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By Army Pfc. Melissa M. Escobar
22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN - While fathers were given the royal treatment for a day in the United States, service members and contracted civilians gathered here to feast and celebrate Father's Day at the Dragon dining facility.
The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's fraternal benefit society, hosted its first Father's Day celebration. Fathers and sons alike joined in a prayer before sitting down to eat and converse.
Spc. Jose Sanchez, a Long Bow crew chief, Company D, 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, and a member of a Knights council in Tucson, Ariz., enjoyed his food while talking about his own children and father.
"I wish my father was here, but he's not," explained Sanchez about his father who passed only days before the Sept. 11 attack.
Father's Day is a day to step back and "appreciate spending time with loved ones because you never know when they're going to be away," said Sanchez, who has missed out on the last three Father's Days with his three children due to training and deployments.
"There are so many things I could do with my children. I would just want to spend quality time with my children all day. I want to do that right now," said Sanchez who hopes to be home for Father's Day next year.
Like Sanchez, Army Sgt. Sompaul Vorapanich, supply
non-commissioned officer in charge with Co. D, 3rd GSAB, and a member of the Knights, wishes he could spend the day with his five children.
"Last Father's Day my children woke me up and I got heart-shaped pancakes in bed," remembered Vorapanich, a Chicago native.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Carlos Cortes, who helped coordinate the Father's Day gathering, has a similar memory of his children bringing him breakfast in bed. Cortes, a member of the Knights, felt it important to celebrate and honor the meaning of Father's Day.
"Father's Day is a day to celebrate all the sacrifices and guidance that we have received from our fathers, whether they are biological fathers or just placed in that position. It's a time to give back to those who have given to us," said Cortes, who is a father of seven children.
Even though Sanchez, Vorapanich and Cortes, like many other fathers, are away from their families on Father's Day due to deployments, they congregated to feel a sense of normalcy.
"As a church community and as Knights, we focus on the family away from home. This gives us an opportunity to focus on that," explained Cortes, who is with Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 82nd Airborne Division, about the gathering for Father's Day "It gives us a sense of home away from home. You never know what you miss until you're gone," said Vorapanich.
| Date Taken: | 06.19.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 06.19.2007 08:49 |
| Story ID: | 10898 |
| Location: | BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 338 |
| Downloads: | 298 |
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