By Alex Kratz

When his Humvee struck a roadside bomb in Iraq three years ago, life for Private Roberto Reyes, Jr. – a local Bronx boy from Mosholu Parkway – would never be the same.

But thanks to some unlikely collaborators, Reyes, Jr. and other disabled vets may soon receive some help in the healing process.

The Accident

Reyes, Jr. was a “tanker” in Iraq. His Army unit provided security for large oil-toting trucks. On their way to home base after another successful shepherding, an explosion jolted Reyes, Jr.’s Humvee, sending him flying 10 feet from the vehicle. A 14-inch piece of metal shrapnel had embedded in the back of his brain. Even more twisted metal scarred his legs and torso.

After coming out of a three-month coma, Reyes, Jr.’s body couldn’t handle the trauma. He suffered a massive stroke, leaving the strapping young soldier legally blind (a result of the shrapnel) and paralyzed on the left side of his body.

Now Reyes, Jr., 26, is under 24-hour care at the Bronx VA Hospital. His memory is shot. He can’t walk, brush his teeth or take a bath. He rarely understands what’s going on around him and gets angry when large groups come into his room.

But there is hope and small victories.

He still recognizes his family, especially his nieces, whom he adores. His aunt, who visits him several times a week, is looking to build Reyes, Jr. a home that can accommodate his disabilities. Doctors say that, with the right therapy, he may walk again and perhaps regain some of the other daily skills that most of us take for granted.

When he’s happy, Reyes, Jr. gives a thumbs-up, or a two-fingered peace sign.  

A Friendly Collaboration

A collaboration between old friends of Reyes, Jr.’s doting aunt, Maria Mendez, recently brought such joy to the soldier. Mendez grew up in the south Bronx and went to high school at Alfred E. Smith with Luis Flores and Keith Brown. After graduating, Brown enlisted in the Army and Flores went to art therapy school. Mendez would keep in touch with them both throughout the years.

Flores put his life-long love of drawing and designing to work, teaching seniors how to improve their lives and express themselves through art, first at Bainbridge Nursing Home in Norwood and now at the St. Vincent de Paul Skilled Nursing and Rehab Center.

Meanwhile, Brown moved his way up the ranks in the U.S. Army and is now a Sergeant Major in the 10th Mountain Division.

Toward the end of his latest tour in Afghanistan, in the fall of 2007, Brown decided he wanted to create something special for his soldiers, a memento, something to help them remember their experience in Afghanistan. It’s called a “legacy gift,” Brown says.

So he called up his old buddy, “Lou.” Brown says Flores is his “go-to guy for all things I want done artistically. He has a very good eye.”

An amateur photographer, Brown began emailing digital images to Flores of soldiers in daily life in Afghanistan: meeting with local military and tribal leaders, handing out candy to local children, street scenes. The idea was to accurately illustrate the military’s mission in the Middle East: “Help those in need and go after the bad guys,” Brown says.   

 While the media focuses too much on the violence in the Middle East, Brown said, “The majority of our year was focused on the humanitarian effort: schools built, medical aid. That’s what I accomplished.”  

When Brown returned from Afghanistan, he went to visit Flores in New Jersey, where the art therapist now lives with his family. Flores had lined the street leading to his house with big yellow ribbons. A huge sign on his porch read: “Welcome home.”

“I was really awestruck when I saw [the print],” Brown says. “It captured everything I wanted.” Brown made 150 copies of it and gave it to the rest of his unit as their legacy gift. “Everybody was really impressed with it,” Brown says. He added later, “When I look at the print, I think about the good that we did.”

An ‘Enduring’ Effort

A couple of months later, Brown received a call from Flores, asking him if he could re-use the print, perhaps re-package it and tweak it to encompass all of the military efforts in the Middle East, collectively known as Operation Enduring Freedom. Maybe he could sell the prints to veterans and their families and use the proceeds to help out disabled soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Flores is currently talking to officials at the Bronx VA about selling his print at the hospital gift shop, with half of the proceeds going to disabled vets and the other half going to create more prints.

“I think that it’s important to remember that the folks that join our service are human beings, and that we’re remembering our veterans who come back, whether their wounds are visible or not,” said Jim Connell, spokesman for the Bronx VA and a disabled vet himself.

In January, to get the ball rolling on his new charity effort and at the suggestion of his good friends from high school, Flores gave away the first copy of his revamped “Operation Enduring Freedom” print to a badly injured soldier at the Bronx VA  – Roberto Reyes, Jr.

Though Maria says her nephew will never be the same karaoke singing, practical-joking weightlifter he once was, Reyes, Jr. is slowly healing. Two months ago, in fact, he started eating on his own. And when she hung up the print in his hospital room a week after Flores presented it to him, Reyes, Jr. gave her the thumbs-up.