An Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan got the keys to a mortgage-free home
Curtis Rowe served in Iraq and Afghanistan and now sometimes uses a wheelchair. A nonprofit gave him and his family a mortgage-free home in North Texas, built so he can get around.
11 November 2026
Curtis Rowe joined the Army in 2007. He served more than seven years as a Cavalry Scout, with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His platoon patrolled enemy ground, tracking and reporting enemy movements.
What he carried home
In Iraq, repeated bomb blasts left him with a brain injury, poor vision and hearing loss in both ears. In Afghanistan he was thrown from a patrol tower and badly hurt his hip.
In 2021 a car crash injured his right leg, and doctors amputated below the knee. He now uses a wheelchair about a quarter of the time.
The key
For 20 years, the nonprofit Building Homes for Heroes has given mortgage-free homes to veterans and first responders. This time it worked with Hillwood Communities and Highland Homes.
At a welcome-home ceremony in North Texas, Curtis got the key to a house built so he can get around in his wheelchair. He and his wife will raise their daughter there.
Carry a story in five words
We run a game called Long Story Short: one real news sentence a day, and you keep the five words that carry it. Today’s is below. Do play.
How to play
One real news sentence. The job is to keep the five words that carry the story and let the rest go, then guess. Blue means the right word in the right place, orange the right word in the wrong place.
Yesterday: On a remote Alaska beach strewn with dead walruses, an orphaned walrus calf that was still alive followed researchers all the way to their camp. The five were orphaned walrus calf followed researchers.