Le Roy Torres looks at the two uniforms that defined his adult life — his final dress uniform from 23 years in the Army and Army Reserve, from which he medically retired as a captain, and the final uniform that he wore during his 14 years as a Texas state trooper, at his home in Robstown, Texas, on Oct.

3, 2019. Torres sued the state of Texas in 2017 because he believed he was forced out of his job as a trooper due to injuries that he sustained on deployment. A jury on Sept. 29, 2023, agreed with him and awarded him nearly $2.5 million.  (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)

AUSTIN, Texas — An Army Reserve veteran who was the driving force behind last year’s sweeping reform of health care for toxic exposure was awarded nearly $2.

5 million in a Texas courtroom Friday after a jury agreed he was forced out of his job as a Texas state trooper because of war-related illnesses.

Retired Capt. Le Roy Torres first filed his wrongful termination lawsuit against the Texas Department of Public Safety in 2017 and took his fight all the way to the Supreme Court.

Torres claimed in his lawsuit that he returned from a deployment to Iraq in 2007 and began to have breathing problems connected to his time overseas, and he was forced out of his job as a state trooper — a violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, which protects civilian employment of service members.

“It has been a tremendous grueling journey of legal battles,” Torres said in a statement. “Today, justice was served upholding the principles of USERRA and ensuring that the rights of service members are protected.

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