If you read this you will understand me and what I have been through from my childhood to adulthood. From good times to tragedy as I lost my USMC son in Iraq.

   I write this to help the many out there who may ned to hear how it really most likely is, based upon many people and my experiences. I am trying to help those out there who need it.

   I was born to two normal parents of Hispanic and American Indian origins. I am a male 3rd child of my parents and I have one older brother and the eldest is a girl. No other family members that I know of, have this gift of the afterlife.

   My begining of remembering experiences started at a very young age of 7 years old it was 1971 we lived in Hollywood, CA on 1247 Sanborn (a house that was torn down since 1974). I can remember laying down between my parents who were asleep when a spirit on what looked like a flying carpet (yes Genie like!) maybe 4X8 came flying gently into the room as I stared at the ceiling trying to fathom what I was seeing...as the small Genie came flying in he stopped about 4 feet above me, the carpet bent over and he waived to me. I closed my eyes tight and he was gone! To say the least I was scared...

   My next experience was when I was about 11 years old in a different suberb of Los Angeles known as Highland Park.

   At this home we were pretty tight with 6 (my sister had a child) of us in a two bedroom, I slept in the Breakfast nook that became a bedroom instead of the Breakfast nook it was intended to be. This was common to cramp a small house and make due where you could in this part of Los Angeles as many people have grown up in Garages and rooms that were not bedrooms. Well this particular night I fell asleep and was awakened with about 8-10 INDIAN SPIRITS surrounding my room and just staring at me? Again I turned and closed my eyes and realized that they were gone that fast. I remember thinking about that Genie as well...wondering what the heck is happening here.

-Well we did live on top of hill known to at one time inhibit alot of Indians in the area. There is even an Indian Museum in Highland Park/Mt Washington area.

     My first encounter and conversation in a dream visit with a known person happened soon after around late 1982 that as my neighbor who was like a second parent to me named Richard Veliz passed away. Richard was a great fun loving beer drinking guy with 3 children who always was joking around when he could but became quite overweight from the beers. Never obnoxous always in a good mood drinking or sober...Richard was in construction and would leave to work very early each morning. One day he came home and was watching his grandson when he was stricken with a serious hard attack that took his life instantly as the grandson ran to our house to tell my mother that his grandfather was in trouble.

   It was a sad day for the neighborhood and friends. Some 7 days later I was asleep...Richard came to me like I was really standing in front of him by my tree in the backyard as we shared an open backyard with no fences. This was the conversation as best as I can remember;

 

Me-Richard I cant believe I am talking to you is it really you? Are you OK?

RV-Yes it is great to see you...I am fine.

Me-Well its great to see you what is happening to you now?

RV-You know I am truely feeling better than ever, I am kind of in a holding pattern like being at an airport waiting for a flight. Thats the best way I can explain this to you, I am just suprised you can communicate with me...

Me-After that what happens to you?

RV-Well I do not know, since it hasnt happened, but I can tell you I am at peace with everything to this point.

RV-I must go now I only wanted to say good bye to you for now.

 

Boom I was awake in a cold sweat like I couldnt believe what had just happened...

 

     It then happened to become very strong in the year 1984 as I lost my grandmother Carmen in 1983. A great lady who was born in Greeley, Colorado this was my mothers mother. She passed away in Glendale, CA as a strong Jehovahs Witness and always believed in the afterlife or what was believed to come for all of us after this life. She came to me in a shiny white gown with a very bright lite behind her like a mini-sun, sort of floating or hovering off the ground. She told me "I have come to tell you will have a son soon who will mean alot to not only you but to many of the people of the world. I will be with him at all times as his guardian." "you will be going thru a lot...but trust I will always be here for him and you" I said "Ok Grandma, thanks for telling me." Again I woke up with my heart racing...

   What did this mean? I could hardly understand what she was saying to me as I was 20 years old in 1984 and really not considering any children anytime soon.

   Wouldnt you know my longtime girlfriend and I decided to get married in 1985 and were blessed with a baby boy in September of that same year. Hmm, one day I was holding him about 1 week after bringing him home and my wife asked "What do you think he will grow up to be? BOOM and I mean BOOM I had a flash of a soldier in a desert wearing the fatigues, helmet and all...I said "wow" that was strange, I just had an image flash in my head of a soldier in a desert wearing fatigues. Realize now that NO ONE had ever been in the military in my immediate family? So where did that image come from??? To say the least my wife and I agreed to never once discusss this again as we just came out of the Vietnam era and the military (as proud as I am now of all Military Men) was not a viable option for my son in my mind in 1985.

