have the tables
set up with the umbrellas.
We also made sure that you had glasses, pots, and pans.
This is your bedroom area.
You have your thermostat here,
which you can control.
Okay, you like it? Yes, lovely.
It is. It's really pretty, and with the long hallway...
I haven't told him anything about the First Lady visit.
Woman: I don't think he knows anything. Yeah.
No, he doesn't know anything, uh, basically about it.
I mean, to make it a surprise for him...
Don't want it to be too big a surprise.
Yeah, you don't want it to be too big of a surprise.
I just wanted to wait until we were certain with,
like, the -- the White House, that was all.
I didn't want to tell him something
that wasn't gonna happen, you know?
So...
Should we -- should we tell him after --
after they're done? Yeah.
Your rent is due the first of each month,
and this is gonna be 30% of your annual income.
So it's gonna be affordable.
So you're going to sign here and date it.
This is the stuff that we went over.
It just tells you that you're gonna have your lease agreement,
your moving inspection, security-deposit addendum.
it just tells you everything that you're gonna have.
You're just gonna sign, print, and date.
We only have...
Woman: 21 pages.
...two more.
Eddie: What do you think? I'm in like Flynn.
I am really satisfied. Okay.
So we planned the next step, which is...
Right, you need a suit. A suit for Monday.
What?!
What?! Me? Eddie: Yes.
You're designated to introduce the First Lady.
I can't talk. You talk great.
[ Laughter ]
Oh, man.
You are designated to introduce the First Lady.
You'll do good. It'll be awesome.
Yeah.
I get tongue-tied.
[ Chuckles ]
Oh, man. Okay.
We -- we don't want to spring too many surprises on you.
Yeah.
But that's a biggie. That's a biggie.
That is a biggie. [ Laughs ]
Okay, that's a biggie.
♪♪
Oh, boy.
Should we get the suit?
♪♪
Uh-oh.
♪♪
Look at that on you. What a weekend.
What a weekend.
♪♪
As I remember, this is a pretty crummy neighborhood.
Like, when I was growing up.
And it's been, uh, re-branded as NoMa.
Stupid realtor acronyms.
It's interesting because you think about, like,
the history of homelessness in the last, uh, 50 years.
You got the shelters that were built in town
'cause that's where homeless people congregated.
And then, uh, Section 8 housing kind of developed
in the '70s through HUD
and, uh, kind of sent people further away
with the idea of putting them in a more home-like environment.
They had these new buildings like Conway House
kind of right in the thick of things,
so that, you know, people aren't living way
the fuck out in southeast D.C.,
taking an hour-long bus every day to try to get a job
or go see, uh, go see their doctor.
It is very centrally located.
And you think of like, you know,
this is a pretty gentrified neighborhood,
you'd be trying to keep them out,
but I guess people in D.C. are more civic-minded.
♪♪
So Mr. Banks has moved in,
um, kind of secretly and early in the morning.
Uh, thought I was gonna help him out.
'Cause I thought he was gonna do it at noon with Eddie,
but I guess he was too excited about the new place,
which is nice.
Hey. Wendell: Oh, hey.
How's it going? Good. How are you?
All right. Settling in?
It's gonna take me a while to get into the swing of things,
you know, 'cause I haven't done this in a while.
Yeah, of course. I-I came here yesterday,
but I left and I came back, uh, about an hour ago.
Had to go and do a little bragging, you know.
Yeah? Yeah.
[ Jazz music plays ]
What you want to do, watch TV?
Mm. Can I see?
I don't know what I'm doing. I -- I don't, either.
[ Chuckles ] Scanning.
Okay. See what's plugged in here.
This is tricky.
Wendell: That TV's not gonna work.
[ Telephone rings ]
That's my daughter.
Ah. Oh, nothing.
I was just moving -- moving into my place.
It's okay. Very nice.
Yeah, I got, uh, Mrs. Obama coming over, uh, Monday.
The First Lady Obama.
Michelle Obama.
Yeah, coming over for an interview or something,
I don't what is going on.
I just go along with the program.
All right, bye.
Um, have you thought about how you want to introduce
the First Lady at the White House?
[ Chuckles ] How do I go through that?
Um, I can help you, uh, write something if you want.
Yeah.
All right, scanning again. We've been scanning all day.
Yeah, I know.
How do you want to start?
Uh, you know,
I'll say I spent eight years in the military.
