By Nicole Falco
"It's scary. [We] have no way of contacting him," Cindy said. "In today's society we all have cell phones and can basically talk to whomever you want to, whenever you want. Now we don't have that luxury. We have to depend on mail, and it's so slow."
Marine Lance Corporal Joseph M. Fernandez Jr., 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines, was deployed on March 10. Except for a phone call he made while on a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany, the Fernandezes have not been able to communicate with their son.
Still, Cindy said she'll continue writing letters, and she recently sent a care package overseas. Like other soldiers' families, the Fernandezes don't know 19-year-old Joey's whereabouts, but they know he's making them proud.
"I think he pretty much had something to prove to himself," said Joseph Sr. "He wanted us to be proud of him. Five years ago he lost his brother [Richard] to leukemia. I think he wanted to do something for him."
Joey's mother added, "I think it was a dream of his and his brother to become Marines. I think Joey had great pride in the Marines; he always wanted to join. He never said it, but I think after 9/11 he felt he definitely had to."
Richard Fernandez died in October 1997 at age 12, after a nine-month battle with leukemia. Joey, the oldest of four Fernandez children -- Jennifer is 16 and Michelle is 13 -- is 18 months older than Richard.
Joey graduated from Central High School in 2001 and expressed interest in the Marines, even going as far as talking to a recruiter, but decided to try a couple of semesters of college first. But enlisting was still on his mind.
To the Fernandezes, Joey's enlistment seemed inevitable. Both Joseph Sr. and Cindy served in the Air Force. Joey was a member of the Valley Stream Sea Rangers as a child and was a junior member of the Valley Stream Fire Department until his 18th birthday, when he was old enough to join. Now he's a member of Engine Co. 1 on Rockaway Avenue, alongside his father, who's a lieutenant in the company.
"One day he came home and said, 'I joined the Marines. I'm leaving in two weeks,'" Joseph Sr. said.
Joey enlisted as a reservist in April 2002. He completed basic training at Parris Island, S.C., and continued his specialty training at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Even when it seemed inevitable that the nation would invade Iraq, Cindy said Joey didn't want to talk about it. "I think he felt he had a job to do, and he didn't want us to be worried about him," Cindy said. "He tried to protect us a lot."
With Joey overseas, the television is on day and night in the Fernandez house. The family scans newspapers for news of his unit, particularly the Web site of a Pennsylvania newspaper following his unit.
With Joey away from home, the house is a little quieter, according to his mother; after Monday's snowfall, neighbors might have missed the young man who usually offers to shovel, according to his dad; and there are more leftovers at dinner, according to his sisters.
Jennifer and Michelle miss their older brother. Joey is very protective of them and often helped them clean their rooms or could be found in the kitchen cooking up a midnight snack for them. Since Joey's been gone, Jennifer turned 16, but put off having a sweet-16 party until he returns.
"He's my hero," Jennifer said, "I feel a little selfish because I wish he wasn't there."
Since he's been gone, family and friends have been extremely supportive of the Fernandezes, just as they were during Richard's illness. Joey's firefighter "brothers" held a send-off party for him, and the phone is always ringing with messages of love and support.
Also, friends of the family, the Maroshick, Capalbi-Polara and Tripodi families, have been making pins with red, white and blue ribbons and yellow ones as well. And Cindy came home one evening to find friends had decorated her front yard with yellow ribbons. She's also noticed yellow ribbons and American flags being put up throughout the neighborhood.
"It just made me feel so good," Cindy said of all the support. "Those are our young men and women out there who volunteered to protect their country. They weren't drafted."
