By Jeff Whitten
Special to the Herald
Twenty-one years after Army Sergeant Matthew Watters lost his leg to a rocket propelled grenade in western Iraq, the married father of two has more mundane problems to deal with, like getting dirt in his crutches when he takes out the trash.
“That’s one of the things I struggle with now,” Watters said. “My backyard and side yard, it’s all dirt and new grass, and every time I go outside, I get dirt inside my crutches, and when I come back inside, I spread dirt all in the house … it will be nice not to have to deal with that when I’m doing chores or taking out the garbage.”
That Watters will soon be able to avoid tracking dirt inside with his crutches is because of Homes for Our Troops, a 20-year-old Massachusetts-based 501(c)3 nonprofit which to date has built 395 homes across the U.S. to donate to veterans severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The home will be custom built specifically for Watters, who lost his left leg just below the knee and also suffered serious injuries to his left arm and right leg – injuries that required another surgery July 30, he said, more than 21 years after the Army Ranger NCO was wounded during a raid on a terrorist camp in western Iraq.
Literature provided by HFOT said Watters’ home will include some 40 adaptations to help him, his wife Lindsey and their children live independently. Those modifications include everything from wider doorways for wheelchair access to concrete walkways around the outside of the home to allow Waters to use crutches or roll a wheelchair outside without getting bogged down.
In addition, representatives of the nonprofit, which relies on donations to build homes at no cost to the veterans it supports, say HFOT will continue to provide various forms of support to Watters – as it does for all the veterans it builds homes for – in the years to come.
The home and support that comes with it has been life changing, former Marine Sgt. Mark Smith said. Now a Georgia State Patrol trooper, Smith and his family received a home in Cochran, in 2022 from HFOT.
“It’s been a blessing ever since,” said Smith, who in 2006 was on his second combat tour in Iraq when he stepped on a land mine. Smith lost his left leg and suffered other injuries, including a traumatic brain injury.
Despite that, he returned for a third tour in the Middle East before getting out of the Marine Corps in 2013 and becoming the first amputee to become a state trooper in 2014.
Smith recounted struggles to help his wife with cooking or their children’s homework, all while dealing with the lingering pain from injuries he sustained while deployed – and how his new home helped make their life easier.
“It’s the little things, sometimes, like being able to get into a wheelchair and roll out to the kitchen and be able to cook for the family,” Smith said. “Being able to do little things like that, it’s been an extreme blessing.”
Through its donation of a mortgage free home, Homes For Our Troops has also helped ease some of the financial stress of raising a family.
Smith told Watters that the home will “Alleviate a lot of things for both you and Lindsey, your kids … the financial security this has given my wife, my family and I, being able to not worry about paying rent or a mortgage. Thanks to Homes for Our Troops, it’s a guarantee I can get my children through college. I can still work and provide for my family and provide for our future.”
During Saturday’s event, HFOT communications manager Q Bailey – that’s on her business card, by the way, and is what everyone calls her – noted that 65 percent of the funding for the nonprofit comes from individual donors, while corporate sponsors, including ABC Supply and the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain, make up the rest. Bailey said 90 percent of every dollar donated to HFOT goes to the mission of building homes for veterans and is also highly rated by nonprofit watchdogs such as Charity Navigator, Charity Watch and Guidestar.
Both Bailey and HFOT Executive Director Bill Bailey, a 31-year Army infantryman with multiple deployments under his belt, said most people haven’t heard of HFOT because it doesn’t advertise, do television commercials or pay hired spokespeople. What it does do, they said, is rely on word of mouth to help fulfill the country's responsibility to take care of veterans and their families who’ve had their lives turned upside down and worse by the severity of their injuries.
While Smith became a state trooper, Watters, who served with the 2nd Ranger Battalion, 75th Infantry, out of Fort Lewis, Washington, went home to Tacoma – where he served 15 years with the Tacoma Police Department as a bomb technician and patrolman.
Watters now works for Daniel Defense in Bryan County, and thanked co-workers for “showing up and showing out,” at Saturday’s groundbreaking – which began with a motorized escort to ECCA from Patriot Guard Riders, as well as local deputies, police and firefighters, and ended with Watters telling those who attended how life as he knew it changed on June 11, 2003.
That’s the night Watters was leading an assault team as part of a major raid on a terrorist training camp when he saw a glint reflected by firelight from burning cars in his night vision goggles.
“(The glint) was the scope on an RPG,” Watters said. “I didn’t know it at the time, but the guy had me dead in his sights, waiting for me to get closer.”
A split second later the RPG took off his leg and blew him into the air. It also nearly removed his scalp.
“A buddy said I sat back up and started engaging (firing back at the enemy),” Watters said, and also noted there was part of the story he struggled to share early on – namely, the courage showed by PFC Eric Gonzalez, a medic who dodged fire to bandage him up and get him on a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which also flew into danger to get him out of there.
“For a long time, I couldn’t tell that part of the story without crying,” he said. “To see that level of comradeship and commitment to your brothers.”
Watters said when he first was asked to apply to HFOT for a home, he didn’t think he was deserving. Which, he was told in return, is what wounded veterans often say.
What’s more, veterans who are married often credit their wives for their sacrifices. Smith did, and so did Watters.
“I wouldn’t be standing here if not for her and our kids, they’ve kept me straight and kept my head on straight, just wanting to do right by them,” Watters said.
Like seemingly all those who spoke at Saturday’s event, he thanked those who donate to HFOT, whether it’s the corporate sponsors or individual donors.
“You guys made this possible,” he said. “It’s the $10 donations, the $15 donations, it’s the folks who say, ‘I can help with this,” and all those who have been doing it since 2004.”
Smith put it this way: "If you have any questions as far as what kind of organization (HFOT) is," he said. "They mean what they say and they put their money where their mouth is."
For more information about Homes for Our Troops, visit https://www.hfotusa.org.