Six years Army, two years Navy.
I was 18.
Yeah, I got in 'cause I wanted to get away from home.
And that was the easy way of doing it.
How did it feel as, uh, as a veteran back in,
uh, back in civilian life?
If somebody didn't ask me about it,
I didn't think about it that much.
Mm-hmm. It was just something I'd done.
So you came back in '69. Mm-hmm.
And that's when I got into truck driving.
Why'd you stop? I was tired of it,
but I couldn't get social security until 2004.
Yeah.
SO I pitter-pattered around for --
from '98 to 2004.
How would you tell someone about what happened?
What made you homeless?
Like I said, I lost my luggage on the train.
I think I had about $10 to $15 in my pocket,
so I just went out
and bought me a sleeping bag
and...there I was.
I just didn't think things through.
Yeah. Well, the circumstances
befell you, you know?
If it's okay with you, I'll type up a little bit of what you said
and kind of play with it a little.
I used to be a writer and editor.
Oh, yeah? Anything to get me started.
[ Laughs ] Yeah. That's it. Starting's the hardest part.
Yeah.
♪♪
[ Beep ]
It's, like, one day before the First Lady comes here
and I'm finally feeling the, uh, the sweat.
I've got the speech, though. I think Wendell will be good.
Wendell: Come in.
You bet.
Take a look at it.
If anything doesn't sound right,
something you wouldn't say, let me know.
♪♪
I really like that. Good.
Okay. Man, I was nervous.
[ Both laugh ]
Thank you very much. You did the good job.
Thank you very much. You said it.
so, the First Lady is supposed to be here in 12 hours.
Secret Service has been through the building
at least three times.
They may actually be up there right now.
I don't know, it's their secret.
I've had surprisingly little contact
with the East Wing leading up to this,
but Kelsey is supposed to stop by
with a couple of staff members
to meet Mr. Banks before tomorrow.
Is this normal?
Everything.
Like, the last-minuteness. No, this is totally normal.
Oh, good.
I brought, um, this is Rory and Will.
I'm Rory. [ Chuckles ]
We're interrupting your football game.
Now I feel terrible. Who's winning?
[ Laughs ] Wendell: Huh?
Who's winning?
I have no idea. [ Laughs ]
What did you do in the Army?
Uh, I was an infantryman. I was in artillery, so...
Artillery? Yeah.
Backup. [ Laughs ]
Well, who you all call for trouble --
and get in trouble, who do you call for?
Call for backup. They call for the artillery, right?
I'm on Team Mr. Banks on this one.
My husband's and infantryman, also.
Okay. Once you're in the military,
we sort of like brothers, you know?
And we love to pick one another up if we're --
when one goes down, we'd rather be to stop
and pick him up or her up or whatever, you know?
And it's sort of like a fraternity, you know?
Mm-hmm. But closer.
Yep.
So, are you excited about your house guest tomorrow?
Well, I -- I want a medic around,
'cause if she walked in, I would fall right out,
you know? [ Laughter ]
No. No, it's not.
You know, I'm the sort of guy, I like to be in the background.
I don't like to be the forefront, you know?
To come and see you in your own home
is gonna be really exciting for her
because it's been 2 1/2 years of tough work.
Yeah.
Which is why we're coming here tomorrow.
Yeah, but my story's not interesting.
And I keep asking myself, "Why me?
Why me?"
And Thomas will be here with you.
And I'm arguably more nervous than anybody.
[ Laughter ] Wendell: Just sitting here talking about it,
I'm getting goose bumps.
I know I'm not gonna sleep tonight.
[ Laughter ]
I think people are starting
to kind of understand that homelessness is not --
it's not a choice. Thomas: Right.
I think the thing we were learning most
from veteran's homelessness is, you know,
people could get behind veteran's homelessness.
It was easier --
it was an easier step for some people
to say like, "I can support them --
the ending of veteran homelessness."
But everything we're learning here scales.
Thomas: Applies, yeah. To LGBT youth,
to moms with kids, to --
I mean, this works in every population.
And so, to see it scale up,
you know, from this is really exciting.
♪♪
Care for some company? I don't mind at all.
I'm feeling better about tomorrow.
Are you still nervous? Yeah, a little bit.
I'm trying to walk it off, you know?
I don't know.
Me meeting Mrs. Obama -- I don't know, you know?
It just...
doesn't seem real yet.
