Johnny Nguyen grew up in San Jose, CA. California life growing up included a lot of hanging out at the beach, beautiful weather, and enjoying the mountains. He joined the military soon after completing high school. Johnny knew serving was something he wanted to do long before he graduated. In his words, “I have always admired the people that wore the uniform, and it was something I wanted to be a part of.” His first duty station was at Camp Casey, Korea in 2005. After completing that assignment, he was sent to Fort Hood, Texas where he remained for the rest of his time in the service. In 2007, he was assigned to 1st Battalion of 5th Calvary Regiment and completed his first combat tour to Iraq in support of Operation Iraq Freedom as a Bradley and Humvee driver. When he deployed again in 2009, he was a 240-machine gunner.
During that summer he was struck by an EFP (Explosively Formed Penetrator) while on patrol. His left leg was amputated, above the knee, while in Germany awaiting transfer back to the US. All of Johnny’s recovery was done in San Antonio at Brooke Army Medical Center’s (BAMC) Center for the Intrepid. He found great camaraderie there as he was with many other injured soldiers that sustained similar combat injuries. After extensive physical therapy, it took him over a year to start walking again on his own.
During his recovery, Johnny realized that he greatly enjoyed the San Antonio area, so he decided to relocate and make this his new home, along with many other medically retiring veterans that he recovered with. This allowed him to maintain his medical and prosthetics care through BAMC. After he medically retired from the Army, he spent a lot of my time catching up on life. With the support of other local veterans, he started hunting and target shooting. However, lately he has found himself lost in his new passion of photography which he immediately gravitated to upon picking up a camera.
Johnny says it took him a long time to find Monica. They met each other through Facebook and connected immediately. After extensive conversations, texts and late-night calls we finally met in person and “everything else just kinda fell together.” He also has enjoyed getting to know Christian, Monica’s 4-year old son, who he has a great relationship with. They have since moved into a new home together in the Canyon Lake area of Spring Branch, Texas. They are still busy settling in and are sure it will be some time before they unpack that last box.
