Gangs, addiction, PTSD couldn't knock Army vet off path to a better life
May 24-Walking across the stage at the Alamodome on Thursday to receive his associate's degree, U.S. Army veteran Jesse Maldonado wasn't just achieving an academic milestone.
He was completing a journey that took him from the gangland streets of east Los Angeles to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan and through personal battles with alcoholism and PTSD.
On Thursday, his wife, Erica Maldonado, two children, Jesse Jr. and Olivia, and other family members were on hand to celebrate his success as he graduated from Northwest Vista College. Maldonado is the first person in his family to graduate from college, receiving an associate of arts degree in digital art. He plans to attend the University of the Incarnate Word and pursue a bachelor's degree in graphic design.
It's a different path than the one he started on as a child.
"I embrace where I came from and how I grew up," Maldonado said. "Because if I didn't, I wouldn't be the man I am today."
Maldonado, 38, grew up in east Los Angeles surrounded by violence. In 1998, the year he turned 10, Los Angeles had 173 gang-related homicides, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. In 1999, California had between 175,000 to 200,000 active gang members, according to the Department of Justice.
Maldonado thought his life was normal. As a teen, he tagged walls with graffiti and dodged police officers. After high school, Maldonado ran into legal trouble and faced graffiti charges and a looming court date. He realized there was another option; his father had encouraged him to enlist in the military. In 2007, he joined the Army.
That didn't immediately put him on the right path, however.
That fall, before his unit was due to deploy to Iraq, Maldonado went home on leave. Hanging out with family and friends, he missed his flight back to Fort Polk, Louisiana. Without fare for another plane ticket, he was absent without leave, a potentially serious military offense
His buddies said they'd get him a lawyer to fight any charges. His grandmother Cecelia Castellanos, didn't agree.
"No, you are going," she said in Spanish. "You are going to break the cycle."
When the unit arrived in Iraq Maldonado received punishment for being AWOL. His battalion commander issued him an Article 15 that resulted in a suspended reduction of pay and 45 days extra duty.
He ended up spending 14 years in the Army, and spent two deployments overseas. In January of 2008, Maldonado's unit, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, deployed to Baghdad, Iraq. In October 2010, his unit deployed to Logar Province, Afghanistan.
On April 28, 2008, insurgents launched 14 rockets onto the forward operating base at Baghdad. As Maldonado ran to a bunker, the impact of a rocket flung him into a vehicle, leaving him badly bruised. On security runs through Baghdad, he'd look out from his heavy-wheeled vehicle and see images not unlike what he'd seen as a youth.
"I saw the same eyes that I saw growing up," Maldonado said. "A different land, but same war where people were trying to survive."
Dealing with the stress
After Afghanistan, he returned to Fort Polk, where he met his wife, who was also in the Army. Later, after the birth of their son, they were reassigned to Kaiserslautern, Germany, where their daughter was born.
Maldonado said he began drinking to deal with the stress of war zones and growing up around shootings and violence. Everything was calm, he said, something he wasn't used to.
"I was fighting the war in my head," Maldonado said.
The alcoholism worsened at Fort Bliss, a Texas installation that was his last duty station before leaving the Army in October 2020. He had a decision to make - go east and be with his children or go west to seek help. He returned to California so his kids wouldn't witness him at one of his lowest times.
By 2022, he'd gotten worse. A visit to his aunt Tara Castellanos in Mexico turned his life around, he said.
She had tried to help him before, but his aunt warned him that this was his final chance.
"This is the last time I'm going to help you," his aunt said.
Their intervention was timely. A doctor said he was close to having cirrhosis or scarring of the liver. On July 11, 2022, Maldonado began the long road to sobriety. He steadied tremors and shaky hands by exercising at the gym.
"It became my mental getaway," he said, "like my second home."
By November 2023, he'd moved to Houston, seeing his children on weekends in San Antonio. Old friends played a major part in his recovery. A relative in California encouraged him to stay on the right track.
"Listen up, nephew," his uncle Olaf Casas in California said, "We did this the best way we could, but we're living through you."
Entering college
In January 2025, when he enrolled at Northwest Vista College, Maldonado received support from the Esperanza Veterans Center, an on-campus center that helps veterans transition from the military to the civilian world. The center offers career counseling, academic advice and mental health support to military-connected students and their families.
Director Elizabeth Ceballos said academic advisors assist students with degree planning, career goals and aligning courses with degrees they're pursing. The 4,700-square-foot facility opened in 2024 on Veterans Day.
"It's a privilege to work alongside them," Ceballos said. "They've done so much for our country. The school has been great in trying to make these services possible for the students and bring them forward."
As Maldonado crossed the stage during Thursday's graduation ceremony, he carried his family's excitement for escaping the gang life and exceeding his educational goal, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Beneath his graduation gown, tattoos intertwined around each arm illustrated chapters of his life - what he's survived, where he comes from and his faith, all parts of his journey.
Maldonado said his children are his inspiration, and he's thankful for support from his family, wife and in-laws. He hopes to pursue a master's degree and use art therapy to help veterans suffering from PTSD and children with childhood trauma.
Maldonado's favorite rapper is Tupac Shakur, but the words of another respected lyricist, Kevin Gates, sum up his outlook - "I'm high on life and I can't stay sober."
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