Press-Enterprise -- RIVERSIDE - In August, brothers Alejandro Ayala, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force stationed in Kuwait, and his brother Cesar Ayala, a U.S. Marine corporal returning home from his second deployment in Iraq, spent a day together in Kuwait.

As they took leave of each other, Cesar Ayala said, "We're not saying goodbye, just 'see you later' because we'll see each other back in the States."

As it turned out, it was the final goodbye for the brothers.

On Sunday, Alejandro Ayala, 26, of Riverside, died from injuries he received in a vehicle accident in Kuwait while serving with forces fighting the Iraq war, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

The accident is under investigation.

On Monday, Alejandro Ayala's parents, Faustino and Ilda, brother Cesar, sister Angelica and twin sister Liset gathered at the family's home in the Mockingbird Canyon area of Riverside to await word of when their son and brother will come home for the last time.