Life-altering event led veteran to head own real estate firm
Among the military memorabilia and team awards displayed at the Levi Rodgers Real Estate Group office hangs a photo that humbles the owner each time he sees it.
Inside the frame, a rugged U.S. Army Special Forces A-team looks out from a distant post in Helmand Province of Afghanistan. The image was taken on Sept. 15, 2009, just hours before a moment that took a devastating toll on Rodgers’ life.
Each day, the first thing he does is stop at the wall. Then he places a palm below the photo to remember the three soldiers and an Afghan translator who died while riding with him in the vehicle that struck an improvised explosive device.
The former Army Green Beret suffered shattered bones and severe injuries that required two years of surgeries and rehabilitation.
“It’s important to remember what it’s all about for me,” Rodgers, 43, said with a tremble in his voice. “Nothing else is on this wall for a reason.”
The memory of the fallen men drives every waking moment.
His years of military service serve as a team concept for his operation that takes up a third floor suite on Paesanos Parkway. In 2016, Rodgers founded the real estate group that’s become one of the leading sales teams in the nation. His 20 employees, including military veterans and spouses, provide more than 50 real estate agents with business opportunities.
Rodgers’ mission is serving those who have served, but the company reaches out to civilians as well across San Antonio, known as Military City USA.
“The whole goal here is by, with, through and for our community,” Rodgers said. “Just go out and have an impact. I feel when I lay down at night I have a responsibility to everybody that’s trusted me. Not just the clients, but to those that work here. It’s a huge part of my life.”
The veteran-owned company was one of 15 recipients of the 2019 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. The award is the highest U.S. government honor bestowed to employers who go above and beyond for National Guard and Reserve employees.
Rodgers is a Purple Heart recipient and was awarded four Bronze Stars and a Legion of Merit.
His military career began as a 17-year-old high school graduate seeking new vistas beyond Sacramento, Calif. He enlisted in the Army in 1996 and worked as a heavy equipment operator. While deployed to Bosnia, he was curious about a group of armed, bearded men dressed in civilian clothes.
“Who are those guys?” he asked his squad leader.
“Those are Green Berets,” came the reply.
Rodgers was intrigued. He researched their mission as elite soldiers and knew this was the path he wanted to pursue. In 1998, he applied and was selected to train at Fort Bragg, N.C. The training pushed the former highschool athlete to his limits, physically and mentally.
When Rodgers graduated from the yearlong program, he said he gained a lifelong commitment to men he could count on no matter what and would drop everything if called upon for help.
From 2000 to 2009, Rodgers served on a special forces A-team that worked in Central and South America. Then he was deployed to the Middle East, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“When you serve in combat with another human being, the relationships created on the field of battle are hard to replicate,” Rodgers said.
That bond was intact on the night the chief warrant officer led a convoy from an Afghan village back to their home base. The ground mobility vehicles were traveling at a fast clip. Then the explosion happened — his vehicle had hit an IED. Three team members — Brad Bohle, Josh Mills, Shawn Mccloskey — all died. So did Rasool, the young Afghan translator riding in the combat vehicle.
Sgt. Pedro Solis, the team’s dog handler, ran to the fiery scene and pulled Rodgers from the wreck as fellow soldiers fired back at the enemy. Solis, from the Southwest Side of San Antonio, recalled that his team leader was still conscious, giving commands.
Forty percent of Rodgers’ body was burned. He had internal damage. Both of his legs and back were broken. He was flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and then to the Brooke Army Medical Center burn unit.
He was the lone survivor. For more than a month, Rodgers was in a medically induced coma. He went though rehabilitation at the Center for the Intrepid.
His entry into selling homes came from the impact a real estate agent had on his life. He was 22 years old, stationed in North Carolina, when he called real estate agent Gary Langdon to buy a double-wide trailer with a Jacuzzi tub. Thirty seconds after they met, Langdon tore up the contract.
“Son,” Langdon said, “this house is going to depreciate, not appreciate.”
Instead, he sold Rodgers a one-story ranch-style house that his family lived in for 12 years. The sale of the home helped the family pay off debt and Rodgers’ real estate classes.
He found mentors in Samuel Raia and Lawrence Raia, cofounders of Homes Fit for Heroes. Since 2009, the organization has provided free housing to 250 wounded special operations service members and their families while they go through treatment and recovery.
Rodgers and his family were among early recipients of a free, furnished unit at the Vista Ridge Apartments while he recovered at BAMC from his injuries. When he heard the news, he wanted to personally thank the founders. Four months after he was out of the hospital, he met the duo during a military-related trip to New York City.
Knowing about Rodgers’ extensive injuries, Lawrence Raia, 52, recalled sitting with his cousin Samuel in a bistro, waiting for a man in a wheelchair. When Rodgers walked in with a cane and introduced himself, the men couldn’t help but stare, astounded to see him on his feet.
After the 90-minute meeting, the Raias became Rodgers’ confidants, sharing their business acumen and helping him evaluate different opportunities.
“He’s taken his chapter in civilian life and paid it back,” Lawrence Raia said during a phone conversation. “He helps them (veterans) buy homes in a way that Gary Langdon helped him. It’s been a singular honor to be a part of his life and watch him reinvent himself and achieve what he’s achieved.”
Rodgers retired from the Army in October 2012. Every goal he accomplishes is with the thought that he doesn’t want to waste his life.
“It’s not just my story,” Rodgers said. “I feel it’s a duty and everything I’m doing is for those who didn’t make it. I’m committed to this and it’s what I’m here for, the families and their sacrifice.”
The team photo on the wall is his memorial to the fallen men and their loved ones he will never forget. Nor can he forget the man who ran to his aid without regard for his own safety.
Today Solis is director of logistics of Rodgers’ team, still a brother in arms at his side.