Yeah, right? I think it hit me today.
It's gonna be good. Yeah.
Yeah. I hope so.
♪♪
Hey, guys.
Are you guys nervous?
I slept pretty well last night.
I guess I'm not as nervous as I thought I was.
I might get nervous in the next half hour, so...
I'm gonna go up and see Mr. Banks.
♪♪
Hey.
Um, how are you feeling?
All right.
Um, Mr. Baker is downstairs
with Amanda and Nina from the VA,
any time you want to come down and see them.
Okay, I can go down now. You want to?
Yeah. Oh, man.
I'm not used to this kind of stuff.
Hey. How you doing?
All right.
Looking real sharp, now. [ Laughs ]
How you doing?
I'm doing. I'm...
I'll be glad when this is over.
[ Laughter ]
Amanda: He looks great. Thank you.
So, he First Lady's due here
at the Conway House in about 45 minutes.
Um, been through all the security sweeps,
we've walked through the program at least four times
with Secret Security and White House staff,
with all the people who are gonna be participating.
It's, like, it's very meticulously plotted out.
There's Post-It notes all over the floor
where people are supposed to go.
It's kind of like a movie set.
Which is crazy because this is not
typically something she does for cameras.
Like, we're filming it, but visits like these,
she usually makes without
any sort of camera presence whatsoever,
which I think is pretty fuckin' noble...
um, given that I've always assumed
those things were just glorified photo ops,
but this is actually an intelligence-gathering
sort of operation.
She's here to speak to Mr. Banks
and, uh, hopefully glean from him information
that can be used to direct policy.
And I'm supposed to take out at least a minute and a half
from his introductory remarks.
I'm gonna have no fucking clue what I can take out,
'cause I already took out at least two minutes.
[ Beeping ]
♪♪
Give this to you to keep in a pocket.
I think they're gonna have a -- I believe there's gonna be,
like, some sort of teleprompting device or something.
I'll mess it up anyway. Thomas: Do you have a coat pocket?
No, you won't. You're gonna do great.
Not more -- not more than I'm gonna mess it up.
Whew.
This is a little untidy.
♪♪
[ Sighs ]
Oh, wait. That's me.
[ Chuckles ]
I missed my mark.
I haven't given a single thought
to what I'm gonna talk about with her.
Hello.
Woman: Hello.
Hi. I'm just a -- Hi.
[ Dramatic music plays ]
♪♪
Well, hello. Well, hello.
Hi, how are you? It's great to see you.
It's great to meet you. Thank you for this.
Oh, no, thank you for coming.
I'm a huge fan. Oh, of, um...
Your show.
That's very sweet of you to say. Yes, yes.
Look at this place. It is beautiful.
Look, there are people there.
That's all the community-solutions people.
Yeah, yeah. It's good to see you guys.
Great work.
This is Chapman.
He runs community services. Hi.
How are you guys?
[ Both laugh ]
And this is the --
the VA center where the caseworkers work, and this is --
Hi, guys. Well, hello.
...Amanda Johnson and Nina McDowell, who work for the VA.
Amanda, how are you? Good, how are you?
It's nice to see you.
Nina. It's great to see you, Nina.
This is Eddie Baker from the VA.
And Wendell Banks is --
Mr. Banks, it's so good to see you.
Nice to see you, too.
Thank you for spending time with us.
I'm looking forward to seeing your house.
Oh, yeah? Yeah. [ Laughs ]
It's so good to see you.
Well, I'm proud of you all.
And this building is amazing.
This facility is top-notch.
It's exactly the standard
of support and care that we want to see
for our veterans all over the country.
So, this is why it's really terrific
that we can highlight this work
and that you're our role model, Mr. Banks.
[ Laughter ]
You are the star of the show today.
It's okay.
I'm about to fall.
[ Laughter ]
Thomas: Um, should we see your apartment?
Sure. Can we go to your house?
Yes. Would you lead the way?
If I know the way. All right.
This is -- this is your floor. This is my floor.
We're going to your house.
[ Chuckles ]
See, I think we should do a surprise entrance.
I should knock on the door
so you can officially welcome me into your house.
I think the surprise --
Am I your first guest? You're my first guest.
Then let's do this right.
Okay? Okay.
All right. Here we go.
Come in. [ Laughs ]
Well, hello!
Ah, Mrs. Obama. It's so good to see you.
Wow.
