thedrifter
10-28-07, 08:10 AM
Marine Cpl. Carlos E. Gil Orozco, 23, San Jose; killed by roadside bomb
By Stuart Silverstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 28, 2007
Marine Cpl. Carlos E. Gil Orozco was killed in Iraq before ever getting to see his infant son, Kenny Carlo.
But over the 3 1/2 months from Kenny's birth until Gil Orozco's death Sept. 9 on a combat operation in Anbar province, the soldier would send his son a card or letter about once a week.
Gil Orozco also would write to his wife in San Jose. He married Esmeralda Gil on May 27, 2006, exactly a year before Kenny was born.
The letters reflected Gil Orozco's outgoing, fun-loving nature and his devotion to family, along with the occasional rockiness of a young marriage.
His wife would read the letters addressed to their son. The last one arrived a few days after Gil Orozco was killed when the Humvee in which he was riding ran over a roadside bomb west of Baghdad. He was 23.
It read, in part, "I miss you my chiquito [little one] and I've been thinking about you like hell. . . . I just hate to write but this way I'm showing you my love and how much you mean to me.
"I can't wait until me and you go get a haircut together and go in the green grass and play ball with me and your brother Carlos," he added, referring to his other son, Carlos Alexander, a 5-year-old from a previous relationship. "Well I hope you're not being a baby and cry all the time ha ha. I love you Kenny, I do with all my heart."
Gil Orozco called Kenny by the nickname he lovingly gave to his son, Cabezon, or big head, after seeing pictures of him.
In his last letter to his wife, Gil Orozco wrote that he wanted to "thank U 4 having a beautiful son and [being] a great mother to him ur a great woman and sometimes I don't realize that."
He chided himself for being foolish at times and promised to "fix myself cause my son needs me and so do u. . . . I know sometimes we fight and get into it but our love it's stronger than ever."
Gil Orozco arrived in San Jose when he was 8, after he and his family left their native Colombia. In addition to his wife and children, he is survived by his parents, Carlos Gabriel Gil and Myriam Orozco; and a sister, Myriam Johanna Gil Orozco,15.
His family nickname was Pochito, which, in his family's Colombian slang, means chubby. Gil Orozco became an avid weightlifter, however, and grew into a powerfully built young man about 6 feet 1 and 250 pounds. He enjoyed riding his motorcycle, playing soccer and listening to the music of rapper Tupac Shakur, according to his family and friends.
His sister described Gil Orozco as playful, always "fooling around" with her and their parents and eager to party with his friends. She said one of her favorite memories of her brother was when he, with his son Carlos in tow, took her and her friends to a Chuck E. Cheese's pizza-and-games outlet for her 14th birthday.
Gil Orozco also would often pick his sister up at school, something she enjoyed enormously. "He would take me out to carnivals, take me out to the movies, take me out to eat ice cream, things like that," she said.
His life, however, wasn't trouble-free. Gil Orozco struggled in school and often cut classes at Willow Glen High School in San Jose. He finished work on his high school degree through a home-schooling program. His family said he failed the Marine Corps' written aptitude test twice but, after studying, succeeded on the third try.
His father said that, from the time Gil Orozco was a young boy, his son was fascinated with the military, and that it "was his pride, it was his desire" to be a Marine.
Esmeralda Gil said her husband also joined the Marines to "have more doors open up for him" after completing his four-year commitment this coming summer. He hoped to join the San Jose Police Department and eventually land a spot on its SWAT team.
Gil Orozco was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
She said her husband, who did his basic training at Camp Pendleton before going to Camp Lejuene, was eager to go to Iraq on his first tour, which began in October 2005.
But when he was called for a second tour this April, she said, "he just wanted to hurry up, go, and come back home." He was due to return from Iraq in November.
"He was seeing a lot of his friends dying, and he just didn't want to be there any more," she said. "He's always been a strong guy, macho, who doesn't tell anybody that he's scared or nothing. He's usually never scared at anything."
But in their last phone conversation, she said, "He was saying, 'Yeah, baby, I'm scared. I just want to go home.' He was just waiting for his two more weeks of patrolling, then the last month was going to be just training the new Marines."
