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May 2021
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Rare Situation: Puerto Rican soldiers enlist, train, re-enlist together

Fort Irwin soldiers are now friends headed back to their PR homes
By Janell J. Lewis Ford Cavalry Regiment as an 19K Tanker (Cortes)
NTC/Fort Irwin Garrison Public A airs and 11B Infantry (Quinones) and said they get
to chat everyday at work.
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — When it comes “I’m at Dealer Company and he’s in Assassin
to military service, you learn to say “goodbye” Company,” Cortes said. “We’re pretty much
far too often, as you move every one to three neighbors in the company.”
years in many cases. But two Army soldiers In March 2021, both Cortes reached out to
have somewhat de ed the odds and been able Master Sgt. Travis Buchmann about reenlisting.
to say “hello” and serve together throughout “I didn’t know at the time that his friend
their entire service.
Sgt. Manuel Cortes, 36, and Spc. Hector Spc. Quinones was from the same town in
Quinones, 31, enlisted together in Puerto Rico Puerto Rico and was also interested in con-
in 2018, took the Armed Services Vocational tinuing his service,” Buchmann said. “I got
Aptitude Battery (ASVAP) and Military En- both of them lined up for continued service
trance Processing Station tests together, went in the Army Reserve and Puerto Rico Army
to basic training and advanced individual train- National Guard.” Sgt. Manuel Cortes (left) and Spc. Hector Quinones saying their oath together in 2018 and
ing (AIT) in Fort Benning, Georgia, together, Buchmann had a surprise for them. 2021.
shipped to their rst duty station of Fort Irwin “Master Sgt. Buchmann called me and said Before Cortes joined the Army, he was most is the training here because it’s really
together, and recently re-enlisted together with ‘hey Cortes, tomorrow, if you have time, we can working with the Puerto Rican police depart- good training. e leadership here keeps you
plans of both returning to their families in do the reelistment ceremony, and by the way, I ment for about 10 years. busy doing your job.”
Puerto Rico…together. have another guy that we’re going to reenlist,’” He enlisted into the Army Reserve for What does he not mind leaving behind?
“I remember, once I got out of basic (train- Cortes said. “So when we get there, I nd out six years, changed his military occupational “I think the only thing I’m not going to
ing), after graudation, I called him,” Cortes that the ‘other guy’ was Spc. Quinones.” specialty (MOS) from 19K to 88M, and will miss here is the cold,” Quinones said. “Puerto
said. “I told him I’m going to Fort Irwin, I just Quinones was surprised but thankful. be able to work with the Customs and Border Rica is pretty warm all the time, so I don’t like
got done at Basic Training and he was like, wait, “ at was pretty cool because when I get Protection and possibly transfer back to the the cold.”
I’m here already!” to the o ce, I found out it was Sgt. Cortes I United States. Cortes said his greatest moments were
e two recounted when they rst met back was going to reenlist and sign a contract with Re ecting
in their home of Puerto Rico. again,” he said. “We came all the way together Cortes said he, his wife Ivelisse Espanol and playing, traveling and winning with his unit’s
“We went to the same recruiting o ce and from Puerto Rico to Fort Irwin. We’ve experi- his three dauthers (17, 14 and seven years old) softball team. He struggled to nd anything
they gave us an appointment and told us to be enced so much together.” have enjoyed their time in Fort Irwin and now he didn’t like about Fort Irwin but then said,
at the o ce early in the morning and we were Buchmann shared their story with others his family doesn’t want to leave. “One of the things I’m not going to miss is
the rst two to get to the o ce,” Cortes said. I who also thought it was pretty unique. “When I found out that I was going to that just to go out to Barstow, it’s a long drive.
remember he parked his car right next to mine.” “Both soldiers are fine examples to the California as my rst duty station, I talked to Everything is far from here,” he said.
