A military family, thankful

FT. CAMPBELL, KY. —  War had torn the Vasquez family apart. One son of Francisco and Rosalia Vasquez was deployed to Iraq, followed by his sister and her husband. Another son served in the Afghanistan campaign.

The Vasquez siblings, children of Mexican immigrants who settled in Gardena in 1968, have not all been together in the same place since March of 2001. Because of deployments, training and military campaigns, the entire Vasquez clan has not shared a Thanksgiving meal for 13 years.

But Monday, when Army 1st Lt. Rosanna Vasquez Brown stepped off an airplane from Kuwait in her desert fatigues and combat boots, she was smothered in kisses by her husband, daughter, parents, brothers, nephews and nieces. The family was finally whole again.

“I didn’t realize how huge this would be -- it’s going to be the best Thanksgiving ever, without a doubt,” the lieutenant said, shouting over the roar of hundreds of families greeting two planeloads of 101st Airborne Division soldiers returning from Iraq.

On Thanksgiving Day, all 17 members of the extended Vasquez family will share a turkey dinner here -- parents, soldiers, brothers and sisters, long-suffering spouses, and children who have lived without at least one parent for much of their young lives.

“It’s a very, very big day, having everyone home again and safe, finally,” said Francisco Ruiz Vasquez, who fought through a sea of soldiers, wives, children, balloons, banners and baby carriages to reach his daughter and throw his arms around her.

Brown’s husband, Master Sgt. Mark Brown, returned from his second tour in Iraq in September. Her brother, Staff Sgt. Francisco Vasquez, came back from Iraq in October. At one point, Rosanna was a 10-minute helicopter ride from her husband and a half-hour flight from her brother.

“Rosanna! Rosanna!” Mark Brown screamed when he spotted his wife inside a military hangar Monday. Clutching their daughter, Elisa, 6, he ran to her, and all three were clasped in a long embrace. Francisco, the staff sergeant, recorded it all on a video camera.

The homecoming was a triumphant counterpoint to another scene that also plays out almost daily somewhere in the U.S. -- the funerals of fallen service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Several years into the two wars, military families find themselves whipsawed by emotions -- anxiety, worry, grief and elation -- at a time when the war in Iraq, in particular, is dividing the nation.

Casualties are mounting in both wars, and for every soldier who comes home, another is sent to war.

The Vasquez family has spent years dreading a knock at the door that would mean a loved one had died in combat. They stayed connected across the continents by e-mail, letters and phone calls as one soldier headed overseas and another came home, only to have yet another head to a war zone.

For at least a few hours Monday, it was all forgotten. A military band played. The Stars and Stripes waved. Huge banners read “Welcome Home -- Job Well Done.”

Families whooped and shouted their soldiers’ names, hoisting surnames on homemade signs to help find one another in the throng.

“Today is really a fitting closure to everything this family has been through with all the deployments,” said Mark Brown.

The Vasquez family had no military background until the second-eldest, Martin Vasquez, 36, joined the Army 18 years ago and served in the Afghanistan campaign. He is now a captain in the Army Reserve.

Martin was followed by Francisco, 33, in 1993 and Rosanna, 37, 12 years ago. Mark Brown has served 21 years.

Among them, they have been awarded four Bronze Stars and two air medals.

All said they joined out of a sense of service and patriotism, and for the opportunities and benefits the Army has provided. Rosanna said she had always remembered what her mother told her children each time they returned to California after visiting relatives in Mexico: “Be thankful for the country you have.”

The one Vasquez son who did not join the military, Juan, 30, is an English teacher at Grant High School in Van Nuys.

“If I had followed suit, it probably would’ve been too much for my parents,” he said. “But seriously, they all believe in serving our country, and we’re all thankful for them.”

The family is accustomed to compromised holidays and creative child-rearing.

On Mark’s first tour of Iraq, the couple waited to celebrate Christmas until he returned in February. Last year, they celebrated Thanksgiving in September because both were serving in Iraq by November.

On Rosanna’s 37th birthday in July, she had to leave Elisa to return to Iraq after she and her husband spent their home leave visiting their daughter. Her sister-in-law Maria, Francisco’s wife, cared for Elisa here while both parents were deployed.

“I’ve missed two-thirds of my daughter’s life,” Elisa’s father said. He is retiring from the service in two weeks.

Rosalia Vasquez wept when she hugged her soldier-daughter Monday. But Rosanna held back her tears, even when Elisa shouted out, “I love you, Mommy!” after Rosanna called her the family hero.

“I’m mentally tougher now than a year ago,” said Rosanna, a physician’s assistant. “This whole experience has helped us all grow as a family.”

Mark was flushed and drained after the emotional reunion. “I may need medical support after this,” he told his wife.

After the final Vasquez sibling, Gabriela, 35, arrives at Ft. Campbell this week with her husband, Catarino Martinez, and their two children, the entire family will gather at the Brown home in nearby Clarksville, Tenn., for Thanksgiving dinner. Francisco already has the turkeys, and everyone will pitch in to cook them.

The siblings’ parents don’t know it yet, but the Army plans to award them a Freedom Team Salute, a tribute to family members and friends who support soldiers sent overseas. Francisco has decorated his parents’ plaque with combat patches earned by the family’s soldiers.

With so much happening after so much time spent apart, everyone in the family has been thinking of the best way to express thanks at dinner on Thursday.

“Most likely,” Rosanna said, “we’ll sit through the longest grace in family history.”

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david.zucchino@latimes.com