Staff writer
A couple of months ago, Army Captain Jose Espinoza didn’t know if he would make it home to enjoy Christmas with his family at Lincolnville.
Son Xavier, a sophomore at Centre High School, was in school when his mom sent him a text message that she would be picking up his dad at the Wichita airport in a couple of days.
“It made me quite happy,” he said.
Espinoza supervises a staff of eight at an army base in Germany where he works as a logistics officer.
“I thought maybe some of them would want to go home for Christmas, but some have families there in Germany and others wanted to save vacation time, so I could get away,” he said.
He got home at 1 p.m. Thursday, just in time to visit two of his daughters’ Christmas parties at school.
“I took a quick shower, and then my wife and I loaded up the cupcakes and we took off,” he said.
The family, including parents and eight children, will be traveling down to Fairfield on Christmas Eve to open gifts with grandparents, uncles and aunts, and cousins.
Espinoza has missed only one Christmas at home since joining the army. He was in Afghanistan in 2009.
He will return to Germany on Jan. 3. His deployment runs until January 2018.