CANYON LAKE, Texas – Groundbreaking ceremonies on Thursday marked a new beginning for Marine Gunnery Sgt. Travis Green who lost his legs in an explosion in Afghanistan in 2011, where he was serving as an ordinance disposal expert.
Green and his family are receiving a new "smart home," complete with an array of features to make life easier and offer him more independence.
The home is being built as a part of a program called "Building for America's Bravest," which is sponsored by the Gary Sinise Foundation and the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, as well as numerous corporate participants.
"It is people like Travis Green that keep me and my platoon safe going into enemy territory," said Billy Wagasy, a U.S. Navy Seal with the Sinise Foundation and who took part in the groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the new home that will be built in a Canyon Lake subdivision.
Green's wife and four daughters also took part in the ceremony, each turning a shovel of soil to signify the official breaking of ground for their new home.
As he discussed Green's service in Afghanistan, Wagasy said, "It is a very dangerous element to work in where they dig up the ground to find the IEDs."
"You would want somebody -- if you were in his shoes -- to come up alongside you as long as you are moving forward in your life," Wagasy said, referring to the efforts of those responsible for the new smart home.
"His daughters can run freely around the house and he will have more room to get around himself," Wagasy said. "It will make his life just a little bit easier."