NYT: Relatives Describe Young Men Determined to Serve Country

[kskiska]

When Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, came home from Iraq to South Texas for three weeks in May, his family was taken aback by his transformation, though they kept their thoughts quiet.

"He was very nervous," said his aunt Maria Vásquez. "He had never smoked, and he had started smoking, chain smoking. He was waking up in the night, very disturbed. He couldn't sleep well. He was very nervous, very jittery."

Private Menchaca, who was a newlywed, told his mother and his aunts that, although he was still glad he had enlisted in the Army, life in Iraq it was difficult. They got the feeling that, privately, Private Menchaca, who grew up straddling the border in Brownsville and its two cultures, was dreading having to go back.

(snip)

A high school dropout who later earned his graduate equivalency diploma, Private Menchaca had been unhappy working in Houston at a gas station. He decided to join the Army, hoping it would lead to a job as an immigration agent, and told his family Christmas Day, 2004 that he planned to enlist; they tried to talk him out of it. Private Menchaca's brother had served in the Army and had not enjoyed it, Mrs. Vásquez said.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/21/us/21relatives.html?hp&ex=1150862400&en=372f6120a0ed75b5&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Corgigal]

1. Private Menchaca

I so understand what he went through. I was working at a stupid bank and everyone I know went to college. I was so stuck and I joined the military.

I'm so sorry to the family of Private Menchaca.