Father-son duo bond over military service

In 1974, Victor LaTorre’s decision to join the Army was met with trepidation by his father. Decades later, Victor finally understood his father’s stress when his own son, Jose, enlisted.

“One time you were a son, now you’re a father,” said LaTorre, a Valley Stream resident. “And that makes a big difference, but I still respect his decision the same way my father respected my decision.” His father died of cancer in 2005, by which time Victor had spent 31 years in the Army and the National Guard.

LaTorre first served as a responding officer for the 65th Infantry of the National Guard in his birthplace of Puerto Rico before being sent to New York, where he quickly advanced through the ranks and became a platoon sergeant. He served in the 61st Infantry in Manhattan and the 102nd and 105th Infantries in Queens.

When Jose first told his father that he wanted to join the Army, Victor felt some consternation. “My dad didn’t want me to go, and I did,” he said, wearing a hat with U.S. Army and 9/11 memorial pins. “You have to have consideration. When we do what we do, it’s because we love it. We want to do it.”

Victor advised his son to speak to recruiters and do research before committing to anything. “In actuality, my father was never the one to mentor me to be part of the Army,” Jose said. “It was a personal choice based on the values that I saw from him and the morals that he guided me to. When he first found out I was joining, he wanted to make sure I was doing it for the right reasons.”

According to Jose, his father told him to always make the right choices, to believe in what he was doing — and to always obey his drill sergeant.

But as a sergeant 1st class motor transport operator in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., for the past 18 months, Jose now has people obeying him. He serves as an instructor for incoming soldiers in their six-week basic training.

Jose has been in the Army for 20 years. He began basic training on his 19th birthday, July 17, 1996. He has since been deployed four times, first in 2006, during the Iraq War. He also did a tour in Kuwait in 2009, and two tours of Afghanistan, in 2011 and 2013. He received a Bronze Star, for heroic or meritorious achievement, after each of his deployments to Afghanistan.

Being so far from home was an adjustment for Jose, because he had to leave behind his wife, Sheila, his son, Nathaniel, who’s now 14, and two daughters, Victoria, 12, and Jadah Sophia, 11, sometimes for more than a year at a time.

In Afghanistan, he said, “There are no roads in the desert. There are no buildings. You’re just hoping your equipment isn’t going to fail you. You’re also hoping there aren’t any mines. So there are risks you keep in mind.”

These days, Victor LaTorre is a member of the Valley Stream American Legion, where he is in charge of welcoming new members. He also works as a bus driver, trekking from Valley Stream into New York City five times a week on his route. Although he was never deployed during wartime, he and his unit served as first responders in Lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks. Jose said that the two have bonded over those experiences.

“A lot of the accomplishments that I’ve had during my time in the army are accredited to my father,” Jose said. “It’s based on the relationship we built and the advice he gave me. It’s almost like a fraternity. You may not decide for someone to join, but once they do, you have that advice to give to them. We always kept that relationship, and we’ve only grown closer.”

Jose also said he would approve of any of his children joining the military, if they choose. “After I’ve seen my dad’s experience and after I’ve gone through my own experience and my share of time here, I would support them if that’s exactly what they want,” he said. “I would respect any choice that they have.”