Following seven months in Afghanistan Marine Corps Cpl. Phillip Marquez comes home to Pomona

POMONA - The houses around the Marquez family home are decorated with red, white and blue streamers and the banners welcoming Marine Corps Cpl. Phillip Marquez home.

After seven months in the desert of southwestern Afghanistan, Marquez found himself surrounded by family and friends (Dec. 3) this week.

Marquez arrived late Wednesday night to Southern California and was back in Pomona by early Thursday morning with his mother, sister and his Basset hound Sam.

Christina Marquez had a new bed with a pillow top mattress waiting for her son.

"It's probably the softest thing I've slept on since I left," the young Marine said. "I sank into that."

Thursday evening the extended family converged on the home where the Marquez sisters - Nikki, Rachael and Tania - prepared their little brother's favorite meal.

"Cheese enchiladas," Rachael said.

"With plenty of sour cream," Tania added.

This was the first combat tour for the U.S. Marine who celebrated his 21st birthday in October while he was at Firebase Fiddlers Green in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, an area considered a Taliban stronghold.

Marquez, an artilleryman, said he knew going in he and his fellow Marines were not going to have it easy.

The enemy "tried to run us out," he said. "There were firefights...We did what Marines do. They just take care of business."

Fighting the enemy is beyond a challenge because it is not a uniformed military force, Marquez said.

"They blend in with the local people," he said.

His unit came across many roadside bombs.

"At one point (we) stopped the Humvees on the road because the (bombs) were splitting Humvees in half," Marquez said.

When his unit first arrived when they first arrived in the flat desert "all we had was our armored vehicles and flaks," he said.

Although there were close calls, all those in Marquez's unit came home alive.

Before he left, Marquez was both anxious and excited about going off to war.

"I was going to see something my father went through in Vietnam," he said.

John Phillip Marquez, a veteran of Vietnam, died four years ago, his wife said.

"My dad would tell me stories and stories," the young Marine said.

As a boy he didn't always understand the stories, but he does now.

"He went through a lot," Marquez said. "This war is a lot different, a lot different than jungle warfare."

Marquez knew it was different the moment he stepped off the plane in Afghanistan. He felt the heat that at time was about 130 degrees.

Marquez's mother and sisters sent care packages filled with hard candy, cookies, chips, Hot Flaming Cheetos and powdered drink mixes like Kool Aid and lemonade mix.

Most important were the baby wipes.

"That's what kept me clean," Marquez said.

While in Afghanistan the young Marine always had his father in mind.

"I prayed to my dad every night. I asked him to protect me and watch over me. I know he was my guardian angel," he said.

Marquez came home the same week President Barack Obama announced an additional 30,000 troops will be sent to Afghanistan.

The young Marine said the additional manpower is needed.

"We do need more troops over there to be a success," Marquez said.