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Date Posted: 04/29/03 2:47pm
Author: Pelican
Author Host/IP: 24.205.242.154
Subject: Re: Sad Day . Orozco killed in Iraq
In reply to: BudMan 's message, "Sad Day for Mustangs" on 04/29/03 6:17am

This story appeared on the front page of Tuesday's San Luis Obispo Tribune along with a color photo of Orozco during a 1999 football practice. Locals can buy copies of back issues at the Tribune's South Higuera Street offices.

Posted on Tue, Apr. 29, 2003

'I thought he was on his way home'
Osbaldo Orozco was charismatic Cal Poly football player
Jeff Ballinger
The Tribune

CAL POLY -With the war winding down, 1st Lt. Osbaldo Orozco's family had nearly stopped worrying about him. Then came the knock on the door this past weekend.

It was Army officers telling them that Orozco, 26, a former star football player at Cal Poly and beloved brother, husband and son, had died in Iraq.

"I thought he was already on his way back home, and then I hear this," Orozco's brother Jorge, 28, said Monday. " 'Til now I can't believe it. I wish it was all just a dream."

Orozco, a soldier with the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment based in Fort Hood, Texas, died Friday when the Bradley fighting vehicle he was riding in rolled over while responding to enemy fire, the Pentagon said Monday.

War paint

While at Cal Poly on a full football scholarship, Orozco would put black war paint on his face and wrap a green camouflage bandana around his head before each game.

"Everybody thought he was crazy at first," said Juan Gonzalez, one of Orozco's best friends and teammates.

The face paint was a violation of then-coach Larry Welsh's team rules, but he made an exception after pleas from Orozco and his teammates.

"He said 'Coach, this is my culture,' " Welsh said Monday. "'I've done this all my life. I prepare for football games as a warrior.' It left me tongue-tied."

He earned All-American honors in the NCAA's Division 1-AA as a sophomore on a team that went 10-1. He finished his career in 1999 with 300 tackles, third place on the team's all-time list.

Although a fierce competitor on the field, his fellow Mustangs said Orozco was a fun-loving person off of it who was committed to his family and to achieving success on the team and in school.

In 2001, Orozco became the first member of his family to graduate from college when he earned a degree in social science. He got married and joined the Army the same year.

Gonzalez, now a high school counselor in San Jose, said earning his degree meant a great deal to Orozco.

"He wanted to be of guidance to his little brothers."

'He loved being in there'

Those four brothers and his parents, Mexican immigrants who worked in the grape fields, gathered Monday at the family home in the Central Valley's Tulare County.

They remembered Orozco as the family leader whose achievements they all prized.

"We all looked up to him. He set the path for us to follow," brother Andy, 18, said through sobs. "He was always there for me."

Orozco enrolled in Cal Poly's ROTC program and was commissioned as an Army officer on June 16, 2001, the same day he got his bachelor's degree.

Family members said Orozco loved being in the Army. He was a platoon leader and Bradley commander in Iraq.

"He loved it. He loved being in there," Jorge Orozco said. "The excitement, the thrill of being out there, and I guess the pressure at the same time of being in control, being in command of people, he just loved it."

Orozco had been married for two years to Mayra Mendez Orozco, who got the news at her parents' house in Delano, where she'd been staying while awaiting her husband's return from combat. She said her husband believed in the cause he was fighting for.

"He thought we needed to stop terrorism and Hussein and what he was doing to his people," Mayra Orozco told The Bakersfield Californian.

Orozco had big hopes for his future and all indications were he could achieve whatever he wanted.

"After the Army, he thought he would go into the FBI or the CIA," Mayra Orozco said. "He had a real leadership quality."

Always successful

Gonzalez said Orozco often spoke of his interest in the military and had the impression that he was looking for some structure once his football-playing days were over.

Gonzalez knew Orozco already had a great measure of it.

"He wanted to succeed in everything he did, and he always found a way," Gonzalez said, his voice trailing off. "Always."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Associated Press contributed to this report

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