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Ed Schultz Message Board _ Iraq _ Putting a face on the war
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 5 2006, 11:37 PM
When I started this thread over three years and 1400 posts ago, I had no idea that it would become one of the longest active threads on this board nor that it would tell so many diverse stories about how these fine Americans died and how their families adapted to the changes from those deaths. Please join me on this New Year's Day 2010 in a prayer that there will soon be no need to continue updating this thread and that the families of those who have died find peace of mind and strength of spirit as they continue their lives without their loved ones.
This is a mosaic made up of 4,000 Americans who have been killed in Iraq. The faces displayed in this thread are displayed among them. The 4,000 plateau was reached on Easter Sunday; March 23, 2008.
This forum is being established in hopes that stories pertaining to those who are killed or injuried and the effects that has on their families will be posted here. I do this not to prolong the agony of those who are suffering or grieving, but in hopes that at long last some degree of the great loss that our country is undergoing will begin to be understood by those of us who sacrifice nothing, other than sitting in front of a keyboard and expressing our views on what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. No derailment or diversion please out of respect for those who have given so much.
On edit 8/3/07: I am starting to add more than one story a day since my in box has been overwhelmed with these stories recently. I have not been able to post some of them because they have been removed from the archives of the sites that carried them before I could get them posted. When checking in beginning on page 25, be sure to check for multiple postings ona given day.
On edit 9/8/07: I know these article appear in newspapers across this country because I have no trouble finding them on line. Please feel free to post them in this thread when you see them in your local paper.
Thank you for your support in reading these posts and keeping this thread free of political discourse over the past almost one year.
QUOTE
Injured soldier improving
By Mark J. Armstrong
The Daily Times
Published October 6, 2006
A former Hill Country resident injured while serving in Iraq showed signs of improvement this week as family members keep vigil at his bedside at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Doctors there removed an oral incubator this week from Sgt. Michael Boothby, 26, with 172nd Striker Brigade out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska, and have reduced the amount of sedative that had kept Boothby unconscious.
Tim Boothby said that his brother has been able to respond to vocal commands, but that those responses are very weak and delayed.
“His wife was leaning over him asking him to smile at her, he managed to curl his upper lip in an effort, in her excitement she leaned down to kiss him and he attempted to pucker his lips to kiss her back,” Tim Boothby said.
Tim Boothby said his brother was injured by an improvised explosive devise that exploded Sept. 16 along a road outside of Baghdad. Michael Boothby and two other soldiers were wounded.
The other two have since returned to duty, but Michael Boothby was struck by shrapnel in the back of the head, sending bone fragments throughout his brain, according to family members.
“The doctors are still saying it is to early to give an accurate prognosis, but say that these are very good signs and that they are looking forward very hopefully, but warn that it will be a very long and bumpy road to recovery,” Tim Boothby said.
Michael Boothby, a Center Point High School graduate, is married and has three children.
“We are all praying for him,” said Center Point High School principal Scott Turner.
Michael Boothby’s wife and parents have been flown to Maryland to be with him. Benefit accounts have been established at Wells Fargo Bank and at Union State Bank to assist the family with the expenses of travel and lost time at work.
“We, as a family, are asking first and foremost for your prayers for a speedy and full recovery and are trusting God will supply all that is needed in the financial aspect of all of this,” said Tim Boothby.
http://dailytimes.com/story.lasso?ewcd=845f809aa2c38b99
By Mark J. Armstrong
The Daily Times
Published October 6, 2006
A former Hill Country resident injured while serving in Iraq showed signs of improvement this week as family members keep vigil at his bedside at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Doctors there removed an oral incubator this week from Sgt. Michael Boothby, 26, with 172nd Striker Brigade out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska, and have reduced the amount of sedative that had kept Boothby unconscious.
Tim Boothby said that his brother has been able to respond to vocal commands, but that those responses are very weak and delayed.
“His wife was leaning over him asking him to smile at her, he managed to curl his upper lip in an effort, in her excitement she leaned down to kiss him and he attempted to pucker his lips to kiss her back,” Tim Boothby said.
Tim Boothby said his brother was injured by an improvised explosive devise that exploded Sept. 16 along a road outside of Baghdad. Michael Boothby and two other soldiers were wounded.
The other two have since returned to duty, but Michael Boothby was struck by shrapnel in the back of the head, sending bone fragments throughout his brain, according to family members.
“The doctors are still saying it is to early to give an accurate prognosis, but say that these are very good signs and that they are looking forward very hopefully, but warn that it will be a very long and bumpy road to recovery,” Tim Boothby said.
Michael Boothby, a Center Point High School graduate, is married and has three children.
“We are all praying for him,” said Center Point High School principal Scott Turner.
Michael Boothby’s wife and parents have been flown to Maryland to be with him. Benefit accounts have been established at Wells Fargo Bank and at Union State Bank to assist the family with the expenses of travel and lost time at work.
“We, as a family, are asking first and foremost for your prayers for a speedy and full recovery and are trusting God will supply all that is needed in the financial aspect of all of this,” said Tim Boothby.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 5 2006, 11:43 PM
One of the "little" ironies of the war involving two classmates who graduated from high school two years ago, one of whom was on his second tour in Iraq.
QUOTE
Central Illinois Classmates Die in Iraq
Oct 04, 2006 - Two young soldiers from Creve Coeur have died in Iraq in separate attacks.
Kristoffer Walker and George Obourn Jr – both 2004 graduates of East Peoria High School – died in Iraq this week.
East Peoria High School Superintendent Cliff Cobert said the two men had joined the Army together under the "buddy plan".
The school is planning a memorial for Walker and Obourn Friday at the East Peoria Homecoming football game.
video http://week.com/Story.aspx?preview=&type=ln&NStoryID=54545.
Oct 04, 2006 - Two young soldiers from Creve Coeur have died in Iraq in separate attacks.
Kristoffer Walker and George Obourn Jr – both 2004 graduates of East Peoria High School – died in Iraq this week.
East Peoria High School Superintendent Cliff Cobert said the two men had joined the Army together under the "buddy plan".
The school is planning a memorial for Walker and Obourn Friday at the East Peoria Homecoming football game.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 6 2006, 03:06 PM
Death of a soldier: US losses mount in Battle of Baghdad by Dave Clark
2 hours, 52 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) - A single shot rang out and Staff Sergeant Jonathan Rojas dropped lifelessly into the cramped hull of his armoured car, pitching forward as bright red blood spurted from under his helmet.
His team reacted instantly.
Platoon medics piled in through the 17-tonne Stryker's rear door and one of his men stepped up to replace him in the squad leader's open roof hatch and guide the vehicle out of an east Baghdad slum.
"God damn it. He's hit in the head. He's shot in the f(expletive) head" -- "Roger, roger, gotcha" -- "He's got a pulse, got a pulse" -- "Is he breathing? -- "He's got a gunshot wound to the head. He's got pulse. He's not breathing."
For a fearful moment the crush in the crew compartment seemed like chaos, but Rojas' team was well drilled. Every soldier on board had a job to do as the platoon roared to the nearest US base, fighting to save their sergeant's life.
"He's not breathing" -- "We need to move" -- "Get the ramp up, get the ramp up, get the ramp up" -- "Go, go, go" -- "I need you up on top" -- "I need a weapon" -- "Here, take my weapon. It's got one in the breach, OK?"
"OK. I need immediate f(expletive) dust off at Loyalty, copy?"
Despite the platoon's efforts, it was clear that the hidden sniper had found his mark. Rojas was dead on arrival four kilometres (2.5 miles) away at Camp Loyalty and no longer needed a "dust off," or emergency evacuation by helicopter.
The sergeant, a 27-year-old from the industrial town of Hammond, Indiana, left behind a wife and two pit bull terriers.
Rojas' platoon from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team washed the blood from the floor of their troop transport then gathered to salute his body as it was carried onto a Blackhawk chopper under a blue plastic shroud.
Afterwards, they headed back to the streets to continue their mission.
For the troops of the 172nd, who were deployed to Baghdad two months ago after seeing their year-long tour of duty in Iraq abruptly extended just days before they were due to return home, Rojas' death was a cruel blow.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061006/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestusbaghdad
Posted by: Mr Kelly Oct 6 2006, 03:55 PM
QUOTE(aleman1948 @ Oct 6 2006, 01:37 AM) [snapback]311113[/snapback]
This forum is being established in hopes that stories pertaining to those who are killed or injuried and the effects that has on their families will be posted here.
From: SPC Fish
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 12:22 AM
To: soldiers@michaelmoore.com
Subject: I can't sleep
Thank you! Thank you for caring about us, speaking for us, and telling the truth. A British coalition soldier gave me his copy of Fahrenheit 9/11 while I was serving in Afghanistan. That soldier was involved in a suicide car bomb this month and we took care of him at the hospital. I just got back yesterday and looked you up. I've always been a liberal girl, and it ticks me off to no end that Bush is going to try to take away my rights and screw America over with his Christian-influenced "leadership." And what makes me even more angry is that all my friends and my husband are serving in a bullshit war in Iraq. I served in another bullshit war as a nurse in Kandahar.
I have sent soldiers with missing limbs, with vents breathing for them, with malaria infections, and with burns from IEDs and land mines back to Germany and I don't know why this had to happen in the first place. We will never find Osama, it's a lost effort. In Iraq, we are only breeding more terrorists because we won't leave them alone and let them fix their own problems. We just want to storm on in and make "functional governments" within the Middle East so we can profit from them and their oil. The war is killing my friends and I'm sick of it, I want my husband to come home alive. I'm sick of thinking about the soldiers screaming in the trauma bay before we took them to surgery, and I haven't even seen combat, only the effects. I watched C-SPAN today and saw my senator, Barbara Boxer, ask Condoleeza Rice why we're still there if no progress is being made. She could not answer it, her reply was a tap dance of excuses. It made me cry. Thank you for listening to us.
- SPC Fish
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 6 2006, 04:14 PM
QUOTE(Mr Kelly @ Oct 6 2006, 05:55 PM) [snapback]311547[/snapback]
From: SPC Fish
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 12:22 AM
To: soldiers@michaelmoore.com
Subject: I can't sleep
Thank you! Thank you for caring about us, speaking for us, and telling the truth. A British coalition soldier gave me his copy of Fahrenheit 9/11 while I was serving in Afghanistan. That soldier was involved in a suicide car bomb this month and we took care of him at the hospital. I just got back yesterday and looked you up. I've always been a liberal girl, and it ticks me off to no end that Bush is going to try to take away my rights and screw America over with his Christian-influenced "leadership." And what makes me even more angry is that all my friends and my husband are serving in a bullshit war in Iraq. I served in another bullshit war as a nurse in Kandahar.
I have sent soldiers with missing limbs, with vents breathing for them, with malaria infections, and with burns from IEDs and land mines back to Germany and I don't know why this had to happen in the first place. We will never find Osama, it's a lost effort. In Iraq, we are only breeding more terrorists because we won't leave them alone and let them fix their own problems. We just want to storm on in and make "functional governments" within the Middle East so we can profit from them and their oil. The war is killing my friends and I'm sick of it, I want my husband to come home alive. I'm sick of thinking about the soldiers screaming in the trauma bay before we took them to surgery, and I haven't even seen combat, only the effects. I watched C-SPAN today and saw my senator, Barbara Boxer, ask Condoleeza Rice why we're still there if no progress is being made. She could not answer it, her reply was a tap dance of excuses. It made me cry. Thank you for listening to us.
- SPC Fish
........and the beat goes on...........
Posted by: Mr Kelly Oct 6 2006, 04:58 PM
QUOTE(aleman1948 @ Oct 6 2006, 06:14 PM) [snapback]311559[/snapback]
........and the beat goes on...........
and on
I am the spouse of a military recruiter.
From: Jocelyn
Date: Mon, 23 May 2005 15:32:49
To: soldiers@michaelmoore.com
Subject: Army Recruiting
I am at a loss when it comes to finding help. I just stumbled upon this website and thought hey--it cant hurt. I am the spouse of a military recruiter. Army to be exact. I have been writing members of congress and even the President himself and I am not finding help or support. My husband who served in Iraq was selected for recruiting. This life is not his choice. We have been relocated to a city where we have been stripped of all our military customs, commissary and PX and housing, and there is minimal compensation. I do not see my husband until Sundays. He is so exhausted from day to day that I fear something is going to happen to him. The hours are horrid, the pressure on him is outrageous and the mental change that he is going through is unacceptable!!! Iraq changed him to begin with and now the recruiting assignment is changing him even more. We are completely broke living paycheck to paycheck, which we have never done. We are in a town that IS NOT affordable for a military member. We have no family time and the kids and myself are suffering. We have no hope of owning a home anytime in the near future and that is ever if my husband doesn't enter a mental facility. I started writing people long before the whole recruiting scandal. I am yet to find a report that shows how much pure HELL the military recruiter goes through himself. Nothing has been shown on how much the family that is behind him suffers either. The hours are so long and tiring that recently there was an incident where a recruiter was in accident because of lack of sleep. Luckily he or anyone else was not injured but what about next time? I don't want that to be my husband!!! I have not spoke to a spouse yet that is happy with their husbands lifestyle as a recruiter. I just want people to hear a different side to the story. Not to dismiss what the recruiters are doing wrong but to help reform recruiting in general so they don't have to be lying scum. My husband is a wonderful soldier that would rather go back to Iraq than be here recruiting. I am so outraged and at a loss. I am doing my best to be there for my husband but I am ready to give up. He doesn't have a choice in this matter. In fact he was forced to either reenlist indefinitely before this assignment or get out of the military and never be able to enlist again. And flush that 13 years that he has giving to this country down the drain. I am sick of this scandal, I am sick of those head honchos acting like they didn't know what the recruiters were doing when they are the ones putting the pressure on the soldiers to get the contracts. I don't appreciate it AT ALL! The recruiters cannot even speak up in fear of punishment. Even us as spouses should keep our mouths shut in fear that it will be taken out on our spouse. I will not keep my mouth shut. The country needs to know!!!
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 6 2006, 08:08 PM
QUOTE(Mr Kelly @ Oct 6 2006, 06:58 PM) [snapback]311588[/snapback]
and on
I am the spouse of a military recruiter.
From: Jocelyn
Date: Mon, 23 May 2005 15:32:49
To: soldiers@michaelmoore.com
Subject: Army Recruiting
I am at a loss when it comes to finding help. I just stumbled upon this website and thought hey--it cant hurt. I am the spouse of a military recruiter. Army to be exact. I have been writing members of congress and even the President himself and I am not finding help or support. My husband who served in Iraq was selected for recruiting. This life is not his choice. We have been relocated to a city where we have been stripped of all our military customs, commissary and PX and housing, and there is minimal compensation. I do not see my husband until Sundays. He is so exhausted from day to day that I fear something is going to happen to him. The hours are horrid, the pressure on him is outrageous and the mental change that he is going through is unacceptable!!! Iraq changed him to begin with and now the recruiting assignment is changing him even more. We are completely broke living paycheck to paycheck, which we have never done. We are in a town that IS NOT affordable for a military member. We have no family time and the kids and myself are suffering. We have no hope of owning a home anytime in the near future and that is ever if my husband doesn't enter a mental facility. I started writing people long before the whole recruiting scandal. I am yet to find a report that shows how much pure HELL the military recruiter goes through himself. Nothing has been shown on how much the family that is behind him suffers either. The hours are so long and tiring that recently there was an incident where a recruiter was in accident because of lack of sleep. Luckily he or anyone else was not injured but what about next time? I don't want that to be my husband!!! I have not spoke to a spouse yet that is happy with their husbands lifestyle as a recruiter. I just want people to hear a different side to the story. Not to dismiss what the recruiters are doing wrong but to help reform recruiting in general so they don't have to be lying scum. My husband is a wonderful soldier that would rather go back to Iraq than be here recruiting. I am so outraged and at a loss. I am doing my best to be there for my husband but I am ready to give up. He doesn't have a choice in this matter. In fact he was forced to either reenlist indefinitely before this assignment or get out of the military and never be able to enlist again. And flush that 13 years that he has giving to this country down the drain. I am sick of this scandal, I am sick of those head honchos acting like they didn't know what the recruiters were doing when they are the ones putting the pressure on the soldiers to get the contracts. I don't appreciate it AT ALL! The recruiters cannot even speak up in fear of punishment. Even us as spouses should keep our mouths shut in fear that it will be taken out on our spouse. I will not keep my mouth shut. The country needs to know!!!
This is an aspect of this war that is not much covered, other than to say that the recruiters are under a lot of pressure to get results and leave it at that. The families of the recruiters (especially those that never asked to become recruiters) must be living in a diffrent world altogether since many recruiters are forced to live away from military installations and accept standard seperate rations for housing and food in areas where the housing is so much more expensive than they are given to cover it. This is one of the reasons I started this thread; to find out what hidden effects this war is having on the families.
Posted by: Mr Kelly Oct 6 2006, 08:20 PM
QUOTE(aleman1948 @ Oct 6 2006, 10:08 PM) [snapback]311723[/snapback]
This is one of the reasons I started this thread; to find out what hidden effects this war is having on the families.
I think the national guard of Louisiana deployed in Iraq during kitrina, had it pretty tough
young kids, hearing about people being stranded (and worse) in their hometown, must have been devastated
What's More Important?
From: Joe C.
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 10:44 AM
To: soldiers@michaelmoore.com
Subject: What's More Important?
Mr. Moore,
My name is Joe and I am an active duty U.S. Marine. Next Monday I will depart on my THIRD trip to Iraq and let me tell you, I'm so very excited to go do my part for a Democratic Iraq...
We all understand the possibility of 'war' when we join the military, especially the Marines, but that doesn't mean we have to agree with the reasoning behind it. I could go on and on right now about the reasons why I think this 'War On Terror' is crap, Ill refrain from beating the dead horse. The problem I'm having right now is that instead of going to Iraq to fight the lost cause, I would so much rather spend my blood, sweat, and tears by volunteering my time in Louisiana or Mississippi and actually make a difference... a REAL difference.
Instead I have to go to Iraq and 'fight for freedom' and 'defend my nation'... 'Defend my nation from what?' is the question I posed to my senior leadership just this past week, only to be glared at. My hats off to those aiding the sick and dying in New Orleans and the other regions affected by Katrina.
Keep doing the great things you're doing for the country Mr. Moore. Thank you!
Respectfully,
Joe C.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 6 2006, 09:11 PM
QUOTE(Mr Kelly @ Oct 6 2006, 10:20 PM) [snapback]311732[/snapback]
I think the national guard of Louisiana deployed in Iraq during kitrina, had it pretty tough
young kids, hearing about people being stranded (and worse) in their hometown, must have been devastated
What's More Important?
From: Joe C.
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 10:44 AM
To: soldiers@michaelmoore.com
Subject: What's More Important?
Mr. Moore,
My name is Joe and I am an active duty U.S. Marine. Next Monday I will depart on my THIRD trip to Iraq and let me tell you, I'm so very excited to go do my part for a Democratic Iraq...
We all understand the possibility of 'war' when we join the military, especially the Marines, but that doesn't mean we have to agree with the reasoning behind it. I could go on and on right now about the reasons why I think this 'War On Terror' is crap, Ill refrain from beating the dead horse. The problem I'm having right now is that instead of going to Iraq to fight the lost cause, I would so much rather spend my blood, sweat, and tears by volunteering my time in Louisiana or Mississippi and actually make a difference... a REAL difference.
Instead I have to go to Iraq and 'fight for freedom' and 'defend my nation'... 'Defend my nation from what?' is the question I posed to my senior leadership just this past week, only to be glared at. My hats off to those aiding the sick and dying in New Orleans and the other regions affected by Katrina.
Keep doing the great things you're doing for the country Mr. Moore. Thank you!
Respectfully,
Joe C.
Anybody have anything from their hometown papers about the 19 that were killed in Iraq this last six days? There must be something out there about them.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 6 2006, 11:47 PM
Everybody keeps saying that they wnat to read something positive about the war. This story is bittersweet, but at least the soldier highlighted here has the right motives for his actions, and he is still alive and trying to accomplish his goals.
QUOTE
Oct 6, 2:39 PM EDT
Soldier fighting in Iraq also fights for his U.S. citizenship
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- Pvt. Stepan Provorov withstands attacks by insurgents in Iraq who shoot at him and send mortars dangerously close to his Stryker vehicle, but it is his fight for U.S. citizenship that weighs heavily on his mind.
The Fort Lewis soldier joined the Army last year and applied for his citizenship so he could bring his wife and children from Russia.
The process has been slow, despite letters and visits to immigration offices by his commanders in Baghdad.
"We're getting to the point where we have exhausted every resource and it's frustrating," said Lt. Craig Coppock of DuPont, Provorov's platoon leader in Baghdad. "All there needs to be is for someone to say OK. No one can tell us why that can't happen."
In May, Provorov, 30, had an immigration interview and passed tests on English, U.S. history and government.
The FBI also has finished its checks, but a separate background check by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services remains incomplete.
Provorov sought congressional help, but Ruth Clapp, aide to Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said there was little they could do to speed the process.
She did say people who asked for help with background checks eventually got the immigration benefit they wanted.
"Sadly, many of them had to wait a very long time - several years in some cases," she wrote in an e-mail to Provorov.
Shelly Langlais with the Department of Homeland Security, said in an Aug.7 e-mail that she would contact Provorov when his case was ready to finish processing.
Provorov had yet to hear from her. Langlais did not respond to a request for more information by The News Tribune, which has a reporter embedded with Stryker soldiers in Iraq.
Provorov grew up in Siberia, experiencing the corruption and chaos of post-Soviet Russia. His brother died in a shootout and he said his own life was threatened.
In 1996, he went to Chicago, where his father had friends. Two years later he was granted asylum.
Provorov met his wife while she was visiting friends and he was working multiple jobs selling cars and driving cab.
She had to leave when her visa expired, so vowing to bring his family back, Provorov got a green card and joined the Army in September 2005.
After basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., Provorov asked to be assigned to a unit that would be sent to Iraq, picking Fort Lewis because he wanted to be a Stryker brigade soldier.
"I always wanted to be a soldier, and then I found a country worth fighting for," Provorov said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WA_SOLDIERS_CITIZENSHIP_WAOL-?SITE=RIWAR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Soldier fighting in Iraq also fights for his U.S. citizenship
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- Pvt. Stepan Provorov withstands attacks by insurgents in Iraq who shoot at him and send mortars dangerously close to his Stryker vehicle, but it is his fight for U.S. citizenship that weighs heavily on his mind.
The Fort Lewis soldier joined the Army last year and applied for his citizenship so he could bring his wife and children from Russia.
The process has been slow, despite letters and visits to immigration offices by his commanders in Baghdad.
"We're getting to the point where we have exhausted every resource and it's frustrating," said Lt. Craig Coppock of DuPont, Provorov's platoon leader in Baghdad. "All there needs to be is for someone to say OK. No one can tell us why that can't happen."
In May, Provorov, 30, had an immigration interview and passed tests on English, U.S. history and government.
The FBI also has finished its checks, but a separate background check by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services remains incomplete.
Provorov sought congressional help, but Ruth Clapp, aide to Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said there was little they could do to speed the process.
She did say people who asked for help with background checks eventually got the immigration benefit they wanted.
"Sadly, many of them had to wait a very long time - several years in some cases," she wrote in an e-mail to Provorov.
Shelly Langlais with the Department of Homeland Security, said in an Aug.7 e-mail that she would contact Provorov when his case was ready to finish processing.
Provorov had yet to hear from her. Langlais did not respond to a request for more information by The News Tribune, which has a reporter embedded with Stryker soldiers in Iraq.
Provorov grew up in Siberia, experiencing the corruption and chaos of post-Soviet Russia. His brother died in a shootout and he said his own life was threatened.
In 1996, he went to Chicago, where his father had friends. Two years later he was granted asylum.
Provorov met his wife while she was visiting friends and he was working multiple jobs selling cars and driving cab.
She had to leave when her visa expired, so vowing to bring his family back, Provorov got a green card and joined the Army in September 2005.
After basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., Provorov asked to be assigned to a unit that would be sent to Iraq, picking Fort Lewis because he wanted to be a Stryker brigade soldier.
"I always wanted to be a soldier, and then I found a country worth fighting for," Provorov said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 7 2006, 11:06 AM
This is another veteran of Iraq who will require long-term counseling and rehabilitation as a result of his injuries. Will he be yet another veteran running for office since he has a degree in political science? Only time will tell. Good luck to him and his family as they begin their long journey into the future.
QUOTE
Soldier from Francestown wounded in Iraq bombing
By STEPHEN BEALE
Union Leader Correspondent
Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006
A Francestown native was severely injured in Iraq when an improvised explosive device was detonated while he was on a patrol with the Army platoon he led.
Lt. Scott Quilty’s right arm had to be amputated below the elbow and his right leg below the knee as a result of the injuries, according to his father, R. Scott Quilty, who said he had not been told where in Iraq the attack had occurred. It happened Sunday night.
“He had only been there six weeks, and they have been moving him around,” Quilty said yesterday in an interview. “He didn’t have any permanent station at the time.”
Quilty said his son, 26, was initially taken to a hospital northwest of Iraq, then transported Monday to a military hospital in Germany, where he was placed in the intensive care unit. He is scheduled to arrive at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., today or tomorrow.
His family was first informed of his wounds early Monday in a phone call from the Army, Quilty said. Despite the severity of the injuries, he said, he was just relieved to hear that his son was alive.
“As long as he’s alive, you can fix everything else,” Quilty said.
Monday afternoon, he spoke with his son over the phone. “He was pretty concerned about his platoon,” Quilty said. “He didn’t know exactly what had happened to him at that point.
“He assured me that he would be OK,” he said.
Quilty attended high school at Contoocook Valley Regional in Peterborough, where he enjoyed hiking and mountain climbing and once rebuilt a jeep with his father.
He completed his senior year in 1998 and enlisted in the Army as a private. After three years in the service, he returned home and earned his political science degree at the University of New Hampshire in 2004. While at UNH, he participated in the ROTC program, earning the rank of second lieutenant.
Yesterday, family friends and former college instructors said Quilty was a bright and likeable person who was determined to serve in the military.
“He was a good student,” said Lionel Ingram, an adjunct professor of political science at UNH who taught Quilty world affairs and Russian government. “He was also a friendly individual and got along quite well in class.”
At UNH, Quilty ranked at the top of his cadet class, according to an ROTC official. He graduated cum laude and was named the Department of the Army superior cadet. He also received the Distinguished Military Graduate and Presidential Saber awards.
“They were all dedicated,” Ingram said of Quilty and his fellow cadets. “These people are normal human beings who have strong motivations to accomplish what they need to accomplish.”
Quilty’s father said his son’s devotion to his mission was evident in a postcard sent by the soldier shortly after his arrival in Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division in the Army. The card had a one-sentence message.
“I believe in what I’m doing, and I think this platoon can make a contribution,” Quilty wrote to his parents.