Quinones said they bonded during their Fort Irwin community and the United States my wife and said‘we’re going to treat this like Quinones said that from the day they showed
first encounter because they tried to calm Army,” he said. a vacation,” he said. up at processing station in Puerto Rico, it seems
each other. What’s next? In their three years stationed at Fort Irwin, like they’ve been together ever since and he hopes
“We were kind of nervous,” he said. “We Before entering the military, Quinones they’ve traveled across states and Southern Cali- that bond continues.
were talking about the ASVAB test because worked with manufacturig prescription medi- fornia, he has been apart of his unit’s champion “We’re going to be at di erent bases but
we didn’t think we were ready for the test…we cation as an engineer. softball team and his children have ourished we’re going to be literally only an hour away
tried to get calm and pass the test.” He will remain an 11B in the Puerto Rico scholastically and socially.
ey were in di erent basic training units National Guard for three years and is happy to “I was looking for better opportunities for from eachother,” Quinones said. “We’re going
in Fort Benning, so didn’t get to communicate return to his mother and sister. my family (when we moved to the United to stay in contact and in touch, so I hope this
much but Cortes said, “I remember, once I got “ e reason why I want to go back is be- States),” Cortes said. “I’ve now seen my chil- friendship will be forever.”
out of basic, after graudation, I called him.” cause I want to be with them,” Quinones said. dren, my daughters learn English here, and Cortes said he plans to bring his family back
Quinones arrived at Fort Irwin just two “ at’s my only family right now.” improve a lot in school.” to the U.S. one day.
weeks before Cortes during the summer of He also wants to return to complete his As they re ect on their time at Fort Irwin, “ is chapter that we’re going to nish here,
2018. ey are both part of the 11th Armored bachelor’s degree. Quinones said “What I’m going to miss the it’s going to be with me my entire life,” he said.
From HOLOCAUST, Page 1
the German Nazi regime in the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945. us into a ghetto for two weeks and then immediately deported us to designer earning many awards
e anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hitler thought Jews were an the largest extermination camp called Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland and accolades.”
inferior race and constructed mass killing centers in the concentration where my mother was murdered on arrival in a gas chamber and my One day, she was asked to tell
camps of Poland. 16-year-old sister and I were separated from our father,” she said. her story and she was hesitant
American, British and Soviet soldiers liberated concentration She described the day a decorated Russian o cer showed up at at rst.
camp prisoners. the camp gate and o ered to get them food. He turned out to also “I realized that the world
e Dental Clinic Command Team helped sponsor the event and be Jewish. really needs to hear the stories
the DENTAC Commander, Col. Elliott Bermudez-Colon, opened “Someone shot a horse and he brought the meat, which the women of the Holocaust in order to
up the event, calling the acts senseless and divisive. cooked into a stew, Firestone said. “ at was the rst meal I ate in my
“ e memory of those who were lost in the Holocaust will never 14 months of incarceration.” ensure that the Holocaust will never repeat itself, that it should not be
stray from memory as long as knowledge of the event occurred,” he said. Once she was free, she found her brother who was a freedom ghter forgotten,” she said.
Spc. Bryce Harris recited an essay to acknowledge, honor and and they soon learned their father was dying of tuberculosis. ey She left her fashion job to dedicate her life to telling these stories
preserve the victims of the Holocaust. buried him in a cemetery in Prague and put their mother’s and sisters’ and continues it 40 years later.
Organizers played a video of Holocaust survivor, Renee Firestone names on the headstone, so there would be some memory of them. “I still speak all over the United States and Europe, hoping that the
and she told her story of being a prisoner and slave laborer in Auschwitz Firestone eventually got married, had a baby and, in 1948, came world can understand the lessons we learned from the Holocaust—that
concentration camps. to America to begin a new life. everyone will remember that we must respect each other, help each
“When the German Army marched in, they rounded us up, put “I was very lucky in this country. I became a quite famous fashion other and treat each other with kindness,” Firestone said.

For more information go to home.army.mil/irwin