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SGT Roger Pena - U. S. Army - Afghanistan | |
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16 Jun 2006: ------------------------------------ DoD Announces Army Casualty Sgt. Roger P. Pena Jr., 29, of San Antonio died in Musa Qulah, Harlandale alum killed in Afghanistan There's just one thing people should know about Army Sgt. Roger P. Peña Jr., a champion chess player and Harlandale High School alumnus, his grieving father said Thursday. "He was a hero. That's how I want him to be remembered," Roger Peña Sr. said. "It's a great loss. Nobody understands the pain unless they've been there." Peña, 29, a combat medic with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y., was killed Tuesday in Afghanistan. Details of what happened have not been released by the Defense Department, but his father said he was told Peña was caught in an ambush. Another soldier was wounded. Peña only had recently been promoted to sergeant and was considering staying in the military, his father said. "I was distraught when I learned he was going to Afghanistan, but it was his wish," his father said. "To me, going into the Army was a bad decision but I supported him." The older of two sons, the sergeant never told his family members about his work out of fear they would worry more than they already did. A good student who made excellent grades, he was in the youth club at St. Leo's Catholic Church and he enjoyed competing in chess against kids from the North Side. Nine years old when his father began teaching him chess, Peña took to it quickly. He joined the chess club when he got to Harlandale Middle School and began taking part in more serious competitions. In 1991, Peña took first place overall among eighth-graders at the Texas Junior State Championship in Austin. The team placed second in the state meet. "Roger was one of the top players at that time in the state," said Felix Fierros Jr., a chess coach and computer literacy teacher at the middle school at the time. Fierros, who will be teaching at Inez Foster Elementary School in the fall, said the football coaches at Harlandale High School, where Peña played on the football and soccer teams, were overjoyed at his chess-playing ability. "Because of chess, coaches knew he could think ahead and calculate what strategies would be needed in football," Fierros said. "Besides that, he was one of those kids who's a born leader. He had the looks, the smarts, the charisma and the kids liked him." Peña almost attended Texas A&M University, but his father talked him into attending the University of Texas at Austin because it was closer to home. His goal was to graduate and teach history. At UT, he met a pretty student from Mission, Marisol Gomez. He took a semester off after they got married, thinking he would return to get his degree. Instead, until he joined the Army, Peña worked with the H.E. Butt Grocery Co., first at the store on Fredericksburg Road, then at the one on Goliad Road. The sergeant made his last visit home in January to see Marisol, their two sons, Ivan, 5, and Gabriel, 2, and his parents. "When he arrived, he told his mother he needed a home-cooked meal," his father said. "He liked everything, but Mexican food was his favorite." Now, Peña's little boys have no idea what has happened to their father. "They know he's away, but they don't know that he's never coming back," their grandfather said. 08 Mar 2006 | |
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IMPORTANT! DO NOT PRINT THIS PAGE!!!
Why? Because this list changes all the time due to unit movements, soldier transfers, or even soldier casualties.
Note that some of the units do not have ranks shown on their addresses.
This is done at the unit's request, but ALL of our contacts ARE soldiers.
Be sure to change the "ATTN" line to "ATTN: Any Female Soldier" if your package is for a female soldier!
DO NOT expect, or require, a reply from a soldier. (NOTE *): Effective 1 May 2006 this web site added a major layer of security to our contacts' information. This change is necessary to protect our troops and ensure that Any Soldier will continue to operate. The ONLY changes are that the addresses of our contacts are now hidden and the number of addresses you can get are limited. You may obtain addresses simply by clicking on the link provided and correctly filling out the form, the address will then be emailed to you immediately. (NOTE **): The number shown is how many times a form was submitted requesting this address. This does NOT necessarily mean that this contact will be helped by that many folks. Rule of thumb is that anything 5 requests or less may in fact be no support at all. No way to tell exactly unless the contact lets you know in his/her update how much support they are getting. (Note 1.): Note that postage to APO AE and FPO AE (E = Europe) is only to NY where the connection to the APO/FPO (APO = Army Post Office)(FPO = Fleet Post Office) is, or to San Francisco for APO AP and FPO AP (P = Pacific), so you don't pay postage all the way to Iraq/Afghanistan. You might consider picking contacts closer to your mailing area to help cut the cost of mailing. If you live on the East Coast, pick "AE", West Coast, pick "AP", Midwest, well...uh, Thank You for your Support! ;) New with us (December 2005) you might notice "APO AA" and "FPO AA". This is for units in the Caribbean/South America. Normally. However, due to the nature of some units they may be in Iraq but have an address showing "FPO AA". Mail addresses to "AA" goes out of Miami, Florida. (Note 2.): Why are military addresses weird? There isn't a street address or city. What gives? Correct, just about everything about the military is weird to civilians. Military units are very mobile, during war they move around a lot, often they become part of even another unit. The APO (Army Post Office) and FPO (Fleet Post Office) assign APO and FPO numbers as needed, they are NOT static. An APO number may be for a large unit, or a location. An APO number for Baghdad today may be for Frankfurt tomorrow. (Note 3.): The "Expected to leave" date is only an approximate and is one of the least reliable things on this web site. It is because of this that you must check often before you send anything to this unit. There are a few reasons this date is not reliable, to include: it IS a war, it IS the military, we ARE dealing with the APO. The only thing that does not change in the military is that things will change. PLEASE NOTE that a soldier will be dropped off our active list 30 days PRIOR to their end date to avoid mail bouncing. (Note 4.): (Removed for OPSEC reasons)
(Note 5.): The lines, "Contact with approx number of soldiers:" and "Approx how may female soldiers:" have NOTHING to do with unit strength. They are approximately how many other soldiers the contacts believe they can get packages to. This helps you understand that you should not send 100 packages to someone who only deals with 10 soldiers. (Note 6.): This is simply where the unit this contact is from. This is NOT a true picture of the folks in the unit as most all units are made up of folks from all over the United States.) A "Composite Unit" is one made up of other units and is usually temporary for a particular mission. (Note 7.): Updated APO/FPO mailing restrictions courtesy of Oconus.com (Note: About Restriction "U2": "U2 - Limited to First Class Letters", Box "R" is for retired personnel that live overseas and are still authorized an APO/FPO box. Their address will be something like Box 3345R. Doubt you will see anything like that in Afghanistan or Iraq or ...) |
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