From battlefront to millionaire businessman

Photo By Carlos Cuebas | Veteran Albert “Vinny” Román tells how serving in Afghanistan and Iraq during wartime helped him hone his skills and create a logistics business with operations in New York and Puerto Rico.  

PUERTO RICO

11.13.2024

Story by Carlos Cuebas 

U.S. Army Garrison Fort Buchanan

FORT BUCHANAN, PUERTO RICO—Albert “Vinny” Román survived several worst-case war scenarios and was convinced he could use what he learned to become a successful entrepreneur. He now has two businesses to his name.

Román, raised in Brooklyn, New York, from a Puerto Rican family, enlisted in the military at 18. It was a time of war, and he was sent to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq.

“I was in the infantry, and my job in Afghanistan was security. During the invasion of Afghanistan, I was in charge of protecting the base,” he explained.

“In Iraq, I was in charge of the Military Police, in charge of training them and putting those policemen in the communities.”

Outside the theater of war, Roman served in New York, from where he retired in 2011 with a back injury and a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

When he hung up his uniform, he received help from the Transition Assistance Program to start living in the civilian world and, naturally, working. His first experience was managing logistics for a company whose owner was also military, and then he worked with the American Red Cross.

Román opened his first business in 2018, JDog Junk Removal and Hauling, a debris removal business in New York that made $1.1 million in 11 months before he sold it.

“I am what is considered a serial entrepreneur. I’m always moving,” he said.

In 2019, he launched Roman Empire Logistics, which assists in package delivery in agreement with e-commerce giant Amazon. More recently, in 2022, it began operating Sepex PR, a delivery service in Carolina, Puerto Rico.

Roman Empire operates in New York with 240 employees who handle deliveries between Queens and Brooklyn. In the past five years, the company has moved 40 million packages, Román said.

“In Puerto Rico, we do the same thing, but not with Amazon. We have other customers all over the world, and we deliver home-to-home. For the moment, we operate in Bayamón, San Juan, and Carolina, but little by little, we will reach the entire island,” said Roman.

Now that Veteran’s Day is being commemorated, Román acknowledged that the learning he had in the military helps him now, not only to get the loans and help he needs but also to organize himself and push others to become entrepreneurs.

“Being in the military taught me a lot of structure. I have always been a hard worker, but I couldn’t use that ability, and the military helped me to have that experience,” Roman stated.

“With that help and what I learned in the military, it wasn’t hard to understand the rest because the processes are the same. If I must move people, it’s the same as moving a box from one place to another.”

Wilbin Colón of Fort Buchanan’s Transition Assistance Program explained that Roman’s example is a testament to how the program helps military personnel transition to civilian life, particularly in finding a job. According to Colón, approximately 10 local veterans manage to open their own businesses.

For more information about Fort Buchanan’s Transition Assistance Program, call [phone] or email [e-mail]

• Date Taken: 11.13.2024
• Date Posted: 11.13.2024 15:32
• Story ID: 485213
• Location: PR