On Veterans Day, Building Homes for Disabled Warriors

Retired U.S. Army Capt. Ferris Butler is one of the lucky ones. He came home from Iraq. "I don't consider myself a disabled veteran," he says. "I consider myself a veteran."

But he is a veteran who lost both of his legs below the knee after an IED went off under the Humvee he was riding in. It happened in Iraq's Sunni Triangle on Dec. 21, 2006. Butler has no trouble pinpointing that date. But he has another date in mind this week -- Nov. 11, Veterans Day, when he and his wife, Laura Sauriol, get a new home.

Understand that nine years of war takes a toll on a nation and its youth. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have left more than 5,000 American fighting men and women dead and another 35,000 wounded, many severely, with life-changing effects. This week, Butler and four fellow vets will get new leases on life -- literally -- in the form of homes made to accommodate their wounds and disabilities -- and given free of charge, no down payment, no mortgage.

It's thanks to a Massachusetts-based group, Homes for Our Troops, that has been building such houses since 2005. Operating without the benefit of heavy publicity and using volunteers, the organization has put more than 70 disabled veterans in homes so far. Over the next few days, starting on Veterans Day, another five will be donated as the nonprofit group opens a new campaign to add 100 additional houses to the 100 already promised.

That effort gets a high-profile launch Saturday at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville when Staff Sgt. Heath Calhoun, who is getting one of the homes, will be honored while singer-songwriter Gretchen Wilson and the Grammy Award-winning Del McCoury Band pick and sing. In addition to Calhoun and Butler, other veterans receiving homes this week are Staff Sgt. Arthur Woods in Browntown, Va., Sgt. Scot Noss in Trussville, Ala., and Specialist Frank Pierson in Plainfield, Ill.

The average cost for the mostly single-level new houses is about $330,000. About 7 percent of money raised by Homes for Our Troops goes to overhead, with the rest spent directly on building the houses, the group says.
Butler and his wife will be in Chester, Md., enjoying their new 2,700-square-foot home when the Opry show honors veterans on Saturday night. They're thankful that Butler returned to an America far removed from the country that wasn't quite sure how to handle the Vietnam veterans streaming from southeast Asia in the late-'60s and early '70s.

"The biggest thing is it is kind of awe-inspiring how much people have opened their arms to all veterans and disabled veterans," Butler said of his homecoming. "At the end of the day, everyone understands the need for barrier-free homes. But later on people need to integrate back into society. We have already met every neighbor. [The new home] has given us an avenue to integrate back into the community."

It has not all been sweetness and light for the 32-year-old University of Maryland graduate. A platoon leader in a 10th Mountain Division, Delta Company, 2nd Brigade combat team, he remembers vividly the moment of impact in Iraq's Euphrates Valley. He never lost consciousness. Thinking "mission first," he wondered about the condition of the other solders in the Humvee as he lay in the wreckage. "I was not completely sure that I was injured," he told me. But he had multiple fractures in both legs and a pair of mangled feet.

What followed was 54 surgeries, 2½ years of therapy at Walter Reed and finally elective surgery, amputating both of his legs below the knees. He now uses two prosthetic legs. "In that initial year and a half, I went through lots of trials and tribulations, ups and downs," Butler said.

In Jakarta on Tuesday, President Obama gave an update on the war efforts. Progress has been made in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said. "Nearly 100,000 American troops have left Iraq under my presidency," he noted. "We will continue to support Iraq as it forms an inclusive government, and we will bring all of our troops home."

On Veterans Day 2010, Butler is home, figuratively and literally. "It's the little things that I'm excited for, like being able to get from the car to the door without any steps, or being able to pour a glass of water in the middle of the night...This home is allowing me to start over, shut a door on part of my past, and start fresh."