On the Road Again

At an age when most people take it easy, Bernardo Jaramillo, 70, and Mel Ortega, 85, are busier than ever helping others.

For the past 16 years, these two retired Army soldiers have volunteered their time to drive disabled vets in northern New Mexico to the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center in Albuquerque. To date, Jaramillo has driven 100,000 miles and over 5,000 hours for the nonprofit Disabled American Veterans, while Ortega has driven 200,000 miles (for an amazing 10,000 hours) to help those who can’t afford a car or are too old or ill to drive themselves. “When I was wounded in Vietnam, my brothers in arms never let me down,” Jaramillo says. “We gotta serve them, because they served us.”

“The first rule in the van is: Put on your seat belt!”

— Bernardo Jaramillo