Mas

OLIVIA GARCIA

Más staff

    As many relatives celebrate Christmas together, Wasco resident and United States Marine Corps Sgt. Jose Soto Barraza will be somewhere in Iraq, thinking about his family back home and missing them.

Barraza, who was born in Durango, Mexico and raised in Wasco, is currently serving a second tour of duty in Iraq.

    The single 26-year-old graduated from Wasco Union High School in June 1997 and joined the Marine Corps afterwards. He is currently part of the 11th Marines Counter Battery Radar Platoon. We asked the proud Marine to share a little about himself with our readers.

Q. Tell us about your family background.

A. I grew up mostly in Wasco. My family came here from Durango, Mexico, when I was only a few years old or so, I can’t remember. I went to public schools like every kid that I knew. My dad came to the states illegally when he was only 16 years old. He worked the stockyards in Nevada then later moved to the vast fields up north near Chico and Manteca, California. Somehow we ended up in  Wasco, probably because of all the agriculture.

My dad taught himself English, became a U.S. citizen and started his own farm labor contracting business. We helped with the business. I remember waking up early on the weekends when most kids wanted to sleep in and tagging along for the day with my dad. We’d go to different fields all over the valley. Because of that, I think I know every back road from Bakersfield to Fresno.

I come from your average Hispanic family. I have five brothers, two sisters and 15 nieces and nephews and counting. I am the second to the youngest. My brother Alfredo (Freddy) is the youngest and married with a baby girl who I have yet to meet because of my work, of course. I am proud of my family.

My parents taught me right and wrong, the value of “peso,” accountability, and the consequences of my actions, good or bad. I am proud of my siblings and nieces and nephews who have done really well academically. I am proud to say I am Mexican. I have a heritage and a legacy that is to be remembered with pride.

I don’t think my personal accomplishments will ever compare to those of my parents. They endured a lot of hardship to give me and my siblings an option in life — the freedom to decide.

Q. Tell us about your military background.

A. I enlisted in the Marines and shipped out on December 16 of ’98. I graduated boot camp on March 26 of ’99. Some of my military training includes: Marine Combat Training, Field Artillery School, and Fire Direction Course 9-99 (scary, huh).

I have been assigned to different units, including 1st Marine Division on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and Golf Battery 2/11 (Second Battalion Eleventh Marines). Under 2/11, I was deployed to  Okinawa, Japan twice.

 I re-enlisted while on the second deployment and was reassigned in June of ’03 to 11th Marines Counter Battery Radar Platoon.

I have deployed with this unit to Iraq in February ’04 through October ’04. I returned to this unit in September ’05 and will be with the unit until March ’06. I am currently serving in Iraq.

Q. What’s it like in Iraq?

A. It has been OK for me. I am doing something I enjoy doing. Not too many people can claim that. What I like the most is the friendship I have made with my fellow Marines. You trust that person blindly. They are your brothers.

What I like the least? The heat in the summer, along with the sandstorms. Just imagine140-degree heat blowing straight at you. It’s just not pleasant at all, especially when it hits you with the sand. It stings sometimes, too.

Q. What is your job there?

A. I have what some consider a “cushy” job. My job entitles me to stay on a hardened base or outpost all the time. When we receive information about incoming enemies, I operate a system that tells me exactly where they shot from and where we shot back. One advantage for us is that we are accurate and very fast, not to mention lethal.

Q. How do you feel about serving your country?

A. I feel good. This is my job. Some people who have decided against the war claim I didn’t sign up for this. Well, I did. It’s in the contract that I sign and in the oath I took (which, by the way, I did twice). Some people say, “All I wanted was the college money, not go to war.” That, to me, sounds like saying, “All I wanted was the benefits of the institution without having to defend it.”

I have been serving on active duty nearly seven years now.

I joined the Marines because I wanted to do something challenging and that I would enjoy. I like traveling and meeting new people. I have met someone from every state in the United States, it seems. I’ve learned about different cultures, different views and different ways of life. The challenge is with dealing with all of the above and making Marines work as a team with a common purpose and goal.

Q. What do you look forward to when returning home?

A. Even though Mexican food is so fattening, I look forward to a nice bowl of menudo or some frijoles refritos. You know, my mom used to make fresh flour tortillas for every meal. That’s why I was a fat little ‘mocoso’ back then.

I look forward to seeing my little ones, my nieces and nephews — that’s why I do what I do. You sacrifice your wants for your family’s well-being. That’s what my parents did. They gave me opportunities they never had, and I want the same for our little ones.

I am scheduled to return in the spring, sometime in late March. But, who knows, given my luck? My 25th birthday was spent in Camp Fallujah on the outskirts of the city that bears that name.

Q. Do you have any advice for young Hispanics, both boys and girls, back home?

A. Never have a closed mind. That is a terrible waste. Sometimes we learn by the mistakes of others and the advice of whom you’d least expect. Knowledge is power. The more you learn and understand, the better off you are in life — be it a teacher, doctor or even a Marine.

We make life how we want it to be, not the other way around.

Q. What message do you have for your family?

A. I am sorry for once again being away from the family during the holidays. Feliz Cumpleaños, Lucy. I miss all of my favorite nieces and nephews and yeah, I miss all my brothers and sisters, too.... I love you all and can’t wait to be home.

Mom and Dad, I love and miss you.

 Readers interested in sending a letter to USMC Sgt. Jose Soto Barraza can do so at the following address:

 Sgt. Jose Soto Barraza

 HHC 1-110th INF/CBR

 Camp Habbaniyah

 APO-AE 09381