Brothers in arms experience true brotherhood back home
It has been written that comrades in arms oftentimes feel like brothers. Jonathan D. Revzin and Jason Mawhinney have gone one step further. After they returned from the Iraq War, Revzin’s parents welcomed Mawhinney to the family.
The two soldiers had become close during 250 combat missions, operating a behemoth 30-ton “Buffalo” vehicle that destroyed bombs planted along roads.
“Out of all the friends we have, I consider you my brother,” Mawhinney, an only child who never knew his father and whose mother had died two years earlier, confided to Revzin at one point.
“I feel the exact same way,” Revzin responded.
And so their brotherhood was born. They knew their lives could end at any moment as they went out each day to fight insurgents flushed out of Baghdad and into the outlying regions.
And several times, it almost happened. Like the time a 500-pound bomb blew up in front of their vehicle and killed another soldier stationed in the turret of the destroyed vehicle.
Or the time a bomb caused the 60,000- pound Buffalo to do a wheelie, and Revzin was knocked unconscious.
So when their 15-month deployment was coming to an end, Revzin invited Mawhinney to spend a week of their leave with him and his family.
Last week, after going through several weeks of decompression at Fort Stewart, near Savannah, Ga., the pair traveled here.
When they arrived, they saw a sign on the front lawn of the family’s Broad Street home in Cheektowaga.
“Welcome Back From Iraq Jonathan and Jason.”
And that was just the start. There was plenty of home cooking, touring of the area, and, to top it off, a homecoming party attended by about 60 friends and loved ones.
At one point during the party, Revzin’s mother, Jo Anna Osinski, brought out a sprawling sheet cake, and the soldiers were serenaded.
“We sang ‘God Bless America’ to them, and even our dog Bubba joined in the singing, though he didn’t know the words,” Osinski said.
But perhaps the most moving moment of Mawhinney’s stay came when Osinski and her husband, Victor, told him that he should refer to them as “Mom and Dad.”
Mawhinney wept.
“I felt very happy that they accepted me that much,” he said.
Now the brothers are planning their future.
Next April, when Revzin, 24, leaves the Army, he will begin six years of college to gain a master’s degree in computer science.
Two years from now, Mawhinney, 20, will finish his military hitch, including another deployment to Iraq, and move to Buffalo Niagara, where he too will go to college and study business.
“Then we’re going to start a cyber cafe,” Revzin said.
Each is banking on the other’s education to complement their venture, and they are certain it will be a big success.
And isn’t that just like two very close brothers — to dream big?
