Lynch Plans Springs 'homecoming'

http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/ar...2448602,00.html

Lynch plans Springs 'homecoming'
Rescued soldier to join boyfriend's kin for Thanksgiving

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News
November 22, 2003

They warned Jessica Lynch months ago, back when she was just plain Jessi and hadn't appeared on about every front page in America: We're part of the deal. We come with Ruben.

And Lynch told them she was delighted that her boyfriend, fellow soldier Ruben Contreras, was part of a big, close-knit Colorado Springs family and that she couldn't wait to meet them.

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The waiting ends next week when the most well-known soldier of the Iraqi war, who was rescued during a daring raid, comes to Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with Contreras and his family.

Lynch already has met Con-

treras' mother and sister and aunt and talked with, it seems like, everyone in the family by phone. But this will be the first time Lynch meets so many family members and sees for herself the bond that she's heard about for months.

"I gave her a heads up," said Romolo Chavez, one of Contreras' uncles. "I told her we're a really close family. Really close. She said, 'I can't wait.' "

Contreras' family is equally excited about the visit.

"If somebody is going to be in our family, we're going to love them just like we love each other," said Ruby Alvarado, Contreras' aunt.

"Don't get me wrong. We do fight. But we get over it. We're there for each other. We love each other. And Jessica Lynch, she is so loving and so kind and so sweet.

"We are thankful that they did save her and she's alive. We are thankful that Ruben has been given back his happiness."

Family that's hard to leave Ruben Contreras, who turned 24 in May, grew up in Colorado Springs with his sister, Chantell Libby, 26, and his mother, Lisa Latorre, 47.

Latorre is one of five siblings. The family, Contreras said, seemed to always be getting together at the home of an aunt, an uncle or his maternal grandparents.

"I thought that's how everybody's family worked," he said. "It was awesome."

Contreras attended Sierra High School his freshman and sophomore years. Chavez, remembers going to his nephew's wrestling matches. Contreras transferred to Wasson High School, from which he graduated in 1997.

When he joined the Army he learned the flip side of having a large, close family.

"When you do leave, it's hard to get used to being by yourself," he said.

Contreras' military career took him to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, an assignment he initially wasn't happy about.

Then, in June 2002, he spotted Pfc. Jessica Lynch and her best friend, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, at a Taco Bell near the base. Lynch was a "country girl" from West Virginia; Piestewa, a Hopi Indian from Arizona. Contreras took Lynch's cell phone, punched in his number and told her to call. Three days later, she did.

Their first date was to see Scooby Doo. He liked it but she fell asleep during the movie. In a recent interview, Contreras burst out laughing when told the snooze was a sign of good taste.

It was his sister who first learned of his feelings for Lynch. Chantell Libby serves in the Air Force and, at the time, was stationed at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

"He said that he had fallen in love and she was the one," Libby said in a phone interview from Germany, where she now is stationed. "At first I didn't believe it because he wasn't the type to settle down."

Again, fate intervenes

Lynch and Contreras got orders to the Middle East. She went in January, he followed a few weeks later.

"He talked about how much they were in love, and how when they got back they were never going to be separated again," Latorre said. "I was like, to myself, 'Wow, this is serious.' "

Fate put the two young lovers in tents side by side in Kuwait, where they managed to sneak letters to each other until the war broke out.

By now, most of the world knows what happened to Jessica Lynch. Iraqis attacked her supply convoy on March 23, killing 11 soldiers, including her best friend, Pvt. Piestewa.

Contreras, who had been in a convoy ahead of Lynch's, couldn't believe it when he heard she was missing. Devastated, he called his family.

"He said, 'Let me know if you hear anything,' " Libby said. "He would call at really odd hours of the night. He would ask if we had heard anything about her."

It would be several days before he learned that special forces on April 1 had rescued the badly injured Lynch from an Iraqi hospital.

