Oregon Public Broadcasting

If there's a place William Gamez loves above all others -- one place in Oregon he really feels at home -- it's here.

We're at Powell's City of Books in Portland, in the comics room, between stacks of graphic novels and Japanese anime titles. He ate this stuff up when he was an awkward teenager growing up in a suburb of L.A. But it's more than nostalgia that draws him here.

William Gamez:  "I really enjoy the concept of new and used books -- the books get a second chance, stead of just being tossed aside. Everything deserves a second chance"

It might seem kind of odd for an Oregon college student to get so worked up about re-invention. But not if you know about his own transformation.

William Gamez:  "I was 19 and I really thought about -- I hadn't done anything for myself. I got tired of living the straight-up nerd life, always doing what my parents wanted me to do or my friends wanted me to do, you know, everybody else's  expectations."

After September 11th, William Gamez joined the army. He's now 25 years old, and already a veteran  of the war in Afghanistan. He's spending the last few weeks of summer preparing to re-deploy. This time, he's going to Iraq  as a non-commissioned officer with the Oregon National Guard.

William Gamez: "You know people wonder what thought process is going through your head. You've got to ask yourself: there are people in the world who need help. I hate to be cliche, the whole 'be the change' thing, and I'm using air quotes because it's very cliche, but you know are you gonna stand by and just say 'Oh yeah, yeah, people need help', or are you gonna go?"

It was after his first tour of duty that William came to Oregon --mostly because his older sister Roseanne invited him. The two of them are a study in contrasts. Both dark and good looking. But where he's compact and intense, she's tall and willowy. When William decided to join the army, Roseanne was the only one  in the family who didn't beg him to change his mind.

Roseanne Powell:  "But it's really, not his personality growing up. The last thing I would have expected from him was that he joined the army. It kind of surprised us."

For Roseanne, the first lesson of William's deployment was not to obsess over dangers she couldn't control. But she had her moments.

Roseanne Powell:  "Billy called me after one of his very first exchanges--was it one of the first ones you had, I think? There had been some fighting, and one of the translators was killed. But I just remember being in my kitchen and you telling me, and thinking I couldn't live in my happy place anymore."

Roseanne's got her young daughter with her today. Emily's getting antsy with all the adult chatter, so we leave the bookstore for a sunny downtown park.

William and Roseanne are twelve years apart in age. But it's clear they were close as kids.

Roseanne Powell:  "I even went on my first date with my husband with Billy there. You remember? We went ice skating!"

William Gamez:  "Yes yes! I did a face plant right into the wall, it was awesome."

Since William moved up to Oregon to start college after his Afghanistan deployment, he and Roseanne renewed their close relationship. But now, each in their own way, they're both getting ready for the separation of William's second trip overseas.

William's watching his sister prepare to turn her daughter loose on the park's fountains.

Roseanne Powell:  "OK, you can put sunscreen on your legs. Ah, the sunstick. Let's help you out here...."

Finally, he's ready to talk about his first tour through tribal areas of SE Afghanistan.

One such a beautiful day, with the sun shining, his niece frolicking a few feet away, and a street-corner saxophonist warming up the atmosphere, it's hard to imagine William fighting overseas in Iraq. But he's been living with that eventuality every day since his last deployment. And he's not really sorry about it, either. William Gamez: "I'm actually really--not necessarily excited but...my concern is getting my guys out alive."

25-year-old William Gamez.  He's leaving Portland shortly -- he's not allowed to say when -- to ship out for Iraq with the Oregon Guard.