♪♪
Thomas: Would you like to have a -- have a seat?
Absolutely. Where do you want --
where do you want us?
You can sit over there. Okay.
So, Mr. Banks served in both the Army
and the Navy back in the '60s.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Where are you from originally? Where did you grow up?
Wendell: North Carolina. Uh-huh.
What part of North Carolina?
Elizabeth City. Uh-huh.
How'd you wind up here in Washington, D.C.?
I heard Mr. Obama on TV one night
talking about how they're gonna help the vets, you know?
Mm-hmm. And I wanted to move to Florida.
I figured I would come here and see,
would they help me get there. I hate cold weather.
Yeah, me -- me, too. I'm from Chicago.
You do? I do.
I've had enough cold weather
for my whole life, growing up in Chicago.
The sooner I get to Florida, the better off I will be.
[ Laughter ]
So, how long did it take
before you were connected with the support services here?
About a month. Mm-hmm.
'Cause I didn't know what to do or where to go, you know so...
I'm always surprised at how many veterans
don't have any clue of the resources
that are available to them.
And because of folks like you, that's changing.
We were talking about how -- I think it's --
I feel like it's probably changing now,
how little contact a lot of the --
a lot of the older veterans that I've met had with the VA
before they fell on hard times.
Most of them were just unaware of what was available to them.
Prior to the VA
making a drastic transformational change,
you know, there wasn't that much engagement.
I know because I tried. Mm-hmm.
Well, one of the things that we've learned in our time
working with this community, particularly for Vietnam vets,
many didn't want to identify as veterans.
You know, because of the way
the country responded to Vietnam veterans --
which is one of the reasons why we felt we have to,
through Joining Forces,
we have to do an entire culture shift
on how we talk about our military community.
They should never be ashamed of who they are.
You know, this has been some of the most gratifying work
that I've ever done in my life.
And the work that we've done with the military community,
that's opened my eyes to
not just the challenges that this community faces,
but the greatness, the bravery,
the courage, you know, the sacrifice.
Um, which is why we have worked so hard
over these last eight years
to make sure that whatever we do,
that it's something you can feel.
That it's not just words, it's not platitudes,
but it's -- it's housing.
[ Chuckles ]
It's a real show of gratitude,
and I'm just happy to see you here at your home.
I know it's not Florida... [ Laughs ]
but until Florida becomes a reality for you,
this seems like it'll do.
Right? It'll do.
[ Laughs ] It'll do very well.
But I have another little gift for you, Mr. Banks.
I've brought you a housewarming gift!
Oh, boy.
From the White House.
We've brought you a teapot, some hot chocolate,
and we brought you two White House mugs.
All right.
So, just in case you have a guest --
you know, we don't have to talk about it on camera, but...
[ Laughter ]
if you got a friend, [Chuckles] you can say,
"You want to come up for some hot chocolate?"
There you go. "I got a White House mug,
I got two of them." But this is for you.
Thanks for letting us see your new home.
It's wonderful.
Thank you for coming. I'll see you later on,
'cause you're coming to the White House, I hear.
Yes. All right, are you ready for that?
I'm ready for that. You're coming to my house.
[ Laughs ]
You're gonna do good. No pressure.
Thomas: Mr. Banks, I'm gonna grab your coat.
[ Siren wails ]
♪♪
Treasury is...
I think we're a block away.
Wendell: Something to tell my kids and my grandkids, you know?
[ Laughs ]
♪♪
Is the East Wing where -- where do we go?
Woman: Over there, straight to the left.
Straight to the left, okay.
Hey, how are you?
♪♪
Is that where they make the money?
You want to practice your introduction, or...?
[ Laughs ] No. No?
No.
Did you bring the paper with you?
Uh, I gave it to you to put in --Oh, I did.
Yeah, wait, it's in my jacket.
♪♪
[ Speaks indistinctly ]
I don't know where it is.
Is Kelsey still here? If we can get- -
What's that on the table, there?
Oh, here it is. Wait, is this --
This looks like it, under somebody else's...
Yeah, this is totally it.
Okay.
Here it is, and they're gonna give you another --
one more -- printed out. But there's --
Are you able to read that?
You can use this thing as a practice lectern.
You know?
Um, would you like some water?
Glass of water? No? Mr. Banks?
I'd prefer a shot of rum.
Yeah, no joke, right? And Coke.
That would settle me down.
Um, it's time to go up to the green room.
