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    Salvadoran exercise serves as a homecoming for some

    SAN VICENTE, EL SALVADOR

    04.02.2011

    Story by Spc. Emerson Marcus 

    106th Public Affairs Detachment

    SAN VICENTE, El Salvador - Fellow sailors thought Petty Officer 2nd Class Jack Marroquin was foolish when he admitted his anticipation to leave Antigua last month for El Salvador.

    Marroquin’s stay on Antigua’s beautiful beaches surrounded by the blue Caribbean Sea was nothing compared to his anticipated deployment to build schools in a foreign nation.
    Well, for him at least.

    Marroquin, a Navy steel worker from Houston, Texas, deployed last month to El Salvador for Beyond the Horizon 2011, a 4-month-long, inter-service exercise to supply humanitarian aid, medical assistance to the citizens of the nation and fulfill annual training obligations for several U.S. guard and reserve units.

    Beyond the Horizon 2011’s opening ceremony was Tuesday. In the next three months, the 130th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, North Carolina Army Guard, will lead command and control of the exercise as service members in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force will provide school construction and renovation projects at four locations. Dental and medical care will also be provided for citizens in San Vicente, the region most affected by landslides after Hurricane Ida in 2009.

    For Marroquin, though, it is more than a deployment — it’s also a homecoming.

    His father and mother were born and raised in El Salvador and his grandfather lives here. Several other Soldiers and Sailors deployed here for the exercise have family ties to the Central American nation about the size of Massachusetts.

    “It was amazing to see my family for the first time in nearly a decade,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Carlos Lopezsolis, who has several aunts and uncles in the country. “They brought me coffee bread and fruit. It was really nice to see their faces again.”

    More than 2 million Salvadoran emigrants live in the United States. Most immigrated to the U.S. during the Salvadoran Civil War (1981-1993).

    “Nearly my entire family, including my mother, left during the war,” Salvadoran army 1st Lt. Antonio Barrera said.

    Almost 20 years after the war, El Salvador is a free nation with close ties to the United States.

    Barrera said he has met many U.S. soldiers with ties to El Salvador, especially during his deployment to Iraq in 2007. He considers them all his friends.

    “There is a sense of brotherhood, of patriotic fraternity every time I meet a native Salvadoran living in another country,” he said.

    For Marroquin, Beyond the Horizon 2011 gives him the opportunity to aid his parent’s nation. Earlier this month, Marroquin took time off from building schoolhouses to buy soccer balls for local children.
    “It felt really good,” he said. “The kids were so happy to get them.”
    Marroquin’s pride in El Salvador was passed to him from his father, who died seven years ago in a work-related accident.

    “He went to work every day for his family,” Marroquin said. “He didn’t drink. He didn’t party. All he did was work. He got that ethic from my grandfather, who is still here. His ethic and his morals were passed down while in this country. The United States always comes first for me, but I would also die for El Salvador.

    “I love this country.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 04.02.2011
    Date Posted: 04.02.2011 13:28
    Story ID: 68163
    Location: SAN VICENTE, SV

    Web Views: 85
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN