Photo By Staff Sgt. Melanie Trollinger | Col. Fabien E. Mendoza, Jr. (center), 130th Eng. Bde. commander, met with Spc. Jose...... read more read more
CONTINGENCY OPERATING SITE MAREZ, MOSUL, Iraq—Spc. Jose Chapa III, Sgt. Erik Noriega and Col. Fabian Mendoza, Jr., recently deployed to Iraq from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. All three are Army engineers, "Sappers," serving with the 130th Engineer Brigade.
They never met before their deployments, but all three hail from the same small Texas border town, Laredo. They are three different generations fighting alongside each other in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Hope for a better life for them and their families is what drove these three Soldiers to join the military and serve their country. They strive to be examples to other Hispanic-American generations in their beloved town hoping, for a more promising future.
Joining the Army in 2007, Chapa became a combat engineer with the 95th Eng. Company, 65th Eng. Battalion. The second generation Laredo native said he wanted to do something positive in his life, something better than where he saw his future heading. He wanted to help his family.
Growing up in poverty, in a lower-class lifestyle than his peers, his father was not a stable influence in his life. Chapa said when they were young, he and his sisters would go door-to-door selling items picked up from wholesale -candy, pins, cologne- to help pay the bills. They moved around a lot. His parents divorced when he was in grade school, and contact with his father was almost non-existent after that.
"My real father didn't leave me anything to be proud of," he said. "I'm starting off at the bottom as a mat and don't know where my career will take me, but I pray it's something for the better."
Chapa is thankful for the positive role models he had in his life. His mother, stepfather and cousins helped influence and inspire him to do better. With three cousins in the military and a good friend, an Iraq war veteran, influencing his decision to join the Army, Chapa said his family was proud of him for the decision he made.
"A lot of people say 'Why join the military?' In 2007, I was facing two roads, one positive and one negative. God only knows what would have happened if I went the negative road," he said. "I have other plans and don't want to retire from the military, but for me, joining the Army was the biggest, most constructive step I could take. Every American should serve at least one term in the military to serve their nation."
Chapa said the Army has benefited him in numerous ways and will help him achieve his goals, especially with education. He plans to attend college when he gets done serving his term. With film production school in his future, and plans to open an independent film company and several other entrepreneurship ideas he hopes will help the next generation in his community, Chapa said it's something he can do that's productive, and, hopefully, will encourage other Hispanics to reach their goals.
"I want the younger generation to do something. Instead of being in the streets and not doing anything, they need to get involved in positive activities and education. Instead of giving up and saying 'I can't do it,' maybe they can look at me and say 'I can.'"
Like Chapa, Noriega joined the military to make a better life for his family. At that time, with a wife and two children, working at an auto shop and living paycheck to paycheck, he wanted a better, more secure future.
Noriega, an interior electrician with 643rd Eng. Co., 84th Eng. Bn., never thought about joining the military until a flood hit Del Rio, Texas in 1998. He saw a news report about the Texas National Guard helping out the town and its residents. Noriega saw the opportunity to make some extra money and, in the process, help the state of Texas. He walked into the recruiter's office at the Laredo mall and joined the Texas Army National Guard.
He loved the military so much that, six months later, he decided to go active duty.
"My parents were against it. So were other people I knew. The Laredo mentality was, if you're from Laredo, there's nothing else; you're born there, you live there, you die there," said Noriega. "But when they saw the changes active duty made in me, they were happy."
Noriega said he came from a traditional Mexican family. His father was the oldest boy of 10 children. Growing up, Noriega lived in a three bedroom house with immediate and extended family. He said he never had his own bedroom until he moved out and rented his own apartment.
Noriega, on his third deployment, said he plans to stay in the military and retire. Winding down his time in Iraq, he is planning a trip to Australia with his wife and kids. For somebody from Laredo, where people typically vacation in San Antonio, if at all, that's a big deal, he said.
Like Chapa, Noriega acknowledges the negative aspects of life in Laredo. They both, however, want people to see the good things in their hometown.
"Laredo is a beautiful city, and it's growing," Noriega said. "There's a new arena with lots of events happening there."
Meeting with Chapa and Noriega last week, Mendoza, the 130th Eng. Bde. commander, said "It's awesome to have three generations from Laredo sitting here. Listening to their stories, it's almost the same thing as when I was growing up, their aspirations to do well and benefit their families. It's the same intent I had when I joined the military."
Mendoza, who enlisted in the Navy in 1975 and later commissioned into the Army after graduating college, told his two Soldiers they are an example for other young Hispanics in Laredo.
"You demonstrate there is opportunity, there is hope," Mendoza said. "The U.S. Army gives you those opportunities. You can actually leave Laredo and make a life for yourself."
Mendoza hopes other Hispanics can find success through their examples and advises others to continue to strive for a promising future.
"Take advice from our elders —it's too easy— keep the culture alive and keep the family engaged. Understand that no one can define success for you but yourself," Mendoza said. "Don't get caught in the race for material things; strive for education, learn to listen, pay attention to history, and discipline yourself to read. Teach, coach and mentor our children...we owe our future generations the opportunity for a better life."
| Date Taken: | 10.17.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 10.17.2009 12:25 |
| Story ID: | 40280 |
| Location: | MOSUL, IQ |
| Web Views: | 886 |
| Downloads: | 626 |
This work, Three Laredo natives find success in the military, by SSG Melanie Trollinger, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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