In the two years since Army veteran Brandon Medlin and his family moved to Wildwood, Missouri, as part of Operation Homefront’s Homes on the Homefront (HOTH) program, his family has thrived. And in February, after graduating the HOTH program, he received the deed to his mortgage-free home, donated by JPMorgan Chase.
“We consider it a true blessing to have been chosen to enter the housing program and to have been selected for such a beautiful home in such a promising and uplifting area,” Brandon said. “The opportunities that have been presented to our family because of HOTH far exceeds our expectations and dreams. We have made some of the best and supportive friends in our lives here in Wildwood. To watch our children play in the yard, or run through the house, fills our hearts with so much joy and gladness and we know it is possible because of Operation Homefront.”
In 1995, when Brandon joined the Army, he felt like he gained the brothers and sisters he never had growing up as an only child. He served as a water treatment specialist and deployed four times — to the Middle East in 1996, Iraq in 2003 and 2005 and Afghanistan in 2008. He also lived in Korea for a time. He receives Veterans Affairs care nearly weekly for post-traumatic stress disorder and damaged neck nerves from a car bomb in Afghanistan.
Brandon, his wife TyNisha, and their three kids, Brandon Jr., Madison, and Jennifer, began the HOTH program in 2019, four years after Brandon retired from the military. The couple also has adult children, Brittney and twin sister Kourtney, who live outside the home.
TyNisha now works as a licensed registered behavior technician for a private academy for children with autism. Brandon Jr. made the freshman basketball, Madison began playing the violin and plays in the school strings program while Jennifer has become a social butterfly, Brandon said, being “invited to more parties and play dates than any six-year-old I know!”
Brandon sent a message to Operation Homefront and their donors:
“With true gratefulness and a forever thankful heart, we truly thank you for this opportunity.”