Okay.
Mm? Showtime.
♪♪
[ Applause ]
Hello.
Hello, again. How are you?
Are you ready? [ Laughs ] I hope so.
Don't be nervous at all.
Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me.
Have they been treating you all well?
Yes, yes. Good.
Woman: Mr. Banks, are you ready to go?
I guess.
[ Indistinct conversation ]
Man: Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Wendell Banks.
[ Applause ]
♪♪
[ Clears throat ] Thank you.
My name is Wendell Banks.
I was partially raised in North Carolina and New York.
I joined the Army when I was 18 years old
'cause I wanted to get away.
I entered in 1960, and there was no war at the time.
I spent six years in the Army,
and then I joined the Navy.
I was re-enlisting in the military,
but I didn't want to go in the Army
because I would go to Vietnam.
So joined the Navy. Guess what.
Two months later, I was in Vietnam.
[ Laughter ]
So, one night, I heard President Obama on TV
talking about how they were gonna help the vets,
so I decided to look into it.
And, uh, I got on a train...
and lost all my luggage.
So when I got to Union Station,
all I had was the pants I had on and about $15.
And it took me two days to realize --
"You're homeless. You have nowhere to go."
You know, there's a lot of veterans
walking around on canes or crutches
or in wheelchairs.
They need medical care for their injuries
or mental problems. [ Clears throat ]
But they all need somewhere to live first.
Me, all I needed was a house.
I wouldn't think that
organizations were helping veterans
get a house in Washington and around the country.
And I'd like to introduce the First Lady,
whose Joining Forces program has helped
all these groups help us veterans help ourselves.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mrs. Michelle Obama.
[ Applause ]
Thank you all so much.
You all, please, please, thanks so much.
Welcome.
[ Laughter ]
Be quiet back there.
[ Laughter ]
Let me start by thanking Mr. Banks
for that wonderful introduction.
I got to meet Mr. Banks earlier today,
because he invited me over to his house.
So I thought I'd return the favor.
[ Laughter ]
And I think, as I told Mr. Banks,
his story is gonna help a lot of people,
uh, get the support
that they need and deserve, so thank you so much.
It was an honor spending time with you.
[ Applause ]
And through VA programs, we've helped house
354,000 veterans and their families.
Again, these are breathtaking accomplishments,
especially when you consider the real human stories
behind each of those numbers.
Stories like another Vietnam-era veteran
named Larry Maynor.
For 30 years, he was on the streets.
But then, Larry entered a homeless-assistance program.
He met a wonderful woman. He fell in love.
That's why I gave you those two mugs.
[ Laughter and applause ]
We are absolutely on our way to solving this problem.
And we cannot let up for a single minute.
So, while this might be my last time
coming before you as First Lady,
today isn't any kind of an ending for me.
[ Chuckles ]
We're just getting started.
Thank you all. God bless.
[ Applause ]
♪♪
[ Grunts ]
You did a good job, man.
Yeah?
Tina: Thank you again for doing this.
You know, we throw these people into things
in that -- in that damned East Room,
and -- but he did a really nice job.
I'm sure it was totally nerve-wracking.
Totally. Very happy.
Very, very happy.
Thomas: So, Mr. Banks was a hit.
It's been interesting working alongside
all these different agencies and private veterans' groups,
where I'd expect a massive bureaucratic log jam,
especially at the VA,
which up until the Obama administration
had probably the worst reputation.
Surprisingly, everybody's worked really well together
and actually efficiently.
And all the various staff I've dealt with
have been energized, idealistic Young Turks,
which is I think is a direct trickle-down effect
from the leadership.
You know, it'd be so easy for the First Lady
to take a cause like this and just slap her name on it
and leave the rest to her staff.
When you see the spirit of engagement Michelle Obama
brings to Joining Forces,
from the grand stateroom speech-making level
all the way down to the work-a-day nuts and bolts
of visiting facilities and veterans like Mr. Banks,
it's infectious.
It's about the best case of lead by example
I've really been witness to, which you hope would always be
the case with the First Family of the United States,
but, well, sometimes it ain't.
Well, what are you up to today?
Are you gonna stick around, or...
As for Mr. Banks, I'm not sure
how impressed he was with the White House.
Bye.
Maybe a little, uh, more fancy than his current digs,
but you know, seat of Western power or not, truthfully,
there's no place like home.
[ Patriotic music plays ]
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