By KELLEY BENHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published October 23, 2005
[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]
Marine Pfc. Manuel Mosquera, 18, blows a kiss to the casket of Roberto Baez at his friend’s funeral Oct. 12 at Bay Pines National Cemetery. Roberto was the reason he became a Marine, Mosquera said. “Some people’s lives are meant to be an inspiration, and it carries on. I’m willing to do whatever it takes, just to make him proud.”
Army Pfc. Roberto Baez, 19, was killed Oct. 3 in Iraq. He sent this cell phone picture to a friend from Fort Bragg. Now his friends tell what they’ll miss about Roberto.
Brian Pena and Roberto Baez, shown at 6 and 8, were friends for 16 years. The day he found out Rob was dead, Brian wrote to the Army: “Why did my best friend have to die? WHY?”
TAMPA - When a mine exploded in Iraq, Roberto Baez disappeared from CiCi's Pizza on Hillsborough and the Lucky Buffet on Waters, from the passenger seat of his best friend's Sentra and from PlayStation cyberspace. He was 19 and grew up in Tampa.
One girl dug for a letter she hadn't thought about in forever and pinned it to her wall; another girl put his picture on her dashboard and talked to him in her head as she drove.
He left a text message on a cell phone and an unworn T-shirt in a closet. He left a hole in places he hadn't visited in months and in people he hadn't seen in years. He has become the places they can't go back to, the rituals they can't relive, the things they can't throw away, can't forget, are afraid of forgetting.
* * *
"We'd always be at our houses playing the video game SOCOM II. Brian's name would be Geronimo but Rob would be Baez like in the real military. Me and Brian, we'd be reckless. We'd kill each other just for fun. But Rob, he'd hide in the bushes or crawl on the ground like it was real. If he was the last one left, he'd lay still, he wouldn't move. If he ever did die, he was beyond pissed. Now when I check the friend circle I see Brian's name, but Rob's name won't light up anymore." - Eric Lamontagne, 18
* * *
"He would come in the door and give me a kiss and say, "I'm sorry I'm sweaty,' and I'd say, "It's okay, you can give me your sweat.' His birthday is Oct. 30 and mine is the 29th. It's always hard to find a cake. It's always a Halloween cake with a candle for the birthday, and you get sick of orange cake. This year it's going to be hard. It's going to be too fresh, too much.
"I had to look in the casket and identify the body. I had to do it for his mother." - Narcissa Jonkas, a friend of Roberto's mother
* * *
"This is the ugly T-shirt he got me. I don't like the color. It says, "Shut up and jump.' It's always going to be in my closet." - Brian Pena, 18
* * *
"He went on my first date with me. I was nervous, so he sat between me and the guy with a big plate of nachos. He was my first kiss. I was nervous, so he showed me on his hand. I'm like, "That's not good enough.' I'm more of a hands-on person.
"He makes me want to go back to the day in middle school when he's poking me in the shoulder saying, "Will you go out with me, will you go out with me, will you go out with me?' Because I know I missed my chance.
"I'm going to drive to my boyfriend's house, because I can't sleep alone tonight." - Vanessa Caro, 19
* * *
"He was always in my refrigerator. They'd skateboard outside my house and when he'd mess up, he'd cuss and he'd say, "Sorry, Cherrie.' I was going to bed and I heard it on the 11 o'clock news. I saw his picture and my heart fell to the floor. One of my first thoughts was that I knew my son was okay. I thanked God for not taking mine." - Cherrie Cepeda, mother of Roberto's friend Rick Sherman
* * *
"He's the one that got me to join. It was his ambition. He drew you to him. Us in the military, we're different people. You shouldn't try to understand this. You won't. They told us by June we'd be in Iraq. I want to go even more now. I have his picture. I'll take it with me. I'm fighting in memory of Robert now." - Pfc. Manuel Mosquera, 18, Marine Corps
* * *
"I'm missing the computer room door being open. The door was always closed and I wanted the door open if they were in there, because of the Internet and everything. If the door is closed I know they aren't in there." - Debby Lamontagne, Eric's mom
* * *
"He wanted SOCOM 3 to come out so bad. We were waiting for it to come out." - Eric Lamontagne
* * *
"We went out when I was like 12 or 11 for like two months. I have a letter he wrote me when he was acting like a jerk. At the end he wrote his heart would always belong to me. I didn't even know he went to Iraq. When I found out what happened I thought, "I gotta find that letter.' " - Joseline Godos, 16
* * *
"We called him Robertcito. Every time I heard his name I'd be happy. If he was here, we would be laughing." - Brian Seymour, 19, Roberto's cousin
* * *
"I saw him in SaveRite. He was asking me what are my plans. I told him I was working at Little Caesars. He told me he was going in. He told me he would pray for me, and I told him I would pray for him.
"I don't want to die. Driving here, if the sign said 50 miles an hour I drove 50. I'm 19, same as him." - Brandon Gilbert, Roberto's friend from sixth grade
* * *
"He always sat in the back and he always sat on the end row. He was so quiet but when he wrote, his voice was so loud. He wrote about passion, love, life and it was so real it wasn't high school. It had depth to it. It made you stop and think.
