Fort Bragg Staff Sgt. Justin Marquez was one of two soldiers killed last weekend after someone opened fire while they were on patrol in Afghanistan.
His parents do not want his death exploited for political purposes.
"And I just want all of our leaders, the leaders of our country, to really take a good look at what is the purpose of these patrols they're going out on," said Justin's mother, Terry Marquez. "What is it that they're trying to accomplish? What is our ultimate goal there at this point in time?"
Justin's parents said their son knew his mission.
"He really became anti-Taliban. He had serious issues with that and I respect that," said Justin's father, Mark Marquez.
"It was the Taliban he was fighting, not the Afghani people," said Terry. "He had slept in their homes, had meals with them. And he told us part of his mission was to get to know the locals, get them to trust him. And that's our only regret, that he didn't have more time to actually use all of the skills and all of the knowledge that he had acquired in the three and a half years that he had been in the military."
"He was in Afghanistan and killed within his first month of his first deployment," said Mark. "That's difficult on the heart of a father and a mother. But when I look at that I recognize that can happen at any time during a deployment, to anyone. And so he did his job during the time he had."
The Marquezs said they are like many other parents
"Over 2,000 people have lost sons and daughters in this war," said Terry. "And we just hope we can find some way to end it at some point in time, and get some peace."
Family said funeral arrangements have not yet been confirmed.
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