Sgt. Thomas Thibeault, acting police chief in Francestown, remembers Quilty as a youngster, when his father worked as a patrol office for the department in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“He was a tough kid when we knew him, and I’m sure he’s tougher now,” Thibeault said. “He’s the type that can work through something like this.”
Thibeault said he called the Quilty home yesterday, offering any assistance they might need. Quilty’s mother’s name is Janet, and he has one sister, Tiffany.
“We’re a pretty tight community here in Francestown,” Thibeault said. “We’ll do whatever it takes to help people.”
Yesterday, ConVal High School honored Quilty during the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning.
“I wanted them to listen to what those words really mean and think about Scott and his family,” said Principal Sue Dell.
Union Leader correspondent Nancy Foster contributed to this report.
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Soldier+from+Francestown+wounded+in+Iraq+bombing&articleId=cbe8821c-5988-490f-a72b-9fd71b1efb2aBy STEPHEN BEALE
Union Leader Correspondent
Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006
A Francestown native was severely injured in Iraq when an improvised explosive device was detonated while he was on a patrol with the Army platoon he led.
Lt. Scott Quilty’s right arm had to be amputated below the elbow and his right leg below the knee as a result of the injuries, according to his father, R. Scott Quilty, who said he had not been told where in Iraq the attack had occurred. It happened Sunday night.
“He had only been there six weeks, and they have been moving him around,” Quilty said yesterday in an interview. “He didn’t have any permanent station at the time.”
Quilty said his son, 26, was initially taken to a hospital northwest of Iraq, then transported Monday to a military hospital in Germany, where he was placed in the intensive care unit. He is scheduled to arrive at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., today or tomorrow.
His family was first informed of his wounds early Monday in a phone call from the Army, Quilty said. Despite the severity of the injuries, he said, he was just relieved to hear that his son was alive.
“As long as he’s alive, you can fix everything else,” Quilty said.
Monday afternoon, he spoke with his son over the phone. “He was pretty concerned about his platoon,” Quilty said. “He didn’t know exactly what had happened to him at that point.
“He assured me that he would be OK,” he said.
Quilty attended high school at Contoocook Valley Regional in Peterborough, where he enjoyed hiking and mountain climbing and once rebuilt a jeep with his father.
He completed his senior year in 1998 and enlisted in the Army as a private. After three years in the service, he returned home and earned his political science degree at the University of New Hampshire in 2004. While at UNH, he participated in the ROTC program, earning the rank of second lieutenant.
Yesterday, family friends and former college instructors said Quilty was a bright and likeable person who was determined to serve in the military.
“He was a good student,” said Lionel Ingram, an adjunct professor of political science at UNH who taught Quilty world affairs and Russian government. “He was also a friendly individual and got along quite well in class.”
At UNH, Quilty ranked at the top of his cadet class, according to an ROTC official. He graduated cum laude and was named the Department of the Army superior cadet. He also received the Distinguished Military Graduate and Presidential Saber awards.
“They were all dedicated,” Ingram said of Quilty and his fellow cadets. “These people are normal human beings who have strong motivations to accomplish what they need to accomplish.”
Quilty’s father said his son’s devotion to his mission was evident in a postcard sent by the soldier shortly after his arrival in Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division in the Army. The card had a one-sentence message.
“I believe in what I’m doing, and I think this platoon can make a contribution,” Quilty wrote to his parents.
Sgt. Thomas Thibeault, acting police chief in Francestown, remembers Quilty as a youngster, when his father worked as a patrol office for the department in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“He was a tough kid when we knew him, and I’m sure he’s tougher now,” Thibeault said. “He’s the type that can work through something like this.”
Thibeault said he called the Quilty home yesterday, offering any assistance they might need. Quilty’s mother’s name is Janet, and he has one sister, Tiffany.
“We’re a pretty tight community here in Francestown,” Thibeault said. “We’ll do whatever it takes to help people.”
Yesterday, ConVal High School honored Quilty during the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning.
“I wanted them to listen to what those words really mean and think about Scott and his family,” said Principal Sue Dell.
Union Leader correspondent Nancy Foster contributed to this report.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 7 2006, 06:54 PM
Another young Marine is wounded in Iraq. Thankfully he is going to recovery fully, but it could have been much more severe since this was a neck injury. It looks like he will be returning to duty after his recupration in Hawaii. Semper Fi, Dale.
QUOTE
Marine wounded in Iraq
Star Beacon
Cpl. Dunford of Jefferson expected to make full recovery
By ELLEN KOLMAN
JEFFERSON - - On Sept. 24, just 10 days after being deployed to Iraq, Jefferson native Lance Cpl. Dale Dunford II, of the U.S. Marine Corps, was wounded in action by a sniper's bullet.
Dunford, 19, is expected to make a full recovery. He's recuperating from his wounds in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
"At Al Anbar, a province in western Iraq, I was called up onto a roof to help watch and provide security when a sniper shot me in the shoulder," Dunford said, Tuesday, during a telephone interview from Kaneohe Bay.
"At first, I didn't know what actually happened. I fell onto the roof and thought there had been an explosion," he said. "After I was dragged away to safety, I realized I must have been shot."
The bullet broke into three parts upon impact. One part exited the left side of his neck, a second part was removed later from the back of his neck, and the last piece remains where it is lodged in his neck, Dunford said.
"The doctor told me the third piece needs to stay because it would do more damage to remove it," he said.
Dunford endured surgery to remove the one of the bullet pieces while still in Iraq. He then was flown to Ramstein Air Force Base, in Germany, for a couple of days to recover from surgery and to change his dressings. From there, he was flown back to the base at Kaneohe Bay, Dunford said.
Meanwhile, a USMC spokesman called at 11:15 p.m. Sept. 30, to tell Dunford's family members that they could join their son in Hawaii.
"Everything moved so fast. We got the call and immediately left for the Cleveland airport," said Dunford's mother, Kim Dunford of Jefferson.
"Dale called us himself soon after he had been wounded, to reassure us that he was OK," she said. "We are so thankful that he is doing well. We are hoping he can home (to Jefferson) with us soon."
Dunford's parents, Dale and Kim, and his sister Joyce, are in Hawaii with him. A brother, 13-year-old Kyle, remained behind in Jefferson with other family and friends.
The Marines have been very accommodating and supportive of the Dunfords during this difficult time, Kim Dunford said.
"The Marines paid for our flights and will reimburse us for the food and lodging while we are here in Hawaii," she said. "The Marine Corps stresses the need for the family to be beside their wounded family member to aid in the healing process."
Ever since Dunford was a little boy, he had a dream of becoming a Marine. Dreams became real in September 2005 after his graduation from Jefferson Area High School, when he reported to basic training at Parris Island, S.C.
Soon, Dunford was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, in Kaneohe Bay. In mid-September 2006, his battalion was deployed to Iraq.
This experience has not dampened Dunford's fervor for the Marine Corps.
"Dale is just as gung-ho as ever," Kim Dunford said. "We are a very patriotic family and support his decision to be a Marine wholeheartedly."
Kim Dunford credits the family's faith and the outpouring of prayers for getting them through this crisis.
"The support from everyone praying has been such an encouragement, and (our daughter) Joyce has set up a Web site to let everyone know Dale's progress (www.caringbridge.org/visit/daledunford)," she said.
Dunford will be receiving the Purple Heart.
"We are so proud of our son; he is our hero," Kim Dunford said.
http://www.starbeacon.com/local/local_story_277075753?start:int=0
Star Beacon
Cpl. Dunford of Jefferson expected to make full recovery
By ELLEN KOLMAN
JEFFERSON - - On Sept. 24, just 10 days after being deployed to Iraq, Jefferson native Lance Cpl. Dale Dunford II, of the U.S. Marine Corps, was wounded in action by a sniper's bullet.
Dunford, 19, is expected to make a full recovery. He's recuperating from his wounds in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
"At Al Anbar, a province in western Iraq, I was called up onto a roof to help watch and provide security when a sniper shot me in the shoulder," Dunford said, Tuesday, during a telephone interview from Kaneohe Bay.
"At first, I didn't know what actually happened. I fell onto the roof and thought there had been an explosion," he said. "After I was dragged away to safety, I realized I must have been shot."
The bullet broke into three parts upon impact. One part exited the left side of his neck, a second part was removed later from the back of his neck, and the last piece remains where it is lodged in his neck, Dunford said.
"The doctor told me the third piece needs to stay because it would do more damage to remove it," he said.
Dunford endured surgery to remove the one of the bullet pieces while still in Iraq. He then was flown to Ramstein Air Force Base, in Germany, for a couple of days to recover from surgery and to change his dressings. From there, he was flown back to the base at Kaneohe Bay, Dunford said.
Meanwhile, a USMC spokesman called at 11:15 p.m. Sept. 30, to tell Dunford's family members that they could join their son in Hawaii.
"Everything moved so fast. We got the call and immediately left for the Cleveland airport," said Dunford's mother, Kim Dunford of Jefferson.
"Dale called us himself soon after he had been wounded, to reassure us that he was OK," she said. "We are so thankful that he is doing well. We are hoping he can home (to Jefferson) with us soon."
Dunford's parents, Dale and Kim, and his sister Joyce, are in Hawaii with him. A brother, 13-year-old Kyle, remained behind in Jefferson with other family and friends.
The Marines have been very accommodating and supportive of the Dunfords during this difficult time, Kim Dunford said.
"The Marines paid for our flights and will reimburse us for the food and lodging while we are here in Hawaii," she said. "The Marine Corps stresses the need for the family to be beside their wounded family member to aid in the healing process."
Ever since Dunford was a little boy, he had a dream of becoming a Marine. Dreams became real in September 2005 after his graduation from Jefferson Area High School, when he reported to basic training at Parris Island, S.C.
Soon, Dunford was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, in Kaneohe Bay. In mid-September 2006, his battalion was deployed to Iraq.
This experience has not dampened Dunford's fervor for the Marine Corps.
"Dale is just as gung-ho as ever," Kim Dunford said. "We are a very patriotic family and support his decision to be a Marine wholeheartedly."
Kim Dunford credits the family's faith and the outpouring of prayers for getting them through this crisis.
"The support from everyone praying has been such an encouragement, and (our daughter) Joyce has set up a Web site to let everyone know Dale's progress (www.caringbridge.org/visit/daledunford)," she said.
Dunford will be receiving the Purple Heart.
"We are so proud of our son; he is our hero," Kim Dunford said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 8 2006, 10:47 AM
Support groups are common among those who have contracted diseases and those giving up smoking, drinking or drugs. They are also one way that the families of those involved in Iraq and Afghanistan use to cope with the stress they feel every day. Here is one example.
QUOTE
Military mothers find strength in numbers
Support group offers aid to moms of those in service
FLUSHING TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, October 08, 2006
By Beata Mostafavi
bmostafavi@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6210
FLUSHING - Military mom Dawn Kreklau struggles to keep a happy face for her 8-year-old daughter when she really wants to break down in tears.
Karen Popovits knows her son was devastated after losing a comrade but felt helpless.
Kim Barber and Valorie Nelson fear the unknown because their military children aren't allowed to tell them where they are.
For these women, news of violence in the Middle East means long days of dreading the worst because a loved one is fighting there.
Plopped down on a sofa and chairs near a fireplace at Flushing's Holy Cross Lutheran Church, they held hands in prayer, cried and hugged as they shared fears and laughed over military lingo they didn't get with the only other women who understood.
"We share a bond no one else does," said Popovits, of Flushing, whose son, U.S. Army Spc. Nicholas Popovits, 21, has been in Afghanistan for more than six months. "We need each other."
Popovits started a support group for military women this month after finding there didn't seem to be any such group in the county.
"We hear two soldiers were killed or a helicopter went down, and we hold our breath because we don't know if that was our soldier," she said. "You just cannot imagine what goes through your mind."
"I was sure other women felt this burden."
Kreklau - whose son, Pfc. Andrew Linn, 20, is a gunner and striker in Iraq - said she had searched and searched for others to talk to.
More http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-39/116031001873260.xml&coll=5.Support group offers aid to moms of those in service
FLUSHING TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, October 08, 2006
By Beata Mostafavi
bmostafavi@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6210
FLUSHING - Military mom Dawn Kreklau struggles to keep a happy face for her 8-year-old daughter when she really wants to break down in tears.
Karen Popovits knows her son was devastated after losing a comrade but felt helpless.
Kim Barber and Valorie Nelson fear the unknown because their military children aren't allowed to tell them where they are.
For these women, news of violence in the Middle East means long days of dreading the worst because a loved one is fighting there.
Plopped down on a sofa and chairs near a fireplace at Flushing's Holy Cross Lutheran Church, they held hands in prayer, cried and hugged as they shared fears and laughed over military lingo they didn't get with the only other women who understood.
"We share a bond no one else does," said Popovits, of Flushing, whose son, U.S. Army Spc. Nicholas Popovits, 21, has been in Afghanistan for more than six months. "We need each other."
Popovits started a support group for military women this month after finding there didn't seem to be any such group in the county.
"We hear two soldiers were killed or a helicopter went down, and we hold our breath because we don't know if that was our soldier," she said. "You just cannot imagine what goes through your mind."
"I was sure other women felt this burden."
Kreklau - whose son, Pfc. Andrew Linn, 20, is a gunner and striker in Iraq - said she had searched and searched for others to talk to.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 8 2006, 10:35 PM
This one is also bittersweet in that this marine got to extend his leave so that he could attend the birth of his daughter, only to head for Iraq never to see her again. There are 2744 stories of those left behind from the action in Iraq and another 341 from the Afghanistan theater, not to mention the over 21,000 injured in both areas of confrontation. This is but one.
QUOTE
Fallen Marine was new father
Web-posted Oct 6, 2006
By ANN ZANIEWSKI
Of The Oakland Press
CLARKSTON - Little Caitlin Peterson has her father9s eyes and smile.
Advertisement
But he only got to spend the first three days of her life with her.
Marine Capt. Justin Peterson, who recently celebrated the birth of his daughter, was killed Sunday in a noncombat vehicle accident in Iraq9s Al Anbar province. The father of three was 32.
"Justin was the one always trying to make everybody laugh," his wife, Patty Peterson, said Thursday.
Capt. Peterson was a supply officer assigned to the 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Twentynine Palms, Calif. He had been in Iraq for about six months.
Patty Peterson said her husband always knew he wanted to be a Marine, like his grandfather.
Capt. Peterson was born in Rochester9s Crittenton Hospital. He moved as a child to Virginia and then to Kentucky, following the ministry of his father, a Baptist pastor.
"For one who has spent 35 years speaking to audiences of all sizes, suddenly my vocabulary seems woefully inadequate to express either the heartache or the pride that overwhelms our extended family," his father, the Rev. Dale Peterson, said in an online memorial posting.
The family moved to Southfi eld the summer before Capt. Peterson9s sophomore year in high school, and later to Davisburg when his father became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Davisburg. Capt. Peterson and Patty met in Sunday school when both were 17.
Capt. Peterson joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Southfield Christian High School in 1992. He went into the reserves while studying for a business degree at Taylor University in Indiana, which Patty Peterson also attended.
He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1997. He was assigned to a base in North Carolina and also served at the Broadhead Armory in Detroit.
He and Patty married in July 2002. They lived in Pontiac before moving to the base in Quantico, Va., in 2004. They went the following year to California.
Knowing her husband was headed for Iraq, Patty Peterson moved back to Michigan. She lived with her parents in Clarkston while her husband was overseas.
Capt. Peterson followed his wife to Michigan a week later, when his leave began. He was to go back to the base at the end of March, but worked with his major to get his leave extended so he could be present for Caitlin9s April 6 birth. He left three days later.
"He had daddy9s little girl," Patty Peterson said. "He loved his boys, but he was really looking forward to having a little girl to spoil. Out of the three, she9s the one that looks the most like him."
Capt. Peterson also had two sons, 6- year-old Jared and 2-year-old Jayden.
He was known for pulling pranks and telling jokes. He enjoyed playing soccer.
Patty Peterson said her husband also was a gentleman, holding doors open for people to pass through and often using "sir" and "ma9am."
Eight days before his daughter was born, Capt. Peterson became an uncle for the first time.
His brother, Joshua, is also a Marine.
Capt. Peterson also is survived by his mother Ginna, siblings Charity (Brandon) Geddes, Jordan and Joy Peterson and grandparents Don and Libby Woodworth.
Visitation is planned for 2-8 p.m. Sunday at Harrison Funeral Home in Springfield Township. A funeral is 10 a.m. Monday at Marimont Community Church in Pontiac.
Burial is planned at Great Lakes National Cemetery near Holly.
The Department of Defense, which released the information about Peterson9s death, said the vehicle accident is under investigation.
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/100606/loc_2006100625.shtml
Web-posted Oct 6, 2006
By ANN ZANIEWSKI
Of The Oakland Press
CLARKSTON - Little Caitlin Peterson has her father9s eyes and smile.
Advertisement
But he only got to spend the first three days of her life with her.
Marine Capt. Justin Peterson, who recently celebrated the birth of his daughter, was killed Sunday in a noncombat vehicle accident in Iraq9s Al Anbar province. The father of three was 32.
"Justin was the one always trying to make everybody laugh," his wife, Patty Peterson, said Thursday.
Capt. Peterson was a supply officer assigned to the 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Twentynine Palms, Calif. He had been in Iraq for about six months.
Patty Peterson said her husband always knew he wanted to be a Marine, like his grandfather.
Capt. Peterson was born in Rochester9s Crittenton Hospital. He moved as a child to Virginia and then to Kentucky, following the ministry of his father, a Baptist pastor.
"For one who has spent 35 years speaking to audiences of all sizes, suddenly my vocabulary seems woefully inadequate to express either the heartache or the pride that overwhelms our extended family," his father, the Rev. Dale Peterson, said in an online memorial posting.
The family moved to Southfi eld the summer before Capt. Peterson9s sophomore year in high school, and later to Davisburg when his father became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Davisburg. Capt. Peterson and Patty met in Sunday school when both were 17.
Capt. Peterson joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Southfield Christian High School in 1992. He went into the reserves while studying for a business degree at Taylor University in Indiana, which Patty Peterson also attended.
He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1997. He was assigned to a base in North Carolina and also served at the Broadhead Armory in Detroit.
He and Patty married in July 2002. They lived in Pontiac before moving to the base in Quantico, Va., in 2004. They went the following year to California.
Knowing her husband was headed for Iraq, Patty Peterson moved back to Michigan. She lived with her parents in Clarkston while her husband was overseas.
Capt. Peterson followed his wife to Michigan a week later, when his leave began. He was to go back to the base at the end of March, but worked with his major to get his leave extended so he could be present for Caitlin9s April 6 birth. He left three days later.
"He had daddy9s little girl," Patty Peterson said. "He loved his boys, but he was really looking forward to having a little girl to spoil. Out of the three, she9s the one that looks the most like him."
Capt. Peterson also had two sons, 6- year-old Jared and 2-year-old Jayden.
He was known for pulling pranks and telling jokes. He enjoyed playing soccer.
Patty Peterson said her husband also was a gentleman, holding doors open for people to pass through and often using "sir" and "ma9am."
Eight days before his daughter was born, Capt. Peterson became an uncle for the first time.
His brother, Joshua, is also a Marine.
Capt. Peterson also is survived by his mother Ginna, siblings Charity (Brandon) Geddes, Jordan and Joy Peterson and grandparents Don and Libby Woodworth.
Visitation is planned for 2-8 p.m. Sunday at Harrison Funeral Home in Springfield Township. A funeral is 10 a.m. Monday at Marimont Community Church in Pontiac.
Burial is planned at Great Lakes National Cemetery near Holly.
The Department of Defense, which released the information about Peterson9s death, said the vehicle accident is under investigation.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 10 2006, 05:02 PM
Here is another positive story resulting from the many injuries incurred in wars throughout the last few decades. The techniques that are being developed are being transferred to the civilian sector to the benefit of us all. At least something good has come from our wars, even if it has cost many dead and wounded to perfect these techniques.
QUOTE
Advanced surgery saves soldiers' legs
Wednesday October 11, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO - A 2004 shooting and roadside bomb in Iraq left US Marine Sergeant Oscar Canon, 25, with a gaping hole in his thigh the size of a baseball - a wound that should have cost him his leg. Yet today he can walk and run again.
"In previous wars, this patient would have undergone an amputation," said Dr Amy Wandel, a plastic surgeon who operated on Canon at the US Navy Medical Centre in San Diego.
Dr Wandel said the amputation rate in the Iraq conflict was just 20 per cent, compared with 76 per cent during the Vietnam War, meaning thousands of limbs were saved.
Faster treatment and evacuation, as well as new plastic surgery techniques, "have allowed us to care for injuries that in previous wars would have resulted in the death of the patient or an amputation in the field", said Dr Wandel, who has just retired from the Navy.
"The biggest difference is that during the Vietnam and Korean wars, those injuries resulted in the amputation because we did not have the technology we have to reconstruct nerves, arteries and veins, and then close huge soft tissue wounds," she said.
"All of the work that we are now doing in the military will be able to translate into the civilian world to improve our care for patients, including from motor vehicle accidents," she added.
Sergeant Canon said he did not realise how seriously he had been hurt until he tried to stand up.
"Lying there I just saw my femur. I thought, this is not good."
The recovery process was gruelling, and he has undergone 58 operations since then.
"A lot of people don't realise that plastic surgery has such a big impact," he said.
Marine Sergeant Douglas Hayenga, 23, has undergone nearly two dozen operations, which included installing a plate as long as his tibia, followed by a bone graft. He walks with a cane, but no more surgery is planned for now.
Military doctors said most US injuries in Iraq were from explosive devices and shrapnel, with legs and arms vulnerable because they were not shielded by body armour.
The Pentagon said 20,687 in the US military had been wounded in Iraq as of last Friday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10405270
Wednesday October 11, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO - A 2004 shooting and roadside bomb in Iraq left US Marine Sergeant Oscar Canon, 25, with a gaping hole in his thigh the size of a baseball - a wound that should have cost him his leg. Yet today he can walk and run again.
"In previous wars, this patient would have undergone an amputation," said Dr Amy Wandel, a plastic surgeon who operated on Canon at the US Navy Medical Centre in San Diego.
Dr Wandel said the amputation rate in the Iraq conflict was just 20 per cent, compared with 76 per cent during the Vietnam War, meaning thousands of limbs were saved.
Faster treatment and evacuation, as well as new plastic surgery techniques, "have allowed us to care for injuries that in previous wars would have resulted in the death of the patient or an amputation in the field", said Dr Wandel, who has just retired from the Navy.
"The biggest difference is that during the Vietnam and Korean wars, those injuries resulted in the amputation because we did not have the technology we have to reconstruct nerves, arteries and veins, and then close huge soft tissue wounds," she said.
"All of the work that we are now doing in the military will be able to translate into the civilian world to improve our care for patients, including from motor vehicle accidents," she added.
Sergeant Canon said he did not realise how seriously he had been hurt until he tried to stand up.
"Lying there I just saw my femur. I thought, this is not good."
The recovery process was gruelling, and he has undergone 58 operations since then.
"A lot of people don't realise that plastic surgery has such a big impact," he said.
Marine Sergeant Douglas Hayenga, 23, has undergone nearly two dozen operations, which included installing a plate as long as his tibia, followed by a bone graft. He walks with a cane, but no more surgery is planned for now.
Military doctors said most US injuries in Iraq were from explosive devices and shrapnel, with legs and arms vulnerable because they were not shielded by body armour.
The Pentagon said 20,687 in the US military had been wounded in Iraq as of last Friday.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 10 2006, 05:09 PM
Here is another story of a marine who was injured twice, the second time being severe enough to bring him home. Notice the opening and closing lines of the story. I also wish I had access to the series they allude to in the article where there are further details of this marine's history and others from the area who were injured. Anyone in the Kokomo area have any information? (Scoutster?)
QUOTE
Wounds of war
THE ISSUE: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, frequently diagnosed among troops returning from Iraq.
OUR VIEW: Though the deployment of U.S. troops remains a point of contention in this country, unwavering support for our troops is a must.
Marine Lance Cpl. Bret McCauley was a security guard at Camp David, the Maryland retreat used by every president since Eisenhower. But the Kokomo native gave up the plumb assignment to serve in Iraq with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
That’s what Marines do. Yet he was injured twice during his tour in one of the most dangerous places in the world.
On March 26, 2004, the 2001 Taylor High School graduate was shot in the left thigh. Doctors told him he could be transported to Landstuhl, Germany, for more medical treatment and then home. Or, they said, he could stay and rejoin his unit.
He stayed. That’s what Marines do.
Six months later, McCauley was injured again – this time, severely. A car loaded with explosives plowed into his convoy, knocking him unconscious. He awoke from a coma two weeks later in Bethesda, Md. His spleen and one of his kidneys had been removed. He had deep cuts in the right arm, buttocks and neck from shrapnel. His left arm nearly had been severed.
McCauley’s story was told in a series of articles we published last week called “The Wounds of War.” It also told of the Marine’s struggle with Post Traumatic Stress and the adjustment he faced after returning home.
His story isn’t unique.
Since the U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003:
• 19,688 U.S. servicemen have been wounded there.
• 10,600 have suffered battlefield injuries but returned to combat after treatment in Iraq.
• 3,000 have lost a leg, arm or two limbs in Iraq.
Thousands more have died. Servicemen like Army National Guard Spc. Brian Michael Clemens, 19, of Kokomo; Army Pvt. Robert McKinley, 23, of Kokomo; Army Sgt. Jarrod Black, 26, of Peru; Marine Lance Cpl. James Swain, 20, of Kokomo, and Army Sgt. Rickey Jones, 21, of Kokomo.
Continued deployment of U.S. troops remains a point of contention in this country. Certainly, that debate will be a factor in the November election.
Unwavering support for our troops, however, is a must. That’s what grateful Americans do.
http://www.kokomotribune.com/opinion/local_story_283014329.html
THE ISSUE: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, frequently diagnosed among troops returning from Iraq.
OUR VIEW: Though the deployment of U.S. troops remains a point of contention in this country, unwavering support for our troops is a must.
Marine Lance Cpl. Bret McCauley was a security guard at Camp David, the Maryland retreat used by every president since Eisenhower. But the Kokomo native gave up the plumb assignment to serve in Iraq with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
That’s what Marines do. Yet he was injured twice during his tour in one of the most dangerous places in the world.
On March 26, 2004, the 2001 Taylor High School graduate was shot in the left thigh. Doctors told him he could be transported to Landstuhl, Germany, for more medical treatment and then home. Or, they said, he could stay and rejoin his unit.
He stayed. That’s what Marines do.
Six months later, McCauley was injured again – this time, severely. A car loaded with explosives plowed into his convoy, knocking him unconscious. He awoke from a coma two weeks later in Bethesda, Md. His spleen and one of his kidneys had been removed. He had deep cuts in the right arm, buttocks and neck from shrapnel. His left arm nearly had been severed.
McCauley’s story was told in a series of articles we published last week called “The Wounds of War.” It also told of the Marine’s struggle with Post Traumatic Stress and the adjustment he faced after returning home.
