Captain Daddy

A tall, muscular, fit male stands in front of me, I look at him filled with inspiration and awe. His black tank top shows off his scar from a bullet wound on his right shoulder. His closet is filled with green and brown camouflage uniforms and numerous pairs of stiff, light tan combat boots line up against the wall on the floor. A male's closest usually does not look like that but it does for Captain Andrew Espinoza.

Andy has been apart of the military for more than twelve years and has been on two tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. These two tours have been the scariest moments of his life he admits. If he were to ever change his profession because he was given the choice to, he would not do it. His reason being that the military has taught him so many lessons in life that he will pass on to his daughters and family. Without the military he claims that he would never be the person he became today. The multiple values and lessons that are expressed while being in the military become very meaningful and important.

"Be appreciative, live every day as your last and be patient" These quotes mean so much to Andy than to anyone else I know. He risks his life at war and when he returns back home safe, he lives every day as his last cause he never takes anything for granted after fighting. People in Iraq and Afghanistan live in extremely poverty and it made Andy realize how fortunate he is to have had a house growing up as a child and then having a home with his wife and children today.

This is the newspaper article about The Espinoza family 

Back in 2004, leaving all of his friends and family heart broken, Andy left his pregnant wife Trisha and went off to Iraq. He shares "My biggest fear at that point was leaving Trisha and my baby and all I did was worry about them". But quickly Andy's sense of fear shifted to the sense of sadness. Hearing the words "Your daughter was born today" from my wife's doctor and not being there broke my heart. Ava Rose came into this world on the Fourth of July and her patriotic birthday had quite some irony. Doctors found it very unique how Andy was away in Iraq while his daughter was born on the Fourth of July so the hospital brought in some news reporters. Next thing you know Trisha and Ava were on the local news and in the newspaper and Andy was on the next flight home. Patience was key at this point…Andy had to sit patiently on a plane for hours and hours to meet his daughter and Trisha had to wait patiently in a hospital bed with her newborn for hours and hours just for Andy to come.

"My favorite memory of all of this was when my flight landed and as soon as I walked off my plane the first thing I saw was my beautiful wife and my new baby daughter. The applause from people all over the airport roared and I don't think anything can ever top that moment or make me feel the way I did at that moment."

After a 2 week break at home, Captain Espinoza had to go back to Baghdad, Iraq. "When my wife emailed me pictures of Ava she referred to me as "Baghdaddy", since I was a father and I was stationed in Baghdad."

10 years later, Andy head coaches all of Ava and her sister Olivia's sport teams and teaching them valuable lessons that he taught to me. The two girls realize that they are extremely lucky to have Andy as their father because he teaches them so many valuable lessons. He has raised them to be mature, young ladies at a very young age. A tall girl, with short brown hair with a tiny hint of blonde runs across the backyard kicking the soccer ball at such a sharp angle to get it into the goal. That is Ava, the soccer superstar and standing right beside her is a smaller girl with luscious, brown hair with curls that bounce up and down as she runs. She continues to run and prepares to do a cartwheel, and that is Olivia. Andy watches the two of them and smiles so big and bright that it can light up the world. He has taught them to always practice what they love and then they will get better and succeed greatly in life. Andy shares "I teach them the same lessons I learned when I was training. They do not just apply to military training, they apply to life as a whole." He told me to take that lesson with me to college. I want to be a special education teacher so I will study and do anything for the career I love and want the most. I will hopefully succeed with that method, along with every other lesson Andy has shared.

A nice memory Andy and I had and one that he shared with had to do with college. Andy and his family came up to visit me at Bloomsburg and I took him up to my room. The amount of similarities we had between my dorm here and the room he stayed in at Afghanistan were infinite. He said the amount of memories that flooded into his mind when he walked into my room were great. He shared a story on how him and his roommate Lenny needed to decorate their room so they had their kids send them stuff like posters and pictures. Of course the kids picked out silly and funny posters to put up such as Disney Princess's and SpongeBob which really made Andy and Lenny feel some sort of comfort of their homes. Along with the posters, there were many hand drawn and hand written cards that the children's classes created that were sent and those really made Andy and Lenny feel appreciated for what they did. Andy brought up the time when I had my first grade class put together a book wishing him and all the soldiers in his group good luck and safety. He shared with me that he still has them and that made me feel really special.

Andy and his roommate Lenny out in Afghanistan

Andy and his two daughters Ava and Olivia 

Seeing how Andy raises the girls, I can tell that they will have a big and bright future. They know everything from right from wrong, to polite and rude. 

Everyone knows that dads are always protective of their daughters, but Andy is super protective. He doesn't want anything bad to happen to them. Whenever they want to play outside, an adult always has to be out with them to supervise and they can never be left by themselves. Andy teaches them to be polite and mature. For example when the family is out to dinner, he has the girls order their own meals because he knows they are old and mature enough to do so. 

When Andy was away it was very hard for Trisha to work, to clean, to cook and to take care of the girls and their school work and after school activities, so he thinks the girls should be very appreciative and respectful to their mother for all she has done all by herself. When one of the girls disobeys something from Trisha, Andy gets upset and has them apologize and do what they were told to do. He also gives them a lecture on how important it is to be appreciative to things and respectful to all the people that love and care for you. Andy feels bad for all the memories and times he has missed from being away so now all he wants is happiness and fun memories to make and to have Ava and Olivia realize how lucky they are to have their mom to do all of these things for them and for a dad who serves in the military and provides anything and everything for their family. 

Here is a video about kids who parents are in the military

They are the sweetest, most respectful and giving family I've ever seen and I can tell Trisha, Ava and Olivia will be in great hands because Andy is not just a regular daddy…he's a captain daddy!