Posted on 12/04/2005 11:11:09 AM PST by SandRat
Ramon and Martha Muñoz expected to sleep soundly Saturday night for the first time in years.
The nagging fear in the pit of their stomachs was gone, erased the moment they glimpsed their eldest soldier son returning from Iraq - a little more than a year after their younger son left the war-torn country.
The delegation of family and friends broke into a whooping cheer Saturday afternoon when Spc. Jose Muñoz emerged at the top of the main concourse at Tucson International Airport, and continued until he made his way to the group of about a dozen people waving star-spangled balloons and a "Welcome Back" banner.
Ramon Muñoz strode forward, embraced Jose, and whispered a few words known only to father and son. "I'm so happy," Martha Muñoz said, waiting for her turn, tears in her eyes. "So proud."
Jose, 26, had just flown in from Fort Bragg, N.C., where he'd spent the past three weeks after returning from a year's tour in Iraq with the 18th Airborne Corps' 35th Signal Brigade.
"I'm thrilled - glad to be back for the holidays," he said between hugs and kisses.
His brother, Spc. Roberto Muñoz, 22, is due to fly in Monday from Germany, where he's been stationed with the 18th Armored Division after returning in October 2004 from his year-long tour in Iraq.
"When Roberto left the country, Jose stepped in," Ramon Muñoz said.
The return of the sons marks the first time in three years the whole family will be reunited for Christmas. "This is the best Christmas present we ever had," Ramon, 52, said. "After three years, we're going to sit around the table together again, and we are going to thank God."
"We prayed every night to protect them" while the sons were in Iraq, he said. "We tried to put on a happy face, but inside, we were very, very worried."
There was reason to be. Jose, a 1996 Cholla High School graduate, was stationed at Camp Liberty, in Baghdad, just as the insurgency that's claimed more than 2,000 American lives was exploding around the country.
"There were times when it was scary, like when a mortar round came in," he said.
"But my brother had it even worse, because he was with an armored unit, and they saw a lot of combat," Jose said of his brother, a 2000 Cholla graduate.
The brothers kept in contact with phone calls and e-mails, but, Jose said, "I'm looking forward to him coming home. I'll finally get to see him."
Ramon said his sons both volunteered for the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - Roberto first, in 2002, then Jose, in 2003.
Ramon and Martha have been in a tizzy preparing the family's Southwest Side home for the reunion. They repainted their boys' old bedrooms. They fixed up the cars their sons left behind when they enlisted so they'll each have wheels while they're in town. The last few days they've worked around the clock on party preparations, whipping up the Mexican feast their sons requested for the occasion: carne asada, salsa, rice and beans, to be served to Latin music strains with a few dozen aunts, uncles and cousins gathered around.
Ramon said he and Martha had many sleepless nights while their sons were overseas, but drew comfort from co-workers "who supported us like a family and tried to make us smile." He works at Sargent Controls and Aerospace, a local defense contractor, she in the cafeteria at Hohokam Middle School.
"Nobody knows what it's like," Ramon said of the experience of having loved ones at war. For example, he said, his wife was terror-stricken last year when they had their house on the market and a woman showed up on their doorstep one afternoon with two soldiers in uniform.
It turned out the woman was a real estate agent and the soldiers were looking to buy. They had no clue as they knocked on the door that a deployed soldier's mother was inside and would practically faint at the sight of them.
Ramon said it weighs on him that his military family is able to spend the holidays together, when so many others will have empty seats around their tables this year.
"Whenever I hear someone died over there, I cry," he said. "But for now, for our family, this is a time to be happy."
Spc. Jose Muñoz, 26, of the 18th Airborne Corps' 35th Signal Brigade, embraces his father, Ramon, upon arrival at Tucson International Airport. The Muñoz family reunion will be complete Monday upon the return of Jose's 22-year-old brother, Roberto. Both brothers, Cholla High School grads, enlisted after 9/11.
Army Sons Home for Christmas from the War! WOO-HOO!!!!!
Smiling at that blurry screen again.
Oh my!
Gives me goose bumps to see such joy!
Wonderful pics.....great to see the obvious pride and joy.
Great story.
God bless them all.
What a wonderful Christmas for this family.
I am two years away from even possibly having this level of anxiety. It's all I can handle now, to have my 16 year old on the road to school and his job.
Thank God for their safe return.
Along with homeschoolers, here is our hope for reclaiming the Republic.
How do you fix that??
I love the look in Jose's eyes as he embraces his dad - "finally home" where he's dreamed of being.
Praying for all our troops - May God surround them with His angels to protect them and bring them home safely.
Welcome home Jose and Roberto Munoz.
We support you and Thank You for your service!
Go Army!
BTTT
The look of safety and security.. What a wonderful feeling for both of them.
They could have met him at the gate.
Accommodations for U.S. Military Personnel
Military Family Member Gate Passes
Family members who want to accompany a military service member to the boarding gate or greet them at the arrival gate may receive passes to enter the secure area of the airport. While the pass provides non-flying family members access to the gate area, they will still have to pass through the security checkpoint.
Interested military family members should contact their air carrier representative at the departure/arrival airport for proper local procedures.
Dittos on the welcome home and GOD BLESS this great American family!
CONGRATULATIONS for a job WELL-DONE!
God Bless the Munoz family. I hope this happens many times for all our Best of the Best. God Bless them ALL. Also don't think for a second that the ones that are in Heaven are forgotten by me. They will remain in my heart forever because of what they did for us all.God Bless America and ALL who have and will defend HER.
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