Name: Retired US Army Colonel’s Commitment to Veterans Shines in Silicon Valley
Uploaded: 2026-07-28T07:34:05.000Z
Description: How long would you be willing to let a homeless veteran stay in your home until they find permanent housing?

Steve is an investigative reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Steve Ispas is an investigative journalist with The Epoch Times and the host of Epoch TV’s “Bay Area Innovators” program. Steve grew up in Eastern Europe, and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 35 years. He worked in the tech industry for 15 years at LSI Logic and Rambus, and has been with The Epoch Times in various positions since 2003. His recent coverage includes an in-depth exclusive investigation of the secret Chinese biolab discovered in Reedley, Calif., in 2022.

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How long would you be willing to let a homeless veteran stay in your home until they find permanent housing?

For retired U.S. Army Colonel Ray Watts, the answer was seven years.

Watts served in the U.S. Army for nearly 40 years. He was an airfield commander at Los Alamitos Army Airfield and later served as the State Aviation Office branch chief for California. In this role, he was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, in 2010. After retiring from the military, he continued to serve by finding innovative ways to improve the lives of veterans, particularly during the often difficult transition from military to civilian life.

“I was one of the first to help a veteran who was sleeping in his car,” Watts said, reflecting on how he began his journey of assisting homeless veterans. “And mind you … I had three kids, two teenage daughters, and my wife said, ‘Are you nuts? You’re gonna let a stranger live in our home?’ [I said,] ‘No, he’s a soldier … it’s the right thing to do.'”

Watts is now the president of the Silicon Valley chapter of the Military Officers Association of America and a dedicated advocate for veterans.

“They’ve sacrificed limb and everything else and endured mental anguish, yet they’re not getting the benefits they deserve, because they haven’t been introduced to someone who can help them,” Watts said.

Today, we talk to Watts about his journey from enlisted soldier to airfield commander, as well as the initiatives he has committed to, giving a hand-up to thousands of veterans in need.

<em>Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of  NTD.</em>

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