In that last letter to his wife, Gil Orozco wrote, "Well mamacita I just got back from patrol and feel like writing to you and to tell you how much love I got 4 U. Te amo. (I love you.)" It arrived Sept. 17, the day of his funeral.
stuart.silverstein@latimes.com
Ellie
By Stuart Silverstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 28, 2007
Marine Cpl. Carlos E. Gil Orozco was killed in Iraq before ever getting to see his infant son, Kenny Carlo.
But over the 3 1/2 months from Kenny's birth until Gil Orozco's death Sept. 9 on a combat operation in Anbar province, the soldier would send his son a card or letter about once a week.
Gil Orozco also would write to his wife in San Jose. He married Esmeralda Gil on May 27, 2006, exactly a year before Kenny was born.
The letters reflected Gil Orozco's outgoing, fun-loving nature and his devotion to family, along with the occasional rockiness of a young marriage.
His wife would read the letters addressed to their son. The last one arrived a few days after Gil Orozco was killed when the Humvee in which he was riding ran over a roadside bomb west of Baghdad. He was 23.
It read, in part, "I miss you my chiquito [little one] and I've been thinking about you like hell. . . . I just hate to write but this way I'm showing you my love and how much you mean to me.
"I can't wait until me and you go get a haircut together and go in the green grass and play ball with me and your brother Carlos," he added, referring to his other son, Carlos Alexander, a 5-year-old from a previous relationship. "Well I hope you're not being a baby and cry all the time ha ha. I love you Kenny, I do with all my heart."
Gil Orozco called Kenny by the nickname he lovingly gave to his son, Cabezon, or big head, after seeing pictures of him.
In his last letter to his wife, Gil Orozco wrote that he wanted to "thank U 4 having a beautiful son and [being] a great mother to him ur a great woman and sometimes I don't realize that."
He chided himself for being foolish at times and promised to "fix myself cause my son needs me and so do u. . . . I know sometimes we fight and get into it but our love it's stronger than ever."
Gil Orozco arrived in San Jose when he was 8, after he and his family left their native Colombia. In addition to his wife and children, he is survived by his parents, Carlos Gabriel Gil and Myriam Orozco; and a sister, Myriam Johanna Gil Orozco,15.
His family nickname was Pochito, which, in his family's Colombian slang, means chubby. Gil Orozco became an avid weightlifter, however, and grew into a powerfully built young man about 6 feet 1 and 250 pounds. He enjoyed riding his motorcycle, playing soccer and listening to the music of rapper Tupac Shakur, according to his family and friends.
His sister described Gil Orozco as playful, always "fooling around" with her and their parents and eager to party with his friends. She said one of her favorite memories of her brother was when he, with his son Carlos in tow, took her and her friends to a Chuck E. Cheese's pizza-and-games outlet for her 14th birthday.
Gil Orozco also would often pick his sister up at school, something she enjoyed enormously. "He would take me out to carnivals, take me out to the movies, take me out to eat ice cream, things like that," she said.
His life, however, wasn't trouble-free. Gil Orozco struggled in school and often cut classes at Willow Glen High School in San Jose. He finished work on his high school degree through a home-schooling program. His family said he failed the Marine Corps' written aptitude test twice but, after studying, succeeded on the third try.
His father said that, from the time Gil Orozco was a young boy, his son was fascinated with the military, and that it "was his pride, it was his desire" to be a Marine.
Esmeralda Gil said her husband also joined the Marines to "have more doors open up for him" after completing his four-year commitment this coming summer. He hoped to join the San Jose Police Department and eventually land a spot on its SWAT team.
Gil Orozco was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
She said her husband, who did his basic training at Camp Pendleton before going to Camp Lejuene, was eager to go to Iraq on his first tour, which began in October 2005.
But when he was called for a second tour this April, she said, "he just wanted to hurry up, go, and come back home." He was due to return from Iraq in November.
"He was seeing a lot of his friends dying, and he just didn't want to be there any more," she said. "He's always been a strong guy, macho, who doesn't tell anybody that he's scared or nothing. He's usually never scared at anything."
But in their last phone conversation, she said, "He was saying, 'Yeah, baby, I'm scared. I just want to go home.' He was just waiting for his two more weeks of patrolling, then the last month was going to be just training the new Marines."
In that last letter to his wife, Gil Orozco wrote, "Well mamacita I just got back from patrol and feel like writing to you and to tell you how much love I got 4 U. Te amo. (I love you.)" It arrived Sept. 17, the day of his funeral.
stuart.silverstein@latimes.com
Ellie