thedrifter
11-24-07, 08:42 AM
Waukegan Marine longs for the little things
'It's nice just to be home'
November 24, 2007
BY KENDRICK MARSHALL kmarshall@scn1.com
Feeling the cold November breeze and seeing snow never was so enjoyable for Marine Cpl. Francisco Vazquez.
The Waukegan native has not been home in a year since being deployed to Iraq -- which left him longing for the little things.
Enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner with family members he had not seen in nearly two years was special in so many ways.
While he has traveled to Singapore, Hawaii and Australia since joining the Marines in 2005, nothing beat passing the time talking on his cell phone and surfing the Internet on his laptop instead of worrying when the next roadside bomb might explode.
"Being over there made me appreciate everything that I once had before going to boot camp," the 20-year-old said. "I missed my family, friends, the snow and being cold. It's just nice to be home."
While in Iraq serving as a tank gunner and driver, there was not much time for communication back to the United States where his mother, Ivonne Contreras and younger sister, Daphne Vazquez, constantly worried about his safety.
"I was always concerned about him every day," said Contreras, who has worn her son's dog tag around her neck since Vazquez graduated from boot camp two years ago. "He is my everything."
When he had access to a satellite phone, Vazquez would call home just to say hello and tell his family he was in good health.
But most of the time the Marine contacted his family though e-mail messages, which prompted Contreras to call him her "hijo cibernetico" (cyberspace kid).
And throughout his deployment in the Middle East country, mail was treated like gold for the many troops who never knew when the next care packages or letter would arrive.
"I mean, we could not wait to get our packages and mail," he said. "Sometimes the letters would be from a few months back, but we would read them and cherish them. I've even read them so much that I remember most of them now."
Contreras has saved every single letter that her son has written and kept each e-mail as well. She has amassed so many messages that finding room to store all of them has become difficult.
"I like the ones that say 'I love you,'" she said. "But each letter is very special because they are from him."
Even though Vazquez is scheduled to return to Camp Pendleton in California for additional training today, one of his wishes was to take his family to the Chicago Bears game against the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 23 at Solider Field.
"I tried to get some tickets when I came back, but they were all sold out," said Vazquez, who has an autographed Robbie Gould football. "I'm hoping to find someone that is willing to sell them to me so I can surprise my family."
Ellie
'It's nice just to be home'
November 24, 2007
BY KENDRICK MARSHALL kmarshall@scn1.com
Feeling the cold November breeze and seeing snow never was so enjoyable for Marine Cpl. Francisco Vazquez.
The Waukegan native has not been home in a year since being deployed to Iraq -- which left him longing for the little things.
Enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner with family members he had not seen in nearly two years was special in so many ways.
While he has traveled to Singapore, Hawaii and Australia since joining the Marines in 2005, nothing beat passing the time talking on his cell phone and surfing the Internet on his laptop instead of worrying when the next roadside bomb might explode.
"Being over there made me appreciate everything that I once had before going to boot camp," the 20-year-old said. "I missed my family, friends, the snow and being cold. It's just nice to be home."
While in Iraq serving as a tank gunner and driver, there was not much time for communication back to the United States where his mother, Ivonne Contreras and younger sister, Daphne Vazquez, constantly worried about his safety.
"I was always concerned about him every day," said Contreras, who has worn her son's dog tag around her neck since Vazquez graduated from boot camp two years ago. "He is my everything."
When he had access to a satellite phone, Vazquez would call home just to say hello and tell his family he was in good health.
But most of the time the Marine contacted his family though e-mail messages, which prompted Contreras to call him her "hijo cibernetico" (cyberspace kid).
And throughout his deployment in the Middle East country, mail was treated like gold for the many troops who never knew when the next care packages or letter would arrive.
"I mean, we could not wait to get our packages and mail," he said. "Sometimes the letters would be from a few months back, but we would read them and cherish them. I've even read them so much that I remember most of them now."
Contreras has saved every single letter that her son has written and kept each e-mail as well. She has amassed so many messages that finding room to store all of them has become difficult.
"I like the ones that say 'I love you,'" she said. "But each letter is very special because they are from him."
Even though Vazquez is scheduled to return to Camp Pendleton in California for additional training today, one of his wishes was to take his family to the Chicago Bears game against the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 23 at Solider Field.
"I tried to get some tickets when I came back, but they were all sold out," said Vazquez, who has an autographed Robbie Gould football. "I'm hoping to find someone that is willing to sell them to me so I can surprise my family."
Ellie