Fort Worth dad deploying to country that took his son

FORT WORTH — In a few days, Francisco Martinez will land in Iraq.

He is one of tens of thousands of men and women who, with various motivations, enlisted in the armed forces, knowing that they’d someday end up there.

For Martinez, Iraq is a kind of perdition, a receptacle for all the dark emotions, anguish and guilt that have buffeted him for the last three years.

When Martinez steps off the airplane, he will be in the country that took his only son, a 20-year-old skateboarder and budding graphic artist whose loss is felt every single day of his father’s life.

This deployment — in fact, his entire enlistment — is completely his doing. Nobody forced this on Martinez, except maybe the sniper who put one well-placed bullet in Spc. Francisco G. Martinez on March 20, 2005, in Ramadi.

Joining the Air Force Reserve, after a 17-year break in his military service, was Martinez’s way of making sense of and coping with his son’s death, a way to remember him by being around young men his age serving their nation.

As a condition for her support, he promised his wife, Maria, that he wouldn’t volunteer for a tour in Iraq, that he would only go if ordered. But Martinez broke his promise this year and raised his hand, hating that he broke his word but feeling that he could not honorably serve with people doing more than him.

"He was such a part of me," he said, "and a part of me died that day. But it is so important to keep him alive in some way. I can’t let such an important piece of me die."

Protecting others

Martinez leaves for Iraq with all the usuals — rifle, night-vision goggles, cold-weather gear, a sleeping bag, in all hundreds of pounds of gear issued by the U.S. government.

Packed tightly in one of his trunks is his son’s camping chair, used by "Paquito" during his tour in Iraq. Big Francisco has always been known as Paco; by extension, his son was Paquito, a 2002 Eastern Hills High School graduate.

"My son sat in this chair," Martinez said. "I’ve taken it on every exercise we’ve had, and now it’s going to Iraq with me."

Martinez is old enough — 44 years — to be the father of many of the men he will share a trailer with in northern Iraq.

A computer programmer and systems analyst accustomed to a six-figure salary, Martinez now wears the stripes of a staff sergeant, the equivalent of a buck sergeant in the Army, pulling down half (about $4,400 a month) of what he used to earn.

As a member of the security forces responsible for protecting the combined Army and air base, he will work in a guard tower, perform searches, work the gates or patrol the fence lines, possibly all of them. He doesn’t know yet.

He will be deployed for six months, a long time by Air Force standards but only half the deployment of soldiers.

Martinez’s unit, the 610th Security Forces Squadron at Naval Air Station Fort Worth, is responsible for providing airmen for just such missions and has for several years. About 25 airmen from the Fort Worth unit will leave on this deployment.

The 610th has not sustained a casualty in Iraq.

He watched other men and women volunteer during his time in the unit, and he saw some get tagged for an involuntary deployment when there weren’t enough volunteers.

Increasingly he felt conspicuous because he had not deployed, while others had already been more than once. He felt the time had come for him to step up and fulfill his duty, promises to his wife or not.

"It just felt wrong to be the one guy who hadn’t deployed even once," he said. "I could have always waited until they exhausted all the other people and called me up. But I wasn’t going to wait until all that happened. These are my friends and my co-workers."

Beyond politics

Monica, the 7-year-old daughter of Paco and Maria and the spoiled little sister of Paquito, moved her bed into her parents’ room a few weeks ago.

When her father leaves, she will move the bed out again and just start sleeping with her mother. Her father already carries a drawing by Monica of a little pond and a parent duck and two baby ducks and a big purple heart.