"When I found out and heard his name I went rolling through my head: I know him I know him I know him. It was the awfulest moment. I know him." Jennifer Maguire, Roberto's sophomore English teacher at Alonso High
* * *
"I told my friends I knew him and I really did. At the Plant football game, recruiters were there and a guy had this T-shirt on that said, "Pain is weakness leaving the body.' I got a little bit angry and started talking a little bit. I said, "If a bomb blows you up, is that weakness leaving the body?' I never would have done that before." - Garrett Dootson, 15, Plant High
* * *
"Brian would drive because he had his car first. It was understood me and Brian would talk trash about the competition and make fun of Rob. Rob never competed. He'd talk like he would, but then he'd get pasta and salad. He'd say, "I'm gonna win.' We'd load up our plates, look up and Rob is standing by the salad. He never ate without the napkins and Parmesan cheese. After a while, me and Brian started hiding the napkins and cheese. He'd look at us like, wha? wha? He always stuttered on the "wha? wha?' He had to have a nap before he started eating. That was his custom. A slice of pizza is 2 points. Bread sticks or a brownie is 1 point. Pasta or salad is no points. Sometimes we'd say, okay, that plate of pasta is 10 points just so he's in the running with us.
"Twenty years from now, if I see a CiCi's, it'll come up. If I see a military uniform, it'll be Rob." - Eric Lamontagne
* * *
"Eric asked me to ship him SOCOM 3 this week. He's having a tough time bringing himself to play it. He knows he'll never play SOCOM 1 again, so he asked me could it go with Rob. In the box he put a CiCi's menu and one of the napkins. Eric wanted me to ask Brian's mom to approach Mr. and Mrs. Baez if it was all right if they would let it be buried with him." - Debby Lamontagne
* * *
"When Rob had his friends over he always made a point to say, "Hey, Justin, come with us.' I told Justin that Rob had gone to fight in the war and it was something he believed in and he didn't come back. He says, "If I go to Rob's house now, what am I going to do?' " - Larissa Perez, family friend, mother of Justin, 11
* * *
"We went to Chinese buffets and they always had bad service. I would never tip. He felt bad, so he'd leave a dollar. He always had to leave that dollar. It'd feel weird if the same group went and he wasn't there." - Brian Pena
* * *
"On Wednesdays when he wore his uniform I used to embarrass him to death. I'd say, boy, you look handsome in that uniform. Boy, his shoes shined. I knew he looked forward to see if I would notice. He'd smile. I'm his grandmother's age so it made it funnier.
"In 27 years of teaching, he's the first student I knew that passed away in any shape, manner or form. That got me more than anything. I put up a bulletin board in his honor with the Pledge of Allegiance and the two articles that were in the paper. I just said thank you for everything." - Agnes Dull, Roberto's world history teacher
* * *
"He was a little big man, he hung around his mom's dress. He said, "Mom be careful. Watch what you eat.' Now everyone will be looking for Rob. Where is Rob?" - Lourdes Seymour, Roberto's aunt
* * *
"I met him when he was 4 and Brian was in a diaper. He used to say hola with a funny accent. He used to knock so soft on the door. I'd say, "Where is your mom?' He'd say, "She left me here.'
"His mother and I speak about how we hoped when they fell in love they would go with a girl that would be nice with us and we would take the kids out places. Maybe when we would be grandmothers we can enjoy more time with the kids. He was always part of the plan. He called me "Fifa." My nickname.
"It was one of those days I felt things are not right. I can't sleep. I vacuumed the bedroom and took a shower. The phone started ringing. Who is calling me that early? I go to pick up the phone, my cell started ringing. It was his mother. She was screaming. My Rob my Rob, Fifa, my Rob. They kill my Rob, they kill my Rob. I go running. I jump on top of Brian. They killed Rob. Please, Brian, wake up, wake up." - Josephine Pena
* * *
"I have a text message from him on my phone. I called his number. It rang twice. It's disconnected." - Brian Pena
* * *
"I want to call every last one of my friends, and I don't know their numbers." - Brandon Gilbert, 19
* * *
"I heard it on the radio. I pulled over and sat there for a second, crying my eyes out. He made me realize that I've been stuck, I'm not moving. He was doing something with his life, even though he died doing it, and I have to do something with mine. I drive for work. I stick his picture on the speedometer and I watch it." - Vanessa Caro, 19
* * *
"The same day he died I got a thing in the mail from the Army. It was one of those brochures. I saw it and I didn't want to touch it." - Brian Pena
* * *
"I punched a window. I was a little upset. When I pulled back the skin I could see my bone, my knuckle. I hope the scar stays on my hand." - Marine Pfc. Manuel Mosquera
Roberto Baez, center, with two of his best friends: Brian Pena, left, and Manuel Mosquera. Baez was home from the Army and Mosquera hadn’t yet left for the Marines. It was one of the few times his military and nonmilitary friends spent time together. “He talked about jumping out of an airplane into darkness and I thought that was cool,” Pena said. His death made Pena angry at the Army, and made Mosquera more eager than ever to fight.
