Mercy Hernandez hadn’t been able to sleep for days, knowing her Marine son would soon be home, but still not able to put her arms around him.
“It’s been scary; it’s been an emotional rollercoaster,” she said, surrounded by her two daughters and husband, of his deployment that started in March.
But about an hour later, on Sunday, Oct. 4, her stress faded when she held her son, Lance Cpl. Joe Hernandez, in her arms at Camp Pendleton. The young Marine had just turned 19 years old a week ago.
Hernandez, of Beaumont, was among a group of nearly 300 Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment who returned Sunday from their deployment to the Middle East as a special crisis response unit. Part of the unit ended up in Afghanistan as the United States completed its withdrawal from the country and nine of its Marines and a sailor were among the 13 American service members killed in the Aug. 26 bombing attack of the Kabul airport.
Three of the Marines grew up in Southern California and a fourth, originally from Utah, lived with his fiancee in Aliso Viejo.
Though the deployment was primarily spent training and working with U.S. allies, when chaos broke during the evacuations at the airport, many of the Marines from this unit were the first to post security around its perimeter.
An earlier group of unit’s Marines – including Golf Company, the unit that took the casualties – arrived late last month and more units will continue to come home over the next few weeks, but Sunday was the public welcome home ceremony for the 2/1.
“It feels amazing; it’s like a dream,” Lance Cpl. Jonathan Tinsely said as he returned to the arms of his wife, Nautica. “I’m praying for all those guys who didn’t get this bus ride back home.”
Tinsley, of Vista, said the most challenging thing about the deployment was staying motivated and setting goals over the many months he was gone.
“I set small goals and they gave me the motivation to push forward the next day,” the 21-year-old said.
His wife helped by coordinating a prayer group with her mother and grandmother.
“We had prayer sessions on the phone,” Nautica Tinsley said. “We used God a lot on this deployment.”
The extended deployment was difficult, said Brooke Green, who anxiously waited for her husband to arrive. But much worse than the months apart was when she realized Lance Cpl. Robert Green was among the group from the 2/1 deployed to the Kabul airport.
“At first, I didn’t know he was there, but his dad figured it out,” she said. “He watches a lot of news and put it together.”
After Green realized her husband was at the airport, she said she was incredibly nervous. “Every few days, he’d send a text that he was OK.”
Assistant Chaplain Lake Houston, a religious program specialist serving with the Navy, was among those arriving home on Sunday. His family held two giant cut-outs of his head so that he could easily find them.
“It was shocking,” he said having to deploy to Kabul. “You hear stuff like that on the news, but you don’t think it will happen to you. You don’t know what it’s like until you’re in it. It was beautiful chaos; everyone was doing their jobs.”
After their initial welcome on parade deck at Camp Pendleton, many of the Marines and their families had special plans to enjoy being together again. Some were going to eat at a favorite restaurant, including the Hernandez family, which brought a change of clothes for their Marine so he could quickly slip into something more comfortable.
“We’re going to eat at Benihana; that his favorite,” Mercy Hernandez said.
Tinsley said he couldn’t wait to go home and wash his Dodge Charger RT and then get a combo meal at Raising Kane’s.
Source: Orange County Register
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