His story isn’t unique.
Since the U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003:
• 19,688 U.S. servicemen have been wounded there.
• 10,600 have suffered battlefield injuries but returned to combat after treatment in Iraq.
• 3,000 have lost a leg, arm or two limbs in Iraq.
Thousands more have died. Servicemen like Army National Guard Spc. Brian Michael Clemens, 19, of Kokomo; Army Pvt. Robert McKinley, 23, of Kokomo; Army Sgt. Jarrod Black, 26, of Peru; Marine Lance Cpl. James Swain, 20, of Kokomo, and Army Sgt. Rickey Jones, 21, of Kokomo.
Continued deployment of U.S. troops remains a point of contention in this country. Certainly, that debate will be a factor in the November election.
Unwavering support for our troops, however, is a must. That’s what grateful Americans do.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 11 2006, 08:48 PM
This is the case of a marine who had served a previous tour in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and was on his second tour in Iraq. That in itself is not unusual as many of our forces have served two or three tours in those nations. The remarkable thing (and tragic as well) was that Sgt. Arechaga graduated from high school in 2002. In my estimation his was not the best way to see the world, but he apparently was committed to what he was doing and loved doing it.
QUOTE
Marine killed on third tour
BY ZACHARY R. DOWDY
Newsday Staff Writer
October 11, 2006
One by one, Sgt. Julian Arechaga's buddies, all dedicated Marines, were being called back for duty in Iraq, so the 23-year-old Baldwin native re-enlisted last month, starting his third tour in battle and second tour in war-torn Iraq.
His four-year career as a zealous military man who deeply loved his profession came to an end Sunday when an improvised explosive device struck his Humvee, killing him.
Military officials drove to his Baldwin home and broke the news to his family about 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
"He was very serious and very dedicated to his job," said Sheyla Randazzo, a sister who helped raise Arechaga in Baldwin. "He loved it."
Arechaga was at least the second Baldwin resident to fight and die in the war.
Spc. Wilfredo Urbina, 29, a firefighter, died Nov. 29, 2004, when a car bomb exploded near his Humvee in Baghdad.
"In March, it would have been over," Randazzo said. "He already did his two deployments and this was the third one. He was going to become a Suffolk County cop and he was going to go to college, you know."
Randazzo said that her brother, a former Oceanside High School wrestler, was promoted recently to sergeant and that he specialized in infantry as a member of the 1st Battalion, Sixth Marine Charlie Company, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Randazzo said her brother's love for military life was clear: As soon as he graduated from Oceanside in the summer of 2002, he went to the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office on Hempstead Turnpike in Hempstead.
He was off to boot camp that September.
"He went to boot camp and it was tough, but he liked it," Randazzo said. "He was very into it and happy and proud that he got through it."
His four-year career took him to Iraq twice and to Afghanistan.
His latest commitment was to be over in August, but he re-enlisted when his friends started getting called up, she said.
Randazzo said Arechaga was scheduled to be home again, this time permanently, by March.
Then, she said, he was going to apply to local colleges and try to fulfill the dream of becoming a Suffolk County police officer.
"He liked being in the military more than anything," Randazzo said
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lisold11q4927987oct11,0,159927.story?coll=ny-top-headlines
BY ZACHARY R. DOWDY
Newsday Staff Writer
October 11, 2006
One by one, Sgt. Julian Arechaga's buddies, all dedicated Marines, were being called back for duty in Iraq, so the 23-year-old Baldwin native re-enlisted last month, starting his third tour in battle and second tour in war-torn Iraq.
His four-year career as a zealous military man who deeply loved his profession came to an end Sunday when an improvised explosive device struck his Humvee, killing him.
Military officials drove to his Baldwin home and broke the news to his family about 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
"He was very serious and very dedicated to his job," said Sheyla Randazzo, a sister who helped raise Arechaga in Baldwin. "He loved it."
Arechaga was at least the second Baldwin resident to fight and die in the war.
Spc. Wilfredo Urbina, 29, a firefighter, died Nov. 29, 2004, when a car bomb exploded near his Humvee in Baghdad.
"In March, it would have been over," Randazzo said. "He already did his two deployments and this was the third one. He was going to become a Suffolk County cop and he was going to go to college, you know."
Randazzo said that her brother, a former Oceanside High School wrestler, was promoted recently to sergeant and that he specialized in infantry as a member of the 1st Battalion, Sixth Marine Charlie Company, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Randazzo said her brother's love for military life was clear: As soon as he graduated from Oceanside in the summer of 2002, he went to the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office on Hempstead Turnpike in Hempstead.
He was off to boot camp that September.
"He went to boot camp and it was tough, but he liked it," Randazzo said. "He was very into it and happy and proud that he got through it."
His four-year career took him to Iraq twice and to Afghanistan.
His latest commitment was to be over in August, but he re-enlisted when his friends started getting called up, she said.
Randazzo said Arechaga was scheduled to be home again, this time permanently, by March.
Then, she said, he was going to apply to local colleges and try to fulfill the dream of becoming a Suffolk County police officer.
"He liked being in the military more than anything," Randazzo said
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 12 2006, 12:03 AM
Here are two from the same area who died not too far apart in time. [quote]Another northwest Louisiana Marine dies in Iraq
Summerfield resident was on his second deployment
October 11, 2006
Lance Cpl. Jon Eric Bowman, 21, of Summerfield. (Photo courtesy of rustonleader.com)
ABOUT LANCE CPL. JON ERIC BOWMAN
From Summerfield in Claiborne Parish.
Graduated from Summerfield High School in 2004.
Died Moday when an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol Humvee in Iraq.
ARMED FORCES MEET RECRUITING GOALS
Despite five years of war since the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the East Coast and more than three years of war since the Coalition invasion of Iraq, the Defense Department announced Tuesday that all active services met or exceeded recruiting goals for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
The Army exceeded its goal of 80,000 by 635 entries. And the Marine Corps bested its goal, 32,301, by three dozen volunteers. Military personnel retention goals were also met. Related articles:
• Improvised bomb kills Marine from Shreveport
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• World News
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• Veracruz, Mexico
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By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com
and Ashley Northington
adnorthington@gannett.com
Another northwest Louisiana Marine, a combat veteran from Claiborne Parish with only a year or so left in uniform, has died in combat, his family reports.
The death of Lance Cpl. Jon Eric Bowman, 21, on Monday is the second involving an area Marine in Iraq in the past week. John Edward Hale, 20, was killed Friday when an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol in Anbar Province.
Bowman, a 2004 graduate of Summerfield High School, was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee, his widow, Dawn Farley Bowman, said Tuesday from her home in Summerfield.
"He'd been in the been in the Marines 2 1/2 years," she said, less than 18 hours after solemn, uniformed Marines from Bossier City-based Bravo Co., 1/23rd Marines arrived at her family's home to break the dreadful news. "I was in Dallas working, and they told my brother."
Dawn Bowman returned from Texas and now is preparing to bury her husband of less than two years. Funeral arrangements are just getting under way and are incomplete.
"This was his second deployment," she said, adding that her husband was soon to be promoted to corporal. His time in Iraq would have gone on many months; he arrived there in early September.
Bowman believes her husband died in Anbar Province. The member of Charlie Company in the 1/6 Marines had been in Ramadi, where many area Marine Reservists served in 2004 and 2005.
Details of her husband's death are sketchy at this time.
"He died yesterday at 10 something in the morning our time and 6 something in the evening there," Bowman said Tuesday.
Her husband joined the service just after graduation from Summerfield High as a way to be able to support himself and get benefits for college. "He told me when he was little he thought about it," said Bowman, who dated her husband about four years before they got married.
"But when 9-11 hit, he thought even harder about going in. As soon as he graduated, they took him in."
Jon Eric Bowman is the son of Johnny Wayne Bowman of Monroe and Jill Puckett of Lincoln Parish.
Paula Farley said her son-in-law was a good and thoughtful young man who loved her daughter dearly and called Dawn Bowman just before he left for Iraq the first time to propose. They were married in a home service in February 2005 and had a big church wedding the following October, just less than a year ago. They then went on a honeymoon cruise to Veracruz, Mexico.
"They re-did their vows again because they loved each other so much," Farley said.
Tuesday, relatives and friends of slain Shreveport Marine John Edward Hale recalled how he dreamed of joining the military ever since he could walk and talk.
Hale grew up like other boys his age — hunting, fishing and listening to stories of his father’s time in the Navy, family members say. But unlike other little boys, who often change what they want to become when they get older, Hale never wavered from his decision to join the Marines.
“He said that when he was a little baby. He said that when he was in school. And he stuck with it,” said Hale's uncle Kevin Powers. “Anybody who ever talked to him knew that he wanted to join the Marines. He followed that dream his whole life. He went through with it and he never let it go.”
Those who knew Hale best say that his death Friday wasn’t in vain and that he died doing what he loved.
“It was his passion to serve our country,” said Genae Bato, mother of Josh Bato, one of Hale’s best friends. “He always served and helped everybody, whether it was his friends, family, church or the Boy Scouts. This is what he always wanted to do. This was his destiny.”
Mike Green, head football coach at Huntington High, the Shreveport school from which Hale graduated in 2005, said he, other coaches and football players had the same reaction when they learned of Hale’s death.
“Everybody’s reaction was pretty much the same because we knew that’s how he would go,” Green said. “We all thought he’d become a general in the military. And it is so unfortunate his time got cut short.”
Green described Hale as loyal, dedicated, a good student and a small offensive lineman who got a kick out of knocking “heavyweights” down.
“He was not the best football player. But when it comes to dedication, loyalty and effort, John Hale had all of those qualities. He loved a challenge.
“Every once in a while, there’s a kid that comes along and everybody can tell that they are heads above the rest. And that was John Hale.”
Huntington High plans to dedicate Friday night’s football game against C.E. Byrd High School to Hale. He will be honored with a moment of silence, a prayer will be read to his friends and relatives and the football team will wear matching armbands in his memory, Huntington High principal Jerry Davis said.
“He was just an awesome kid,” Davis said. “We really want to do something special for him.”
Military funeral arrangements are pending the return of his remains to Louisiana, which could take two weeks. He will be buried in Forest Park West Cemetery in Shreveport, his father, Phillip Greg Hale, has said.
Gunnery Sgt. Louis Vado, an active-duty Marine Corps recruiter in Shreveport, called Hale “a phenomenal Marine” when he assisted at the recruitment center in August. Vado agrees with Hale's relatives and friends who said he realized a lifelong goal.
“He knew exactly where he wanted to go with his life. He had a good head on his shoulders. He died doing exactly what he wanted to do — being a Marine and the best Marine he could be.
"My short-time experience with him was an awesome experience," Vado said. "He was very mature and he handled himself in a professional way.”
Hale was with the 2/8th Marines of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
“One of the biggest reasons we chose the Marine Corps is to be surrounded by people like (Hale),” Capt. Matthew Phillips of Bravo Co., 1/23rd Marines in Bossier City said Tuesday. “The reason I chose to become an officer was to lead young men like (Hale). Those who are lost, we hold in the highest esteem.”
“The world will not be the same without John,” Bato said through her tears Tuesday morning. “He was so kind and thoughtful. He was precious, and I loved him like a son because he was so good in every way.”[/qhttp://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061011/NEWS01/61010027/1002/NEWSuote]
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 12 2006, 01:33 PM
Another innovation that is helping to make the lives of the wounded better. It also has the side benefit of getting people back on the front line while they are still rehabbing. Medical treatment procedures are moving forward as a result of our actions in Iraq again.
QUOTE
Physical therapists help Soldiers rehabilitate in combat zone
By Sgt. Tony White
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
KIRKUK, Iraq (Army News Service, Oct. 12, 2006) – When Soldiers were injured in previous deployments, they normally rehabilitated away from the combat zone. Soldiers now have another option as physical therapists begin deploying with brigade combat teams.
A two-man physical therapist team deployed with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, in August. Based at Forward Operating Base Warrior near Kirkuk, the team will move throughout northern Iraq to help treat injured brigade Soldiers.
“They (the Soldiers) were really shocked to see a physical therapist deploying with them,” said Staff Sgt. Douglas Biala, 3rd BCT, 25th Inf. Div. physician’s assistant. “They never even knew about us.”
The physical therapist program was previously tested in the Special Forces and Ranger battalions, according to Capt. Zack Solomon, 3rd BCT, 25th Inf. Div., physical therapist. The program was a success, so the Army is implementing it in other units.
“The Army finally got smart and decided to put a physical therapist down to the brigade combat teams,” said Solomon, a native of Novato, Calif. “Now we are able to actually impact the Soldiers and get them better.”
“Direct access is the thing right now,” added Biala, a native of Jacksonville, Fla. “We actually treat the injury instead of sending Soldiers away with Motrin and a profile.”
Chaplin (Capt.) Christopher Degn, 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, has been one of beneficiaries of the deployed physical therapists.
“I was allowed to finish my knee therapy here (rather than back in Hawaii),” Degn said. “I was two-thirds of the way through my rehabilitation when the unit deployed. Using Solomon’s walk-to-run program, I am back to about 80 to 90 percent. Capt. Solomon made it possible for me to deploy with my troops. These guys are lifesavers.”
The physical therapists can treat most injuries, the more common being back injuries “caused by wearing protective gear that saves our lives. Unfortunately, it can wear down on your back,” Solomon said.
Biala said he anticipates the patient’s point of view will change with physical therapists in country.
“Now they can get treated by a physical therapist rather than having to walk around hurting for two weeks while waiting to see a physician’s assistant,” Biala said.
“We can get them right at the site of the injury and get them moving a lot quicker. It’s sports medicine on the battlefield,” Solomon added.
http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=9704
By Sgt. Tony White
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
KIRKUK, Iraq (Army News Service, Oct. 12, 2006) – When Soldiers were injured in previous deployments, they normally rehabilitated away from the combat zone. Soldiers now have another option as physical therapists begin deploying with brigade combat teams.
A two-man physical therapist team deployed with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, in August. Based at Forward Operating Base Warrior near Kirkuk, the team will move throughout northern Iraq to help treat injured brigade Soldiers.
“They (the Soldiers) were really shocked to see a physical therapist deploying with them,” said Staff Sgt. Douglas Biala, 3rd BCT, 25th Inf. Div. physician’s assistant. “They never even knew about us.”
The physical therapist program was previously tested in the Special Forces and Ranger battalions, according to Capt. Zack Solomon, 3rd BCT, 25th Inf. Div., physical therapist. The program was a success, so the Army is implementing it in other units.
“The Army finally got smart and decided to put a physical therapist down to the brigade combat teams,” said Solomon, a native of Novato, Calif. “Now we are able to actually impact the Soldiers and get them better.”
“Direct access is the thing right now,” added Biala, a native of Jacksonville, Fla. “We actually treat the injury instead of sending Soldiers away with Motrin and a profile.”
Chaplin (Capt.) Christopher Degn, 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, has been one of beneficiaries of the deployed physical therapists.
“I was allowed to finish my knee therapy here (rather than back in Hawaii),” Degn said. “I was two-thirds of the way through my rehabilitation when the unit deployed. Using Solomon’s walk-to-run program, I am back to about 80 to 90 percent. Capt. Solomon made it possible for me to deploy with my troops. These guys are lifesavers.”
The physical therapists can treat most injuries, the more common being back injuries “caused by wearing protective gear that saves our lives. Unfortunately, it can wear down on your back,” Solomon said.
Biala said he anticipates the patient’s point of view will change with physical therapists in country.
“Now they can get treated by a physical therapist rather than having to walk around hurting for two weeks while waiting to see a physician’s assistant,” Biala said.
“We can get them right at the site of the injury and get them moving a lot quicker. It’s sports medicine on the battlefield,” Solomon added.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 13 2006, 06:37 PM
QUOTE(aleman1948 @ Oct 6 2006, 01:43 AM) [snapback]311114[/snapback]
One of the "little" ironies of the war involving two classmates who graduated from high school two years ago, one of whom was on his second tour in Iraq. video http://week.com/Story.aspx?preview=&type=ln&NStoryID=54545.
I posted the story of these two classmates a week ago. Today we have an update following the funerals of these two brave soldiers.
QUOTE
Illinois Town Struggles With Deaths of High School Pals
Soldiers Killed in Iraq Within Two Days of One Another
By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
CREVE COEUR, Ill. (Oct. 13) — Kristofer Walker and George Obourn Jr., both 20, were almost inseparable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More Iraq Coverage:
· British Army Chief Urges Troop Pullout
· Coroner Blames U.S. for Reporter's Death
Talk About It: Post Thoughts
As high school students, their friendship revolved around marching band, playing video games together and eating at Monical's Pizza, up the street from East Peoria High School.
Together they acted on their dream of joining the Army as Cavalry Scouts, wanting to do their part after Sept. 11. Out of school they entered a "buddy" system that would keep them together for a year through basic training. In Iraq they served in the same squadron.
Their lives together ended on Oct. 2, when Walker was killed after his Humvee hit a roadside bomb in Taji, near Baghdad. Two days later, Obourn followed his friend, killed while clearing a building of insurgents in the same town.
This weekend, Creve Coeur will bury the two young soldiers: Walker on Friday and Obourn on Saturday. News of the buddies' double death and its timing hit this industrial community hard.
"It was bizarre, eerie," says East Peoria High School Principal Paul Whittington. "Somebody's got a plan bigger than me. ... You wonder if one (of the men) would be totally miserable without the other."
The event was commemorated in ways big and small by residents of Creve Coeur and its larger neighbor East Peoria, where a frosty wind and views of the Caterpillar factory on the Illinois River make the Iraq war feel very far away.
"It's kind of a reality check," says Erick Hutchinson, 18, a senior at East Peoria. "You watch it on television, but it hits close to home when it hits someone who went to your high school."
At East Peoria High School stands printed posters of the friends, taken from a family snapshot. The school Booster Club posters show two young men standing shoulder to shoulder in dress uniforms.
The community paid tribute to the friends at last week's Friday night homecoming football game. Two marching band hats, each decorated with a large plume, were retired and given to members of each family. A former band member played taps.
Then the entire stadium, usually alive with roars and chants, was asked for quiet, Whittington says.
"The silence was deafening," he says.
In Creve Coeur, Mayor Wayne Baker ordered flags at the hilltop war memorial flown at half-staff and two wreaths placed nearby. The wreaths will remain until the names of Obourn and Walker, who both held the rank of specialist, can be added to a list of three other village sons who died in Iraq, Baker says.
The town sent a police escort to St. Louis to escort the caskets to East Peoria. The high school told its 1,200 students they could leave classes Friday to attend Walker's funeral procession.
At Minnie's Kitchen, a family restaurant on Creve Coeur's main boulevard, everyone drinking coffee Thursday afternoon knew Walker, Obourn or their families.
"It made me sad because we lost a nephew there, too," said Yvonne Hosbrough, who owns the restaurant with her husband.
Lisa Montgomery, the restaurant manager, said one of her waitresses has a son who is headed to Iraq on Friday.
"She was visibly upset" when she heard about Walker and Obourn, Montgomery says. "She didn't break down because she was at work when she found out. She talks about it all the time."
Even people who didn't know the young men personally were affected by their story.
Their deaths brought the war a lot closer, says John Meek, who owns Midwestern Firearms in East Peoria. "It's harder to take when it's right here at home," Meek says.
Walker and Obourn met in elementary school but didn't become fast friends until they joined the marching band in their freshman year of high school. After that, they were "always together," Whittington says.
Robin Goff, a school dean who taught both boys in science class, said their personalities complemented each other. Walker was quiet in class and would blush when she complimented him on his marching band performance. Obourn was more outgoing. She recalled him standing up for a disabled classmate when others taunted him.
"He always wanted to be in the Army," says Walker's father, Kevin Walker, 48, a manager for a highway contractor.
Obourn first talked seriously about the Army in his junior year of high school, says his father, George Obourn Sr.
"He had a plan," Obourn says. "Join the Army, get the GI Bill. Get a degree in criminology and get into law enforcement. He felt he wanted to do his part for the country after 9/11. He knew what the risks were."
In August 2004, the families met at the recruiting station for the young men's farewell before basic training. After basic, Walker and Obourn entered the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. They flew to Iraq in December 2005.
"I think he felt he was going to make a difference and change things" in Iraq, Kevin Walker says. "The patrols that they did were always combined patrols with the Iraqi army."
"I'd ask him, 'Are they getting any better?' He'd say, 'Oh, yeah, they're getting better,' " Walker says. "OK, then I guess you're doing some good."
Chad Walker says his brother talked about patrolling villages north of Baghdad where people would invite the troops in for tea, and of other villages that were not so nice. He didn't go into details.
Neither would Obourn. Back in March, two of Obourn's squad members were killed "right in front of him," his father says. "He didn't talk about it that much. He put on a face. Looking at photos while he was on leave, he'd kind of pause and say, 'Well, he's gone now,' and move on."
George Obourn Sr. said he is devastated by his son's death but also proud. "Every father wants your boy to grow up to be a hero, but not like this."
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/illinois-town-struggles-with-deaths-of/20061013104209990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
Soldiers Killed in Iraq Within Two Days of One Another
By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
CREVE COEUR, Ill. (Oct. 13) — Kristofer Walker and George Obourn Jr., both 20, were almost inseparable.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More Iraq Coverage:
· British Army Chief Urges Troop Pullout
· Coroner Blames U.S. for Reporter's Death
Talk About It: Post Thoughts
As high school students, their friendship revolved around marching band, playing video games together and eating at Monical's Pizza, up the street from East Peoria High School.
Together they acted on their dream of joining the Army as Cavalry Scouts, wanting to do their part after Sept. 11. Out of school they entered a "buddy" system that would keep them together for a year through basic training. In Iraq they served in the same squadron.
Their lives together ended on Oct. 2, when Walker was killed after his Humvee hit a roadside bomb in Taji, near Baghdad. Two days later, Obourn followed his friend, killed while clearing a building of insurgents in the same town.
This weekend, Creve Coeur will bury the two young soldiers: Walker on Friday and Obourn on Saturday. News of the buddies' double death and its timing hit this industrial community hard.
"It was bizarre, eerie," says East Peoria High School Principal Paul Whittington. "Somebody's got a plan bigger than me. ... You wonder if one (of the men) would be totally miserable without the other."
The event was commemorated in ways big and small by residents of Creve Coeur and its larger neighbor East Peoria, where a frosty wind and views of the Caterpillar factory on the Illinois River make the Iraq war feel very far away.
"It's kind of a reality check," says Erick Hutchinson, 18, a senior at East Peoria. "You watch it on television, but it hits close to home when it hits someone who went to your high school."
At East Peoria High School stands printed posters of the friends, taken from a family snapshot. The school Booster Club posters show two young men standing shoulder to shoulder in dress uniforms.
The community paid tribute to the friends at last week's Friday night homecoming football game. Two marching band hats, each decorated with a large plume, were retired and given to members of each family. A former band member played taps.
Then the entire stadium, usually alive with roars and chants, was asked for quiet, Whittington says.
"The silence was deafening," he says.
In Creve Coeur, Mayor Wayne Baker ordered flags at the hilltop war memorial flown at half-staff and two wreaths placed nearby. The wreaths will remain until the names of Obourn and Walker, who both held the rank of specialist, can be added to a list of three other village sons who died in Iraq, Baker says.
The town sent a police escort to St. Louis to escort the caskets to East Peoria. The high school told its 1,200 students they could leave classes Friday to attend Walker's funeral procession.
At Minnie's Kitchen, a family restaurant on Creve Coeur's main boulevard, everyone drinking coffee Thursday afternoon knew Walker, Obourn or their families.
"It made me sad because we lost a nephew there, too," said Yvonne Hosbrough, who owns the restaurant with her husband.
Lisa Montgomery, the restaurant manager, said one of her waitresses has a son who is headed to Iraq on Friday.
"She was visibly upset" when she heard about Walker and Obourn, Montgomery says. "She didn't break down because she was at work when she found out. She talks about it all the time."
Even people who didn't know the young men personally were affected by their story.
Their deaths brought the war a lot closer, says John Meek, who owns Midwestern Firearms in East Peoria. "It's harder to take when it's right here at home," Meek says.
Walker and Obourn met in elementary school but didn't become fast friends until they joined the marching band in their freshman year of high school. After that, they were "always together," Whittington says.
Robin Goff, a school dean who taught both boys in science class, said their personalities complemented each other. Walker was quiet in class and would blush when she complimented him on his marching band performance. Obourn was more outgoing. She recalled him standing up for a disabled classmate when others taunted him.
"He always wanted to be in the Army," says Walker's father, Kevin Walker, 48, a manager for a highway contractor.
Obourn first talked seriously about the Army in his junior year of high school, says his father, George Obourn Sr.
"He had a plan," Obourn says. "Join the Army, get the GI Bill. Get a degree in criminology and get into law enforcement. He felt he wanted to do his part for the country after 9/11. He knew what the risks were."
In August 2004, the families met at the recruiting station for the young men's farewell before basic training. After basic, Walker and Obourn entered the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. They flew to Iraq in December 2005.
"I think he felt he was going to make a difference and change things" in Iraq, Kevin Walker says. "The patrols that they did were always combined patrols with the Iraqi army."
"I'd ask him, 'Are they getting any better?' He'd say, 'Oh, yeah, they're getting better,' " Walker says. "OK, then I guess you're doing some good."
Chad Walker says his brother talked about patrolling villages north of Baghdad where people would invite the troops in for tea, and of other villages that were not so nice. He didn't go into details.
Neither would Obourn. Back in March, two of Obourn's squad members were killed "right in front of him," his father says. "He didn't talk about it that much. He put on a face. Looking at photos while he was on leave, he'd kind of pause and say, 'Well, he's gone now,' and move on."
George Obourn Sr. said he is devastated by his son's death but also proud. "Every father wants your boy to grow up to be a hero, but not like this."
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 14 2006, 10:23 AM
QUOTE(aleman1948 @ Oct 10 2006, 07:09 PM) [snapback]314176[/snapback]
Here is another story of a marine who was injured twice, the second time being severe enough to bring him home. Notice the opening and closing lines of the story. I also wish I had access to the series they allude to in the article where there are further details of this marine's history and others from the area who were injured. Anyone in the Kokomo area have any information? (Scoutster?)http://www.kokomotribune.com/opinion/local_story_283014329.html
I located the two-part series that was alluded to in the Kokomo Tribune article I posted last week. Here is part one.
QUOTE
WOUNDS OF WAR: Response key to survival
By ERIC REINAGEL
CNHI News Service
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series titled Wounds of War.
Coming in Part Two: Recovering from war’s psychological scars.
You hear the mortars going out, but you don’t know where they’ll land. This could be the last breath of your life.
Marine Lance Cpl. Bret McCauley, of Kokomo, recalls crouching close to the ground, moving warily through a Sunni rebel neighborhood in Fallujah just before dusk.
He’d been in Iraq two weeks, he says, not enough time to fully absorb the treacherous uncertainty of the landscape and yet sufficient time to see the bloody reality of war.
