Family united by Iraq tragedy, divided by politics

By Adam Tanner

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - When U.S. Marine Raul Bravo Jr. died in Iraq last year, his family joined thousands of other Americans who have suffered the tragedy of seeing a loved one killed in the war.

As Bravo's divorced parents and three sisters in Las Vegas consider how to vote in next week's presidential caucus in Nevada, they disagree about the lessons of his death.

His father, Raul Bravo, 68, came illegally to the United States in 1966 from a small Mexican village, was twice deported and was given legal residency after marrying an American. He worked hard and raised a family in Nevada.

Their only son, Raul Jr., decided to join the Marines while still in high school and served two tours in Iraq, writing passionate posts about patriotism on the Internet.

"If you haven't been there, then SHUT UP," Lance Cpl. Bravo wrote about critics of the war in 2005.

"You don't know what it's like. You don't know that the people there want us there, that they need us there. You don't know what it's like to be thousands of miles away from home, away from your loved ones, from everything you've come to know and care about."

"We all knew, and we all wanted to go there ... to make a difference. We know and accept the risks. Not for fame or glory or money. But because we want to, deep down inside we feel it ... to go."

Bravo's father had not encouraged his son to join the U.S. military, but backed his decision and they spoke once or twice a month when he was in Iraq. The son sent $250 a month of his salary to help his father, who had retired from a water utility in Elko, Nevada, and promised to take care of Bravo after his return from war.

When he did come home, the Marine was so badly disfigured in an explosion that his limbs and part of his face were replaced to complete the body in the casket, the family said.

ALL THIS FOR WHAT?

Sitting at his dinner table, Bravo wept as he recalled how his son sometimes spoke to him in dreams after the March 3 death at age 21 in Al Anbar province of Iraq. As Nevada holds its January 19 presidential caucus to choose the Democratic and Republican candidates for the November general election, the father says the Iraq issue will guide his vote.

"I don't want another family to suffer like that -- all this for what?" he said.

"What I say is -- get out before a lot of people suffer," Bravo said, adding he was thinking of voting for Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

Daughter Isabelle, a medical assistant registered as an independent, draws a different lesson from the death and is thinking of voting for a Republican, although she is offended by some of the anti-immigrant rhetoric of the candidates. She cites her father as an example of a former illegal immigrant who ended up contributing to the United States.

"He was deported two times and then he raised this awesome son that fought for this country and died for it," she said, also dabbing away tears from her eyes.