For one veteran and his family in Bonita, this year’s Veterans Day celebration was the event of a lifetime.
“It’s hard to put into words,” Jose Armenta, a retired U.S. Marine Corps corporal, said.
Armenta became a Marine immediately after high school in 2007. Then, in 2011, he was deployed to Afghanistan, where he participated in more than 50 combat missions.
“I served with some of the toughest guys I ever met, Recon Marines, and that was one of the greatest honors of my entire life,” he said.
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But, on Aug. 28, 2011, Armenta’s life changed forever. While conducting a routine search for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), he stepped on a pressure plate and woke up five days later having lost both of his legs.
“The hardest part of losing your legs is going home and then realizing you can’t do half the things you used to do at home,” Armenta said.
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He spent the past decade not being able to help someone in the kitchen or easily get around his family’s home while in a wheelchair because of narrow spaces. He explained it is something that wounded veterans struggle with. That’s when he heard about the Gary Sinise Foundation. The foundation has built and gifted nearly 90 mortgage-free, adapted, smart homes to veterans injured in combat.
“Even though the war is finished now, we’re still living with our injuries and living with struggle and so knowing that we have support, it means a lot to us,” Armenta said.
He and his wife have been together since high school and have three children. Their new 2,900 sq. ft. home in Bonita has rooms for each of the kids, a play room, laundry room, office and kitchen big enough for Armenta’s wheelchair. The kitchen also has adapted cabinetry that makes it easy for him to reach plates and mugs.
“It’s the small things, right,” he said. “I’m looking forward to waking up and knowing I have a lot less barriers in life.”