It is March 26, 2004, and the sounds of combat are loud in McCauley’s ears as his infantry unit moves from house to house. Suddenly, a rocket-propelled grenade flies over his right shoulder, smashing into the building in front of him.
McCauley says he instinctively dove behind a cinder block structure cradling a propane tank and starts shooting at insurgents perched on a rooftop.
Before he can find a safer location, a bullet from an AK-47 rips through his left thigh. Then the gunfire stops.
“Who’s hit?” someone calls out. “Who’s hit?”
McCauley says he responds, “Dude, I’m hit!”
Blood drips from a jagged hole in his camouflage pants. He tries to get up but his left leg buckles. A corpsman tells him to stay down on the ground and administers a shot of morphine.
McCauley says he is picked up and moved to a Humvee. The limp body of a fellow Marine who had bummed a cigarette only an hour earlier rests next to him. The Marine is dead, shot in the face, says McCauley, and “his blood covers me.”
They know where we are. This is where I’ll die. Not in this place. Not in this stinking place.
But the 23-year-old McCauley won’t die. The efficiency of modern military medicine whisks him off to a field hospital in Fallujah. Within minutes, doctors clean, medicate and suture his thigh injury and tell him he’s among the lucky. He’s suffered a flesh wound.
The doctors explain they can helicopter him to the main combat hospital in Baghdad for air transfer to the regional military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, and more medical attention — if that’s what he wants. He will then return home to the United States within a day or two.
Or he can stay and rejoin his 1st Marine Division infantry unit in Fallujah when he’s feeling up to it. The choice is his. He will get a Purple Heart either way.
McCauley, who enlisted in the Marine Corps before graduating Taylor High School in 2001, elects to remain in the war zone. Marines are trained to be tough, he says, and you do your job just as long as you are able to do it.
McCauley thus becomes one of the 10,600-plus American soldiers in Iraq who have suffered injuries and yet were able to return to combat since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.
“I just got here,” he recalls saying. “I watched my friend get killed. I’m not going to go home. I’m out for blood.”
His next encounter with the wounds of war will not be so fortunate. But McCauley says the swift, expert medical treatment he received for the bullet through his thigh was an example of the military’s new techniques for treating battlefield injuries.
There’s nothing to do but lay in bed, listen to Blink 182 on my Walkman and eat canned sardines and oysters sent in CARE packages.
Sgt. Maj. David Cahill, a Vietnam War medic and now an official at the U.S. Army Medical Center and School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, says the military is returning more wounded soldiers to combat and saving more lives because of improved medical knowledge and faster response.
There are, he said, three primary causes for death in the first 10 minutes of a battlefield injury: bleeding, obstructed airways and collapsed lungs. He said the military teaches trauma skills to first responders so they can treat these conditions rapidly and effectively.
Combat medical packs, for example, contain special tourniquets and emergency trauma bandages with elastic pressure tails to stop external bleeding. They also carry a dressing called QuickClot that instantly stops the flow of blood, and a 14-gauge needle to open a two-way flow of air to the lungs.
That’s in addition to morphine, oxygen, IV lines and high-tech digital instruments that measure heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and other telltale signs of life or death. Some medics even carry portable heart-lung machines to supply oxygen.
“Simple little things,” said Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, a medical doctor and the center’s commander. “But they address 90 percent of all the reasons people die in those first 10 minutes.”
Lifesaving statistics tell the story. Medical improvements have reduced to less than 10 percent the number of wounded American troops in Iraq who do not survive, according to the Pentagon.
That’s the best survival rate of any U.S. war. In the Gulf War, 22 percent of injured U.S. soldiers died. The rate was 24 percent in the Vietnam War, and 30 percent during the Korean War and World War II.
Weightman, Cahill and others credit advances in combat casualty care to superior medical research, technology and training by the military. These factors, they said, have led to corpsmen, medics, nurses, doctors and the soldiers themselves providing critical medical assistance far forward on the battlefield.
Iraq’s compact geography and flat landscape also help. Rapid-response medevac crews can land by helicopter almost anywhere, lifting injured soldiers to one of four strategically located combat hospitals in less than an hour. The severely wounded are transferred to Germany for further treatment before they are sent to the Army’s Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., or the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md.
Pentagon medical officials said it can take as few as 36 hours to move an injured soldier from the battleground to a hospital bed in the United States, a speed unheard of in previous wars.
“Primary medical training during Vietnam was what we called sticks and rags,” said Cahill. “You put on a bandage or an IV. It wasn’t any advance trauma. The training we give now is more directed at trauma.”
Like a mosquito or fly that won’t go away, mortars fall again. Somewhere they are being launched. Somewhere they fall to earth in a violent collision.
Lance Cpl. McCauley is back with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Fallujah in May 2004, five weeks after he was shot by a Sunni sniper.
“I picked infantry because that’s what my idea of a Marine was,” he says. “You know, with a rifle, sleeping in the mud.”
Only Marines in this war sleep on bunks in the desert and wear body armor to shield their abdomen and upper chest, and Kevlar helmets to protect against head injuries. Arms, legs, armpits and neck are about all that’s exposed. That’s why the number of amputees in Iraq is twice that of previous wars.
It is now Sept. 6, 2004, and McCauley is assigned to a patrol in the heart of an insurgency stronghold just north of Fallujah. He mentally counts the days he has left in Iraq — “one month to go” — before jumping into the open bed of a supply truck.
Then, he recalls, out of nowhere a car loaded with explosives slams into the convoy, blowing him like a rag doll through the air. The car contained a 500-pound bomb, 250-mm artillery shells and makeshift shrapnel.
That’s the last thing McCauley says he remembers — until awaking from a coma two weeks later in Bethesda Naval Hospital back in the United States.
He is told that extraordinary medical care saved his life in an attack that killed seven fellow Marines and three members of the Iraqi National Guard. McCauley is one of four Marines who survived the attack. He also learns that a Navy corpsman found him unconscious, blood flowing from his mouth, ears and nose. The corpsman inserted a tube through McCauley’s nostril to prevent blockage of his airway, and placed a tourniquet under McCauley’s left armpit to stop the bleeding.
Within minutes, McCauley says, he’s stabilized at a combat field hospital and transferred to the Army’s main medical facility in Baghdad, where surgeons remove his spleen and a kidney. He’s then sent to the regional hospital in Germany for recovery from the operation, and a few days later, airlifted to Bethesda for treatment of these other injuries:
• Bruised liver and pancreas.
• Ruptured corneas in both eyes from heat and pressure.
• Deep lacerations in his right arm, buttocks and neck from shrapnel.
• Nearly severed left arm.
• Ruptured left ear drum; pinhole in right ear drum.
• Second-degree burns on most of his face and right arm.
• Tumor-like blood clot on his head that resembles a basketball.
• Chipped teeth.
McCauley says he never expected to find himself among the critically wounded and dependent on modern military medicine to keep him alive when he volunteered for deployment to Iraq in January 2004.
He says he willingly gave up his assignment as a Marine security guard at Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Maryland woods outside Washington for the adventure of combat duty in one of the most dangerous places in the world.
Yet he doesn’t regret his decision then or now. Marines, he says, are taught to sacrifice and to show courage and commitment.
“Everybody wants the experience [of war],” McCauley says. “I wanted to be the best.”
Eric Reinagel is a CNHI News Service Elite Reporting Fellowship recipient. He writes for The Meadville, Pa., Tribune. Danielle Rush, a reporter with the Kokomo, Ind., Tribune, also contributed to this story.
By the numbers:
125,000: U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq.
19,688: U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq since March 2003 invasion.
10,600: U.S. soldiers who suffered battlefield injuries but returned to combat after treatment in Iraq.
3,000: U.S. soldiers who lost a leg, arm or both limbs in Iraq.
2,667: U.S. soldiers killed in combat in Iraq since March 2003 invasion.
1,200: Improvised explosive devices detonated in Iraq in August of this year by insurgents.
90: Percent of American soldiers who have survived battlefield wounds in Iraq.
72: U.S. civilians, including military contractors, killed in Iraq since invasion.
17: Percent of U.S. soldiers who served in Iraq and report they experienced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Sources: U.S. Department of Defense, New England Medical Journal
http://www.kokomotribune.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_276234607.html
By ERIC REINAGEL
CNHI News Service
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series titled Wounds of War.
Coming in Part Two: Recovering from war’s psychological scars.
You hear the mortars going out, but you don’t know where they’ll land. This could be the last breath of your life.
Marine Lance Cpl. Bret McCauley, of Kokomo, recalls crouching close to the ground, moving warily through a Sunni rebel neighborhood in Fallujah just before dusk.
He’d been in Iraq two weeks, he says, not enough time to fully absorb the treacherous uncertainty of the landscape and yet sufficient time to see the bloody reality of war.
It is March 26, 2004, and the sounds of combat are loud in McCauley’s ears as his infantry unit moves from house to house. Suddenly, a rocket-propelled grenade flies over his right shoulder, smashing into the building in front of him.
McCauley says he instinctively dove behind a cinder block structure cradling a propane tank and starts shooting at insurgents perched on a rooftop.
Before he can find a safer location, a bullet from an AK-47 rips through his left thigh. Then the gunfire stops.
“Who’s hit?” someone calls out. “Who’s hit?”
McCauley says he responds, “Dude, I’m hit!”
Blood drips from a jagged hole in his camouflage pants. He tries to get up but his left leg buckles. A corpsman tells him to stay down on the ground and administers a shot of morphine.
McCauley says he is picked up and moved to a Humvee. The limp body of a fellow Marine who had bummed a cigarette only an hour earlier rests next to him. The Marine is dead, shot in the face, says McCauley, and “his blood covers me.”
They know where we are. This is where I’ll die. Not in this place. Not in this stinking place.
But the 23-year-old McCauley won’t die. The efficiency of modern military medicine whisks him off to a field hospital in Fallujah. Within minutes, doctors clean, medicate and suture his thigh injury and tell him he’s among the lucky. He’s suffered a flesh wound.
The doctors explain they can helicopter him to the main combat hospital in Baghdad for air transfer to the regional military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, and more medical attention — if that’s what he wants. He will then return home to the United States within a day or two.
Or he can stay and rejoin his 1st Marine Division infantry unit in Fallujah when he’s feeling up to it. The choice is his. He will get a Purple Heart either way.
McCauley, who enlisted in the Marine Corps before graduating Taylor High School in 2001, elects to remain in the war zone. Marines are trained to be tough, he says, and you do your job just as long as you are able to do it.
McCauley thus becomes one of the 10,600-plus American soldiers in Iraq who have suffered injuries and yet were able to return to combat since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.
“I just got here,” he recalls saying. “I watched my friend get killed. I’m not going to go home. I’m out for blood.”
His next encounter with the wounds of war will not be so fortunate. But McCauley says the swift, expert medical treatment he received for the bullet through his thigh was an example of the military’s new techniques for treating battlefield injuries.
There’s nothing to do but lay in bed, listen to Blink 182 on my Walkman and eat canned sardines and oysters sent in CARE packages.
Sgt. Maj. David Cahill, a Vietnam War medic and now an official at the U.S. Army Medical Center and School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, says the military is returning more wounded soldiers to combat and saving more lives because of improved medical knowledge and faster response.
There are, he said, three primary causes for death in the first 10 minutes of a battlefield injury: bleeding, obstructed airways and collapsed lungs. He said the military teaches trauma skills to first responders so they can treat these conditions rapidly and effectively.
Combat medical packs, for example, contain special tourniquets and emergency trauma bandages with elastic pressure tails to stop external bleeding. They also carry a dressing called QuickClot that instantly stops the flow of blood, and a 14-gauge needle to open a two-way flow of air to the lungs.
That’s in addition to morphine, oxygen, IV lines and high-tech digital instruments that measure heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and other telltale signs of life or death. Some medics even carry portable heart-lung machines to supply oxygen.
“Simple little things,” said Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, a medical doctor and the center’s commander. “But they address 90 percent of all the reasons people die in those first 10 minutes.”
Lifesaving statistics tell the story. Medical improvements have reduced to less than 10 percent the number of wounded American troops in Iraq who do not survive, according to the Pentagon.
That’s the best survival rate of any U.S. war. In the Gulf War, 22 percent of injured U.S. soldiers died. The rate was 24 percent in the Vietnam War, and 30 percent during the Korean War and World War II.
Weightman, Cahill and others credit advances in combat casualty care to superior medical research, technology and training by the military. These factors, they said, have led to corpsmen, medics, nurses, doctors and the soldiers themselves providing critical medical assistance far forward on the battlefield.
Iraq’s compact geography and flat landscape also help. Rapid-response medevac crews can land by helicopter almost anywhere, lifting injured soldiers to one of four strategically located combat hospitals in less than an hour. The severely wounded are transferred to Germany for further treatment before they are sent to the Army’s Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., or the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md.
Pentagon medical officials said it can take as few as 36 hours to move an injured soldier from the battleground to a hospital bed in the United States, a speed unheard of in previous wars.
“Primary medical training during Vietnam was what we called sticks and rags,” said Cahill. “You put on a bandage or an IV. It wasn’t any advance trauma. The training we give now is more directed at trauma.”
Like a mosquito or fly that won’t go away, mortars fall again. Somewhere they are being launched. Somewhere they fall to earth in a violent collision.
Lance Cpl. McCauley is back with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Fallujah in May 2004, five weeks after he was shot by a Sunni sniper.
“I picked infantry because that’s what my idea of a Marine was,” he says. “You know, with a rifle, sleeping in the mud.”
Only Marines in this war sleep on bunks in the desert and wear body armor to shield their abdomen and upper chest, and Kevlar helmets to protect against head injuries. Arms, legs, armpits and neck are about all that’s exposed. That’s why the number of amputees in Iraq is twice that of previous wars.
It is now Sept. 6, 2004, and McCauley is assigned to a patrol in the heart of an insurgency stronghold just north of Fallujah. He mentally counts the days he has left in Iraq — “one month to go” — before jumping into the open bed of a supply truck.
Then, he recalls, out of nowhere a car loaded with explosives slams into the convoy, blowing him like a rag doll through the air. The car contained a 500-pound bomb, 250-mm artillery shells and makeshift shrapnel.
That’s the last thing McCauley says he remembers — until awaking from a coma two weeks later in Bethesda Naval Hospital back in the United States.
He is told that extraordinary medical care saved his life in an attack that killed seven fellow Marines and three members of the Iraqi National Guard. McCauley is one of four Marines who survived the attack. He also learns that a Navy corpsman found him unconscious, blood flowing from his mouth, ears and nose. The corpsman inserted a tube through McCauley’s nostril to prevent blockage of his airway, and placed a tourniquet under McCauley’s left armpit to stop the bleeding.
Within minutes, McCauley says, he’s stabilized at a combat field hospital and transferred to the Army’s main medical facility in Baghdad, where surgeons remove his spleen and a kidney. He’s then sent to the regional hospital in Germany for recovery from the operation, and a few days later, airlifted to Bethesda for treatment of these other injuries:
• Bruised liver and pancreas.
• Ruptured corneas in both eyes from heat and pressure.
• Deep lacerations in his right arm, buttocks and neck from shrapnel.
• Nearly severed left arm.
• Ruptured left ear drum; pinhole in right ear drum.
• Second-degree burns on most of his face and right arm.
• Tumor-like blood clot on his head that resembles a basketball.
• Chipped teeth.
McCauley says he never expected to find himself among the critically wounded and dependent on modern military medicine to keep him alive when he volunteered for deployment to Iraq in January 2004.
He says he willingly gave up his assignment as a Marine security guard at Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Maryland woods outside Washington for the adventure of combat duty in one of the most dangerous places in the world.
Yet he doesn’t regret his decision then or now. Marines, he says, are taught to sacrifice and to show courage and commitment.
“Everybody wants the experience [of war],” McCauley says. “I wanted to be the best.”
Eric Reinagel is a CNHI News Service Elite Reporting Fellowship recipient. He writes for The Meadville, Pa., Tribune. Danielle Rush, a reporter with the Kokomo, Ind., Tribune, also contributed to this story.
By the numbers:
125,000: U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq.
19,688: U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq since March 2003 invasion.
10,600: U.S. soldiers who suffered battlefield injuries but returned to combat after treatment in Iraq.
3,000: U.S. soldiers who lost a leg, arm or both limbs in Iraq.
2,667: U.S. soldiers killed in combat in Iraq since March 2003 invasion.
1,200: Improvised explosive devices detonated in Iraq in August of this year by insurgents.
90: Percent of American soldiers who have survived battlefield wounds in Iraq.
72: U.S. civilians, including military contractors, killed in Iraq since invasion.
17: Percent of U.S. soldiers who served in Iraq and report they experienced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Sources: U.S. Department of Defense, New England Medical Journal
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 16 2006, 01:24 AM
QUOTE(aleman1948 @ Oct 14 2006, 12:23 PM) [snapback]316551[/snapback]
I located the two-part series that was alluded to in the Kokomo Tribune article I posted last week. Here is part one. http://www.kokomotribune.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_276234607.html
Here is part 2 of this series.
QUOTE
WOUNDS OF WAR: The scars of war
A soldier’s story of battling flashbacks, other demons
By ERIC REINAGEL
CNHI News Service
Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series titled Wounds of War.
Surgeons at Bethesda Naval Hospital prepared to drill a hole in Lance Cpl. Bret McCauley’s badly swollen head to relieve pressure on his brain when he unexpectedly awoke from a two-week coma.
“Hold up one finger for me,” McCauley recalls someone saying.
He held up his middle finger — “and from that instant they knew I would be OK.”
OK in the sense that he would survive severe wounds suffered when a suicide car bomber rammed his military convoy outside Fallujah, Iraq, on Sept. 6, 2004, setting off 500 pounds of explosives and killing seven fellow Marines.
But not all right when the trauma of that tragedy and other war scenes kept flashing back through McCauley’s mind like a horror movie on rewind during his recovery.
Nightmares, hallucinations, helplessness, paranoia, depression and guilt about surviving when others didn’t. McCauley said he experienced all of these mental demons and more during his struggle to get back to normal.
It is a condition known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, first recognized during the Vietnam War era and now diagnosed frequently among troops returning from Iraq. Head injuries, doctors say, can make the condition worse.
McCauley’s life was saved by modern military medicine and a fast-responding team of medics, nurses, doctors and pilots. They removed his spleen and a kidney in Iraq before airlifting him to a regional hospital in Germany to stabilize his wounds, then to Bethesda for additional treatment and recovery.
But the bomb blast had sent McCauley flying from the open back of a truck, striking his head hard against the ground and causing it to gradually inflate to the size of a basketball.
A tumor-like blood clot — known technically as a subdural hematoma — formed inside his head, putting intense pressure on his brain and causing him to lose consciousness.
Surgery removed the blood clot. It did not fix the mental anguish the 23-year-old McCauley, of Kokomo, said accompanied his condition. Mental anguish that eventually moved him to wonder if the military even cared about his recurrent thoughts of trauma.
Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, medical director and commander of the U.S. Army Medical Center and School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, said McCauley’s state of mind was predictable. He said more than one in three soldiers who come back from Iraq face post-combat mental health issues.
A primary reason, he said, is that Iraq veterans are more likely to have witnessed someone getting wounded or killed from improvised explosive devices, the weapon of choice for rebel insurgents and terrorists.
“Think about what war is,” said Weightman. “It is sending a normal person into a very abnormal situation. Death and serious injury are very traumatic things to have to deal with.”
Military procedure calls for treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as soon as it is recognized. And often, said Weightman, that means in the war zone. Especially when there are significant casualties such as those from a roadside explosive or car bomb.
“The farther forward you treat it, the more proactive you are, the greater the chance that patients can recover and return to their unit,” said Weightman. “We have combat operational stress control teams and we send these out with the battalions.”
Battlefield psychiatric help was not possible in McCauley’s case. He blacked out from his head wound and didn’t awaken until Sept. 20, 2004, in Bethesda hospital.
Later he was transferred from Bethesda to the Indianapolis Veterans Hospital in his home state of Indiana, allowing him to be closer to family and friends. It was here, he said, that he first talked to a military doctor about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He did not confide in anyone else.
Then, McCauley said, he was sent to Camp Pendleton, Calif., the home base of his Marine unit, and given the impression he was well enough to recover on his own. That’s when his misgivings began to bubble up about the military methods of treating post-combat stress. Yet, he admitted, he still didn’t say anything to anybody.
“My unit didn’t even know I was coming back,” said McCauley. “They stuck me in a room by myself, and pretty much just left me there.”
McCauley didn’t recall precisely how long his solitary recovery went on — “a month, five or six weeks … staring at bare walls” — but he said during that time he became addicted to painkillers and continued to suffer from terrifying flashbacks.
Fellow Marines would come by his room once or twice a week, but McCauley said he never asked them for help.
“I didn’t know if they didn’t know how bad of shape I was in,” he said. “Some of that you could construe as being my fault because … being a Marine makes it a lot harder to admit that you can’t handle something.”
Marines, McCauley said, are “taught to suck it up, suck it up, quit being a pussy. That is drilled into us; you keep going no matter what. A little pain is normal. So we don’t say anything.”
Weightman, one of the Army’s top medical officers, said reluctance to ask for assistance is due to the stigma connected with psychiatric recovery problems in the macho culture of the military.
“We are trying to take that stigma away,” said Weightman. “If I had a sprained ankle, I would go seek care for it. So why not seek help if I’m having nightmares or I fly off the handle a lot quicker than I used to?”
The New England Journal of Medicine studied the issue two years ago, estimating that between 15 percent and 17 percent of U.S. soldiers who served in Iraq suffered from mental disorders but only half of them sought care upon returning home.
Brig. Gen. Michael J. Kussman, a medical doctor and a top official with the Veterans Health Administration, said the military is aware of the problem, and has made psychological rehabilitation of war-tested soldiers a primary concern.
He said poly-trauma centers to treat veterans with severe physical and mental wounds have been strategically established in Minneapolis, Minn., Palo Alto, Calif., Richmond, Va., and Tampa, Fla. Additional centers will be built, he said, as the need increases.
“We are quite prepared to take care of any veteran who comes to see us,” said Kussman.
Some of the best proven therapy, both Weightman and Kussman said, can come from talking with other soldiers who have been through the trauma of war.
In McCauley’s case, that proved to be the right medicine.
The Indiana Marine said he finally opened up to his father, Greg McCauley, about his post-combat stress. His father, in turn, called an officer he had met at the Bethesda Naval Hospital while visiting his son there. And the next morning, two Marines from McCauley’s command post were in his room to talk about his nightmares and misgivings.
“I told them I needed help,” said McCauley. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
At first, he underwent special counseling. But McCauley said he didn’t like talking to the Navy psychiatrist because “he didn’t go through what I went through.” He said he felt better after talking it out with Marines who had been in combat.
“That’s how I found closure,” he said. “It was tough talking about it again, but it eventually got easier. It got easier and easier the more I talked about it.”
That’s the lesson McCauley would like to pass on to other soldiers who suffer from post-combat stress tied to the trauma of war: don’t internalize frustration and anger. Let it out.
“Whether they try to swallow it, it’s eventually going to come out,” he said. “Whether it’s a month later, five years later, 10 years later. Everybody eventually deals with it and the longer you wait, the worse it is.”
Eric Reinagel is a CNHI News Service Elite Reporting Fellowship recipient. He writes for The Meadville, Pa., Tribune.
PTSD Help Line:
• Veterans Administration/Post Traumatic Stress Disorder inquiries: www.ncptsd.va.gov
• Sidran Foundation: (410) 825-8888.
• Anxiety Disorders Association of America: (240) 485-1001.
• American Psychological Association: (800) 964-2000.
http://www.kokomotribune.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_277232554.html
A soldier’s story of battling flashbacks, other demons
By ERIC REINAGEL
CNHI News Service
Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series titled Wounds of War.
Surgeons at Bethesda Naval Hospital prepared to drill a hole in Lance Cpl. Bret McCauley’s badly swollen head to relieve pressure on his brain when he unexpectedly awoke from a two-week coma.
“Hold up one finger for me,” McCauley recalls someone saying.
He held up his middle finger — “and from that instant they knew I would be OK.”
OK in the sense that he would survive severe wounds suffered when a suicide car bomber rammed his military convoy outside Fallujah, Iraq, on Sept. 6, 2004, setting off 500 pounds of explosives and killing seven fellow Marines.
But not all right when the trauma of that tragedy and other war scenes kept flashing back through McCauley’s mind like a horror movie on rewind during his recovery.
Nightmares, hallucinations, helplessness, paranoia, depression and guilt about surviving when others didn’t. McCauley said he experienced all of these mental demons and more during his struggle to get back to normal.
It is a condition known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, first recognized during the Vietnam War era and now diagnosed frequently among troops returning from Iraq. Head injuries, doctors say, can make the condition worse.
McCauley’s life was saved by modern military medicine and a fast-responding team of medics, nurses, doctors and pilots. They removed his spleen and a kidney in Iraq before airlifting him to a regional hospital in Germany to stabilize his wounds, then to Bethesda for additional treatment and recovery.
But the bomb blast had sent McCauley flying from the open back of a truck, striking his head hard against the ground and causing it to gradually inflate to the size of a basketball.
A tumor-like blood clot — known technically as a subdural hematoma — formed inside his head, putting intense pressure on his brain and causing him to lose consciousness.
Surgery removed the blood clot. It did not fix the mental anguish the 23-year-old McCauley, of Kokomo, said accompanied his condition. Mental anguish that eventually moved him to wonder if the military even cared about his recurrent thoughts of trauma.
Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, medical director and commander of the U.S. Army Medical Center and School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, said McCauley’s state of mind was predictable. He said more than one in three soldiers who come back from Iraq face post-combat mental health issues.
A primary reason, he said, is that Iraq veterans are more likely to have witnessed someone getting wounded or killed from improvised explosive devices, the weapon of choice for rebel insurgents and terrorists.
“Think about what war is,” said Weightman. “It is sending a normal person into a very abnormal situation. Death and serious injury are very traumatic things to have to deal with.”
Military procedure calls for treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as soon as it is recognized. And often, said Weightman, that means in the war zone. Especially when there are significant casualties such as those from a roadside explosive or car bomb.
“The farther forward you treat it, the more proactive you are, the greater the chance that patients can recover and return to their unit,” said Weightman. “We have combat operational stress control teams and we send these out with the battalions.”
Battlefield psychiatric help was not possible in McCauley’s case. He blacked out from his head wound and didn’t awaken until Sept. 20, 2004, in Bethesda hospital.
Later he was transferred from Bethesda to the Indianapolis Veterans Hospital in his home state of Indiana, allowing him to be closer to family and friends. It was here, he said, that he first talked to a military doctor about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He did not confide in anyone else.
Then, McCauley said, he was sent to Camp Pendleton, Calif., the home base of his Marine unit, and given the impression he was well enough to recover on his own. That’s when his misgivings began to bubble up about the military methods of treating post-combat stress. Yet, he admitted, he still didn’t say anything to anybody.
