LONGBEACH, Calif. - The $15,000 that former Army Pvt. Margaret Ortiz had inthe bank when she left Iraq is long gone, spent on alcohol and cocaine.

By the time she found her way to a program run by the nonprofit U.S.Vets for homeless female veterans in this Southern California city,she'd slept in San Diego on the beach or anywhere she could find aftera night of partying. One morning, she woke up behind a trash bin, herpants torn, with no memory of what happened.

Instead of helping her forget her six months in Iraq, where she saidshe faced attacks on her compound and sexual harassment from fellowsoldiers, the alcohol and drugs brought flashbacks and ragingblackouts. She said she tried to kill herself.

"You knew something was wrong with you, but you didn't know what waswrong with you," said Ortiz, 27, from atop her twin bed in a plaindorm-style room, a black 4th Infantry Division ball cap on her head."Nobody knew, and so you couldn't really handle it."

Ortiz is one of the new faces among America's homeless veterans.

They're younger than homeless male veterans and more likely to bringchildren. Their number has doubled in the past decade, and there are anestimated 6,500 homeless female veterans on any given night - about 5percent of the total homeless veterans population.

But women-only programs such as the one Ortiz participates in are few.

"It is always hard to find a place or resources or help when you arehomeless," said Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans'Affairs Committee. "It is almost impossible if you are a woman. Most ofthe VA facilities cater to men, and you can't take a mom with twolittle kids and put her in the middle of a homeless center with 30 or40 male veterans," said Murray, D-Wash.

The distressed economy only made things worse.

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