Senior Airman Melissa Seel, left, aerospace medical

Senior Airman Melissa Seel, left, aerospace medical technician, 177th Fighter Wing, New Jersey Air National Guard, takes the blood pressure of a homeless veteran during Stand Down 2016 at the National Guard Armory in Cherry Hill Sept. 23, 2016. The New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs along with New Jersey National Guard Soldiers and Airmen and the Stand Down of South Jersey Committee, Inc. co-hosted Stand Down 2016 at the Armory providing more than 200 homeless veterans with access to healthcare, mental health screening, substance abuse counseling, social services - food stamps and unemployment, legal services, religious counseling, a hot meal, a haircut and winter clothing. Since 1996, the South Jersey Stand Down has served as a catalyst that enables homeless veterans to re-enter mainstream society. Stand Down is a military term referring to exhausted combat units that were removed from the battlefront to a place of security and safety for rest and recovery. Today, Stand Downs are grass roots, community-based intervention programs to help veterans’ battle life on the streets. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen/Released)