Dominic Baffa came home to a celebration of family and community last month after serving his country overseas as a US Marine for the past 10 months.

Twenty-year-old Baffa, the oldest son of Linda and Pat Baffa who have been residents of Massapequa Park for 17 years, entered the US Marine Corps after graduation from Massapequa High School. Most recently, during the Iraqi war, he was stationed in the Persian Gulf for three months on a combat supply ship, the USS Niagara Falls, providing security and supplies to the ground troops, Baffa said.

Baffa completed boot camp at Paris Island, South Carolina just after September 11, 2001. Before the war, Baffa was in Okinawa and then Bahrain in the Middle East.

"From Okinawa, to Afganistan, to the ships in the Gulf, I learned a lot about the world and about different people. It really opened my eyes," said Baffa.

Adding that it felt very good to be home, Baffa said, "My family was always very supportive of anything I wanted to do. My mom and dad made what I did seem important to them, and that always meant a lot to me. Even if was sleeping in a hole outside, they made it seem like that was everything."

"We’re proud, and very glad to have him home," said his father, a retired Port Authority officer. His mother is a substitute teacher at Massapequa High School and Berner Middle School.

Baffa will be home for three weeks before returning to Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. In that time, he said he plans to visit his brother Carmine, a college student in Pennsylvania, and spend time with the rest of his family, including his younger brother, Michael, a senior in Massapequa High School.

Baffa is attached with US Marine Corps, 3rd Battalion, 8th Regiment, Kilo Company, Camp LeJeune.