Photo By Marcus Fichtl | Spc. Alexandria Perez a Los Angeles native and health care specialist, Company C,...... read more read more
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CAMP BEUHRING, KUWAIT – It’s a love story like any other, boy meets girl, they fall in love, they grow old together in a combat zone.
Spc. Alexandria Perez, a health care specialist, and Sgt. Eduardo Perez, a behavioral health specialist, met six years ago at “Charlie Med,” Company C of the 204th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, two privates as new to each other as they were to the Army.
One from Los Angeles the other from Laredo, Texas, one a lover of Tejano music the other joining the Army straight out of fashion school, culturally, two people as different as you could find anywhere. But in the Army, both hundreds a miles from home, they found a family in their unit and with each other.
“We connected on paper,” said Alexandria. We didn’t have much in common, but both coming from big Mexican families we shared values of faith and family.”
And seemingly, Eduardo’s Texan chivalry meshed with Alexandria’s Californian openness.
“He was always saving me and keeping me out of trouble,” said Alexandria. “He would help me with my ruck or always have a spare of whatever I forgot to formation.”
“We grew on each other,” said Eduardo. If I needed to someone to talk to or vent, I went to her, she would understand me.”
A few months into their stay on Fort Carson, they received the word that they were deploying to Iraq.
“When we deployed to Iraq we were here on Camp Buehring, the list came out for the two different locations we were deploying to,” said Eduardo. “She went to (Forward Operating Base) Kalsu; I went to Camp Echo, and the moment we were away from each other that’s when it hit me, that’s when I realized I was falling in love.”
The couple exchanged emails and phone calls while apart, but a couple of close calls on Camp Echo and a non-combat related medical evacuation for Eduardo pressed him to action.
“I realized how real everything was and how precious our time here was,” said Eduardo.
New Years 2009, during their rest and recuperation, surrounded by Alexandria’s family, Eduardo’s knee hit the ground as the clock struck twelve.
“I said, yes, oh my God, get up, get up, what are you doing, you just met my family,” laughed Alexandria.
Lost in the sea of commotion, Alexandria’s family didn’t even notice. They wouldn’t learn about the engagement until after Eduardo returned to Iraq the next day.
A year later they married at the Colorado Springs courthouse, and four years after that, they’ve found each other once again on Camp Buehring, their second deployment together.
“We’ve definitely grown as a couple,” laughed Alexandria. “He eats sushi, now.”
“I finally converted her to be Dallas Cowboys fan,” said Eduardo.
But while their competitive spirit and culture clash still defines their relationship through games of chess and heated dinner conversations at the dining facility. Their thoughts focus on their two children Sebastian, 3, and Eduardo Jr., 2.
“Our friends here think we’re funny, the way we banter back and forth,” said Alexandria. “We still get real passionate about everything we talk about. But what we’ve really missed this deployment is our children.”
The long emails and late night phone calls to each other in between the IEDs and mortar attacks of 2008 have been replaced with video chat sessions with their children, who are just beginning to understand what their parents do.
"Deployment’s still tough,” said Eduardo. “Being away from our family for so long, it makes it tough for a dual-military family like ours. We try to video chat with our kids two or three times a week.
“They tell everyone we’re doing work,” said Alexandria.
A love forged in Iraq and now refined in Kuwait, the Perez’s are proud of what they’ve made together.
“I hope our kids will see our service as something to be proud of when they get older that our family, just like everyone who has served after 9/11 is a small part of history,” said Eduardo.
The two plan to watch a movie for Valentine's Day, which they will undoubtedly argue about, but also a video chat date with their children that they will cherish.
| Date Taken: | 02.14.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 02.14.2014 10:28 |
| Story ID: | 120643 |
| Location: | CAMP BUEHRING, KW |
| Hometown: | COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, US |
| Hometown: | FORT CARSON, CO, US |
| Hometown: | LAREDO, TX, US |
| Hometown: | LOS ANGELES, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,171 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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