While raising my son we never:

   -Bought him a toy gun.

   -Bought him any Army Men of any type.

   -Never discusssed any type of military.

   -Never saw or watched a military type movie.

All this to avoid the premonition I had...

 

   Low and behold I had many relatives and friends pass over the years and come to me in visits as dreams. Lets just stay on my son here as we speed up to January 2003.

   In my sons senior year in high School, I picked up my son from his part time job at Jack in the Box restaurant and I could not believe what I was hearing when my son blurted out to me in the car "Dad, what do you think if I joined the United States Marines?" quickly I squashed that idea! I said "We are in the middle of a war this is not the time to join the military son."  well he said  "I thought you would say that dad, so that is why I asked" "Just curious as at school I passed their obstacle course with the best score." Hmm thats good son but its not a good idea..."ok dad I understand" Dead issue? No...because it came up again.

   Two weeks went by and he asked if the girl from the Marine Corp could come by the house to talk to me and my wife. She just wanted to meet us and discuss what she though for his future. Seeing he was adament about it, I said OK son ill meet her..

   Prior to the meeting I advised everyone about letting him join...Believe me I talked to many with only 2 people saying NO WAY! This was a tough decision.

   The other 40 people said its his decision his life and his career, let him. I saw the odds and agreed it was indeed his decision not mine at age 18, this was his life not mine, I needed to be more supportive about it. So I went in with an open mind and discovered this was indeed what my son wanted to do. I had to convince myself that the vision I had as a young dad was nothing and was just an image that somehow appeared in my thought process...His enthusiam for joining made me change my mind and let him join. I thought I did the right thing...it proved to be his destiny. I told him he could join but only if he never would volunteer for any mission etc...this would prove to be a futile deal for me as the Corps train the guys to Volunteer. This I did not know...

   On August 16th 2003 my son left for San Diego Marine Boot camp training. He left a boy and came back some 3 months later a Man.

   Well all was well with my boy, he loved the USMC Boot camp and we saw a great graduation ceremony in San Diego USMC training Center, this was now November of 2003 and he was a full flegded Marine. We were so very proud of OUR Marine!

   Well we came home for the usual 2 weeks after boot camp back to Nevada where my son was happy to see friends and family again. Soon we were off to Camp Pendleton for more training, (this is normal) Again my boy came home after another 3 months now ready for his MOS which was Motor Transport. My son signed on as a reservist so he got to come home from Pendleton. During the time at home, he was very task oriented so I got my dear Boxing Pro friends here in Vegas to train him to fight as a boxer...He loved it and was like a sponge. Though he never had any professional fights my son was great in the gym. It was July of 2004 and the trainer said my son did not show up to practice...This was unlike his USMC character, so i called him on it and said "if you dont want to train anymore thats fine just let them know cause they were waiting for you..." so he replied to me..."well dad I most likely will be going to Iraq next month so I didnt see the point in going to Boxing anymore..." OK but I was shocked "Iraq" what you just joined 11 months ago??? Well what I discovered later as you will read.. was that the Marines train each other to volunteer thats why they are Marines.

    August 2004-My boy leaves with 800 others to Iraq from an AFB in California. I told my son between the bars that separated us ; "Son no matter what happens over there, no matter when, or the circumstance promise me you will come back to me at home." "Yes dad I promise I will.." "You'll be fine son do your job" thats was the last thing I told him...

As I see my son is first in line of the 800 to get on the plane...he goes to the top stair and as late president Richard M. Nixon did, my boy gets to the top step landing turns to us with two arms extended with Peace signs on both hands. A great site...I can remember saying to my wife "This is the first time in his life I cannot take care of him" he was a man with the USMC.

    7 months went by and it was Super Bowl Sunday the game had just concluded and my son called me to tell me he would be home in a week after completing the driving in Falluja he stated he never used his gone once, he never hurt anyone and he supplied the food to the troops and Iraqi citizens. I was proud to hear that...

My boy said this "Dad I must tell you something...""I know you asked me to never volunteer to go anywhere with the corps but you know you join the corps to make a difference in the world and not to sit in las Vegas." Wow what could I say..."I said OK son no problem just get back to me"...he said "Ill be home next week, im just training the new guys to take over, then we leave." "I love you dad", I replied-"I love you son"...that would be my last mental contact over the phone with my son as 4 days later he was killed accidently by his USMC brother.

    The night was a cold Iraqi night in 2005, the team had just arrived, I was sitting in Kailua, Hawaii on Oahu at the same moment lunchtime for me around midnight in Iraq. What I tell you next will blow you all away...and I have several witnesses, if I hold a bible I would gladly place my hand on it as true!

