Earlier, we showed you snippets of a morning interview with the Prime Minister. But that was just the post game show; minutes before, the Prime Minister had visited with the family of Sergeant Ramon Aguilar. The Sarge returned to training in Las Cuevas today and before he did the Prime Minister stopped in for a visit. We were there.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
At 9:00 am the Prime Minister pulled up on Tapir Street in the Port Loyola area. The Commandant of the BDF was the advance party and he opened with an admonition for the sergeant but the Prime Minister had no such complaint.
Musa to Sgt. Ramon Aguilar: "Sergeant how are you….good to see you."
After that Sergeant Aguilar and the Prime Minister had a casual conversation.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"You don't look like someone who has been lost for nine days."
Sgt. Ramon Aguilar,
"That's the big surprise to everyone. As I told everyone, BDF are well trained so we know how to survive in any situation we find ourselves in…I walked the streets and everywhere I turn…people I don't even know hugging me up crying and saying they are glad I came back."
Rt. Hon. Said Musa,
"We're happy for you."
The visit lasted less than five minutes, enough time for the Prime Minister to squeeze in a few photo opportunities with this soldier of good fortune.
Sgt. Ramon Aguilar,
"I did not expect it. To me I am just a soldier. I am a sergeant doing my job that I am required to do and for that to happen this morning, it was honored for me to know that the leader of the nation took his time out of his busy schedule to come, especially in these areas."
For his mother Juvencia the visit capped off what has been 5 days of relief and joy.
Juvencia Aguilar,
"It is just a joy, a joy, a happiness and I am thanking the Lord because he gave me this opportunity of happiness and I feel so blest because I had the Prime Minister in my home which I didn't look out for it…my heart."
And while it's been an emotional reunion for his mother, for this family, it's also been quite an experience having the media and their prying cameras in and out of their house. This morning, a gaggle of press crowded the entrance to the small house, and them ambushed the pm in a media scrum on their front stair. But this family welcomes the attention.
Jules Vasquez,
How does it feel being now a national figure suddenly in the past 10 days?
Juvencia Aguilar,
"It feels great."
But when the headlines fade and the press finds some other hot new case, this family will still have the memory of these past few days.
Juvencia Aguilar,
"I feel like the paradise open."
Lorna Aguilar, Wife
"For me then, I've learnt to appreciate my husband more when he is home because when he is out there you don't know what could happen out there, which in I have faith that nothing can't happen to him because he is well trained. He could live through anything."
And today he lives home to once again face that "anything."
Sgt. Ramon Aguilar,
"Once you are called you need to go, regardless of family, you need to go and they definitely understand that too so it is not a problem."
Jules Vasquez,
When you are in the jungle you are just another and worse than that, you are a little behind.
Sgt. Ramon Aguilar,
"I am a lot behind. I need to catch a lot on the training."
Lorna Aguilar,
"Well he has a job to do and he has to go and do his job, serving his country."
Jules Vasquez,
What advice have you given him as he embarks on this new mission?
Lorna Aguilar,
"Well just have faith and don't lose your map again."
Juvencia Aguilar,
"I have the faith that the good Lord will be with him and he is strong so I know he'll do it."
Jules Vasquez,
Who said lightning can't strike twice the same place they say.
Juvencia Aguilar,
"It could be, it could strike same place but you don't think that way. You always think positive."
And on the positive side for this soldier, he's probably glad to get back to the bush - because, right now, it's the only place he can get some sleep:
Lorna Aguilar,
"Every time he goes to sleep, people are here and so he doesn't go to sleep until three or four in the morning because of a lot of family, the majority of them are family."
Jules Vasquez,
So he will have to sleep at bush?
Lorna Aguilar,
"Well only there he will get a good night's rest. Nobody will disturb him there."
And if you're wondering about his daughter's October 28th, birthday; that event has been put off to November third when the Sergeant returns.
