SAN BRUNO, Calif. (KGO) -- Officials with the Veterans Administration in Washington are taking a close look at a unique program in the Bay Area designed to help former soldiers who are out of the service, but in jail, held in a separate unit just for them.

Carlton Koonce has been out of the Navy for years and out of jail just a few months. He says going to jail saved his life. That's because Koonce was an inmate at San Francisco's County Jail No. 5. Every inmate in this pod is a military vet.

"When I first came in here, I mean just walking through the door you could feel the atmosphere," said inmate Bruce Romans.

It's a pilot program called COVER -- Community of Veterans Engaged in Restoration.

"The sheer fact that we are kind of a fraternity, a family, is a very powerful experience for me," said inmate Evan Graham.

Those who once served their country are now serving time with a focus on their special needs, including post-traumatic stress and substance abuse. Specialized therapy sessions help them identify the triggers of violent behavior.

COVER has been in operation since August under the direction of Sheriff Michael Hennessey who believes those who sacrifice for the nation are owed a debt from society.

"We're used to seeing happy scenes of military people emerging from the airport doorways and here we're going to have these men emerging from the jail doorways and you don't see those same happy scenes," said Hennessy. "I think the veterans coming through either door are deserving of our support and respect."

Hennessey says estimates there are about 140,000 vets in state and county jails. In San Francisco, about 5 or 10 percent of the 1,700 prisoners once served in the military.

"When there's not much of a safety net, vets will tend to fall through that," said Michael Blecker who served in the Vietnam War and heads Swords to Plowshares, a Bay Area vets organization founded in 1974. He helped create the jail house program. "I can't help thinking about what happened to Vietnam War veterans and how they ended up homeless, self-destructive, and suicidal, and having HIV issues and aging well past their own years, and we want to prevent that from happening to this young generation of veterans."

There is no formal funding for COVER. All the staff are volunteers and they are preparing for more men.

The Pentagon says that U.S. Pacific Command reports all U.S. military personnel in Japan have been accounted for after Friday’s earthquake and tsunami. Press secretary Geoff Morrell says there are no reports of injuries to American personnel or damage to U.S. installations or ships in the area.

The largest earthquake in Japan’s history — measured at a magnitude of 8.9 — pummeled the eastern coast of Japan Friday, accompanied by a towering tsunami.

Morrell says U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was briefed by Pacific Command officials Friday while he was in Brussels to attend a NATO meeting on the Afghanistan war.

The Air Force has three bases in Japan: Misawa, Kadena and Yokota air bases. Lt. Col. John Haynes, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon, said Friday that the service has not received any report of major damage to the bases.

The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet is based in Yokosuka, Japan. The fleet’s Facebook page was updated to confirm that there were no injuries of any 7th Fleet personnel and no reported damage to its assets.

The update went on to say that CTF-72 (Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force) headquarters in Misawa was briefly evacuated, and it currently does not have power and is operating from a generator.

Marine forces in Japan are delivering food, water and other supplies to assist in disaster-relief efforts following the massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated the region Friday.

The first personnel and equipment to arrive include command-and-control and logistics assets, plus CH-46E transport helicopters and KC-130J cargo aircraft, officials said in a news release. Those assets have moved from Marine facilities in Okinawa and are now operating out of mainland Japan.

They will be joined shortly by elements of the Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, who are returning from exercises in Cambodia.

Aviation assets from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma were quickly dispatched to areas on the mainland where the need was greatest, Lt. Col. Karl C. Rohr, a spokesman for III Marine Expeditionary Force, said in a news release.“

In a matter of hours,” Rohr said, “supplies, gear and manpower began flowing into mainland Japan with more to follow.

CH-46 Sea Knights from Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 265 were among the first assets to leave Futenma. They’re now operating out of Naval Air Facility Atsugi, according to the news release.

The helicopters “provide commanders with the greatest flexibility of options,” said Lt. Col. Damien M. Marsh, HMM-265’s commander. They can handle the “full spectrum of rescue operations,” including rescue ashore, casualty transfer, and troop and cargo transport, he said, calling the 46s “extremely maneuverable, versatile and environmentally friendly in urban areas.”

The KC-130J Super Hercules are assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152.

Additional aircraft and supplies will continue to be moved during the next several days, officials said.

Elements of the 31st MEU, embarked aboard the amphibious ships Essex, Harpers Ferry and Germantown, are currently transiting toward Japan, according to the unit’s Facebook page. The MEU includes Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.; HMM-262, another CH-46 squadron based at Futenma; Marine Attack Squadron 211, an AV-8B Harrier squadron out of Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.; and Combat Logistics Battalion 31.

Based at Yokota Air Base, Japan, U.S. Forces Japan is the lead military command for coordinating all humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief efforts on the mainland. It’s been dubbed Operation Tomodachi, which means “friendship” in Japanese, officials said.