{"id":523994,"date":"2017-01-31T11:06:39","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T16:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=523994"},"modified":"2020-07-20T05:27:11","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T09:27:11","slug":"the-story-behind-an-army-hero-getting-his-grail-air-jordans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/the-story-behind-an-army-hero-getting-his-grail-air-jordans\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story Behind an Army Hero Getting His Grail Air Jordans"},"content":{"rendered":"
2017 is all about good news. Even though the year is still young, we got a joyful start when a US Army<\/strong> hero was spotted unboxing a pair of the “Bred” Air Jordan 1s<\/strong> that hit stores last year and flew off shelves like Mike from the free throw line. While the pic went viral, who was the soldier getting swagged out and how exactly did it happen?<\/p>\n Meet Nestor Garcia and his brother Berto Garcia. Bros and besties, the two California natives have been joined at the hip since their younger years, always finding something new to bond over. Now that Nestor is in the Army, the two have become separated in distance but still tied together by sneakers. Keeping in touch with each release and surprising themselves with gifts for each other and gifts for their families, find out just how the man in camo came home to his family and a fresh pair of 1s.<\/p>\n Berto Garcia:<\/strong> We were born in Pamona and basically we were there for my first year of life and we moved to Bloomington. We grew up like every other kid in the ’90s but we came from a low income family so we never were able to have brand name shoes. We could either have a pair of expensive shoes or we could feed the whole family for a week so me and my brother basically rocked Payless shoes for the longest time. It wasn’t up until we grew up and had our own lives and jobs that we could splurge a little bit because things aren’t as rough as they used to be.<\/p>\n Nestor Garcia:<\/strong> Me and my brother have always been best friends. We lived together forever but then the army separated us. We found a connection through shoes. Once I joined the army I had a little bit more cash and he showed me the ropes on where to get stuff. Ever since then that’s what we’ve done and how we’ve kept up.<\/p>\n Berto Garcia:<\/strong> We got into Jordans around 2013. My friend Jimmy filled me in on everything. I already knew about Converse, but Jordans to me were something that was unatainable growing up so I never paid much attention to them. Once he schooled me on everything my first pair of Jordans were some VNDS “Aqua” 8s. We bought them off a friend from high school and I fell in love with them. I started telling my brother Nestor about Jordans and we always find stuff to bond on. I filled him in on what I was learning and he told me he really liked the “Bred” 1s. At that time, the “Bred” 1s had just released but we had caught on late and the resale market was crazy. Paying resale was like $400 or $500 at that time, so my brother and I made the 45 minute trip to Flight Club in LA but my brother just couldn’t commit for that price. We thought about growing up poor and not being able to afford stuff like that and just didn’t walk out with them. Ever since then they’ve been his all-time favorite shoe and he’s always wanted them.<\/p>\n Over the course of the years we got our hands on a couple of other releases, but that White Buffalo for my brother was still the “Bred” 1s. That same year, my brother signed up for the army. He went to boot camp, he went to school, and he went to Virginia and finally El Paso. At the beginning of this year, they told him he was going to Kuwait. My mom took it hard and we were all thinking the worst. He’s going a million miles away and all the stuff you see on TV is not positive. So he’s telling us he’s going to be there six months to a year, but all my military buddies are telling me it’ll be more like a year and a half.<\/p>\n