BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Sgt. Jennybert Polanco had always envisioned that he
would pop the question while strolling along a Newport beach or at
Waterfire in downtown Providence.
Polanco never thought he would ask Specialist Jennifer Alves to marry
him in Fallujah, in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, minutes after Iraqi
insurgents sent mortar fire into their camp.
It was a warm night in late July. They were both deployed with the 119th
Military Police Company of the Rhode Island National Guard.
Alves, a combat medic stationed in Baghdad, had come to Fallujah to
visit Polanco, an MP who was then serving in this volatile city west of
the capital. The couple had been dating for three years. They spent that
night talking quietly, under a camouflage netting.
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Jennifer Alves, 24, from Providence and Jennybert Polanco of Providence both with the RI National Guard's 119th Military Police Company got engaged in Fallujah while stationed in Iraq.
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Then, the mortars started falling. Alves, 24, followed the company's 1st
sergeant, looking for cover. Polanco, 25, ran with his platoon into a
ditch.
That's when it occurred to him, Polanco says.
"I wanted her to know the extent of my feelings," says Polanco. "I
didn't want either one of us to have an accident and for her not to know
my feelings for her."
After the mortar attack -- a nightly occurrence in Fallujah -- the
couple returned to their private spot under the netting. Polanco asked
Alves to pull her cot closer to his.
Then, he asked her to marry him. Alves started to cry, Polanco remembers.
Thinking back, it seemed sort of strange, Polanco says. "You are in the
middle of Fallujah and people are trying to kill you and your girl, and
the only thing that comes out of your mouth is: Will you marry me."
Alves remembers that night in Fallujah as "romantic." She had been
mentioning marriage to Polanco for months. Polanco would always say they
were not ready.
The couple raises two children together, Kalia, 4, and Sharai, 2.
Alves's mother watches the girls while their parents are deployed in
Iraq.
The couple are from Providence. She grew up in the city's Mount Hope
section; he came from Washington Park. Alves went to Mount Pleasant High
School; Polanco went to Hope High School.
Alves used to notice Polanco at track meets, but she was too shy to talk
to him. They met a few years later in the National Guard.
Alves joined the military for financial reasons. She wanted to be a
nurse, but she needed money for college. She spent two years on active
duty at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and then returned to Rhode Island to
serve in the National Guard.
Born in New York City, Polanco has been interested in the military ever
since he was a young boy in the Dominican Republic.
"I got infatuated with being a defender of the people," he says. He
joined the junior ROTC program at Hope High and later enrolled at the
University of Rhode Island.
But his heart was in the Guard. "It gave me a sense of patriotism to be
Hispanic and be doing my part for the country. It makes me feel 100
percent American."
Around the camp, the couple keep a low profile. They don't like to hold
hands in front of other soldiers so as not to make them feel homesick
for their own loved ones.
"It's extremely hard," says Polanco. "You have to keep your
professionalism. I push for a friend-type of relationship."
They sleep in separate tents. Alves stays with her platoon; Polanco
bunks with his squad.
They work in different platoons, doing different missions. If something
should happen to one of them, the other would be able to take care of
their daughters.
The couple try to find quiet time together to watch DVDs; Alves likes to
sit with Polanco as he draws.
Polanco says they try to surprise each other with something romantic.
One night, they both went out separately to the PX -- the base store --
to buy new DVDs to watch. They both came back with the same movie.
Alves says soldiers in the unit are allowed to date, but she doesn't
know anyone else who does.
When Polanco went to Kuwait for a break after three months in Fallujah,
he returned with a ring. When he left, "I said, get me a CD or
something, and he came back with a ring," Alves says.
She pulled the poncho liner, which she used as a curtain, around her cot
and he put the ring on her finger.
The couple plan to return to Providence together for a leave early next
month. Alves can't wait to see the girls. After her Guard duty ends,
she's not going to reenlist. "I can't leave my kids again." Alves said.
"This is a phase in my life that is coming to an end."
Polanco, on the other hand, says he wants to stay in the National Guard.
Polanco had figured that the place he got engaged was going to be
somewhere he would want to visit again with his wife.
"I don't think I will come back here to visit."
