Air Force Veteran, Scott Mattingly, joined the military right out of high school. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, he grew up in Benton, Arkansas. “I joined the Air Force because I wanted to get out of Arkansas, but I came right back after the service.” He served as a personnel specialist from 1982 through 1985. “I was the guy you came to see when you were leaving the Air Force,” he laughed.
While in the service, Mr. Mattingly married. After leaving the service, he worked as a truck driver. “I had started using my last year in the service and my wife used as well. We had two kids, but we divorced in 1988. I have 9 grand-kids, two are graduating next week.”
Mr. Mattingly continued. “I remarried and my second wife also used drugs. I had a possession charge in 2022 and went to prison. While I was in there, my daughter caught pneumonia and never recovered. She died while I was in prison. I’ve been clean and sober for two years and eight months now. It wasn’t really a hard decision; I decided it was the least I could do to honor her memory. And I’m burned out on drugs. The thought makes me ill. I’ve been doing them so long that I’m just not interested any more.”
Mr. Mattingly made parole and was transferred to Texas to serve time on an outstanding warrant. “They gave me a questionnaire and one of the questions was “are you a Veteran?” Eric Hudson from the Veterans Day Treatment Center met me in Texarkana when I got out and brought me here. That was February 28th. Going home wasn’t an option because my wife is an addict.”
Mr. Mattingly is currently working with SSVF and HUD/VASH, looking for housing. “I’ll stay here as long as I can; this place is awesome. I’ve had a couple of set-backs, but I’m not worried; these people know what they’re doing. I’m retired and on SSI, but I’d like to work part-time. But I couldn’t be in a better situation. This is the place to be and I pray for St. Francis House every day.”