Hollister resident Brenda Godoy, a specialist in the United
States Army Airborne Unit, recently spent her 23rd birthday
somewhere in Iraq.
Somewhere in the world are 22 birthday cards her mother sent
her, with the hope that at least one would reach her in time.
When Godoy told her mother, Patricia Castillo, that she was
joining the Army she thought it was a joke, Castillo said through
the interpretation of her son, Mario Castillo, Jr.
Hollister resident Brenda Godoy, a specialist in the United States Army Airborne Unit, recently spent her 23rd birthday somewhere in Iraq.
Somewhere in the world are 22 birthday cards her mother sent her, with the hope that at least one would reach her in time.
When Godoy told her mother, Patricia Castillo, that she was joining the Army she thought it was a joke, Castillo said through the interpretation of her son, Mario Castillo, Jr.
“She’s so quiet,” Castillo said. “Going to the Army was hard for her – all the yelling and the hard work.”
She made it her goal, however, to get through boot camp because she didn’t want to come back to Hollister. The Army was her way of making a future for herself.
Godoy left for Kuwait on Sept. 8, 2003, and two weeks later was transported to Iraq. She is a weapons specialist and is not doing any fighting, according to her family.
The day she left for Kuwait her mother started writing her daily letters – her way of coping with the absence of her daughter.
The most difficult part of Godoy being in Iraq is not knowing where she is and what she is doing, Castillo said.
The last time Castillo talked to her daughter she told her to pray twice as much, because it was difficult to be so far away from her family and familiar surroundings.
“She was scared,” she said. “But she said she would be all right because her husband was with her.”
Godoy met her husband, Edward Gonzalez, at Fort Bragg, N.C., where she was stationed before she went overseas. They have been married for about a year, and he being stationed with Godoy relieves some of Castillo’s worries, she said.
Godoy is stationed in Iraq for six months, but when she comes home and is discharged, she plans to attend college, most likely at San Jose State, Castillo said.
Until then her mother will keep writing every day, she said. “They need good support from us.”
