Dad Deploying To Country That Took His Son
12/07/2008 05:52
Staff Sgt.
Francisco "Paco" Martinez stands near his son’s
grave at Dallas/Fort Worth National Cemetery in
2007. FORT WORTH — In a few days, Francisco Martinez will land in Iraq.
He is one of tens of thousands of men and women who, with various motivations, enlisted in the armed forces, knowing that they’d someday end up there.
For Martinez, Iraq is a kind of perdition, a receptacle for all the dark emotions, anguish and guilt that have buffeted him for the last three years.
When Martinez steps off the airplane, he will be in the country that took his only son, a 20-year-old skateboarder and budding graphic artist whose loss is felt every single day of his father’s life.
Full story here.
SINC SAYS:
It takes a special kind of Dad to step up to the plate and do something like this, doesn’t it?