“My unit didn’t even know I was coming back,” said McCauley. “They stuck me in a room by myself, and pretty much just left me there.”
McCauley didn’t recall precisely how long his solitary recovery went on — “a month, five or six weeks … staring at bare walls” — but he said during that time he became addicted to painkillers and continued to suffer from terrifying flashbacks.
Fellow Marines would come by his room once or twice a week, but McCauley said he never asked them for help.
“I didn’t know if they didn’t know how bad of shape I was in,” he said. “Some of that you could construe as being my fault because … being a Marine makes it a lot harder to admit that you can’t handle something.”
Marines, McCauley said, are “taught to suck it up, suck it up, quit being a pussy. That is drilled into us; you keep going no matter what. A little pain is normal. So we don’t say anything.”
Weightman, one of the Army’s top medical officers, said reluctance to ask for assistance is due to the stigma connected with psychiatric recovery problems in the macho culture of the military.
“We are trying to take that stigma away,” said Weightman. “If I had a sprained ankle, I would go seek care for it. So why not seek help if I’m having nightmares or I fly off the handle a lot quicker than I used to?”
The New England Journal of Medicine studied the issue two years ago, estimating that between 15 percent and 17 percent of U.S. soldiers who served in Iraq suffered from mental disorders but only half of them sought care upon returning home.
Brig. Gen. Michael J. Kussman, a medical doctor and a top official with the Veterans Health Administration, said the military is aware of the problem, and has made psychological rehabilitation of war-tested soldiers a primary concern.
He said poly-trauma centers to treat veterans with severe physical and mental wounds have been strategically established in Minneapolis, Minn., Palo Alto, Calif., Richmond, Va., and Tampa, Fla. Additional centers will be built, he said, as the need increases.
“We are quite prepared to take care of any veteran who comes to see us,” said Kussman.
Some of the best proven therapy, both Weightman and Kussman said, can come from talking with other soldiers who have been through the trauma of war.
In McCauley’s case, that proved to be the right medicine.
The Indiana Marine said he finally opened up to his father, Greg McCauley, about his post-combat stress. His father, in turn, called an officer he had met at the Bethesda Naval Hospital while visiting his son there. And the next morning, two Marines from McCauley’s command post were in his room to talk about his nightmares and misgivings.
“I told them I needed help,” said McCauley. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
At first, he underwent special counseling. But McCauley said he didn’t like talking to the Navy psychiatrist because “he didn’t go through what I went through.” He said he felt better after talking it out with Marines who had been in combat.
“That’s how I found closure,” he said. “It was tough talking about it again, but it eventually got easier. It got easier and easier the more I talked about it.”
That’s the lesson McCauley would like to pass on to other soldiers who suffer from post-combat stress tied to the trauma of war: don’t internalize frustration and anger. Let it out.
“Whether they try to swallow it, it’s eventually going to come out,” he said. “Whether it’s a month later, five years later, 10 years later. Everybody eventually deals with it and the longer you wait, the worse it is.”
Eric Reinagel is a CNHI News Service Elite Reporting Fellowship recipient. He writes for The Meadville, Pa., Tribune.
PTSD Help Line:
• Veterans Administration/Post Traumatic Stress Disorder inquiries: www.ncptsd.va.gov
• Sidran Foundation: (410) 825-8888.
• Anxiety Disorders Association of America: (240) 485-1001.
• American Psychological Association: (800) 964-2000.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 16 2006, 01:32 AM
This is not a case relating to a death or an injury. It is the first case of stop loss that I have reported here. A 20 year veteran, already scheduled for discharge told he couldn't leave yet because his unit was being ordered to deploy to Iraq. Yessirhekuvajob!
QUOTE
Soldier called back to duty on day before retirement
Sunday October 15, 2006
LINDENHURST, Ill. (AP) An Army staff sergeant was days away from retirement after a 20-year military career when he was ordered to return to his unit, which will be deployed to Iraq at the end of the month.
James Engle applied for retirement in January and later received a retirement award from the Army during a ceremony in Texas. On Sept. 20 he was told paperwork was missing and he should report to his unit, the 1st Cavalry Division.
Late last month, the Army denied his retirement request along with a request to exempt him from his unit's deployment saying it was ``neither compelling nor compassionate enough in nature,'' even though a military retirement counselor had scheduled his Army release for Sept. 21.
``I feel like I'm twisting in the wind,'' Engle said. ``I keep being told that there has been a big, huge mistake. Well, this big, huge mistake has turned my life completely around.''
Engle's lieutenant, Frank Lyle, said he is working with Army personnel to solve the problem.
A telephone call Sunday to the Army's public affairs office at the Pentagon for comment was not immediately returned.
Engle, 38, of Lindenhurst joined the Army in August 1986. During his two decades with the military he spent nine years in combat zones, including Somalia, Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Engle first applied for retirement in August 2005, while working at the Military Entrance Processing Station in Des Plaines.
His request was denied and the military transferred him to Fort Hood, Texas. Engle's wife, Claudia, and two children decided to stay in Lindenhurst, located 40 miles northwest of Chicago.
``We were finally ready to settle down and stop moving,'' Claudia Engle said. ``Our home is in Lindenhurst. We don't want to go anywhere else.''
While he awaits word on his retirement request, Engle said he will remain in suburban Chicago with his family while he finishes a two-month period of leave.
``If they would have said two months ago, we need you, I would have understood,'' Engle said. ``But to do this to me and my family one day before I was going to move home is especially cruel.''
Sunday October 15, 2006
LINDENHURST, Ill. (AP) An Army staff sergeant was days away from retirement after a 20-year military career when he was ordered to return to his unit, which will be deployed to Iraq at the end of the month.
James Engle applied for retirement in January and later received a retirement award from the Army during a ceremony in Texas. On Sept. 20 he was told paperwork was missing and he should report to his unit, the 1st Cavalry Division.
Late last month, the Army denied his retirement request along with a request to exempt him from his unit's deployment saying it was ``neither compelling nor compassionate enough in nature,'' even though a military retirement counselor had scheduled his Army release for Sept. 21.
``I feel like I'm twisting in the wind,'' Engle said. ``I keep being told that there has been a big, huge mistake. Well, this big, huge mistake has turned my life completely around.''
Engle's lieutenant, Frank Lyle, said he is working with Army personnel to solve the problem.
A telephone call Sunday to the Army's public affairs office at the Pentagon for comment was not immediately returned.
Engle, 38, of Lindenhurst joined the Army in August 1986. During his two decades with the military he spent nine years in combat zones, including Somalia, Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Engle first applied for retirement in August 2005, while working at the Military Entrance Processing Station in Des Plaines.
His request was denied and the military transferred him to Fort Hood, Texas. Engle's wife, Claudia, and two children decided to stay in Lindenhurst, located 40 miles northwest of Chicago.
``We were finally ready to settle down and stop moving,'' Claudia Engle said. ``Our home is in Lindenhurst. We don't want to go anywhere else.''
While he awaits word on his retirement request, Engle said he will remain in suburban Chicago with his family while he finishes a two-month period of leave.
``If they would have said two months ago, we need you, I would have understood,'' Engle said. ``But to do this to me and my family one day before I was going to move home is especially cruel.''
http://cbs2chicago.com/illinoiswire/IL--Soldier-Retiremen_i_n_0il--/resources_news_html
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 16 2006, 09:38 AM
A sad day for Alaska and for the rest of America as well as we lose our first Native American from Alaska. Barrow will remember Billy Brown fondly, but doubts have been placed in their minds as well. Another sad welcome to the ways of the Great White Father in DC. Rest in peace Billy Brown and may your tribesmen all return safely, in one piece and without the mental scars that afflict so many of our veterans.
QUOTE
A Soldier Comes Home to Alaska, Too Early and Yet Too Late
By CHARLIE LeDUFF
BARROW, Alaska — When the soldiers from the frozen tundra shipped out for the burning sands of Iraq, Staff Sgt. Billy Brown promised the women that he’d bring their men back alive.
But when Sergeant Brown returned just two weeks later, he didn’t bring his men at all. He came with a funeral detail. He came cargo, in a silver coffin with wood handles cloaked in an American flag. He is believed to be the first Eskimo killed because of this war. He was 54.
Sergeant Brown, an Alaska national guardsman, never got to a battlefield. He was killed when a tractor-trailer slammed into the back of his Humvee late in July while he was on training maneuvers at Camp Shelby in Mississippi.
His death rattled this town of 4,200, mostly Inupiaq Eskimos, located 500 roadless miles from anywhere and 350 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
Finally, tangibly, the war has reached one of the most isolated corners of the country.
“Until now the war was more like a television show,” said Edward S. Itta, mayor of the North Slope Borough, in which Barrow lies, and a friend of Sergeant Brown’s. “You don’t question the war until it touches you. Only then, when a man like Billy, an important man to us, comes home dead, does the question become clear. We fight. But to what end? What’s in it for my grandchildren?”
During the cold war, the battle line was drawn right here on the North Slope, with the Soviets skulking just across the Bering Strait. Most Alaska Guard members stayed in the state, protecting the home front.
But the world has changed. For this war, 670 Guard members have been called up from rural Alaska, its largest foreign deployment ever. The Alaska Guard estimates that one-third of its members are Eskimo, so most likely a third of those deployed are indigenous men, officials say, though the military does not keep official racial records of this type.
Among the most skilled was Staff Sergeant Brown, a 29-year veteran of the Guard and an Arctic survival specialist.
“He could have retired years ago,” said his niece Audrey Saganna. But he volunteered for the mission so other soldiers who had served multiple tours in Iraq could get a rest, she said.
The funeral of William Franklin Brown lasted many hours, Eskimo tradition holding that anyone who wanted to speak could do so. It took 20 men an entire day to dig his grave through the permafrost. Tribal leaders decided he should be buried in the Elders Cemetery, a great honor here. His grave is marked like the others, with a simple wooden cross. He is buried next to his father.
Born in the mining town of Lost River on the Seward Peninsula in western Alaska, Sergeant Brown grew up in Barrow, one of 18 brothers and sisters. Whaling is the centerpiece of the culture and Sergeant Brown worked as an oarsman on one crew and was a walrus and polar bear hunter. He worked for a spell at the post office, was elected to the City Council and eventually settled in as the shipping and receiving manager at the local hospital.
By virtue of his hospital job, Sergeant Brown was in attendance when nearly every Barrow child was born. He did not do this out of obligation, his people said, but because he was proud to be Inupiaq.
He never married and fathered no children of his own, but Sergeant Brown was an uncle and a counselor to dozens of struggling young men, and by native tradition, under which age is respected and revered, he was an uncle to hundreds more.
The call-up has affected Eskimo villages all across the state, some of the most remote and rugged corners of this country. The men come from places like Kongiganak, Emmonak and Scammon Bay, where winter survival depends on the summer harvest of otter, moose, geese, fish and whale. With the men gone, the long, brutal winter is expected to be even more bitter for those they’ve left behind.
Barrow is different from the Eskimo villages. Oil revenues from Prudhoe Bay have made it something of a city. There are flush toilets and smokestacks and a Japanese restaurant. City ways have brought city problems. Methamphetamines and alcohol are afflictions. The native language is spoken less and less. Satellite television is the entertainment of choice, and fewer young people hunt nowadays. Residents increasingly rely on the grocery store freezer rather than the winter larder.
Still, the place is poor. Broken windows are stuffed with newspapers. Houses are weather-beaten affairs of wood on stilts with metal roofs, perpetually heated with natural gas from a field off in the muskeg. Billy Brown’s was spare and unpainted, well kept with few adornments. He lived next to his father.
The sun in Barrow disappears from Nov. 18 until Jan. 24, and the temperature can reach 99 below. The roads are gravel, because concrete disintegrates in the cold. The government, financed by oil revenues, is the main industry and because of plentiful natural gas, heating bills are only $200 a month in the dead of winter. Milk is $10 a gallon. Gasoline is $4. “Never Forget” placards are displayed in house windows and on car bumpers, a reference to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And now, just as much, a reference to Billy Brown.
Sergeant Brown’s hometown is not a hissing coal-bed of antiwar activism, yet with his death the doubts began to surface.
“Is it going so badly in the Middle East that the military has to scrape up a few hundred Eskimos and send them to the desert?” asked David Leavitt, a friend, who had butchered caribou hanging from his porch balustrade, drying in the Arctic sun. “I mean he wanted to go, but what’s the purpose? We lost Billy for what purpose?”
The soldiers’ wives talk as soldiers’ wives do. They talk of pride. They talk about unflinching support for their men. But now that Billy Brown, the leader of their men, has come home in a box, they talk with a slight edge about fear and doubt.
“He signed up for it and it is his duty to go, but I don’t like this war at all,” said Mia Sanchez, a mother of five whose husband, Jay, enlisted three years ago. “I don’t understand it. I thought he’d be protecting Alaska, not Iraq.”
Melba Nowpakahok, whose husband, Owen, had Billy Brown for his best man, said that as a military wife it would be counterproductive to question any of it.
“We’re just going to go with whatever the higher-ups say,” she said. “Whatever the president says. Whatever Rumsfeld says. We’re just going to have to go with it.”
The eight remaining men from Barrow are to arrive in the Iraqi theater sometime in October, and one company of Arctic soldiers will carry its flag with Billy Brown’s name tag sewn to it.
And when the fall whale hunt begins, a new man will be holding the oar that Billy Brown once held.
http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt10_15_6.htm
By CHARLIE LeDUFF
BARROW, Alaska — When the soldiers from the frozen tundra shipped out for the burning sands of Iraq, Staff Sgt. Billy Brown promised the women that he’d bring their men back alive.
But when Sergeant Brown returned just two weeks later, he didn’t bring his men at all. He came with a funeral detail. He came cargo, in a silver coffin with wood handles cloaked in an American flag. He is believed to be the first Eskimo killed because of this war. He was 54.
Sergeant Brown, an Alaska national guardsman, never got to a battlefield. He was killed when a tractor-trailer slammed into the back of his Humvee late in July while he was on training maneuvers at Camp Shelby in Mississippi.
His death rattled this town of 4,200, mostly Inupiaq Eskimos, located 500 roadless miles from anywhere and 350 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
Finally, tangibly, the war has reached one of the most isolated corners of the country.
“Until now the war was more like a television show,” said Edward S. Itta, mayor of the North Slope Borough, in which Barrow lies, and a friend of Sergeant Brown’s. “You don’t question the war until it touches you. Only then, when a man like Billy, an important man to us, comes home dead, does the question become clear. We fight. But to what end? What’s in it for my grandchildren?”
During the cold war, the battle line was drawn right here on the North Slope, with the Soviets skulking just across the Bering Strait. Most Alaska Guard members stayed in the state, protecting the home front.
But the world has changed. For this war, 670 Guard members have been called up from rural Alaska, its largest foreign deployment ever. The Alaska Guard estimates that one-third of its members are Eskimo, so most likely a third of those deployed are indigenous men, officials say, though the military does not keep official racial records of this type.
Among the most skilled was Staff Sergeant Brown, a 29-year veteran of the Guard and an Arctic survival specialist.
“He could have retired years ago,” said his niece Audrey Saganna. But he volunteered for the mission so other soldiers who had served multiple tours in Iraq could get a rest, she said.
The funeral of William Franklin Brown lasted many hours, Eskimo tradition holding that anyone who wanted to speak could do so. It took 20 men an entire day to dig his grave through the permafrost. Tribal leaders decided he should be buried in the Elders Cemetery, a great honor here. His grave is marked like the others, with a simple wooden cross. He is buried next to his father.
Born in the mining town of Lost River on the Seward Peninsula in western Alaska, Sergeant Brown grew up in Barrow, one of 18 brothers and sisters. Whaling is the centerpiece of the culture and Sergeant Brown worked as an oarsman on one crew and was a walrus and polar bear hunter. He worked for a spell at the post office, was elected to the City Council and eventually settled in as the shipping and receiving manager at the local hospital.
By virtue of his hospital job, Sergeant Brown was in attendance when nearly every Barrow child was born. He did not do this out of obligation, his people said, but because he was proud to be Inupiaq.
He never married and fathered no children of his own, but Sergeant Brown was an uncle and a counselor to dozens of struggling young men, and by native tradition, under which age is respected and revered, he was an uncle to hundreds more.
The call-up has affected Eskimo villages all across the state, some of the most remote and rugged corners of this country. The men come from places like Kongiganak, Emmonak and Scammon Bay, where winter survival depends on the summer harvest of otter, moose, geese, fish and whale. With the men gone, the long, brutal winter is expected to be even more bitter for those they’ve left behind.
Barrow is different from the Eskimo villages. Oil revenues from Prudhoe Bay have made it something of a city. There are flush toilets and smokestacks and a Japanese restaurant. City ways have brought city problems. Methamphetamines and alcohol are afflictions. The native language is spoken less and less. Satellite television is the entertainment of choice, and fewer young people hunt nowadays. Residents increasingly rely on the grocery store freezer rather than the winter larder.
Still, the place is poor. Broken windows are stuffed with newspapers. Houses are weather-beaten affairs of wood on stilts with metal roofs, perpetually heated with natural gas from a field off in the muskeg. Billy Brown’s was spare and unpainted, well kept with few adornments. He lived next to his father.
The sun in Barrow disappears from Nov. 18 until Jan. 24, and the temperature can reach 99 below. The roads are gravel, because concrete disintegrates in the cold. The government, financed by oil revenues, is the main industry and because of plentiful natural gas, heating bills are only $200 a month in the dead of winter. Milk is $10 a gallon. Gasoline is $4. “Never Forget” placards are displayed in house windows and on car bumpers, a reference to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And now, just as much, a reference to Billy Brown.
Sergeant Brown’s hometown is not a hissing coal-bed of antiwar activism, yet with his death the doubts began to surface.
“Is it going so badly in the Middle East that the military has to scrape up a few hundred Eskimos and send them to the desert?” asked David Leavitt, a friend, who had butchered caribou hanging from his porch balustrade, drying in the Arctic sun. “I mean he wanted to go, but what’s the purpose? We lost Billy for what purpose?”
The soldiers’ wives talk as soldiers’ wives do. They talk of pride. They talk about unflinching support for their men. But now that Billy Brown, the leader of their men, has come home in a box, they talk with a slight edge about fear and doubt.
“He signed up for it and it is his duty to go, but I don’t like this war at all,” said Mia Sanchez, a mother of five whose husband, Jay, enlisted three years ago. “I don’t understand it. I thought he’d be protecting Alaska, not Iraq.”
Melba Nowpakahok, whose husband, Owen, had Billy Brown for his best man, said that as a military wife it would be counterproductive to question any of it.
“We’re just going to go with whatever the higher-ups say,” she said. “Whatever the president says. Whatever Rumsfeld says. We’re just going to have to go with it.”
The eight remaining men from Barrow are to arrive in the Iraqi theater sometime in October, and one company of Arctic soldiers will carry its flag with Billy Brown’s name tag sewn to it.
And when the fall whale hunt begins, a new man will be holding the oar that Billy Brown once held.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 17 2006, 10:11 PM
Here is a story from a Montana newspaper highlighting the trials and tribulatins of the 163rd Infantry Battalion and their trouble making adjustments upon their return. A rather lengthy read, but worth it.
QUOTE
Montana Guardsmen bring home hidden wounds
By ERIC NEWHOUSE
Tribune Projects Editor
When the 163rd Infantry Battalion left for Iraq in 2004, it was the largest deployment of troops from Montana since World War II.
It was also one of the most dangerous combat missions for the Montana Army National Guard unit.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Every one of my guys (patients) except one from the 163rd witnessed IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," said Keli Remus of Chinook Winds Counseling in Great Falls.
"All were shot at or have shot others," he said. "All had at least heard of rapes."
He declined to say how many members of the unit he is treating for post-traumatic stress disorder.
There was no place that was safe from bombs, rockets, mortars or gunfire, he said. And thieves took everything that wasn't nailed down.
"It seems like every one of my guys was in a vehicle that was blown up, had a friend who was blown up or had to clean up after a bombing," Remus said.
Combat exposure checklists consistently show that members of the 163rd experienced moderate to heavy combat in Iraq, said Eric Kettenring, counselor at the Missoula Vet Center.
"And they are experiencing trauma, some of it severe, some of it less so, but it's all bad stuff," said Kettenring.
There are suggestions that America's civilian soldiers may be more vulnerable to combat stress than full-time military personnel.
The Army's leading expert on post-traumatic stress disorder, Col. Charles Hoge, recently told Congress that 41 percent of returning National Guardsmen and reservists raised concerns about their mental health in a survey taken three to six months after returning from combat.
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061016/NEWS01/610160302
By ERIC NEWHOUSE
Tribune Projects Editor
When the 163rd Infantry Battalion left for Iraq in 2004, it was the largest deployment of troops from Montana since World War II.
It was also one of the most dangerous combat missions for the Montana Army National Guard unit.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Every one of my guys (patients) except one from the 163rd witnessed IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," said Keli Remus of Chinook Winds Counseling in Great Falls.
"All were shot at or have shot others," he said. "All had at least heard of rapes."
He declined to say how many members of the unit he is treating for post-traumatic stress disorder.
There was no place that was safe from bombs, rockets, mortars or gunfire, he said. And thieves took everything that wasn't nailed down.
"It seems like every one of my guys was in a vehicle that was blown up, had a friend who was blown up or had to clean up after a bombing," Remus said.
Combat exposure checklists consistently show that members of the 163rd experienced moderate to heavy combat in Iraq, said Eric Kettenring, counselor at the Missoula Vet Center.
"And they are experiencing trauma, some of it severe, some of it less so, but it's all bad stuff," said Kettenring.
There are suggestions that America's civilian soldiers may be more vulnerable to combat stress than full-time military personnel.
The Army's leading expert on post-traumatic stress disorder, Col. Charles Hoge, recently told Congress that 41 percent of returning National Guardsmen and reservists raised concerns about their mental health in a survey taken three to six months after returning from combat.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 18 2006, 05:45 PM
This article is about a scene not often witnessed by the press, the president, or anyone outside of a unit saying its final goodbyes. RIP A1c Chavis!
QUOTE
Farewell on a Dark Tarmac
Unit Sends Comrade Home From Baghdad With Salutes and Sobs
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 18, 2006; A01
SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq -- His commanders gave Airman 1st Class LeeBernard E. Chavis the proud emblem of their squadron -- a blue-and-yellow flag known as a guidon -- because they knew he would rather die than lose it.
The 21-year-old District native carried it from the unit's home base in the hills of Georgia to the sands of Kuwait and onto the streets of Baghdad, where, on Saturday, he was killed by a sniper as he tried to keep civilians away from a suspected roadside bomb.
"The colors have dropped," said Maj. Thomas Miner, commander of the 824th Security Forces Squadron, as he waited to escort Chavis's body onto a C-130 Hercules late Sunday. His lip quivered and his eyes turned glassy. "But we've got to pick them back up."
More than 200 personnel from the squadron and other units stood in near-total blackness on a tarmac and saluted the man who became the unit's first combat fatality in Iraq. The guidon was solemnly carried forward, for the first time by someone else. Then a white, unmarked truck pulled up and the door swung open.
"Reach for remains!" a voice barked.
The sight of the coffin, draped in a large American flag and carried toward the plane by six pallbearers, slowly distorted the faces of 18 members of Chavis's sub-unit, known as a flight, who stood in two neat rows facing the makeshift charnel.
The bottom lip of one young woman in baggy fatigues trembled, and then she began to cry hysterically, her head bobbing up and down.
A chaplain intoned: "There is no greater love that can be displayed than for a person to lay down their life for others."
Another woman started to cry, and soon two men standing nearby joined her.
The chaplain continued: "His love is proven by this ultimate sacrifice."
The legs of several airmen buckled slightly. Within a few minutes, nearly the entire flight was sobbing uncontrollably. The face of Staff Sgt. Kyle Luker turned bright red as tears streamed down his cheeks.
This type of ceremony, known as a patriot detail, is rarely observed by anyone outside the military -- not by the president, not by members of Congress, not by the children or spouse of the fallen service member. The squadron commander allowed a Washington Post reporter embedded with an affiliated unit to witness, but not photograph, the ceremony for Chavis.
He was one of 2,767 members of the U.S. armed forces or employees of the Defense Department to have died so far in the Iraq war, according to the Pentagon.
With distant gunfire punctuating the night as the ceremony approached, Chavis's friends voiced questions about the war and this latest death. One asked: Was it worth the life of a 21-year-old about to propose to his girlfriend? Another wondered aloud: Who among us will die next? And a third asked: Why would God take the life of a devoted Christian who loved to sing gospel and write R&B songs?
"It makes you question almost everything" observed Luker, 27. Still, he said, "we're not here to ask the questions and get them answered. We're here to complete the mission. We'll worry about that stuff when we get home."
Squadron members sat on the dusty tarmac and remembered their friend: How he used to trash-talk while he sprinted on the basketball court. How he planned to join the FBI or the CIA or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives once he left the Air Force.
And how he used to write songs expressing dreams of what he'd do after leaving the bloodshed of Baghdad behind. A few minutes before the coffin arrived, one of his best friends, Airman 1st Class Ro-Derick Taylor, chanted one of the songs that the two men wrote together:
Sometimes I wish that we could go Sometimes to a place where no one knows Sometimes when you and me could be alone Sometimes, sometimes.
Waiting members of Chavis's squadron noted that his aggressive work in the turret of his Humvee had possibly saved their own lives. Luker, a hulking airman with a square jaw, appeared shaken. "We have to be strong," he said. "That's what Chavis would have wanted."
Chavis was born in the District and lived there until he was 6. Then his family moved to Hampton, Va., where he attended high school. His parents recently moved to Reston.
Last year, he did a tour in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, then rotated back to Georgia. There he got into a bit of disciplinary trouble, which his comrades declined to describe. But he begged to redeploy to the war zone, to Baghdad, and his commanders decided to give him a second chance. They gave him the guidon as a sign of their confidence in him.
His unit was attached to the 372nd Military Police Battalion, which trains Iraqi police in western Baghdad. His group frequently moved through the city streets in convoys, bound for training duty. On those trips, Chavis served as lead gunner, manning a .50-caliber machine gun in the turret atop the front Humvee. He was responsible for clearing a path for the rest of his team, laying down fire to provide cover if needed.
As his convoy rumbled through central Baghdad on Saturday just after 2 p.m., squadron members recounted, it came upon an Iraqi police unit that asked for help in dealing with a suspected roadside bomb. The unit began to set up a cordon; Chavis's job was to protect his fellow airmen and prevent civilians from rushing into the potential blast area.
Confused women and children tried to walk into the area, so Chavis rose out of the protection of his turret to try to shoo them away. "Keep away! Danger!" he shouted. Just then, a sniper from a nearby building shot him in the back of the head. He collapsed into the Humvee and died instantly.
On Sunday night, the pallbearers carried the coffin aboard the plane. Then almost the entire flight marched into the aircraft to pay final respects.
But one lanky airman couldn't move. His friends tried to push him forward, but he wouldn't budge. He continued to stare straight ahead as he cried and cried.