Fate intervened again. Lynch was sent to an Army hospital at Landstuhl, Germany - the same base where Contreras' sister was heading to work in the hospital pharmacy. Contreras knew his sister had been in touch with base personnel there and he asked if she could get a message to Lynch.

"I talked to some of the people I was going to work with, and told them, 'Jessica Lynch was my brother's girlfriend and can you get a message to her? He really wants to let her know that he's OK and that he loves her,' " Libby said. "They said they would try, but she was under really tight security."

Libby included her mother's phone number. Somehow the message got through, but Lynch was in no condition to talk. Lynch's parents, who were with their daughter in Germany, called Latorre.

"From what I understand, Jessi asked about Ruben the whole time she was in the hospital," Libby said. "She just loves Ruben, crazy love. I'm happy he has somebody who loves him so much."

Lynch's hometown threw her a homecoming parade last July, where she publicly declared her love for Contreras, who was with her.

"Ruben, you never let me give up," she said. "You're my inspiration, and I love you."

Media machine takes over It seems Jessica Lynch is everywhere these days. On the cover of Time and Parade and other magazines, talking with Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric. She even collaborated on a book with Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and author Rick Bragg.

The exposure has brought controversy. It turns out Lynch never fired her weapon at her captors, as originally reported. The error was the Pentagon's but the Lynch story, including footage of her rescue, was labeled by critics as propaganda to make Americans feel good as casualties mounted.

Contreras' aunt, Ruby Alvarado, 44, bristles at the criticism and the unrelenting media intrusion.

She called a Colorado radio talk show host and let him have it after she heard him say Lynch hadn't been seriously injured.

Alvarado knew better. She went with her sister to see Lynch after the soldier was transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

"I started crying even though I didn't want to cry in front of her," Alvarado said. "I wasn't prepared for the extent of her injuries. Jessi was very, very hurt. It was worse than what people thought."

Lynch suffered 10 broken bones and spinal damage and still does not have control of her bladder or her bowels. Time magazine reported she appeared to have been forcibly penetrated by someone or something.

Lynch still undergoes grueling daily therapy and walks with a crutch.

"I'm not saying she is the only hero because she is not," Alvarado said. "I went to Walter Reed and I've seen the ones with their legs blown off. They're all heroes. Anybody who goes to war is a hero."

All a mother could want The Thanksgiving feast this year will be hosted by Contreras' mother and his stepdad, Juan Fuentes, at their home in Widefield, on the edge of Colorado Springs and Fort Carson. As they do every holiday, Contreras' grandparents, Jose and Marie Chavez, will bring homemade tamales.

Libby is broken-hearted that she and her husband and their two children won't be there. Although she's been in the Air Force eight years, it's the first Thanksgiving she'll be away from home.

"This is a military family," Latorre said, ticking off the numerous family members who are serving or have served in the armed forces.

Ruben Contreras, who returned from Iraq to Fort Bliss in June, gets four days of leave for Thanksgiving.

"I can't wait to see Jessi," he said, adding he last saw her over Labor Day. "That's all I really care about."

Jessica Lynch, who has been discharged from the Army, plans to stay with Contreras' family until mid-December so they can work on wedding details. The location, the colors, the music, none of that has been finalized.

A June wedding is planned, but here's the kicker:

"I haven't popped the question," Contreras admitted. "We know we're getting married. I just haven't officially asked her yet."

He's still not sure how he's going to do it.

"I'm not the most creative person, but I'll figure something out," he said, then paused and laughed. "When we're eating Thanksgiving dinner, I might say, 'Here, take this, now it's official.' "

If all goes as planned, Contreras will leave the Army next summer and marry the woman of his dreams. They will live in Colorado Springs and attend college. She's talked about being a teacher, he a probation officer.

Her family from West Virginia will visit frequently. His family will be a daily part of their lives.

Lisa Latorre couldn't be happier.

"I love Jessi very, very, very much," she said. "I'm so thankful my son has found someone so loving, and I thank the good Lord that he found someone who loves him so much.

"What mother wouldn't want that?"

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