- [Interviewer] Brion, we're here in Pittsburgh.
You're homeless; tell me about it.
- When I was, got back from the military
I stayed with my brother and my mom
who had an apartment, and
my mom wanted money for,
my money that I worked for to use for drugs.
I said no I wouldn't give her it,
and she went out to the police,
told them that she didn't want me living with her anymore,
and that night I was homeless.
I packed up a bag and went to sleep in Market Square.
- [Interviewer] So you slept outside.
- Slept right on the cement.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh that's gotta be horrible.
Now you were in the military?
- I was in the military.
- [Interviewer] For how long?
- Almost six months.
- [Interviewer] Okay, what happened there?
- Medical discharge.
I was the fastest person in my whole battalion
with our rucksack on, and I stress fractured both my heels,
and during gold phase, I was in the infirmary
while my battle-buddies were on the graduation stage,
ready to go to their unit.
- [Interviewer] Wow, and then did you just end up
sleeping in a park?
- Just sleeping in a park,
sleeping under the Smithfield Street, parking lot,
along the river.
- [Interviewer] Now how long,
how many nights did you sleep in the park, or wherever?
- Some nights I stayed up all night,
and some nights I would sleep in different spots.
My main location was the Market Square, little,
'cause there was security cameras around everywhere.
- [Interviewer] Right, right.
- There's more people around,
that less for a bad thing to happen,
and sometimes I slept more in remote spots,
like underneath the bridge and in regular parking lots,
take a piece of cardboard and lay it on the ground.
- [Interviewer] It's a horrible way for a kid to exist.
- It is.
I don't want nobody else to go through that, but, you know,
the world we're in now, it's gonna happen.
A lot of things need to happen and change
before that though.
- [Interviewer] So now you're in an emergency shelter.
- Yep.
- [Interviewer] In a good place.
- Good place.
- [Interviewer] What's the future like?
- The future is an apartment and a job,
and then while I'm on my own,
I'm gonna get me into my own college, I get in for free,
and pretty, criminal justice, associates;
that's all I'm looking for right now.
And I could join the military back,
'cause I'll be healed up by then, E-3,
start a little career with the military.
And then the long distance,
I want to be a criminal profiler for the FBI.
With those things on my resume,
they'll accept me with open arms.
- [Interviewer] Awesome, awesome, good to have a future.
- Definitely.
- [Interviewer] If you had three wishes, what would they be?
- Oh, I wouldn't want nothin'.
I'd literally just want to change a couple things,
like my whole life, the way I grew up,
I would change everything about placement.
And I, well wishes probably couldn't be granted because,
they'll, I don't know, they're like, unrealistic.
- [Interviewer] Well, I, I can relate, I can relate to that.
So it's tough growin' up.
- Especially for kids, like the way I grew up,
I wouldn't want no kid to ever be taken away
from their parents, only to be put in their parent's house
with assistance and guidance,
never to be taken away from their parents,
'cause that only causes damage that's irreversible.
Unless you're put into a better situation, permanently.
But if you're temporarily put in a better situation,
or if you're temporarily put in multiple better situations,
it still is not better than growing up in a worse situation,
but with your parents.
- [Interviewer] Right, did you do foster care?
- I did foster care.
I did like, thirteen foster homes.
- [Interviewer] Oh my gosh, so you were taken away before,
and then you came back to Mom, and then Mom--
- I was never given back to my parents.
I was always just put in different foster homes.
- [Interviewer] Right.
- So the book Pinball, that's like my life.
Except for you get old enough, and if you can't adjust,
and yeah, I ran away, I got in fights, fought staff.
It was, I could say I was a product of the system.
There ain't one person in the system right now,
like that has grown up in the system,
that doesn't have those problems.
And they think that people can get over those problems.
No, that's just gonna be a constant.
Everybody's, you grow up from nine-years-old, in systems,
foster homes, placements, you're not used to one face.
You don't have that one face in your life
that is the normal.
So you're gonna grow up with a bunch of stuff, disorders.
They say it's all temporary.
I turned 18; it all changed.
ODD, ADD, everything, they want to say all that stuff.
I don't need pills.
They want to give you pills while you're young
and everything, when you don't know,
and you have to take what they give you.
When I got of age, I told 'em I don't want to take anything.
My attention deficit disorder isn't something
that is a burden
that I should just take medications to cover it up.
I should just mentally, physically prepare,
and get used to it.
I have a lot of energy, so I would go running.
I would go do a lot more activities.
If I have a positive attitude,
just do more positive things with all the energy you got.
That's all.
- [Interviewer] Awesome, awesome.
Well thank you very much for talking to me.
- Thank you for being here to take in my story.
Share it to everybody.
Appreciate it.