    My son in Iraq pulls his big truck in 5 feet from the other truck, stops but all the trucks still have the engines running. Somehow they are asked to move the trucks, my son puts his faith in his Marine Brother as all marines do...My son asked him to move the truck for him close so another truck can park, my son will act as ground guide. My son gets in front of his own truck while the other marine moves it. By weird accident, the guy reaches down to grab something in the way of his feet but accidently his foot brushes the gas pedal. My son was perched on the bumper front passenger side, the impact with the other truck broke my sons upper extremities of shoulder, thorax and rib area and blew his coronary arterie in his neck from the pressure. At that same moment I felt as if I was having a heart attack in Hawaii as it felt as if I was hit with a baseball bat to my right side...Exactly where my son had just been crushed in Iraq. Well to say the least my son was living another hour or so, before the body gave out in Al Anbar or Al Asad Province in Iraq. I gradually felt physically worse for about an hour after as well...

     Some 6 hours later...they scoured Nevada but could not find me so a friend tipped them that i was in Hawaii.

     In Hawaii Marines searched for my high and low until they found me at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, I waited two and half hours until Major Novak of USMC in Hawaii delivered the bad news. It was room 819 in the Diamond Head Tower, where I recieved the worse news any parent can receive. Ironically this was my sons favorite place in the whole world, the Honolulu Hilton Hawaiian Village we frequented very often.Major Novak said my son took his helmet off and threw it in his truck, then another marine went to move it, but my sons helmet was stuck betwwen the brake pedal and the floor of the truck? I said "You expect me to believe that?" he said "This is all I have sir right now I am sure you will know mare later..." The corps whisked me away at 5am the next morning, but I remember at 3am I walked the lonely beach sand of Waikiki right off the Hilton grounds and let out a scream on the beach, I am sure someone heard...I just couldn't believe it happened to my boy and the news here at his favorite spot.

     The flight home was sad for all passengers as everyone knew by the marines escort, it took forever, everywhere we went we were in a fog so to speak...we got to LA and the Airlines put us up in the private section until our flight to Vegas. Media was all over the story, CNN, USA Today, LA TIMES, NY TIMES, you name it they were calling me.

       We finally made it to Las Vegas wherer another set of Marines met us in dress blues. They helped us in every way...we are forvever grateful for the support.

       2 days later we were flying off to Los Angeles where my son wanted to be buried in a great spot he indicated. The day before the funeral my sons body arrived...we went to see him at the cemetary, he looked so clean and nice in his dress blues, but it was a tough scene for my wife and I to see at the time as you can imagine...we just looked at him and cried for about 30 minutes. I had recollections of evry memory,... and thought, this just isnt right I just saw him being born and now I see him laying here...life is unfair to some. As a parent it's the worst to see.

      The day of the funeral it was pouring rain in Los Angeles, but I woke up from an amazing dream...

      I was in a white room and I turned and there was my son, laying on a table wearing his fatigues from the desert, green shirt and those dog tags, I can hear them still today as they hit when he got up. He looked at me very shaky and said "Dad what happened to me?" " I was in Iraq one minute then the next I am here with you?" I explained, "Son you had an accident in Iraq" He was agitated "What?" " I explained further, "The corps said you were hit between two trucks because you took your helmet off and it was lodged between the brake pedal and the floor of your truck so your friend couldnt stop the truck..." "Thats a lie, they are lying to you Dad , I had my helmet on ask Cruz he saw me?" (Now I did not know any of the guys my son was with other than 1 friend of his, not named Cruz. keep this in mind.) "He said, "I was helping move the truck with all my gear on...youll see Dad im telling the truth."  I said "OK son get some rest you look might shaky...come back to me again later."

     I woke up amazed that I was indeed talking to my son and he had told me what happened...

     On that rainy day...I asked in prayer for a double rainbow if my son was alright, it was dark and pouring rain at the time.

     As we proceeded from the ceremony to the site, guess what happened out of nowhere? 2 double rainbows right from my sons site!!! This has now been a standard and happens when my son is around spiritually. Its my validation...

    Ok so you think im nuts right???

Well it gets better...My sons friend takes a picture of the Marines taking the casket up the aisle and BOOM, my son shows up in her digital picture, plain as day in his DRESS BLUES. Spiritually of course see thru grey, white. How do you explain that??? Many have seen the photo and are BLOWN away by the picture!!!

 

     

     I will continue this later...it will get even better spiritually...a lot to write. I just have to find the time. last updated 6/2/09