Injured Army veteran who enlisted after 9/11 receives new, mortgage-free home

An Army veteran and his family were gifted a mortgage-free home to live in but must complete a two-year program while living in the house in order to receive the deed.

Operation Homefront, based in San Antonio, Texas, partnered with the U.S. Bank to give the gift of a home to veteran Oscar Perez III and his family.

"I still don’t understand why we were picked," Perez, still in shock, told KCTV5.

Perez enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2003 following 9/11 and the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. Perez was deployed to Kuwait in 2004 but suffered a knee injury as a machine gunner. He was medically evacuated and underwent six surgeries and a year of physical therapy before he medically retired.

After reportedly living at more than a dozen addresses since returning from active duty service, Perez and his family will now live in a mortgage-free home.

The program through Operation Homefront will require the family to go through financial counseling and homeowner education during a two-year period. This is meant to give the family time to pay off debt and build savings. After the two-year period, the family is to receive the deed to the home.

The family has aspirations of one day returning to Missouri near Perez's wife's family. Perez also has hopes of opening his own sports-training facility.

"I’ve always had friends that told me I need to do it and said they’ll invest but I just never felt like I had the opportunity to," he told the local outlet.

Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit operating since 2012 and has described itself as organization that "provides relief and recurring family support programs and services throughout the year to help military families overcome short-term difficulties so they don’t become long-term hardships."

Operation Homefront has reportedly put more than 680 families through its program and has provided over $103 million in home equity.

At the same time, the organization has also committed to "promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion," calling it a "foundational component" of its mission.

Operation Homefront has also reinforced "the importance of a diverse workforce."

"We embrace differences in gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion, and abilities," the company wrote.

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