A house is being built in Palmetto for a Manatee County veteran who served in the Army for nearly 11 years. His dream has always been to have a house of his very own and he is one day closer to achieving that.

Juan Garcia is working on a dream he never thought possible: a home of his very own.

“Ever since I was in the Army, I wanted to have the American dream you know? Get their own house, having a family,” said Garcia.

The Iraq veteran’s dream was postponed as he spent nearly 11 years serving in the Army.

“One of our primary missions was actually road clearance, which is basically looking for IEDs,” Garcia said.

 “Everybody was afraid. Even a lot of people who don’t say they are, but yeah,” he added.

The dream of one day having a family and a home kept him alive. However, fighting became impossible when Juan developed severe asthma.

“I couldn’t walk from here to the corner before I started gasping for air,” Garcia said.

Juan had to leave the Army and developed further complications.

“I started developing problems with my anxiety, especially not knowing what was going to happen with me. I started developing problems with depression as well because obviously everything I knew for over 10 years is basically crashing down,” Garcia said.

This fighter didn’t give up. He started working two jobs and is now earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Criminology at University of South Florida. However, paying the bills is still challenging, making Juan a perfect candidate for a Habitat For Humanity Home.

For months now Juan, alongside Habitat and Boar’s Head, has been building his new home in Palmetto. Volunteers like Ginny Cable have put in hundreds of hours.

“We are helping, giving back to someone who gave for us. Because obviously 10 years in the military is a really long time and this is a great way for our employees to give back,” said Cable.

The house will be completed in December. It will have four bedrooms and it’s all built with green technology.

Juan is recently engaged and together with his future wife have four children, getting everything he desired.

“Dreams do come true.”

Juan is not getting his house for free. He does have to purchase it from Manatee County Habitat For Humanity. Every month he will make mortgage payments to Habitat and with a zero percent interest loan. That will make buying the house possible.