thedrifter
10-09-07, 07:43 AM
El Pasoans proud of Marine son in Iraq
By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:10/04/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT
The red and white Marine Corps flag flying in front of the Ruelas home shows their pride and pedigree -- three generations of service to the United States.
Another smaller flag with a red border and a blue star in the center of a field of white hangs outside the living room window. For Eddie Ruelas and his wife, Diana, it has special significance. It means their son is serving in the military. They don't speak of it, but when a service member is killed in the line of duty, according to a tradition started in World War I, the star is changed to gold.
"That thing is not coming down until my son comes back," Eddie Ruelas said Wednesday on the front porch of his Central El Paso home.
Twenty-two-year-old Matt Ruelas is serving in Ar Rutbah, a small town in Iraq's western Al Anbar Province. He is an aircraft rescue firefighter working on an airfield in the first Marine unit to deploy with the new V-22 Osprey helicopters. The town is on the only major road to Baghdad from Syria and Jordan.
"He volunteered to be in that advance party," Eddie Ruelas said. "They are stopping smuggling. É So he's got his hands full right now."
Both parents said they were shocked when they learned their son had enlisted in the Marines.
"He enlisted in Lubbock without telling us," Diana Ruelas said, adding that she was silent for while after he told her. "He said, 'I'm doing it because my dad was in (the Marines) and to serve my country.' I just supported him. I told him, 'If that's what you're going to do, I'll back you up.' "
The new Marine's parents were upset because they knew their son was taking on a dangerous challenge. He already had two promising years of study in medicine at Texas Tech University -- but they couldn't protest too much. Eddie Ruelas was a Marine in the late '70s, moving from country to country in the Pacific, rescuing refugees and providing combat arms training to troops in the Philippines and Thailand. Diana Ruelas' father also was a Marine.
Eddie Ruelas recalled, "Where I served, it wasn't safe. The life expectancy was 17 minutes in combat."
Ruelas said he had considered signing on with a contractor to go to Iraq, but his wife convinced him that one person in the family in harm's way at a time was enough. Another hitch, Eddie Ruelas explained, is that he is a cancer survivor and has to stay out of the sun.
"That's never slowed me down," he quickly added.
Instead, Ruelas signed up with a private contractor providing training services at Fort Bliss' McGregor Range. He played the role of an Iraqi prisoner during 12-hour graveyard shifts in a mock-up prison camp based on the one in Baqubah, Iraq. He learned some Arabic, and the soldiers running the training camp wrote scripts designed to test weaknesses in the trainees' performances.
If they weren't searching properly, the "inmates" would smuggle weapons or other contraband into the camp, he said.
"We would push their buttons, especially the ones who couldn't stand the pressure," Ruelas said, explaining that the idea was to allow the troops to experience the pressure and learn how to deal with it.
The level of detail and reality was intense, he said. For example, if trainees forgot to wear goggles, "prisoners" would throw "simulated urine" in the trainees' faces.
Although he escaped the deadly sun by working at night, it was still a dangerous job. Ruelas said one trainee lost his wits and began spraying the camp with rubber bullets. The conditions created at the camp may sound harsh, he said, but that kind of preparation can keep blue stars from turning to gold on porches across the nation.
"The reason I'm doing it personally is my son," Eddie Ruelas said. "He's out there."
Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.
Ellie
By Chris Roberts / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:10/04/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT
The red and white Marine Corps flag flying in front of the Ruelas home shows their pride and pedigree -- three generations of service to the United States.
Another smaller flag with a red border and a blue star in the center of a field of white hangs outside the living room window. For Eddie Ruelas and his wife, Diana, it has special significance. It means their son is serving in the military. They don't speak of it, but when a service member is killed in the line of duty, according to a tradition started in World War I, the star is changed to gold.
"That thing is not coming down until my son comes back," Eddie Ruelas said Wednesday on the front porch of his Central El Paso home.
Twenty-two-year-old Matt Ruelas is serving in Ar Rutbah, a small town in Iraq's western Al Anbar Province. He is an aircraft rescue firefighter working on an airfield in the first Marine unit to deploy with the new V-22 Osprey helicopters. The town is on the only major road to Baghdad from Syria and Jordan.
"He volunteered to be in that advance party," Eddie Ruelas said. "They are stopping smuggling. É So he's got his hands full right now."
Both parents said they were shocked when they learned their son had enlisted in the Marines.
"He enlisted in Lubbock without telling us," Diana Ruelas said, adding that she was silent for while after he told her. "He said, 'I'm doing it because my dad was in (the Marines) and to serve my country.' I just supported him. I told him, 'If that's what you're going to do, I'll back you up.' "
The new Marine's parents were upset because they knew their son was taking on a dangerous challenge. He already had two promising years of study in medicine at Texas Tech University -- but they couldn't protest too much. Eddie Ruelas was a Marine in the late '70s, moving from country to country in the Pacific, rescuing refugees and providing combat arms training to troops in the Philippines and Thailand. Diana Ruelas' father also was a Marine.
Eddie Ruelas recalled, "Where I served, it wasn't safe. The life expectancy was 17 minutes in combat."
Ruelas said he had considered signing on with a contractor to go to Iraq, but his wife convinced him that one person in the family in harm's way at a time was enough. Another hitch, Eddie Ruelas explained, is that he is a cancer survivor and has to stay out of the sun.
"That's never slowed me down," he quickly added.
Instead, Ruelas signed up with a private contractor providing training services at Fort Bliss' McGregor Range. He played the role of an Iraqi prisoner during 12-hour graveyard shifts in a mock-up prison camp based on the one in Baqubah, Iraq. He learned some Arabic, and the soldiers running the training camp wrote scripts designed to test weaknesses in the trainees' performances.
If they weren't searching properly, the "inmates" would smuggle weapons or other contraband into the camp, he said.
"We would push their buttons, especially the ones who couldn't stand the pressure," Ruelas said, explaining that the idea was to allow the troops to experience the pressure and learn how to deal with it.
The level of detail and reality was intense, he said. For example, if trainees forgot to wear goggles, "prisoners" would throw "simulated urine" in the trainees' faces.
Although he escaped the deadly sun by working at night, it was still a dangerous job. Ruelas said one trainee lost his wits and began spraying the camp with rubber bullets. The conditions created at the camp may sound harsh, he said, but that kind of preparation can keep blue stars from turning to gold on porches across the nation.
"The reason I'm doing it personally is my son," Eddie Ruelas said. "He's out there."
Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.
Ellie