MOBILE, Alabama - Meet Frederick "Rick" Bush, a 44-year-old veteran who has been homeless for four weeks.

Bush is an unemployed construction worker and a former firefighter in the U.S. Air Force. He served from 1989-93, including during the Persian Gulf War. He was raised in Houston, is divorced and has two teenage sons, ages 13 and 15, who live with their mother in Mobile County.

He's also an ex-convict, having served time in prison for armed robbery in another state, and has faced possession charges in Mobile County. He's been in recovery since 2012 from addictions to alcohol, marijuana and cocaine. This isn't the first time he's been homeless. Last time, it lasted about three months.

Now, Bush says he is working to reinvent himself. He's in his second year of college, attending Phoenix University online under a Pell grant.

It's estimated that 26 percent of the people served by the Waterfront Rescue Mission are veterans, according to Executive Director Bill Bru. Not all have the same background or face the same challenges as Bush. But his story is not unfamiliar to mission workers.

His situation offers a glimpse into what happens on the streets of Mobile every day.

This is how Frederick "Rick" Bush spent his day on Tuesday, Oct. 7, a typical day for the homeless man that included a visit to the Veterans Administration, homework at a public library and trips to and from the Rescue Mission for meals.

8:47 a.m.: Bush sits on a bench in the courtyard of 15 Place, a center for the homeless, with other men who stayed Monday night and had breakfast at the Waterfront Rescue Mission next door. He outlines his main goal for the day -- logging into a computer at the Ben May Public Library a few blocks away to do homework for an online class he's taking at Phoenix University.

The day before, he didn't finish designing a pamphlet for his Intro to Human Services course. "I didn't make the deadline. I'll get 10 percent off," says Bush. "Once I get down to the library, everything is cool."

Bush plans to visit a Veterans Administration office on Springhill Avenue. He will seek legal help to clear up an extradition warrant he says was wrongly issued after his incarceration for armed robbery in 1993. It's holding up his veterans benefits, Bush says.

8:57 a.m.: He stops in the hall at 15 Place -- next door to the mission -- to speak to Renaldo Bryant, who's a representative with Alabama Career Services Center, one of the agencies serving the homeless during the day. Bryant is helping Bush seek part-time work. "I asked him if he made a referral to VA Justice," Bush explains. "I've been trying to get that off my record for the last two years."

Most people seeking help at the Waterfront Rescue Mission can only stay three nights a month. After Monday, it appears that he'll have only two more days before he tries somewhere else, such as the Salvation Army.

In the courtyard between 15 Place and the Waterfront Rescue Mission, program manager Sam Bradley explains that people entering at Level 4 can have five nights to stay as long as they're seeking work. Their cases are reassessed the following week. Veterans who have qualified to seek government housing can enter Level 5, but they must meet certain requirements: They have to stay each night at the mission and be readily accessible to their case worker. Both levels require passing breathalyzer and drug tests.

Bush says the availability requirement for Level 5 makes it hard for him to keep up with school. He tells Bradley, "I've got my three days with y'all. It's hard for me going to school and not having somewhere to lay my head."

"You might not qualify for the VA (program), but you can get those (Level 4) blocks of time," Bradley suggests. He reminds Bush to return at noon for lunch, for which he has already signed up.

The two shake hands. "You be good," the program manager says.

9:21 a.m.: Bush cross a lawn near the Mobile County Health Department, heading for Springhill Avenue. It's a warm 73 degrees under sunny skies. If it were raining, says Bush, he'd be at 15 Place. "I wouldn't be going anywhere," he says.

Bush wants to visit the Department of Veterans Affairs office on Springhill Avenue to try to reach the justice specialist to get help with the outstanding warrant. As he strides past Moms & Babies Supermarket and Beauty Island, he explains that he wants to finish his degree in Human Services and start helping others. "My ultimate goal is to get a help service (started)," he said. "I'd probably model it after what the VA does - an extended stay program for vets."

9:57 a.m.: He enters the VA outpatient clinic and asks how to find the specialist who helps veterans with legal problems. He can't remember the person's name but is given the go-ahead to take the elevator to the sixth floor to find a social worker. Bush is told that the justice is part-time and isn't in today. When he returns to the first-floor clinic, he uses a public phone to call 15 Place to give a case worker the news.

"They didn't know (the legal aide's) name or number," Bush says, adding that he was told that the VA official works from his home. The last time Bush spoke with a VA legal aide, it was in Biloxi, Miss. "It was like he was (being) patronizing," he recalls. "He called people in Idaho, and they stalemated him. He was done with it. I said, 'Thank you and have a nice day.'"