Eventually, the mourners left the plane. Then the crew closed the plane's door. It was nearly pitch-black on the tarmac again. But by the winking, distant lights of the capital, it was possible to make out the unit's guidon, fluttering gently in the night sky.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701651_pf.html
Unit Sends Comrade Home From Baghdad With Salutes and Sobs
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 18, 2006; A01
SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq -- His commanders gave Airman 1st Class LeeBernard E. Chavis the proud emblem of their squadron -- a blue-and-yellow flag known as a guidon -- because they knew he would rather die than lose it.
The 21-year-old District native carried it from the unit's home base in the hills of Georgia to the sands of Kuwait and onto the streets of Baghdad, where, on Saturday, he was killed by a sniper as he tried to keep civilians away from a suspected roadside bomb.
"The colors have dropped," said Maj. Thomas Miner, commander of the 824th Security Forces Squadron, as he waited to escort Chavis's body onto a C-130 Hercules late Sunday. His lip quivered and his eyes turned glassy. "But we've got to pick them back up."
More than 200 personnel from the squadron and other units stood in near-total blackness on a tarmac and saluted the man who became the unit's first combat fatality in Iraq. The guidon was solemnly carried forward, for the first time by someone else. Then a white, unmarked truck pulled up and the door swung open.
"Reach for remains!" a voice barked.
The sight of the coffin, draped in a large American flag and carried toward the plane by six pallbearers, slowly distorted the faces of 18 members of Chavis's sub-unit, known as a flight, who stood in two neat rows facing the makeshift charnel.
The bottom lip of one young woman in baggy fatigues trembled, and then she began to cry hysterically, her head bobbing up and down.
A chaplain intoned: "There is no greater love that can be displayed than for a person to lay down their life for others."
Another woman started to cry, and soon two men standing nearby joined her.
The chaplain continued: "His love is proven by this ultimate sacrifice."
The legs of several airmen buckled slightly. Within a few minutes, nearly the entire flight was sobbing uncontrollably. The face of Staff Sgt. Kyle Luker turned bright red as tears streamed down his cheeks.
This type of ceremony, known as a patriot detail, is rarely observed by anyone outside the military -- not by the president, not by members of Congress, not by the children or spouse of the fallen service member. The squadron commander allowed a Washington Post reporter embedded with an affiliated unit to witness, but not photograph, the ceremony for Chavis.
He was one of 2,767 members of the U.S. armed forces or employees of the Defense Department to have died so far in the Iraq war, according to the Pentagon.
With distant gunfire punctuating the night as the ceremony approached, Chavis's friends voiced questions about the war and this latest death. One asked: Was it worth the life of a 21-year-old about to propose to his girlfriend? Another wondered aloud: Who among us will die next? And a third asked: Why would God take the life of a devoted Christian who loved to sing gospel and write R&B songs?
"It makes you question almost everything" observed Luker, 27. Still, he said, "we're not here to ask the questions and get them answered. We're here to complete the mission. We'll worry about that stuff when we get home."
Squadron members sat on the dusty tarmac and remembered their friend: How he used to trash-talk while he sprinted on the basketball court. How he planned to join the FBI or the CIA or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives once he left the Air Force.
And how he used to write songs expressing dreams of what he'd do after leaving the bloodshed of Baghdad behind. A few minutes before the coffin arrived, one of his best friends, Airman 1st Class Ro-Derick Taylor, chanted one of the songs that the two men wrote together:
Sometimes I wish that we could go Sometimes to a place where no one knows Sometimes when you and me could be alone Sometimes, sometimes.
Waiting members of Chavis's squadron noted that his aggressive work in the turret of his Humvee had possibly saved their own lives. Luker, a hulking airman with a square jaw, appeared shaken. "We have to be strong," he said. "That's what Chavis would have wanted."
Chavis was born in the District and lived there until he was 6. Then his family moved to Hampton, Va., where he attended high school. His parents recently moved to Reston.
Last year, he did a tour in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, then rotated back to Georgia. There he got into a bit of disciplinary trouble, which his comrades declined to describe. But he begged to redeploy to the war zone, to Baghdad, and his commanders decided to give him a second chance. They gave him the guidon as a sign of their confidence in him.
His unit was attached to the 372nd Military Police Battalion, which trains Iraqi police in western Baghdad. His group frequently moved through the city streets in convoys, bound for training duty. On those trips, Chavis served as lead gunner, manning a .50-caliber machine gun in the turret atop the front Humvee. He was responsible for clearing a path for the rest of his team, laying down fire to provide cover if needed.
As his convoy rumbled through central Baghdad on Saturday just after 2 p.m., squadron members recounted, it came upon an Iraqi police unit that asked for help in dealing with a suspected roadside bomb. The unit began to set up a cordon; Chavis's job was to protect his fellow airmen and prevent civilians from rushing into the potential blast area.
Confused women and children tried to walk into the area, so Chavis rose out of the protection of his turret to try to shoo them away. "Keep away! Danger!" he shouted. Just then, a sniper from a nearby building shot him in the back of the head. He collapsed into the Humvee and died instantly.
On Sunday night, the pallbearers carried the coffin aboard the plane. Then almost the entire flight marched into the aircraft to pay final respects.
But one lanky airman couldn't move. His friends tried to push him forward, but he wouldn't budge. He continued to stare straight ahead as he cried and cried.
Eventually, the mourners left the plane. Then the crew closed the plane's door. It was nearly pitch-black on the tarmac again. But by the winking, distant lights of the capital, it was possible to make out the unit's guidon, fluttering gently in the night sky.
Posted by: philathome Oct 18 2006, 06:13 PM
QUOTE(aleman1948 @ Oct 18 2006, 07:45 PM) [snapback]319449[/snapback]
This article is about a scene not often witnessed by the press, the president, or anyone outside of a unit saying its final goodbyes. RIP A1c Chavis! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701651_pf.html
Its a ceremony of respect for the fallen that gives us an isight to how the war affects the men and women fighting it.
I'm surprised that the reporter was allowed to view and report on it,given cementheads opposition to alowing the truth to be broadcast.Hell,he still won't even acknowledge the losses of families by actually attending a military funeral.
but he did meet with his rw spin machine,though.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 20 2006, 11:37 AM
This one is almost a homeboy since Pasco is only about two hours from Spokane and a couple of my operators at the station come from Pasco. As in many other cases, he was on his second tour in Iraq.
QUOTE
Pasco grad injured in Iraq to fly to Tri-Cities
Published Wednesday, October 18th, 2006
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
An Army captain injured in Iraq is expected to fly home to his parents in Pasco to recuperate as soon as a flight is available.
Capt. Mario Tovar, a 1994 graduate of Pasco High School, was injured when a roadside bomb exploded Sept. 23.
He was riding in the front passenger seat of a Humvee driven by Staff Sgt. Carlos Dominguez when the bomb exploded near Taji, Iraq. Dominguez, 57, of Savannah, Ga., died after taking the brunt of the explosion.
Tovar, 30, had a leg broken in two places and was bruised over his left side, said his father, Tom Tovar of Pasco. But his son was shielded from the worst of the attack by Dominguez.
The incident has been tougher on his son mentally than physically, because of the death of one of his soldiers, said his father.
Mario Tovar, Dominguez and two other soldiers were returning to their base in Taji when the bomb exploded.
If it had exploded on the way out of Taji rather than the return trip, his son would have been on the more deadly side of the Humvee, he said.
Mario Tovar was flown to Baghdad for treatment, then returned to his unit to recover. The 1998 West Point graduate is assigned to Charlie Company of the 414th Civil Affairs Battalion in the 4th Infantry Division.
When he continued to have pain, he returned to Baghdad for tests and now plans to return to the United States to recuperate. Though he lives in Ohio, he'll be coming to Pasco to stay with his parents, Tom and Yolanda.
This is his second deployment to Iraq.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/8316961p-8213169c.html
Published Wednesday, October 18th, 2006
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
An Army captain injured in Iraq is expected to fly home to his parents in Pasco to recuperate as soon as a flight is available.
Capt. Mario Tovar, a 1994 graduate of Pasco High School, was injured when a roadside bomb exploded Sept. 23.
He was riding in the front passenger seat of a Humvee driven by Staff Sgt. Carlos Dominguez when the bomb exploded near Taji, Iraq. Dominguez, 57, of Savannah, Ga., died after taking the brunt of the explosion.
Tovar, 30, had a leg broken in two places and was bruised over his left side, said his father, Tom Tovar of Pasco. But his son was shielded from the worst of the attack by Dominguez.
The incident has been tougher on his son mentally than physically, because of the death of one of his soldiers, said his father.
Mario Tovar, Dominguez and two other soldiers were returning to their base in Taji when the bomb exploded.
If it had exploded on the way out of Taji rather than the return trip, his son would have been on the more deadly side of the Humvee, he said.
Mario Tovar was flown to Baghdad for treatment, then returned to his unit to recover. The 1998 West Point graduate is assigned to Charlie Company of the 414th Civil Affairs Battalion in the 4th Infantry Division.
When he continued to have pain, he returned to Baghdad for tests and now plans to return to the United States to recuperate. Though he lives in Ohio, he'll be coming to Pasco to stay with his parents, Tom and Yolanda.
This is his second deployment to Iraq.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 22 2006, 07:33 AM
This is the story of a 19-year-old who was well loved by his team mates and will be missed by many, including his wife and yet to be born child. My prayers are with these, as well as the rest of those who have fallen in Iraq. My heart bleeds and my eyes water every time I read one of these stories.
QUOTE
Bicknell's death stuns teammates
By Wesley Lyle
Montgomery Advertiser
PRATTVILLE -- The reality still hasn't set in for the friends and former teammates of Stephen Bicknell.
Two days after the 19-year-old Army private was killed in Iraq, those close to the 2005 Prattville High School graduate still struggled to comprehend the loss.
"I found out (Monday) night, and it really shook me up," said Caleb Glass, a former teammate and member of the Class of 2005. "I couldn't go to bed. I was up until 5 a.m., trying to find out more.
"My brothers have been in the military for years, and I have other family members (serving). But this is the first close person I've lost. The seniors on (the 2004) team were close. We were a family. He was a brother to me."
Bicknell was a receiver and backup quarterback for Prattville's 2004 state runner-up team. Head coach Bill Clark informed his team of his death Tuesday morning. Many of the seniors already knew.
"A lot of the seniors played with him," Clark said. "There's a sense of disbelief when something like this happens to someone so young. It was hard for the players to accept, just like it was for the coaches when we found out (Monday night)."
For Prattville quarterbacks coach and former Jeff Davis assistant Tommy Goodson, the news moved him to make contact with former players.
"You remember Ted Bryant," Goodson said of the former Jeff Davis football and baseball standout. "When I heard the news, the first thing I did was call him and several other guys I hadn't talked to in awhile. I just didn't want to go another day without talking to them.
"Ted and I haven't spoken in a year or so, and I didn't really know how to get in touch with him. Once I found him, I told him what had happened and explained that I just wanted to take the time to get in touch with some guys. You can't take the time you have for granted."
Goodson said he and Bicknell had e-mailed each other earlier in the year.
"I didn't know his name the first year," said Goodson, who came to Prattville in 2003, Bicknell's junior season. "I just knew him as Vegas. That's what everyone called him because that's where his family had been stationed before they came here.
"There's still a picture in the training room from his senior year. It's of five students at a game. Each of them has a letter painted on them to spell out Vegas. I think of him every time I see it."
Senior quarterback Larry Smith remembered Bicknell as a leader.
"He took me under his wing my sophomore year," Smith said. "(Hearing this news) hit me hard. I got the phone call, but I couldn't believe it. Stephen was just a good all around person."
Smith became Prattville's starting quarterback as a sophomore, while Bicknell played receiver and backup quarterback. Bicknell was never bitter about backing up a sophomore.
"Even though he was the backup quarterback, he always prepared like he would be the starter," Goodson said. "His senior year, he came in and led us to four victories against the Montgomery schools. When Larry was healthy again, he gave up the position. He never complained about it, he just moved back to receiver. He was the ultimate team player."
When he did get his chance to play, Bicknell was ready. Smith went down with an injury in the fifth game of the 2004 season, the beginning of a crucial stretch of region games for the Lions.
"He came in against JD after Larry got hurt," Clark said. "We were behind, but he stepped in and led us. He worked hard, waited his time and led us to four victories at Cramton Bowl."
Following the rally against JD, Bicknell started in three straight wins over G.W. Carver, Sidney Lanier and Robert E. Lee at Cramton Bowl.
Justin Bailey, a 2006 Prattville graduate, played three seasons with Bicknell and grew up with Bicknell's widow Miranda.
"I fell to my knees and started praying," Bailey said of hearing the news for the first time. "I prayed for his family. I've known Miranda forever, since we were in kindergarden. And I know he was everything to his mother (Linda). I'm still dumbstruck by this."
Miranda Bicknell graduated from Prattville last spring and is expecting her first child.
"It's been doubly bad," Clark said. "Stephen played for us and Miranda was one of our athletic trainers. It's just bad all around. We started the Stephen Bicknell memorial fund (Tuesday) to raise money for Miranda and the baby."
Those interested in contributing should call the main Prattville High office at 365-8804 or call the athletic department secretary at 361-3865.
Glass said he and another former teammate, Jonathan Kohn, want to compile some momentos for the Bicknell family.
"We're going to try to get up with the other seniors and see what we can get together and give to the family," Glass said. "That way, his baby will have something to remember him by."
Bicknell is the second former Clark player to be killed in Iraq since June. Army Sgt. Carlos Pernell, a member of Clark's first team at Prattville, was killed in June.
"Both of them have showed their love of country and their willingness to serve," Clark said. "Stephen came back and told us he had joined the Army, and he came back after basic training and told us he was going to be deployed. He was proud to be serving his country. That's the kind of guys he was."
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006610180354By Wesley Lyle
Montgomery Advertiser
PRATTVILLE -- The reality still hasn't set in for the friends and former teammates of Stephen Bicknell.
Two days after the 19-year-old Army private was killed in Iraq, those close to the 2005 Prattville High School graduate still struggled to comprehend the loss.
"I found out (Monday) night, and it really shook me up," said Caleb Glass, a former teammate and member of the Class of 2005. "I couldn't go to bed. I was up until 5 a.m., trying to find out more.
"My brothers have been in the military for years, and I have other family members (serving). But this is the first close person I've lost. The seniors on (the 2004) team were close. We were a family. He was a brother to me."
Bicknell was a receiver and backup quarterback for Prattville's 2004 state runner-up team. Head coach Bill Clark informed his team of his death Tuesday morning. Many of the seniors already knew.
"A lot of the seniors played with him," Clark said. "There's a sense of disbelief when something like this happens to someone so young. It was hard for the players to accept, just like it was for the coaches when we found out (Monday night)."
For Prattville quarterbacks coach and former Jeff Davis assistant Tommy Goodson, the news moved him to make contact with former players.
"You remember Ted Bryant," Goodson said of the former Jeff Davis football and baseball standout. "When I heard the news, the first thing I did was call him and several other guys I hadn't talked to in awhile. I just didn't want to go another day without talking to them.
"Ted and I haven't spoken in a year or so, and I didn't really know how to get in touch with him. Once I found him, I told him what had happened and explained that I just wanted to take the time to get in touch with some guys. You can't take the time you have for granted."
Goodson said he and Bicknell had e-mailed each other earlier in the year.
"I didn't know his name the first year," said Goodson, who came to Prattville in 2003, Bicknell's junior season. "I just knew him as Vegas. That's what everyone called him because that's where his family had been stationed before they came here.
"There's still a picture in the training room from his senior year. It's of five students at a game. Each of them has a letter painted on them to spell out Vegas. I think of him every time I see it."
Senior quarterback Larry Smith remembered Bicknell as a leader.
"He took me under his wing my sophomore year," Smith said. "(Hearing this news) hit me hard. I got the phone call, but I couldn't believe it. Stephen was just a good all around person."
Smith became Prattville's starting quarterback as a sophomore, while Bicknell played receiver and backup quarterback. Bicknell was never bitter about backing up a sophomore.
"Even though he was the backup quarterback, he always prepared like he would be the starter," Goodson said. "His senior year, he came in and led us to four victories against the Montgomery schools. When Larry was healthy again, he gave up the position. He never complained about it, he just moved back to receiver. He was the ultimate team player."
When he did get his chance to play, Bicknell was ready. Smith went down with an injury in the fifth game of the 2004 season, the beginning of a crucial stretch of region games for the Lions.
"He came in against JD after Larry got hurt," Clark said. "We were behind, but he stepped in and led us. He worked hard, waited his time and led us to four victories at Cramton Bowl."
Following the rally against JD, Bicknell started in three straight wins over G.W. Carver, Sidney Lanier and Robert E. Lee at Cramton Bowl.
Justin Bailey, a 2006 Prattville graduate, played three seasons with Bicknell and grew up with Bicknell's widow Miranda.
"I fell to my knees and started praying," Bailey said of hearing the news for the first time. "I prayed for his family. I've known Miranda forever, since we were in kindergarden. And I know he was everything to his mother (Linda). I'm still dumbstruck by this."
Miranda Bicknell graduated from Prattville last spring and is expecting her first child.
"It's been doubly bad," Clark said. "Stephen played for us and Miranda was one of our athletic trainers. It's just bad all around. We started the Stephen Bicknell memorial fund (Tuesday) to raise money for Miranda and the baby."
Those interested in contributing should call the main Prattville High office at 365-8804 or call the athletic department secretary at 361-3865.
Glass said he and another former teammate, Jonathan Kohn, want to compile some momentos for the Bicknell family.
"We're going to try to get up with the other seniors and see what we can get together and give to the family," Glass said. "That way, his baby will have something to remember him by."
Bicknell is the second former Clark player to be killed in Iraq since June. Army Sgt. Carlos Pernell, a member of Clark's first team at Prattville, was killed in June.
"Both of them have showed their love of country and their willingness to serve," Clark said. "Stephen came back and told us he had joined the Army, and he came back after basic training and told us he was going to be deployed. He was proud to be serving his country. That's the kind of guys he was."
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 22 2006, 03:12 PM
Here is another Washington soldier who was killed on his second tour in Iraq, the second time to escort dignitaries which should have been a much less dangerous mission than his first tour. Are you seeing a pattern here of our forces who have survived one tour in Iraq and/or Afghanistan only to return and be severely injuried or killed, leaving behind young children and wives?
QUOTE
Maj. Guy Barattieri grew up here as 'Bear'
Killed in Iraq; memorial service is Tuesday
BY REBECCA GOODMAN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
PLEASANT RIDGE - As an Army Special Forces reservist, Maj. Guy Richard Barattieri, 36, completed several missions in Iraq. He captured three of the most wanted members of Saddam Hussein's government who were depicted on a deck of playing cards issued by the U.S. military.
He returned to Iraq on Sept. 30 to protect dignitaries and businessmen. Four days later, he was killed by a roadside bomb.
"The person they were protecting was unharmed," said his uncle Larry Wheatley, of Loveland. "The four soldiers protecting him were all killed."
A memorial Mass will be celebrated Tuesday for Maj. Barattieri at Nativity of Our Lord Church in Pleasant Ridge.
Maj. Barattieri grew up in Pleasant Ridge and attended Nativity School. His friends called him "Bear." A member of the Purcell Marian High School Class of 1988, he was an excellent outside linebacker on the 1986 state championship football team.
Penn State offered him a full scholarship but he turned it down to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
"All his life - from a baby on - he loved the military," his uncle said. After graduating in 1992, he started his career in the regular Army infantry. He later joined the 1st Special Forces Group and served in Bosnia.
In 2001, Maj. Barattieri took a job as a patrol officer with the Seattle Police Department while continuing to serve with the Army Special Forces Reserves. He returned to active duty as a Special Forces detachment commander in Kuwait. His team led the 101st Infantry Division on the march to Baghdad in 2003. Maj. Barattieri received a Bronze Star.
At the time of his death, he was a reservist with the Washington National Guard's Special Forces 1st Battalion based in Buckley, Wash.
Maj. Barattieri became a father when his daughter, Odessa, was born three months ago.
In addition to his uncle and his daughter, survivors include his wife of one year, Laurel Rees Barattieri; a stepdaughter, Rees; his mother, Patricia Wheatley, of Pleasant Ridge; his father, Dick Barattieri, of Madeira; stepmother, Barbara Barattieri of Madeira; and three sisters, Nicole and Becky Barattieri, both of Oakley, and Gina Tesnar of Newport.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20061013/NEWS0104/610130373/
Killed in Iraq; memorial service is Tuesday
BY REBECCA GOODMAN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
PLEASANT RIDGE - As an Army Special Forces reservist, Maj. Guy Richard Barattieri, 36, completed several missions in Iraq. He captured three of the most wanted members of Saddam Hussein's government who were depicted on a deck of playing cards issued by the U.S. military.
He returned to Iraq on Sept. 30 to protect dignitaries and businessmen. Four days later, he was killed by a roadside bomb.
"The person they were protecting was unharmed," said his uncle Larry Wheatley, of Loveland. "The four soldiers protecting him were all killed."
A memorial Mass will be celebrated Tuesday for Maj. Barattieri at Nativity of Our Lord Church in Pleasant Ridge.
Maj. Barattieri grew up in Pleasant Ridge and attended Nativity School. His friends called him "Bear." A member of the Purcell Marian High School Class of 1988, he was an excellent outside linebacker on the 1986 state championship football team.
Penn State offered him a full scholarship but he turned it down to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
"All his life - from a baby on - he loved the military," his uncle said. After graduating in 1992, he started his career in the regular Army infantry. He later joined the 1st Special Forces Group and served in Bosnia.
In 2001, Maj. Barattieri took a job as a patrol officer with the Seattle Police Department while continuing to serve with the Army Special Forces Reserves. He returned to active duty as a Special Forces detachment commander in Kuwait. His team led the 101st Infantry Division on the march to Baghdad in 2003. Maj. Barattieri received a Bronze Star.
At the time of his death, he was a reservist with the Washington National Guard's Special Forces 1st Battalion based in Buckley, Wash.
Maj. Barattieri became a father when his daughter, Odessa, was born three months ago.
In addition to his uncle and his daughter, survivors include his wife of one year, Laurel Rees Barattieri; a stepdaughter, Rees; his mother, Patricia Wheatley, of Pleasant Ridge; his father, Dick Barattieri, of Madeira; stepmother, Barbara Barattieri of Madeira; and three sisters, Nicole and Becky Barattieri, both of Oakley, and Gina Tesnar of Newport.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 23 2006, 07:33 PM
This is the worst nightmare of the family members of those who have had their tours extended in Iraq.
QUOTE
Instead of coming home, he’s dead
By Katie McDevitt, Tribune
October 17, 2006
If all had gone as planned, Sgt. Nicholas Sowinski would have been home by now, his mission in Iraq complete. But now, three months after the Army’s 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team was issued an extended deployment, Sowinski is dead.
The U.S. Department of Defense on Monday officially identified Sowinski, 25, of Tempe, as the soldier who was killed early last Wednesday when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb during a mounted patrol in Baghdad. The bomb injured four others, including one who was seriously hurt and taken to a hospital in Baghdad. The others are back on duty.
In July, some members of the brigade, based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, had already returned home and others were packing their bags when they learned that their deployments were extended by up to 120 days. The order angered and saddened some of the soldiers’ families in Alaska. Since then, five soldiers in the 4,000-member combat team have died.
“These kids should’ve been home. It’s just an outrage,” said Rich Moniak, in a phone interview from Juneau, Ala- ska, whose son is a Stryker. “Until they’re home, there are other people who are going to not make it.”
Sowinski graduated from Brophy College Preparatory in 1999. Four years later, he joined the Army. In November 2003, he was assigned to Fort Wainwright, where he became a Cavalry Scout with the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
Attempts to locate Sowinski’s family were unsuccessful, but in a blog called Common Sense, a person saying he’s Sowinski’s godfather asked that Sowinski and their “huge Italian Ukrainian Catholic family” not be forgotten.
“I am writing to you because I don’t want Nick to be a statistic,” the man wrote. “I want everyone to think about a family grieving for a child, a husband, a brother, who will not come home again from war.”
The godfather describes Sowinski as “proud to be a soldier” despite a “war he saw as futile and senseless.”
Just 11 days ago, the soldier was quoted in the national media, expressing frustrations.
“There’s a lot of politics going on now and we’re a police force, not an army,” Sowinski said in an Oct. 5 story by The Associated Press. “It limits our options.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, RAlaska, said last week that she received word from Army officials that the brigade’s deployment will not be extended again, meaning the Stryker soldiers should return to Alaska by mid-December.
But this time, many of the family members of the soldiers refuse to get their hopes up.
“They are not making any plans to bring our guys home on the 15th,” said Jennifer Davis, of Anchorage, Alaska, whose husband of four years is in Iraq. “The official word they’ve given us is: Don’t make plans for your guys to come home.”
Davis remembers vividly the feeling she had the week that her husband was due home — only to find out he would have to stay in Iraq.
“Your insides are tied in knots because you don’t know if they’re dead or alive . . . or if they will come home in one piece,” said Davis, who has been married for four years. “Just when you think you see the sun rising, they drop something else in your lap.”
Both Davis and Moniak are part of the recently formed Alaska chapter of the group Military Families Speak Out. The chapter drafts letters to officials and works to gather information.
To them, Sowinski’s death is another reminder that their families should have come home, Moniak said.
“You breathe easier when you know it’s not your son, but then you feel guilty because you know someone else is going through it,” Moniak said. “They should’ve come home. They are tired.”
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=76735&source=rss&38;dest=STY-76735
By Katie McDevitt, Tribune
October 17, 2006
If all had gone as planned, Sgt. Nicholas Sowinski would have been home by now, his mission in Iraq complete. But now, three months after the Army’s 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team was issued an extended deployment, Sowinski is dead.
The U.S. Department of Defense on Monday officially identified Sowinski, 25, of Tempe, as the soldier who was killed early last Wednesday when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb during a mounted patrol in Baghdad. The bomb injured four others, including one who was seriously hurt and taken to a hospital in Baghdad. The others are back on duty.
In July, some members of the brigade, based in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, had already returned home and others were packing their bags when they learned that their deployments were extended by up to 120 days. The order angered and saddened some of the soldiers’ families in Alaska. Since then, five soldiers in the 4,000-member combat team have died.
“These kids should’ve been home. It’s just an outrage,” said Rich Moniak, in a phone interview from Juneau, Ala- ska, whose son is a Stryker. “Until they’re home, there are other people who are going to not make it.”
Sowinski graduated from Brophy College Preparatory in 1999. Four years later, he joined the Army. In November 2003, he was assigned to Fort Wainwright, where he became a Cavalry Scout with the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
Attempts to locate Sowinski’s family were unsuccessful, but in a blog called Common Sense, a person saying he’s Sowinski’s godfather asked that Sowinski and their “huge Italian Ukrainian Catholic family” not be forgotten.
