In the biting cold of winter, Virginia Alvarez held back her tears on the day she was seeing her son off to war.

At 3:00 a.m. last Wednesday, the 52-year-old Jersey City woman couldn’t do anything but say a prayer as her son Matt, 20, breezed through the subzero weather and left the comfort of his home for an early military assembly in Red Banks.

Matt is a member of the Sixth Motor Transport Battalion of the U.S. Marine Reserves that was called up last week to support troops in the ongoing Operation Enduring Freedom. There are about 160 soldiers who will take part in the mission.

“I felt a certain heaviness in my heart. There’s nothing more difficult for a mother like me than watching a son off to a battle,” Virginia said with a distinct sadness in her voice. “I’m scared, but I don’t have a choice but to let him go.”

Virginia said it was not her first time she saw a son off to war. Her eldest son Mark, 26, was also called up to serve in Bosnia just a few months after he joined the U.S. Marines Corp. in 1995. But even with such previous experience, Virginia admitted that it hasn’t become easier for her.

“I’m very proud of my sons that they fight for the country. But fear still sinks in my whole being each time I think of the great danger out there in the battlefield,” she said.

The night before Matt left, Virginia said she told him many times to keep a strong faith in God so that he will be guided accordingly through his mission.

“I asked him to wear the rosary I gave him around his neck. But he said it’s against the rule to wear anything other than the military gear. So I told him to carry the rosary in his pocket at all times.”

Matt, a lance corporal in the reserves and a freshman at New Jersey City University (NJCU), enlisted in the Marines to follow the footsteps of his father, Florentino. Florentino, who is currently in the Philippines, served for more than 20 years in the Philippine Marines.

After 10 months of rigid training as a reservist, Virginia said Matt will be deployed to a country that has not been clearly specified―only that it will be somewhere in Southwest Asia. He will render military services for a year.

According to reports, the Army reservists of the 920th Company―who were trained at Caven Point Military base in Jersey City―had already been deployed to Kuwait.

As of this day, Virginia still hopes that the U.S. government will not declare war against Iraq. Otherwise she’s worried that Mark may be called up again.

“I’ve already been going through a lot of emotional stress lately. I don’t have any idea what to do [if] two of my sons will be in a war zone,” Virginia said.

Asked what advice she could give to mothers or parents in the same situation, Virginia paused for a moment and said: “I know exactly the feeling of uncertainty, the pain of being away from a son or daughter, but let’s give our children the freedom to pursue their dreams and serve the country. Let’s take so much pride in what they do, and pray that they will be back home in one piece.”