As he waits for a WAVE Transit bus to downtown, Bush talks about why he isn't enrolled in the Level 5 program at the Waterfront Rescue Mission. He says the requirements for appointments and overnight stays make it difficult for him to finish his online classes. "Once you start missing appointments ... they move on to the next person," he says. "I'm really just concerned about getting whatever I have to get done today, so I can concentrate on school."

He says he didn't realize until he started classes at his previous online college, Fortis, that he could have made good grades all along. He chose online courses because he wasn't comfortable in a classroom setting such as at Bishop State Community College nearby. "Unfortunately, some of us don't realize it until it's too late," he says. "As far as being stable and responsible, I overstayed my time at the party. You live and learn."

Bush relates how he injured his shoulder in the Air Force during a football game at RAF Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire, England. He also suffered hearing loss from working on the flight line. His VA disability benefits, which were delayed while he was in prison, stopped again once the warrant was issued.

Bush says that if he can get a part-time job and get the benefits reinstated, "I won't have any problems." The goal, he says, is to "reinvent myself."

"The day-to-day thing is what gets you, as far as, 'Do I go ahead and swallow my pride and go ask Mama can I stay with her?'" he says, adding that she lives on Leroy Stevens Road in west Mobile. "I really don't want to go back to Mama. She just got married."

He hasn't seen his sons in about a month. "I talk to them every week. They're good boys," he says. "They're hitting the age where they're old enough to know what's going on. Some years, I wasn't around for them at all."

10:38 a.m.: The WAVE bus arrives. Bush plunks in quarters for the fare and takes a seat in the back. Above one window is an ad for Virginia College, another online university, showing a young man in a black beret, saluting. The bus passes Father Ryan Memorial Park, where Bush sometimes stays overnight if he has nowhere else to go.

As he steps off the bus on Dauphin Street, he outlines his schedule, which includes walking a few blocks to the library. He borrows a cigarette from a man outside McDonald's and pauses on a bench at the library to smoke it. "We've got an hour and 15 minutes," he says. "I'm going to go up here and log in and do some work."

11 a.m.: Bush signs in to a computer located in an aisle of the reference section between rows of books. On one side are volumes about firearms. On the other are books about primatologist Jane Goodall.

11:42 a.m.: Bush checks the spelling for a word he wants to use in his pamphlet-design assignment. Eight minutes later, he exclaims, "I'm not finished!" but logs off anyway. He has to make it back to the mission for lunch.

12:07 p.m.: Bush arrives at the mission for the noon "late lunch," which means he must sit in the chapel until his name is called. People who came earlier for chapel are already eating in the dining hall. A staffer checks the roll on a clipboard and calls out "Fred" Bush instead of "Rick." Bush doesn't correct him.

Bush takes his place in line at the "Walmart Kitchen," named for the discount chain's corporate support. He thanks the workers as they hand him a plate containing a ham sandwich with lettuce and tomato, a salad, pear and sweet roll. He gets a glass of iced tea and takes a seat between two other guys at a round table in the mission dining hall. The hall seats about 90 but is only partially full.

12:26 p.m.: The lunch counters are shuttered. Bush explains that he's going to spend an hour talking with some guys at the mission about a job they want him to do, which involves towing a car from Spanish Fort. After that time, he says, he'll head back to the library.

Bush needs to return to the mission by 5 p.m. in order to have supper. Chapel is at 6:30 p.m., he explains, and everyone who is staying is inside for the night by 8:30 p.m.

4:42 p.m.: Bush steps through the double glass doors to register for overnight stay at the Waterfront Rescue Mission. He gets out his Alabama driver's license and shows it to the person behind the check-in counter. "I'm doing alright," he says. He is told to bring a document proving he's in school, and he'll be able to get in the Level 4 program for a longer term stay. "I'll get something copied tomorrow," he promises.

The staffer assures him: "We can talk about that tonight."

Bush passes through double doors and sets down a black duffel. He digs through its contents to find clothes for changing. Like everyone staying at the mission, he must check out a towel and bath cloth and take a shower before he is issued linens for one of the bunk beds. The mission, which is newly constructed, smells of Clorox.

"Can I have a razor?" he asks. The evening chaplain obliges.

4:55 p.m.: Bush comments on his day as he heads for the showers. "It was good," he says. "I got most of my work done."

(Update: By Monday, Bush had been admitted to the Level 4 program for "client volunteers" at the Waterfront Rescue Mission, which assures him a five-night stay each week while he gets help finding housing. This past weekend, he stayed with his mother in west Mobile. Bush said he had called the VA twice regarding legal aide but had not heard back.)