2023 WALKER FUN DAYS VETERAN HONOREE IS SALVADOR LARA

By Raye Swopes – Salvador was 17 and a half and in his Senior year of High School in California when he decided that he wanted to join the Marines. Out of his Graduating Class of 800, most were going off to college but he wanted to carve his own path and opted for the Marines instead. He originally enlisted as Infantryman but his peers saw more potential and guided him to a more technical role, training him as an Assaultman Breecher. He explained that as a Breecher, he worked mostly with explosives and anti-tank missiles. He was tasked with memorizing over 150 different styles and models of armored vehicles and tactical equipment so as to determine which ones were enemy and which were allied forces. Once the target was determined, he was responsible for building the devices that would disable them as efficiently and as effectively as possible. Each device had to be carefully designed, constructed, and placed to accommodate the target. This was dangerous work.

Salvador did most of his military schooling in Camp Pendleton, CA before being deployed first in Fallujah, Iraq in 2007 for 7 months. During the first patrol in Iraq, they had a 2-hour engagement and was pretty much nonstop from there. As a Breecher, his job was also to locate and disarm landmines relying on keen eye and training to discover, disarm, or safely detonate the device. Although they had metal detectors, the enemy often made these Improvised Explosive Devices or IEDs from non-detectable material which made discovery much more difficult. In his seven-month deployment Salvador himself detected and removed 151 IEDs. Once during his deployment to Iraq, they were notified of 3 stolen dump trucks that they should be on the lookout for. They were a dump truck, large, and painted orange. How could they miss that, right? Further why would anyone steal a large orange truck? They soon learned that all the dump trucks in the desert were painted orange so they had no idea which ones might be the stolen ones and which ones might be legit. One of those stolen trucks did pass through a check point and blew up in front of a house that they were using as a temporary post giving no time for security to engage before the explosion. Luckily, there was no loss of life from that encounter but it did leave a crater 20’ deep and 60’ wide and blew off the front of the house they were using. Salvador was in the back part of that house but suffered no injuries. He did sustain injuries from that deployment, though and spent many months stateside at 29 Palms, CA recovering until he was considered deployable again.

In 2011 he was once again deployed overseas, this time to Sangin, Afghanistan. His job remained the same as Assaultman Breecher but he spent more time protecting a hydro-dam and keeping the people’s water safe and available. This was a much sought after target and the US and Allied Forces were always on guard for attack. The enemy in Afghanistan were more formidable than what they saw in Iraq and so it was an intense deployment for all involved.

During both deployments, he was also involved in a lot of Humanitarian work teaching the local people how to be more independent, self-reliant, and how to protect themselves through military weapons training.

Altogether, Salvador was blown up 4 times by land mines, once on foot and three times in a vehicle. He was also shot in the head by a sniper but the force of the shot broke his helmet buckle and it lifted off his head just enough to crease his hair.The bullet went right through the helmet and exited the back. Salvador still has that helmet to remind him of how lucky he is to be alive.

Making the rank of Sargent before ending his military career, Salvador has been awarded: 2 Purple Hearts, Air Medal w/Valor, Navy Achievement w/Valor, Combat Action Ribbon, and multiple deployment awards.

After returning to the states and adjusting to civilian life, Salvador began driving a truck over the road. In 2014, he reconnected with Anabel who went to the same high school as he had years before and they started dating. Eventually, Anabel also became a truck driver and after driving solo for a year, in 2017 they started team driving together, hauling mostly explosives to various locations. These were very dangerous loads but they were awarded these loads because of Salvador’s military experience with explosives. In 2019 he and Anabel were married and began their plan to move to the Midwest and start a family. They are now the very proud parents of a brand-new baby boy, Nicholas, and we are excited to have them as part of this community.

Congratulations Salvador Lara, our 2023 Walker Fun Days Veteran Honoree.