[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hree years ago, South African natives Nigel and Jacqueline Hornsby found their little slice of heaven.

Some saw their parcel of land, located near the Hays and Caldwell county lines, as a place where drug dealers once lived in a home years before.

For the Hornsbys, the land was a way for them to build their version of the American dream. Building a Cape Dutch model home from the ground up was their goal.

But the arrival of Hurricane Harvey in August put the Hornsby’s dreams on hold.

“Without those cadets, we would have lost our dream … With them, we got it back. They were absolutely fantastic.” Jacqueline Hornsby

Through the efforts of Lehman’s Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, the Hornsby’s dream didn’t blow away.

“Without those cadets, we would have lost our dream,” Jacqueline said. “With them, we got it back. They were absolutely fantastic.”

The Hornsby’s ordeal began when then Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Central Texas area.

Nigel said they could hear the ferocious winds and heavy rainfall affect the small recreational vehicle he and Jacqueline live in.

Despite the storm, Nigel felt their home, which was still in the process of being built, could survive.

It took only 30 seconds for it all to fall apart.

“It was a 30 second gust of wind, roughly 50 to 70 miles per hour, that blew straight on top of the house,” Nigel said. “It all collapsed.”

Nigel said the home looked more like a wigwam once the storm blew through. The sight of the blown down trusses and broken pieces of lumber was a punch in the gut for Nigel, who spent hours working in 110 degree heat over the summer to start the building process.

“It turned my stomach. It took me ages to build that,” Nigel said. “My heart just fell.”

As fate would have it, however, one of Nigel’s neighbors heard about his plight and decided to do something about it.

Dave Farrar, Naval Instructor for the NJROTC at Lehman High, said he heard through the grapevine about Nigel, who was building a home on his own, and the struggle he had come across.

Farrar went to check in on Nigel and realized how dire the situation was. He saw the framework and trusses had been blown down. He also saw Nigel was also at a loss.

“It looked like a big pile of matchsticks,” Farrar said.

Inspiration quickly sprung in the mind of Farrar, who realized the scene was a way for his NJROTC to perform some community service. He talked with Nigel, explained what he did, and said he could muster some assistance.

The next day, Farrar put a call out to his cadets to help with the rebuilding efforts. Expecting only five to respond, Farrar said he instead got 15 people to express interest, comprised mostly of juniors and seniors.

It wasn’t the first time Farrar’s cadets have assisted in a similar way. In the past, cadets help with Habitat for Humanity builds, or clean up trash in the Adopt a Highway program.

“We work with church organizations when they need help with their facilities and landscaping,” Farrar said. He added the NJROTC places a heavy emphasis on civil service projects.

Once boots were on the ground, Farrar said students began to survey the damage and started to plan how they were going to re-raise the trusses, which he was skeptical they could move.

Utilizing the training via the NJROTC, the group started to take charge and rebuild the Hornsby’s home. Senior leaders formulated plans and assigned tasks to other members.

What they accomplished included moving and raising the trusses. Eventually, the cadets helped Hornsby get back “to where he started.”

Farrar said he was pleased with the effort from his cadets, who focused on teamwork and the chain of command.

“It’s not easy for teens to take orders from other teens,” Farrar said. “But once they have respect of the cadet rank and seniority, it was enjoyable to watch them play that out.”

Nigel said words can’t explain how grateful he was for the help cadets provided.

It offered him a different impression of today’s generation, which he said was more focused on smart phones and video games.

“Everything I had put into that project, it had all fallen apart,” Nigel said. “These kids came in with the right attitude and they did everything they had to do. I’m impressed.”