'Exactly where we need to be': Bartow home given to Iraq veteran by local developer
An Army veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart and deployed eight times to the wars in Iraq received a newly constructed home last week in Bartow’s Liberty Ridge neighborhood through a partnership with Operation Finally Home.
Army Sgt. Maj. Jose Barreiro, 42, who suffers from physical and neurological damage from his combat injuries, said he looks forward to spending time at the home with his wife, Andrea, whom he married 22 years ago.
Speaking by phone late last week, Barreiro said the environment in Bartow is much better than the place in Central Florida where he was raised by his mother until her untimely death from breast cancer. After she died, he moved away at age 13 to Murphy, North Carolina, to live with his grandparents.
So he was wary of returning to the region where he lived until middle school.
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“The environment I grew up in is not what I wanted for my kids, but now things are different, and Bartow is a different area than what I grew up in,” Barreiro said.
“We’re just really excited to be back in that area, especially considering we have a little one that we adopted and the opportunities the schools there are going to afford to her are paramount to us,” he said.
Originally, Fort Myers was the family's first pick, but Hurricane Ian wiped out that plan.
“We think that it happened for a reason,” Barreiro said. “We believe we’re exactly where we need to be.”
They have friends and family in Orlando and Tampa, he said, so they can easily visit both from Polk County. And he likes the schools he and his wife have visited so far for their youngest of four daughters.
“Bartow is actually giving us more opportunities than I think we would have had even in Fort Myers for our little one and our family,” he said.
Because Barreiro has needed 18 surgeries, including two neck surgeries, the small town of Murphy had meant two-hour drives to health care facilities, but Bartow has similar facilities in closer proximity.
He and his family were awarded the land and house through Operation Finally Home. His was the third and final mortgage-free lot in Liberty Ridge donated by Winter Haven-based Harold “Reggie” Baxter of H.R. Baxter and Sons. The home was built and donated by Lennar Homes through its partnership with Operation Finally Home.
Barreiro enlisted in 1999 after high school graduation and would complete eight combat deployments during Operation Iraqi Freedom between 2003 and 2011, a press release by Operation Finally Home said.
His years of military service took a toll on his body, OFH said. While stationed at Hunter Army Airfield, he was injured and temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. And during his deployments he was shot and suffered several other injuries.
By 2015, he was assigned to The Old Guard at Fort Myer in Virginia and later requested an assignment at Arlington National Cemetery conducting services and honoring the nation’s fallen, OFH said.
The assignment led to years of community service to veterans and at-risk youth. He and his family would visit soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital who were injured or terminally ill. He also joined organizations that helped him with his own health issues, and participated in an extensive study on traumatic brain injury.
Besides the Purple Heart, awarded to those who were wounded in combat, Barreiro has received several other awards during his 20 years of service, including two Bronze Stars, Meritorious Service Medal, two Army Medals, National Defense Service Medal, two Global War on Terrorism Medals and a NATO Medal.
His military experience has given him structure in life − something he has passed on to his older daughters − as well as the opportunity for him to pursue two college degrees, he said. The former professional fighter also wants to help others.
"Ultimately, what my wife and I have wanted to do is help others," Barreiro said. "So what we're really looking forward to doing when we get down there is maybe starting an outreach program through martial arts."
He said another possibility is helping other veteran families secure a home through a nonprofit organization.
Operation Finally Home is a Tennessee-based nonprofit that has helped more than 250 families move into mortgage-free homes in 33 states.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Donated home is bringing Iraq war veteran and family back to Bartow