“I am writing to you because I don’t want Nick to be a statistic,” the man wrote. “I want everyone to think about a family grieving for a child, a husband, a brother, who will not come home again from war.”
The godfather describes Sowinski as “proud to be a soldier” despite a “war he saw as futile and senseless.”
Just 11 days ago, the soldier was quoted in the national media, expressing frustrations.
“There’s a lot of politics going on now and we’re a police force, not an army,” Sowinski said in an Oct. 5 story by The Associated Press. “It limits our options.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, RAlaska, said last week that she received word from Army officials that the brigade’s deployment will not be extended again, meaning the Stryker soldiers should return to Alaska by mid-December.
But this time, many of the family members of the soldiers refuse to get their hopes up.
“They are not making any plans to bring our guys home on the 15th,” said Jennifer Davis, of Anchorage, Alaska, whose husband of four years is in Iraq. “The official word they’ve given us is: Don’t make plans for your guys to come home.”
Davis remembers vividly the feeling she had the week that her husband was due home — only to find out he would have to stay in Iraq.
“Your insides are tied in knots because you don’t know if they’re dead or alive . . . or if they will come home in one piece,” said Davis, who has been married for four years. “Just when you think you see the sun rising, they drop something else in your lap.”
Both Davis and Moniak are part of the recently formed Alaska chapter of the group Military Families Speak Out. The chapter drafts letters to officials and works to gather information.
To them, Sowinski’s death is another reminder that their families should have come home, Moniak said.
“You breathe easier when you know it’s not your son, but then you feel guilty because you know someone else is going through it,” Moniak said. “They should’ve come home. They are tired.”
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 24 2006, 06:19 PM
This is an older soldier who got called up from inactive reserve. If he had opted those years ago to accept the one-time payment instead of the annual ones and remained inactive he would be alive today. We must consider the choices we make very carefully, for we never know what the ramifications might be.
QUOTE
Vancouver man killed in Iraq
By MIKE BARBER
P-I REPORTER
Among the U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq this week was a 53-year-old Vancouver man who never expected to be called back to the Army Reserve after leaving active duty 13 years ago.
And as word of his death was confirmed Wednesday, Ronald Paulsen became the oldest of the 139 members of the armed forces with ties to Washington to die in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.
Portland-area media said Paulsen was killed by a roadside bomb this week. He was among at least 11 Americans killed in Iraq since Tuesday and among at least 70 so far this month. October is on pace to be one of the deadliest months of the war so far for American forces.
KOIN/6, a Portland television station, interviewed Paulsen last year when he was called up after being out of the Army for 13 years.
Paulsen had served in the active Army for 14 years before leaving in 1992. He told the news station that he was given a choice: accept a lump sum payment of $30,000 and be finished with the military, or accept $7,000 a year but with one hitch.
"I went for the annual," Paulsen told KOIN last year after he was called up after 13 years, "but you had to stay in the inactive reserve to get it. Thirteen years later they're calling their cards."
Paulsen, who reportedly served with an Army Reserve civil affairs/psychological operations unit, said roadside bombs were his biggest concern, KOIN reported.
At Fort Lawton in Seattle, headquarters to Army Reserve units based in the Pacific Northwest, spokesmen said Paulsen did not appear on its rolls but appeared to be assigned to a Fort Bragg, N.C., unit.
The Columbian newspaper of Vancouver reported that Paulson's wife contacted his employer, Gunderson Inc., in Portland to say that Paulsen had been killed.
"It's really tragic. He was married not too long ago. People here were in his wedding," said Scott Eave, vice president of Gunderson, which builds rail cars and barges. "We've had crisis counselors brought in, and we will have them back tomorrow."
He said Paulsen, who was in inventory control, was on his second tour of Iraq,
"Ron was a very well-respected, very well-liked guy," Eave said. "He was one of those guys who is a part of this place."
Last month, 51-year-old Master Sgt. Robb Needham, also of Vancouver, was killed by gunfire while on patrol in Baghdad.
Needham, a grandfather whose reserve unit was based at Fort Lewis, had twice volunteered for deployment to Iraq to help train Iraqi police and special forces.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/289172_iraqwash19.html
By MIKE BARBER
P-I REPORTER
Among the U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq this week was a 53-year-old Vancouver man who never expected to be called back to the Army Reserve after leaving active duty 13 years ago.
And as word of his death was confirmed Wednesday, Ronald Paulsen became the oldest of the 139 members of the armed forces with ties to Washington to die in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.
Portland-area media said Paulsen was killed by a roadside bomb this week. He was among at least 11 Americans killed in Iraq since Tuesday and among at least 70 so far this month. October is on pace to be one of the deadliest months of the war so far for American forces.
KOIN/6, a Portland television station, interviewed Paulsen last year when he was called up after being out of the Army for 13 years.
Paulsen had served in the active Army for 14 years before leaving in 1992. He told the news station that he was given a choice: accept a lump sum payment of $30,000 and be finished with the military, or accept $7,000 a year but with one hitch.
"I went for the annual," Paulsen told KOIN last year after he was called up after 13 years, "but you had to stay in the inactive reserve to get it. Thirteen years later they're calling their cards."
Paulsen, who reportedly served with an Army Reserve civil affairs/psychological operations unit, said roadside bombs were his biggest concern, KOIN reported.
At Fort Lawton in Seattle, headquarters to Army Reserve units based in the Pacific Northwest, spokesmen said Paulsen did not appear on its rolls but appeared to be assigned to a Fort Bragg, N.C., unit.
The Columbian newspaper of Vancouver reported that Paulson's wife contacted his employer, Gunderson Inc., in Portland to say that Paulsen had been killed.
"It's really tragic. He was married not too long ago. People here were in his wedding," said Scott Eave, vice president of Gunderson, which builds rail cars and barges. "We've had crisis counselors brought in, and we will have them back tomorrow."
He said Paulsen, who was in inventory control, was on his second tour of Iraq,
"Ron was a very well-respected, very well-liked guy," Eave said. "He was one of those guys who is a part of this place."
Last month, 51-year-old Master Sgt. Robb Needham, also of Vancouver, was killed by gunfire while on patrol in Baghdad.
Needham, a grandfather whose reserve unit was based at Fort Lewis, had twice volunteered for deployment to Iraq to help train Iraqi police and special forces.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 25 2006, 08:35 PM
This is another story about a soldier and the choices that he made. He opted to stay behind and help acclimate new arrivals in Iraq while his family though he was safely on his way back to the states by way of Germany.
QUOTE
Orlando soldier killed in Iraq shortly before scheduled homecoming
By Sandra Pedicini
Orlando Sentinel
Posted October 16 2006
Sgt. Gene A. Hawkins' family thought he was en route to Orlando from Iraq last week. Instead, they learned Friday that Hawkins, 24, had been killed.
His siblings and grandmother were told he died Thursday from head injuries after a bomb detonated near his military vehicle in Mosul.
LocalLinks
Hawkins was assigned to the 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Combat Support Brigade (Maneuver Enhancement), in Fort Lewis, Wash. Troops from the battalion are coming home this month, with 160 of them scheduled to arrive today, officials from Fort Lewis said Sunday.
Hawkins' family said they thought he was supposed to leave for home Wednesday.
Hawkins talked with his grandmother Gwendolyn Taliver by phone last week. "He said that when they left and he got to Germany, he would call me," she said.
But Hawkins had stayed with other soldiers from his battalion. Hawkins was supposed to help new troops get acclimated to their surroundings, they said.
Hawkins joined the Army in February 2003, weeks before the Iraq war began.
"He wanted to make that his career," said Taliver, who raised Hawkins and his siblings Jamal Hawkins, Justin Francis and Christina Francis throughout his later childhood and teenage years. "He wanted to go as far as he could."
On Sunday, Hawkins' younger brother Jamal Hawkins said he wanted to join the military in honor of his brother's memory.
"I want to be able to follow in his footsteps," said Jamal Hawkins, 23. "I'm ready to make that commitment to him."
He said his brother, who wanted to work as a recruiter, had tried persuading him to enlist.
"He had liked the changes it helped him make for himself," said Ron Howard, a family friend. He moved quickly through the ranks, Howard said, and "it brought him out of his shell some."
Gene Hawkins had lived in Orlando since 1995, when his grandmother moved there to be near family members after she retired. He had previously lived in Uniondale, N.Y.
He attended Colonial High School for a time and earned a diploma through the Job Corps program, a family member said.
He attended Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, where Taliver said he had helped serve Communion.
His family said he was a man of deep Christian faith. "We all have strong faith. We know that he's in a better place and we will see him again," his grandmother said.
His battalion was deployed to Iraq in November 2005. Troops conducted thousands of route-clearance patrols, in which they found and destroyed hundreds of improvised bombs and performed construction missions.
As of Thursday, 118 Floridians -- not including Hawkins -- had been killed in Iraq, according to an Associated Press database. Since the war began, at least 2,744 Americans have been killed in Iraq.
Family members who gathered at Taliver's house Sunday afternoon described Hawkins as a quiet person who enjoyed video games and cartoons. He especially liked The Simpsons and King of the Hill.
Taliver talked to her grandson about throwing a party when he came home from Iraq. He didn't want one.
"He said, `No, I want to stay in my room and watch cartoons,'" Taliver said. "If he wasn't in his room, he was with one of his friends. He was not one to be in the street, unless he was out there playing basketball."
Taliver had been shopping when a neighbor called her cell phone and said she needed to come home.
When she saw a car with government license plates, "I said, `No, no, no, they've got the wrong house.'"
Hawkins had often called and sent short e-mails but didn't talk much about the dangers of life in Iraq. "I think mainly he just didn't want me to worry," she said.
Taliver had hoped to have her grandson at home for a holiday celebration.
Though there will be a void, she said, the family must still gather for the holidays.
"We really need to celebrate his life and honor him," she said. "I want to hang up his Christmas stocking."
[url=http://edschultz.invisionzone.com/index.php?http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/10/16/20061016-A1-02.html
By Sandra Pedicini
Orlando Sentinel
Posted October 16 2006
Sgt. Gene A. Hawkins' family thought he was en route to Orlando from Iraq last week. Instead, they learned Friday that Hawkins, 24, had been killed.
His siblings and grandmother were told he died Thursday from head injuries after a bomb detonated near his military vehicle in Mosul.
LocalLinks
Hawkins was assigned to the 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Combat Support Brigade (Maneuver Enhancement), in Fort Lewis, Wash. Troops from the battalion are coming home this month, with 160 of them scheduled to arrive today, officials from Fort Lewis said Sunday.
Hawkins' family said they thought he was supposed to leave for home Wednesday.
Hawkins talked with his grandmother Gwendolyn Taliver by phone last week. "He said that when they left and he got to Germany, he would call me," she said.
But Hawkins had stayed with other soldiers from his battalion. Hawkins was supposed to help new troops get acclimated to their surroundings, they said.
Hawkins joined the Army in February 2003, weeks before the Iraq war began.
"He wanted to make that his career," said Taliver, who raised Hawkins and his siblings Jamal Hawkins, Justin Francis and Christina Francis throughout his later childhood and teenage years. "He wanted to go as far as he could."
On Sunday, Hawkins' younger brother Jamal Hawkins said he wanted to join the military in honor of his brother's memory.
"I want to be able to follow in his footsteps," said Jamal Hawkins, 23. "I'm ready to make that commitment to him."
He said his brother, who wanted to work as a recruiter, had tried persuading him to enlist.
"He had liked the changes it helped him make for himself," said Ron Howard, a family friend. He moved quickly through the ranks, Howard said, and "it brought him out of his shell some."
Gene Hawkins had lived in Orlando since 1995, when his grandmother moved there to be near family members after she retired. He had previously lived in Uniondale, N.Y.
He attended Colonial High School for a time and earned a diploma through the Job Corps program, a family member said.
He attended Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, where Taliver said he had helped serve Communion.
His family said he was a man of deep Christian faith. "We all have strong faith. We know that he's in a better place and we will see him again," his grandmother said.
His battalion was deployed to Iraq in November 2005. Troops conducted thousands of route-clearance patrols, in which they found and destroyed hundreds of improvised bombs and performed construction missions.
As of Thursday, 118 Floridians -- not including Hawkins -- had been killed in Iraq, according to an Associated Press database. Since the war began, at least 2,744 Americans have been killed in Iraq.
Family members who gathered at Taliver's house Sunday afternoon described Hawkins as a quiet person who enjoyed video games and cartoons. He especially liked The Simpsons and King of the Hill.
Taliver talked to her grandson about throwing a party when he came home from Iraq. He didn't want one.
"He said, `No, I want to stay in my room and watch cartoons,'" Taliver said. "If he wasn't in his room, he was with one of his friends. He was not one to be in the street, unless he was out there playing basketball."
Taliver had been shopping when a neighbor called her cell phone and said she needed to come home.
When she saw a car with government license plates, "I said, `No, no, no, they've got the wrong house.'"
Hawkins had often called and sent short e-mails but didn't talk much about the dangers of life in Iraq. "I think mainly he just didn't want me to worry," she said.
Taliver had hoped to have her grandson at home for a holiday celebration.
Though there will be a void, she said, the family must still gather for the holidays.
"We really need to celebrate his life and honor him," she said. "I want to hang up his Christmas stocking."
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 26 2006, 06:36 PM
Here is another young soldier who is leaving behind a young wife and two young sons, ages 3 and 5.
QUOTE
Soldier recalled as loving father
Young man killed in Afghanistan leaves behind his wife, two sons
Monday, October 16, 2006
Debbie Gebolys
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Beth Driscoll talks about her son Army Spc. Jason A. Lucas, who is pictured with his sons Ethan, left, and Zausten two years ago before he went to boot camp.
Spc. Jason A. Lucas left his wife and two young sons the day after Labor Day to do his part in Afghanistan.
Thirty-eight days later, the U.S. Army light infantryman was killed while riding in a van filled with explosives. A suicide bomber rammed the van in Kandahar province, where Lucas was part of a NATO peacekeeping force, his mother said.
"Jason was proud of what he did," said Beth Driscoll of the West Side. "He said, ‘I was trained by the best and I’m working with the best. Don’t worry about me.’ "
Lucas, 24, leaves his wife and London High School sweetheart, Monica, and sons, Zausten, 5, and Ethan, 3, who returned to London when Lucas shipped out from Fort Polk, La., in September.
"We talked to him every day, about three times if not more," his wife said. "He was a great daddy."
Lucas was a squad leader at boot camp in Fort Benning, Ga., at Fort Polk and in Afghanistan, his family said.
He was killed Friday, a week after Operation Enduring Freedom marked five years since coalition troops overthrew the Taliban regime, and as violence had taken a marked turn for the worse.
The 40,000 U.S. and NATO troops appear farther away from bringing stability than they did three years ago when their number was 2 1 /2 times smaller, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. Department of Defense also noted the rising danger.
"There is no doubt that security continues to be a major challenge," defense officials wrote. "Remnants of the former Taliban regime and elements of al-Qaida continue to try to derail progress throughout the country."
Nevertheless, "he loved being in the Army," Monica Lucas said. "He was the best guy. He loved being in charge."
His older son, Zausten, "always wants to play Army dude, like his daddy," she said, adding he only wants Army clothes and toys and can identify Army helicopters and planes.
"He has an Army game and says, ‘I’m killing the bad guys,’ " said Samantha Driscoll, Jason Lucas’ sister.
Born in Columbus, Lucas grew up on the West Side and in London, where his father, William Lucas, lived. For two years, he lived with his parents in McEwen, Tenn., where he worked on farms and learned to hunt deer and turkey. He picked up the nickname Cutie because of his ability to attract girlfriends, his sister said.
He attended Westland High School and graduated from London High. He played football and basketball growing up, but his sports love was baseball, which he continued playing at Fort Polk.
After high school, his mother said, Lucas worked as a warehouseman and at other jobs, uncertain of a career to pursue. He considered being a firefighter or policeman or working for the FBI or the Drug Enforcement Administration.
His wife said he told her to move back to Fort Polk, where he would return by December. Next September, he would be discharged but the family didn’t plan to resettle in London.
"Maybe Kentucky or Tennessee. It’s so beautiful there," she said, her voice breaking. "I love him so much."
http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/10/16/20061016-A1-02.html
Young man killed in Afghanistan leaves behind his wife, two sons
Monday, October 16, 2006
Debbie Gebolys
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Beth Driscoll talks about her son Army Spc. Jason A. Lucas, who is pictured with his sons Ethan, left, and Zausten two years ago before he went to boot camp.
Spc. Jason A. Lucas left his wife and two young sons the day after Labor Day to do his part in Afghanistan.
Thirty-eight days later, the U.S. Army light infantryman was killed while riding in a van filled with explosives. A suicide bomber rammed the van in Kandahar province, where Lucas was part of a NATO peacekeeping force, his mother said.
"Jason was proud of what he did," said Beth Driscoll of the West Side. "He said, ‘I was trained by the best and I’m working with the best. Don’t worry about me.’ "
Lucas, 24, leaves his wife and London High School sweetheart, Monica, and sons, Zausten, 5, and Ethan, 3, who returned to London when Lucas shipped out from Fort Polk, La., in September.
"We talked to him every day, about three times if not more," his wife said. "He was a great daddy."
Lucas was a squad leader at boot camp in Fort Benning, Ga., at Fort Polk and in Afghanistan, his family said.
He was killed Friday, a week after Operation Enduring Freedom marked five years since coalition troops overthrew the Taliban regime, and as violence had taken a marked turn for the worse.
The 40,000 U.S. and NATO troops appear farther away from bringing stability than they did three years ago when their number was 2 1 /2 times smaller, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. Department of Defense also noted the rising danger.
"There is no doubt that security continues to be a major challenge," defense officials wrote. "Remnants of the former Taliban regime and elements of al-Qaida continue to try to derail progress throughout the country."
Nevertheless, "he loved being in the Army," Monica Lucas said. "He was the best guy. He loved being in charge."
His older son, Zausten, "always wants to play Army dude, like his daddy," she said, adding he only wants Army clothes and toys and can identify Army helicopters and planes.
"He has an Army game and says, ‘I’m killing the bad guys,’ " said Samantha Driscoll, Jason Lucas’ sister.
Born in Columbus, Lucas grew up on the West Side and in London, where his father, William Lucas, lived. For two years, he lived with his parents in McEwen, Tenn., where he worked on farms and learned to hunt deer and turkey. He picked up the nickname Cutie because of his ability to attract girlfriends, his sister said.
He attended Westland High School and graduated from London High. He played football and basketball growing up, but his sports love was baseball, which he continued playing at Fort Polk.
After high school, his mother said, Lucas worked as a warehouseman and at other jobs, uncertain of a career to pursue. He considered being a firefighter or policeman or working for the FBI or the Drug Enforcement Administration.
His wife said he told her to move back to Fort Polk, where he would return by December. Next September, he would be discharged but the family didn’t plan to resettle in London.
"Maybe Kentucky or Tennessee. It’s so beautiful there," she said, her voice breaking. "I love him so much."
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 26 2006, 06:52 PM
Here are some rare photos indeed. These are photos taken at funerals where our fallen forces were being buried. This is definitely something we don't see in the mainstream press. Just click on the slideshow link to see the photos.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/01/cominghome.html
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 28 2006, 02:52 PM
After having done some training at Ft. Sam Houston, home of Brooke Army Medical Center (the military burn treatment center), I know what 55% total surface body burns look like and the sequelae that will follow. This marine and his comrade, who was injuried at the same time and is on his way to BAMC as well, do not have an easy road ahead. I wish them well, although it will not be a speedy recovery and their friends and families will have some major adjustments to make once these men return home. In the case of Traxson, he is an instant veteran and once stabilized and finishes initial treatment will be another of our fine troops to be transferrred immediately to veteran status.
QUOTE
Rogers Marine 'Very Seriously Injured' in Iraq
Man suffered burns on 55 percent of body
This article was published on Friday, October 27, 2006 11:05 AM CDT in News
By Melissa Blakely
The Morning News
Email this story Print this story Comment on this story ROGERS -- A Rogers policeman serving in the Marine Corps in Iraq was injured in action Monday.
Lance Cpl. Chris Traxson, 26, a Marine reservist with the 1st Battalion based in Detroit, suffered second-degree and third-degree burns on 55 percent of his body after his military vehicle was attacked in Iraq, said Ryan James, communication director for 3rd District Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers.
Traxson was evacuated by helicopter and taken to a hospital in Fallujah and then transferred to a hospital in Balad, James said.
The Marine Corps has classified Traxson as "very seriously injured," he said.
Traxson was en route Thursday to a military hospital in San Antonio from Germany to be treated for his injuries, said Lt. Mike Johnson, public information officer for the Rogers Police Department.
Traxson, a 1999 graduate of Rogers High School, served two and a half years with the Rogers Police Department as a patrolman and enlisted as a Marine reservist in May 2005 in the infantry.
He was activated for duty in Iraq in June 2006, Johnson said.
"He personifies the Marine," said Rogers Police Chief Steve Helms. "He's one of the many good guys."
Helms and Johnson will travel to San Antonio in the next 24 hours hoping to see Traxson and to deliver a banner signed by Rogers police officers, autographed Arkansas Razorback memorabilia Mayor Steve Womack requested from Coach Houston Nutt, and small personal mementos from Rogers Police Department employees.
Womack said Thursday it will be "good for his recovery for (Traxson) to have his commander standing there at his side."
"I want them there early enough to make a difference," he said.
A Searcy soldier injured with Traxson in the vehicle is also en route to the San Antonio hospital. After hearing about Traxson's friend, Womack called Nutt's office back and requested more sports memorabilia for the soldier.
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/10/27/news/102706rzhurtsoldier.txt
Man suffered burns on 55 percent of body
This article was published on Friday, October 27, 2006 11:05 AM CDT in News
By Melissa Blakely
The Morning News
Email this story Print this story Comment on this story ROGERS -- A Rogers policeman serving in the Marine Corps in Iraq was injured in action Monday.
Lance Cpl. Chris Traxson, 26, a Marine reservist with the 1st Battalion based in Detroit, suffered second-degree and third-degree burns on 55 percent of his body after his military vehicle was attacked in Iraq, said Ryan James, communication director for 3rd District Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers.
Traxson was evacuated by helicopter and taken to a hospital in Fallujah and then transferred to a hospital in Balad, James said.
The Marine Corps has classified Traxson as "very seriously injured," he said.
Traxson was en route Thursday to a military hospital in San Antonio from Germany to be treated for his injuries, said Lt. Mike Johnson, public information officer for the Rogers Police Department.
Traxson, a 1999 graduate of Rogers High School, served two and a half years with the Rogers Police Department as a patrolman and enlisted as a Marine reservist in May 2005 in the infantry.
He was activated for duty in Iraq in June 2006, Johnson said.
"He personifies the Marine," said Rogers Police Chief Steve Helms. "He's one of the many good guys."
Helms and Johnson will travel to San Antonio in the next 24 hours hoping to see Traxson and to deliver a banner signed by Rogers police officers, autographed Arkansas Razorback memorabilia Mayor Steve Womack requested from Coach Houston Nutt, and small personal mementos from Rogers Police Department employees.
Womack said Thursday it will be "good for his recovery for (Traxson) to have his commander standing there at his side."
"I want them there early enough to make a difference," he said.
A Searcy soldier injured with Traxson in the vehicle is also en route to the San Antonio hospital. After hearing about Traxson's friend, Womack called Nutt's office back and requested more sports memorabilia for the soldier.
Posted by: Mr Kelly Oct 28 2006, 08:37 PM
QUOTE(aleman1948 @ Oct 6 2006, 01:37 AM) [snapback]311113[/snapback]
This forum is being established in hopes that stories pertaining to those who are killed or injuried and the effects that has on their families will be posted here. I do this not to prolong the agony of those who are suffering or grieving, but in hopes that at long last some degree of the great loss that our country is undergoing will begin to be understood by those of us who sacrifice nothing, other than sitting in front of a keyboard and expressing our views on what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. No derailment or diversion please out of respect for those who have given so much.
October 28th, 2006 9:09 pm
Slain soldier's dad wants to see president
Robert Rogers, whose son died in Iraq, would like President Bush to 'put a face with a name.'
By Kristen Reed / Orlando Sentinel
DELTONA -- Robert Rogers doesn't know what he'll say, but he wants five minutes to talk with the president.
The Deltona deputy fire chief whose son died in Iraq this week made the request to U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, who called to express his condolences.
"The person ultimately responsible needs to know Nicholas, needs to put a life to a number," Robert Rogers said Friday.
Mica's office said the congressman is passing the request on to the president, who has granted requests to meet with some parents of soldiers in the past. Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., has gained national media attention for her unsuccessful attempts to meet with Bush and discuss the war in Iraq since her son Casey was killed there in 2004.
Rogers said his goal is simply to have the president know who his son was.
He spoke for the first time Friday about his son, killed Sunday while on combat patrol in Baghdad. Nicholas Rogers' unit was ambushed by indirect fire, small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, according to Army officials.
When two Army captains came to his door Sunday with the news of his son's death, they told Robert Rogers that the secretary of the Army expresses his condolences. Rogers said he thought, "He doesn't even know who my son is."
Rogers, who has been with Deltona Fire for 25 years, realizes that managers sometimes forget about the rank and file.
"I just want him [the president] to be able to put a face with a name," Rogers said.
He said he knows there are a lot of things about world politics he doesn't get, but Rogers doesn't understand why soldiers are patrolling dangerous areas on foot with all the technology available to them.
"What we're doing now is obviously not working. I just think we need to find a better solution to what is going on," he said of the current situation in Iraq.
Nicholas Rogers, 27, was the "kind of kid any dad would love to have."
And he became a dad that worshipped his daughter and was excited about his second one, due in February.
"If anything really changed his life, it was definitely Jocelyn," Robert Rogers said as he thumbed through photographs of his son and granddaughter -- pictures of her third birthday, making her first snowman at Fort Drum, N.Y., the two of them decorating a Christmas tree, a trip to Sea World.
All of them show Nicholas with a beaming smile. "Pictures are worth a thousand words," Robert Rogers said with tears in his eyes.
Rogers said he sees a lot of his son in his granddaughter, his "princess."
Rogers' body is coming home Monday to Orlando International Airport.
The family will accept visitors Wednesday, from 3 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at Deltona Memorial Funeral Home, 1295 Saxon Blvd. A funeral service will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Deltona Alliance Church, 921 Deltona Blvd. He will be interred afterward at Deltona Memorial Gardens.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 29 2006, 07:49 AM
Thanks for posting this Mr. Kelly. Stories such as this rip my guts out. The thought of thousands of families without husbands/fathers just doesn't sit well with me. I sincerely hope this father gets his wish to meet with GWB. The more our leaders begin to see the human side of this war, the better understanding they can have of the real sacrifice that is being made daily by so many across our nation.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 29 2006, 11:45 PM
This soldier was on his third tour of duty in Iraq when he had an accident and drove off an overpass. You just never know how or when it can happen.
QUOTE
Campbell soldier remembered as outdoorsman committed to Army
10/20/2006
Associated Press
A soldier who died in Iraq this week was remembered by his family as an outdoorsman who gave up hunting in the thicket for a life committed to military service.
