When Jose Flores runs a marathon or half-marathon, he does so with a brace on his foot and a pink tutu about his waist. He has his reasons.

A 30-year Army veteran with a robust outlook and personality, Flores wears a frill associated with ballet dancers to celebrate his survival — and not just from thyroid cancer. He’s also a survivor of combat in the Middle East, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and a debilitating back and leg ailment that made it almost impossible to walk much less run.

Flores, 60, resides in Carroll County. He will observe Veterans Day this year with a grateful heart — thankful, he says, to the Army that gave him purpose in life and to the Loch Raven VA Medical Center in Baltimore that outfitted him with the brace that allowed him to run again.

“To say it was life-changing is an understatement,” he says.

Jose Flores was born in The Bronx and raised in Brooklyn by immigrant parents. His father came from Puerto Rico, his mother from the Dominican Republic. When Flores was 17, he announced that he wanted to join the U.S. Army.

“I always felt like there was something more for me out there, far from the hustle of New York,” he says. “By the time I turned 17, I was stuck in that space where I didn’t know what my future looked like. College wasn’t an option yet. At the time, the only option that made sense was the Army.

“It was a tough decision for my family, especially for my parents. It hurt them to sign those enlistment papers. I was the first-born. But they supported me, and that’s something I’ll always appreciate.”

Flores spent the next three decades in the Army. His assignments took him to Europe, Asia, Central America and the Middle East. His units were deployed for both the Gulf War in 1991 and, 12 years later, the war in Iraq.

It was on a mission in Iraq that Flores injured his back and began experiencing pain that would become debilitating.

“You wear a lot of gear,” he says. “At first, with the adrenaline, I guess I didn’t know that I hurt my back. I just kept going. … In the Army, there’s a certain mentality that you push through the pain, you ‘embrace the suck,’ and deal with the consequences later. So, I kept moving forward because that’s what soldiers do.”

The pain became excruciating.

“I never thought that old injury would haunt me, but it did,” he says. “It wasn’t just my back, though. It was the mental and emotional toll that war takes on a person. You carry memories with you – comrades lost, battles fought – and it wasn’t until years after my service that the weight of it all started to show.”

Flores, a First Sergeant, came to Maryland assigned to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps as the senior military instructor at McDaniel College, Mount Saint Mary’s University and Hood College.

He spent several years in ROTC before his retirement.

“After I retired, I thought I was stepping into a new chapter, where I could finally enjoy life, find peace and focus on healing. But that’s not how things turned out,” he says. “What started as low back pain, just a nuisance really, escalated into excruciating sciatic nerve pain. Some days, it was so bad I ended up in the emergency room, barely able to walk.”

Flores underwent spinal surgery, but that did not end his problems. He developed foot drop, a condition that made it difficult for him to lift his right foot while walking. Running was out of the question.

“I was no longer able to run, something I had taken up after retiring as a way to deal with my PTSD,” he says. “I had started running 10Ks, half-marathons and full marathons to cope with the lingering effects of my service. Running gave me freedom, it gave me purpose, and it gave me an outlet for the anger, pain and anxiety that had followed me home.

“I couldn’t fathom a life without running, but it seemed like that was where I was headed.”

Except that specialists at the Loch Raven VA Medical Center fitted him for an ankle-foot orthotic (AFO), a device that supported his foot and enabled me to walk properly again.

“To say it was life-changing is an understatement,” Flores says. “With the AFO, I was able to regain my balance and my mobility. More than that, it gave me the confidence to start running again, even with the foot drop. The first time I laced up my shoes and went for a jog with the AFO, I felt like I was getting my life back.”

And ever since, he’s been running and running – marathons and half-marathons. In October, Flores took part in the 40th anniversary run of the Army 10-Miler at the Pentagon. He gives lavish praise to the Veterans Administration for being a lifeline, providing what he needed physically as well as mentally.

“The VA didn’t just give me a piece of equipment,” he says. “They gave me back a piece of my soul, that ability to move, to push my limits, to feel free. It’s everything to me. And for that, I’m beyond grateful.”

Flores, who now works for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, has been active in organizations that support others who served in the military – the Wounded Warrior Project and Team RWB. He has a podcast called, “The Motivated Mindset with Jose Flores” to give veterans a voice. He makes “buddy” calls on weekends to check up on veterans who need to talk. Those conversations, he says, can last two minutes or two hours.

“I have been privileged to serve my nation and part of my mission is to help others,” Flores says. “If any veteran needs to talk, I am here.”

He plans to spend Veterans Day taking advantage of holiday discounts and “connecting with other veterans … to share any helpful resources that can support them on their journey after service.”

He also plans, later this month, to participate in a local 5K Thanksgiving run. Look for the fellow with the pink tutu.