Housing Program Offers Veteran Family Opportunity for Stability
Navy veteran Cecil Boyland Jr. understands how quickly life can change routes.
A year ago, Cecil, his wife, Krystine, and their four children were completing final details before moving to their new duty station at U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo in Nagasaki, Japan.
The family sold their cars, said their goodbyes, and shipped off their belongings to the other side of the world and their next home.
However, a medical emergency changed the family’s journey on Cecil’s last day at his command in Washington, D.C., and the master-at-arms did not go to his dream assignment.
Instead, gripped with chest pain, he went to a hospital, where a shock from a defibrillator restored his racing heartbeat to a normal rhythm. A week later, he was back in an empty home in Virginia with a defibrillator implanted in his chest, and a different future on the horizon.
“It’s such a blessing to have this opportunity for our family to settle down. My ultimate goal is to give my kids stability.” – Cecil Boyland Jr., Navy veteran
“Going from being on the way to Japan to being in the hospital for over a week was devastating,” said Cecil, who was medically retired after 12 years in the military. He achieved the rank of petty officer second class.
The Navy provided opportunity and a way to find a purpose in life, said Cecil, who had been out of high school a year and was living with his mother in Mississippi when he enlisted in 2010. He planned to serve 20 years.
“Sometimes things don’t go as planned,” he said. “And we have to figure it out.”
The Boyland family spent 12 months mapping their new future, which included Cecil earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science, resettling in Florida near family, and giving their children a stable place to live. A phone call from Operation Homefront brought their dream nearer reality.
“That call lifted a weight off our shoulders. We were getting stressed out not being able to find a place to live, not even a rental,” Krystine said. “Everyone wanted an income that’s three times the monthly rent, and Cecil’s VA disability won’t cover that.”
A friend told Cecil and Krystine about the Transitional Homes for Veterans (THV) program, and they began watching for houses to come available in Florida. They relocated to Apopka, Florida, to live with Cecil’s brother while narrowing their search for where to live in the state.
Learning they had been accepted for a THV home in Plant City, Florida – made possible through the generosity of the Slater Family Foundation – brought Cecil and Krystine to tears.
The Boylands will move into the THV home in July and live there rent-free for two to three years while getting acquainted with the community and working with a financial counselor to meet personalized goals to reduce debt and build savings so they can purchase a home in the same community, which is about 25 minutes from downtown Tampa.
“It’s such a blessing to have this opportunity for our family to settle down,” Cecil said. “My ultimate goal is to give my kids stability.”
Cecil’s oldest daughter, Aluna, who’s 10, has lived in Thailand with her mother, Guam when Cecil was stationed there, then to D.C., Virginia, and now Florida. Her 9-year-old sister, Elena, has also seen her share of homes and schools.
“We’ve been moving around so much for so long, I want this to be our final move,” Krystina said. “With our kids getting older, I hate to take them out of school.”
They also hope their 2-year-old twins, Caiana and Cecil III, won’t have to be uprooted once they start school.
The four-bedroom Plant City home will allow the two older girls to have their own bedrooms, and they’ve already chosen decorating themes. Aluna wants butterflies and twinkling lights, and Elena wants her room to honor her favorite movie character, Stitch. The twins will share a room.
Krystine, already certified as a medical assistant, plans to get a job in her field as soon as she becomes licensed in Florida. Like many military spouses, she has struggled professionally through job changes that came with the family’s multiple moves since she and Cecil met in Guam and married five years ago.
Cecil has been accepted to Saint Leo University, about 40 minutes from Plant City. His goal is to complete his bachelor’s degree in spring of 2027 and get a job in the computer field.
“It’s a blessing to go from not knowing where we were going to stay to seeing how we were going to get back on our feet,” Cecil said.
