‘Won the lottery’: Las Vegas Navy veteran honored with new car

A medically retired U.S. Navy corpsman’s service was honored at a Las Vegas dealership with a new car.

Freedom Alliance awarded Ruben Cervantez with a payment-free 2022 Volkswagen Atlas on Thursday. The gift marked the 60th new car that the veteran support organization has given combat-wounded veterans in partnership with U.S. Bank.

Tom Kilgannon, president of Freedom Alliance, said Cervantez was recommended by a veteran within his organization to receive a new vehicle, and after learning about his extensive Navy career, knew he was deserving of it.

“He’s an example of the kind of courage and character that we see in young people in this country who are willing to sacrifice of themselves,” Kilgannon said. “U.S. Bank and Freedom Alliance are proud to be able to give him this vehicle.”

When Cervantez got the phone call informing him he would be honored with a new car, he said the moment “didn’t feel real.” At Chapman Las Vegas dealership along Boulder Highway, he and his wife, Becky Cervantez, hopped into their new vehicle to explore its features.

“Seeing the car and being in the car, it’s like I won the lottery,” he said.

Cervantez said the new car will replace his well-used Dodge Durango to help get him get to doctor’s appointments and take his daughter to volleyball practice.

“I’m honored, thankful, a little blessed,” Cervantez said. “It’s awesome to be honored and to be given a car. It’s going to help out so much for me and my family and my kids.”

Heroic service

Kilgannon said Cervantez had always been interested in joining the military after growing up with a father, grandfather and uncle who all served, but it wasn’t until the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that he felt a need to enlist in 2003.

Cervantez became a field medic and in 2005 he began a nine-month term in Iraq, Kilgannon said. In the midst of a heated battle, Cervantez was injured in the blast zone of an improvised explosive device. The explosion hurt his back and gave him a traumatic brain injury, wounds Cervantez said he lives with today.

Following his time in Iraq, Kilgannon said Cervantez did four deployments on Navy defense ships until 2010, and medically retired from the military in 2012. He described the Navy veteran as “an American hero.”

“Ruben’s 10 years in the military was very tempo, very active, and he’s been wounded, he’s suffered greatly, but he will tell you that he loved being in the military,” Kilgannon said.

Today, Cervantez said he helps take care of his four children with his wife. After nearly a decade of service, he said he never expected to be rewarded with a gift like a new car.

“Everything I did in the military was just my job,” Cervantez said. “My reward was just meeting my friends and doing my job.”

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.