Spc. Daniel W. Winegeart died Tuesday in Baghdad after being injured when his vehicle drove off an overpass, the Department of Defense announced Thursday. The incident was being investigated.
Winegeart's family said the 23-year-old from southeast Texas thrived in his nearly six years in the Army. He enlisted right out of high school and found his calling in the service.
"I guess he ended up doing that, just a little shorter than he planned," said Diane Winegeart, his stepmother.
A member of the 5th Special Forces Group based at Fort Campbell, Ky., Daniel Winegeart deployed to Iraq this spring and was serving his third tour of duty, his family said.
The soldier wished he could be home to fish or hunt bucks and hogs in the Southeast Texas thicket, his family said.
"We'd e-mail back and forth," Diane Winegeart said. "He said he really wanted to go bow hunting. I told him the best I can do is shoot my first one for him."
She said he loved venison backstrap, especially fried in a cast-iron skillet. She would make if for him smothered in pan gravy.
Daniel Winegeart often participated in outdoor activities with his father.
"He said numerous times that I'm not just his dad, I'm his best friend," David Winegeart said. "Yes, we were very close."
Winegeart is also survived by his 16-year-old half-sister, Laura.
Funeral services were pending.
http://www.whas11.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8KSCKCO1.html
10/20/2006
Associated Press
A soldier who died in Iraq this week was remembered by his family as an outdoorsman who gave up hunting in the thicket for a life committed to military service.
Spc. Daniel W. Winegeart died Tuesday in Baghdad after being injured when his vehicle drove off an overpass, the Department of Defense announced Thursday. The incident was being investigated.
Winegeart's family said the 23-year-old from southeast Texas thrived in his nearly six years in the Army. He enlisted right out of high school and found his calling in the service.
"I guess he ended up doing that, just a little shorter than he planned," said Diane Winegeart, his stepmother.
A member of the 5th Special Forces Group based at Fort Campbell, Ky., Daniel Winegeart deployed to Iraq this spring and was serving his third tour of duty, his family said.
The soldier wished he could be home to fish or hunt bucks and hogs in the Southeast Texas thicket, his family said.
"We'd e-mail back and forth," Diane Winegeart said. "He said he really wanted to go bow hunting. I told him the best I can do is shoot my first one for him."
She said he loved venison backstrap, especially fried in a cast-iron skillet. She would make if for him smothered in pan gravy.
Daniel Winegeart often participated in outdoor activities with his father.
"He said numerous times that I'm not just his dad, I'm his best friend," David Winegeart said. "Yes, we were very close."
Winegeart is also survived by his 16-year-old half-sister, Laura.
Funeral services were pending.
Posted by: aleman1948 Oct 30 2006, 08:14 AM
This is a local lady who at 46 is deploying to Iraq shortly. Although she has not been injured and has yet to go to Iraq, I thought I would post this as an example of what happens wien someone who is already established in life has to pull up stakes and relocate to the war zone. I have been in her shop and it is a nice little place. I even bought a couple of items from her shelves for my wife as a surprize. I am sure she will be missed by many in the community. I will think of her every time that I drive past her shop.
QUOTE
At 46, reservist is headed to Iraq
'Grandmother' ready to honor commitment
Melodie Little
Staff writer
October 30, 2006
Practitioners of Chinese feng shui believe the tiny green shoots sold in The Bamboo Lady store can improve people's fortunes.
Store owner Terri Fowler could use some good luck herself.
The 46-year-old is among a dozen local reservists who are preparing to be deployed to Iraq. They are based out of the Richard H. Walker U.S. Army Reserve Center on Sullivan Road and include teachers, firefighters, police and other everyday folks.
"I've taken the Army's money for 27 years. This is what I'm supposed to do," said Fowler, who had the opportunity to retire but chose to honor a longtime commitment to her country and fellow citizen-soldiers.
Next week, Fowler, a battalion supply sergeant 1st class serving with the 104th Division (institutional training), will head to an undisclosed location in California for 17 days of training. Fowler's unit consists of drill sergeants who teach basic training.
Upon completion, she'll return to Spokane and start marking down her assortment of beads, antiques, pottery and plants in preparation for closing her store at 2207 N. Hamilton in December. She also will hang up her crossing guard vest at Logan Elementary School, where she works a few hours a week.
Come January, after celebrating her 20th wedding anniversary, the reservist-mom will say goodbye to her husband, Ron Fowler, and their teenage daughter, Jessica After an additional 90 days' training, she'll leave for an 18-month mission in Iraq.
The transition from reservist to soldier began when Fowler attended a short training camp in California recently. There, The Bamboo Lady owner lugged around 35 pounds of equipment as she trekked up and down hills in the 85-degree heat. She came home 10 pounds lighter, with boots full of blisters.
A good friend responded to news of Fowler's deployment by saying, "What are they doing sending grandmothers?" Fowler reminded her pal that she's technically a grandmother only through marriage.
Age can be an advantage in the military, where the stress of long deployments can break up younger couples and create a host of other issues, she said, adding, "It's easier for you to deal with because you have more experience."
Although the reservist has never seen conflict, she fully understands the realities of war, but talks about the risks with little emotion. However, Fowler smiles and speaks with affection when talking about friendships with her fellow reservists, many mere kids in her eyes.
"I've been in the Army longer than some of my soldiers have been alive."
Talking with Fowler is a lesson in the power of positive thinking. Although her husband lost his job as a chemical dependency counselor last week, and the family is temporarily without medical insurance, she remains upbeat.
When the natural tendency to worry creeps in, she battles negativity and tells herself that God will take care of things – like the few times when she was hard-pressed to pay a month's rent for the shop and a customer suddenly arrived with a big order
Her biggest concern is that she may not be able to get leave to return to Spokane in May for her daughter's graduation from Lewis and Clark High School.
"My brain thinks about all the things it takes to do whatever," Fowler explained. "But right now I'm trying not to think about those things. I have to be positive."
While working around the house, she listens to an MP3 player with a tutorial on speaking Arabic and wonders how an outspoken female leader will fit into Iraq's culture – a culture where women seemingly serve submissive roles and are covered from head to toe when appearing in public.
"It will be interesting to see how it all plays out," Fowler said.
Like any good soldier, she declines to speculate about the politics of war. Service is not about agreeing or disagreeing with policy, Fowler explained, it's about honoring a commitment.
"As a citizen I have a right to an opinion," she said, but "as a soldier you have a job to do and you have to stay positive and you have to stay focused."
Although she professes to have no great love for retail, Fowler got into the bamboo trade after visiting a market in Myrtle Beach, S.C. She asked a vendor for the name of her supplier and was soon selling her own bamboo at local craft shows. Customers gravitated toward the lucky plants and, four years ago, The Bamboo Lady shop was born.
The store, a few blocks from her home and a short distance from where her parents live, also includes antiques from the estate sales she works with her mother.
While it's doubtful that The Bamboo Lady will reopen after her tour of duty, the soldier is exploring options.
"When I come back, I'll re-evaluate my life and re-evaluate what I want to do."
http://spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=157178&page=1'Grandmother' ready to honor commitment
Melodie Little
Staff writer
October 30, 2006
Practitioners of Chinese feng shui believe the tiny green shoots sold in The Bamboo Lady store can improve people's fortunes.
Store owner Terri Fowler could use some good luck herself.
The 46-year-old is among a dozen local reservists who are preparing to be deployed to Iraq. They are based out of the Richard H. Walker U.S. Army Reserve Center on Sullivan Road and include teachers, firefighters, police and other everyday folks.
"I've taken the Army's money for 27 years. This is what I'm supposed to do," said Fowler, who had the opportunity to retire but chose to honor a longtime commitment to her country and fellow citizen-soldiers.
Next week, Fowler, a battalion supply sergeant 1st class serving with the 104th Division (institutional training), will head to an undisclosed location in California for 17 days of training. Fowler's unit consists of drill sergeants who teach basic training.
Upon completion, she'll return to Spokane and start marking down her assortment of beads, antiques, pottery and plants in preparation for closing her store at 2207 N. Hamilton in December. She also will hang up her crossing guard vest at Logan Elementary School, where she works a few hours a week.
Come January, after celebrating her 20th wedding anniversary, the reservist-mom will say goodbye to her husband, Ron Fowler, and their teenage daughter, Jessica After an additional 90 days' training, she'll leave for an 18-month mission in Iraq.
The transition from reservist to soldier began when Fowler attended a short training camp in California recently. There, The Bamboo Lady owner lugged around 35 pounds of equipment as she trekked up and down hills in the 85-degree heat. She came home 10 pounds lighter, with boots full of blisters.
A good friend responded to news of Fowler's deployment by saying, "What are they doing sending grandmothers?" Fowler reminded her pal that she's technically a grandmother only through marriage.
Age can be an advantage in the military, where the stress of long deployments can break up younger couples and create a host of other issues, she said, adding, "It's easier for you to deal with because you have more experience."
Although the reservist has never seen conflict, she fully understands the realities of war, but talks about the risks with little emotion. However, Fowler smiles and speaks with affection when talking about friendships with her fellow reservists, many mere kids in her eyes.
"I've been in the Army longer than some of my soldiers have been alive."
Talking with Fowler is a lesson in the power of positive thinking. Although her husband lost his job as a chemical dependency counselor last week, and the family is temporarily without medical insurance, she remains upbeat.
When the natural tendency to worry creeps in, she battles negativity and tells herself that God will take care of things – like the few times when she was hard-pressed to pay a month's rent for the shop and a customer suddenly arrived with a big order
Her biggest concern is that she may not be able to get leave to return to Spokane in May for her daughter's graduation from Lewis and Clark High School.
"My brain thinks about all the things it takes to do whatever," Fowler explained. "But right now I'm trying not to think about those things. I have to be positive."
While working around the house, she listens to an MP3 player with a tutorial on speaking Arabic and wonders how an outspoken female leader will fit into Iraq's culture – a culture where women seemingly serve submissive roles and are covered from head to toe when appearing in public.
"It will be interesting to see how it all plays out," Fowler said.
Like any good soldier, she declines to speculate about the politics of war. Service is not about agreeing or disagreeing with policy, Fowler explained, it's about honoring a commitment.
"As a citizen I have a right to an opinion," she said, but "as a soldier you have a job to do and you have to stay positive and you have to stay focused."
Although she professes to have no great love for retail, Fowler got into the bamboo trade after visiting a market in Myrtle Beach, S.C. She asked a vendor for the name of her supplier and was soon selling her own bamboo at local craft shows. Customers gravitated toward the lucky plants and, four years ago, The Bamboo Lady shop was born.
The store, a few blocks from her home and a short distance from where her parents live, also includes antiques from the estate sales she works with her mother.
While it's doubtful that The Bamboo Lady will reopen after her tour of duty, the soldier is exploring options.
"When I come back, I'll re-evaluate my life and re-evaluate what I want to do."
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 2 2006, 02:22 AM
I ran across this story while surfing tonight and was impressed by the reporting and the currency of the incident, since it just happened. I sure hope this soldier doesn't show up in the Mission Not Accomplished thread.
QUOTE
November 2, 2006
Medic Tends a Fallen Marine, With Skill, Prayer and Anger
By C. J. CHIVERS
KARMA, Iraq, Oct. 30 — Petty Officer Third Class Dustin E. Kirby clutched the injured marine’s empty helmet. His hands were coated in blood. Sweat ran down his face, which he was trying to keep straight but kept twisting into a snarl.
He held up the helmet and flipped it, exposing the inside. It was lined with blood and splinters of bone.
“The round hit him,” he said, pausing to point at a tiny hole that aligned roughly with a man’s temple. “Right here.”
Petty Officer Kirby, 22, is a Navy corpsman, the trauma medic assigned to Second Mobile Assault Platoon of Weapons Company, Second Battalion, Eighth Marines. Everyone calls him Doc. He had just finished treating a marine who had been shot by an Iraqi sniper.
“It was 7.62 millimeter,” he continued. “Armor piercing.”
He reached into his pocket and retrieved the bullet, which he had found. “The impact with the Kevlar stopped most of it,” he said. “But it tore through, hit his head, went through and came out.”
He put the bullet in his breast pocket, to give to an intelligence team later. Sweat kept rolling off his face, mixed with tears. His voice was almost cracking, but he managed to control it and keep it deep. “When I got there, there wasn’t much I could do,” he said.
Then he nodded. He seemed to be talking to himself. “I kept him breathing,” he said.
He looked at Lance Cpl. Matias Tafoya, his driver, and raised his voice. It was almost a shout. “When I told you that I do not let people die on me, I meant it,” he said. “I meant it.”
He scanned the Iraqi houses, perhaps 150 yards away, on the other side of a fetid green canal. Marines were all around, pressed to the ground, peering from behind machine-gun turrets or bracing against their armored vehicles, aiming rifles at where they thought the sniper was.
The sniper had made a single shot just as the marines were leaving a rural settlement on the western edge of Karma, a city near Falluja in Anbar Province.
The marines had been searching several houses on this side of the canal, where they found five Kalashnikov assault rifles and bomb components, and were getting back into their vehicles when everyone heard the shot. It was a single loud crack.
No one was precisely sure where it had come from. Everyone knew precisely where it hit. It struck a marine who was peering out of the first vehicle’s gun turret. He collapsed.
Petty Officer Kirby rushed to him and found him breathing. He bandaged the marine’s head as the vehicle lurched away. Soon he helped load the wounded marine into a helicopter, which touched down beside the convoy within 12 minutes of the shot.
Once the helicopter lifted away, he ran back to his vehicle, ready to treat anyone else. He was thinking about the marine he had already treated.
“If I had gone with him,” he said, and glanced to where the helicopter had flown away, over the line of date palms at the end of a field. His voice softened. “But I’m not with him,” he said.
He turned, faced a reporter and spoke loudly again. “In situations and times like this, I am bound to start yelling and shouting furiously,” he said. “Don’t think I am losing my mind.”
He held his bloody hands before his face, to examine them. They were shaking. He made fists so tight his veins bulged. His forearms started to bounce.
“His name was Lance Cpl. Colin Smith,” he said. “He said a prayer today right before we came out, too.”
“Every time before we go out, we say a prayer,” he said. “It is a prayer for serenity. It says a lot about things that do pertain to us in this kind of environment.”
The only sounds were Doc’s voice and the vehicle’s engine thrumming.
He recited the prayer. There was a few moments of silence. “It’s a platoon kind of thing, if you know what I mean,” he said.
He listened to his radio headset and looked at Lance Corporal Tafoya, relaying word of the marines’ movements. “Right now the grunts are performing a hard hit on a house,” he said. He turned back to the subject of Lance Corporal Smith, 19.
“The best news I can throw at anybody right now, and that I am throwing to myself as often as I can, is that his eyes were O.K.,” he said. “They were both responsive. And he was breathing. And he had a pulse.”
He listened to his radio. “Two houses they’ve hit so far have both been swept and cleared.”
He looked at the reporter beside him. “Do you pray?” he asked. “Do that. I’d appreciate it.”
After a few minutes he started talking again. “You see, having a good platoon, one that you know real well, it’s both a gift and a curse. And Smith? Smith has been with me since I was...”
He stopped. “He was my roommate before we left,” he said.
He refilled his lungs and raised his voice. “His dad was his best friend,” he said. “He’s got the cutest little blond girlfriend, and she freaks out every time we call because she’s so happy to hear from him.”
He sat quietly again. A few minutes passed. “The first casualty we had here — his name was James Hirlston — he was his good friend.”
“Hirlston got shot in the head, too,” he said.
He said something about Iraqi snipers that could not be printed here.
Then he was back to the subject of Lance Corporal Smith.
“I really thank God that he was breathing when I got to him, because it means that I can do something with him,” he said. “It helps. People ask you, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing?’ It helps, because if he’s breathing, you’re doing something.”
There had been many Iraqi civilians outside a few minutes before the sniper made his shot. Most of them had disappeared. Now an Iraqi woman walked calmly between the sniper and the marines, as if nothing had happened.
She passed down the street.
Petty Officer Kirby began to list the schools he had attended to be ready for this moment. Some he had paid for himself, he said, to be extra-prepared.
In one course, an advanced trauma treatment program he had taken before deploying, he said, the instructors gave each corpsman an anesthetized pig.
“The idea is to work with live tissue,” he said. “You get a pig and you keep it alive. And every time I did something to help him, they would wound him again. So you see what shock does, and what happens when more wounds are received by a wounded creature.”
“My pig?” he said. “They shot him twice in the face with a 9-millimeter pistol, and then six times with an AK-47 and then twice with a 12-gauge shotgun. And then he was set on fire.”
“I kept him alive for 15 hours,” he said. “That was my pig.”
“That was my pig,” he said.
He paused. “Smith is my friend.”
He looked at his bloody hands. “You got some water?” he said. “I want some water. I just want to wash my wedding band.”
He listened to the tactical radio. The platoon was sweeping houses but could not find the sniper.
The company started to move. It stopped at another house. The marines were questioning five Iraqi men. Doc watched from the road, waiting for the next call.
“I would like to say that I am a good man,” he said. “But seeing this now, what happened to Smith, I want to hurt people. You know what I mean?”
The marines had not fired a shot.
They took one of the men into custody, mounted their vehicles and drove back to Outpost Omar, their company base, passing knots of Iraqi civilians on the way. The civilians looked at them coldly.
Inside the wire, First Lt. Scott R. Burlison, the company commander, gathered the group and told them that Lance Corporal Smith was alive and in surgery. He was critical, but stable. They hoped to fly him to Germany.
Doc had scrubbed himself clean. A big marine stepped forward with a small Bible, and the platoon huddled. He began with Psalm 91, verses 5 and 11.
“Thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day,” said the big marine, Lance Cpl. Daniel B. Nicholson. “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”
Then he asked for the Lord to look after Lance Corporal Smith and whatever was ahead, and to take care of everyone who was still in the platoon.
“Help us Lord,” he said. “We need your help. It’s the only way we’re going to get through this.”
Doc stood in the corner, his arm looped over a marine. “Amen,” he said. There were some hugs, and then the marines and their Doc went back to their bunks and their guns.
http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt11_2_6.htm
Medic Tends a Fallen Marine, With Skill, Prayer and Anger
By C. J. CHIVERS
KARMA, Iraq, Oct. 30 — Petty Officer Third Class Dustin E. Kirby clutched the injured marine’s empty helmet. His hands were coated in blood. Sweat ran down his face, which he was trying to keep straight but kept twisting into a snarl.
He held up the helmet and flipped it, exposing the inside. It was lined with blood and splinters of bone.
“The round hit him,” he said, pausing to point at a tiny hole that aligned roughly with a man’s temple. “Right here.”
Petty Officer Kirby, 22, is a Navy corpsman, the trauma medic assigned to Second Mobile Assault Platoon of Weapons Company, Second Battalion, Eighth Marines. Everyone calls him Doc. He had just finished treating a marine who had been shot by an Iraqi sniper.
“It was 7.62 millimeter,” he continued. “Armor piercing.”
He reached into his pocket and retrieved the bullet, which he had found. “The impact with the Kevlar stopped most of it,” he said. “But it tore through, hit his head, went through and came out.”
He put the bullet in his breast pocket, to give to an intelligence team later. Sweat kept rolling off his face, mixed with tears. His voice was almost cracking, but he managed to control it and keep it deep. “When I got there, there wasn’t much I could do,” he said.
Then he nodded. He seemed to be talking to himself. “I kept him breathing,” he said.
He looked at Lance Cpl. Matias Tafoya, his driver, and raised his voice. It was almost a shout. “When I told you that I do not let people die on me, I meant it,” he said. “I meant it.”
He scanned the Iraqi houses, perhaps 150 yards away, on the other side of a fetid green canal. Marines were all around, pressed to the ground, peering from behind machine-gun turrets or bracing against their armored vehicles, aiming rifles at where they thought the sniper was.
The sniper had made a single shot just as the marines were leaving a rural settlement on the western edge of Karma, a city near Falluja in Anbar Province.
The marines had been searching several houses on this side of the canal, where they found five Kalashnikov assault rifles and bomb components, and were getting back into their vehicles when everyone heard the shot. It was a single loud crack.
No one was precisely sure where it had come from. Everyone knew precisely where it hit. It struck a marine who was peering out of the first vehicle’s gun turret. He collapsed.
Petty Officer Kirby rushed to him and found him breathing. He bandaged the marine’s head as the vehicle lurched away. Soon he helped load the wounded marine into a helicopter, which touched down beside the convoy within 12 minutes of the shot.
Once the helicopter lifted away, he ran back to his vehicle, ready to treat anyone else. He was thinking about the marine he had already treated.
“If I had gone with him,” he said, and glanced to where the helicopter had flown away, over the line of date palms at the end of a field. His voice softened. “But I’m not with him,” he said.
He turned, faced a reporter and spoke loudly again. “In situations and times like this, I am bound to start yelling and shouting furiously,” he said. “Don’t think I am losing my mind.”
He held his bloody hands before his face, to examine them. They were shaking. He made fists so tight his veins bulged. His forearms started to bounce.
“His name was Lance Cpl. Colin Smith,” he said. “He said a prayer today right before we came out, too.”
“Every time before we go out, we say a prayer,” he said. “It is a prayer for serenity. It says a lot about things that do pertain to us in this kind of environment.”
The only sounds were Doc’s voice and the vehicle’s engine thrumming.
He recited the prayer. There was a few moments of silence. “It’s a platoon kind of thing, if you know what I mean,” he said.
He listened to his radio headset and looked at Lance Corporal Tafoya, relaying word of the marines’ movements. “Right now the grunts are performing a hard hit on a house,” he said. He turned back to the subject of Lance Corporal Smith, 19.
“The best news I can throw at anybody right now, and that I am throwing to myself as often as I can, is that his eyes were O.K.,” he said. “They were both responsive. And he was breathing. And he had a pulse.”
He listened to his radio. “Two houses they’ve hit so far have both been swept and cleared.”
He looked at the reporter beside him. “Do you pray?” he asked. “Do that. I’d appreciate it.”
After a few minutes he started talking again. “You see, having a good platoon, one that you know real well, it’s both a gift and a curse. And Smith? Smith has been with me since I was...”
He stopped. “He was my roommate before we left,” he said.
He refilled his lungs and raised his voice. “His dad was his best friend,” he said. “He’s got the cutest little blond girlfriend, and she freaks out every time we call because she’s so happy to hear from him.”
He sat quietly again. A few minutes passed. “The first casualty we had here — his name was James Hirlston — he was his good friend.”
“Hirlston got shot in the head, too,” he said.
He said something about Iraqi snipers that could not be printed here.
Then he was back to the subject of Lance Corporal Smith.
“I really thank God that he was breathing when I got to him, because it means that I can do something with him,” he said. “It helps. People ask you, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing?’ It helps, because if he’s breathing, you’re doing something.”
There had been many Iraqi civilians outside a few minutes before the sniper made his shot. Most of them had disappeared. Now an Iraqi woman walked calmly between the sniper and the marines, as if nothing had happened.
She passed down the street.
Petty Officer Kirby began to list the schools he had attended to be ready for this moment. Some he had paid for himself, he said, to be extra-prepared.
In one course, an advanced trauma treatment program he had taken before deploying, he said, the instructors gave each corpsman an anesthetized pig.
“The idea is to work with live tissue,” he said. “You get a pig and you keep it alive. And every time I did something to help him, they would wound him again. So you see what shock does, and what happens when more wounds are received by a wounded creature.”
“My pig?” he said. “They shot him twice in the face with a 9-millimeter pistol, and then six times with an AK-47 and then twice with a 12-gauge shotgun. And then he was set on fire.”
“I kept him alive for 15 hours,” he said. “That was my pig.”
“That was my pig,” he said.
He paused. “Smith is my friend.”
He looked at his bloody hands. “You got some water?” he said. “I want some water. I just want to wash my wedding band.”
He listened to the tactical radio. The platoon was sweeping houses but could not find the sniper.
The company started to move. It stopped at another house. The marines were questioning five Iraqi men. Doc watched from the road, waiting for the next call.
“I would like to say that I am a good man,” he said. “But seeing this now, what happened to Smith, I want to hurt people. You know what I mean?”
The marines had not fired a shot.
They took one of the men into custody, mounted their vehicles and drove back to Outpost Omar, their company base, passing knots of Iraqi civilians on the way. The civilians looked at them coldly.
Inside the wire, First Lt. Scott R. Burlison, the company commander, gathered the group and told them that Lance Corporal Smith was alive and in surgery. He was critical, but stable. They hoped to fly him to Germany.
Doc had scrubbed himself clean. A big marine stepped forward with a small Bible, and the platoon huddled. He began with Psalm 91, verses 5 and 11.
“Thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day,” said the big marine, Lance Cpl. Daniel B. Nicholson. “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”
Then he asked for the Lord to look after Lance Corporal Smith and whatever was ahead, and to take care of everyone who was still in the platoon.
“Help us Lord,” he said. “We need your help. It’s the only way we’re going to get through this.”
Doc stood in the corner, his arm looped over a marine. “Amen,” he said. There were some hugs, and then the marines and their Doc went back to their bunks and their guns.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 2 2006, 06:33 PM
Another Marine Reservist returns home after suffering a permanent disability. Of course his mother is overjoyed to have him home, even if he is missing his foot. I am also thankful that he returned home alive, but this man can look forward to along and painful rehabilitative period.
QUOTE
BOSTON A Marine reservist who was seriously injured in Iraq has returned home to Massachusetts.
Sgt. Jamil Brown lost his right foot and most of the muscle in his left calf after his Humvee hit a roadside bomb in Fallujah.
"I remember waking up, I'm laying on the street hearing yelling and screaming. I smell smoke and feel heat, 'What just happened?'...We just got blown up," recalled Brown.
Brown spent the past five months at the Bethesda and Walter Reed military hospitals enduring painful surgeries and physical therapy.
He begged his doctors to let him come home for the weekend so he could attend the Marine Corps Ball in Boston.
"For us, it's beautiful, just to have him in our home," said his mother Ola Brown.
Brown has worked for USAir for the past ten years. His co-workers lined the jetway to welcome his with cheers and hugs. Even the fire department turned out and saluted him as his plane landed Thursday afternoon.
Brown said he never expected a greeting like the one he received.
Brown wasn't called to duty in Iraq. He volunteered earlier this year when other members of his unit were activated.
He must return to the hospital following his weekend stay in Massachusetts and isn't sure when he will be released.
http://cbs4boston.com/local/local_story_306181521.html
Sgt. Jamil Brown lost his right foot and most of the muscle in his left calf after his Humvee hit a roadside bomb in Fallujah.
"I remember waking up, I'm laying on the street hearing yelling and screaming. I smell smoke and feel heat, 'What just happened?'...We just got blown up," recalled Brown.
Brown spent the past five months at the Bethesda and Walter Reed military hospitals enduring painful surgeries and physical therapy.
He begged his doctors to let him come home for the weekend so he could attend the Marine Corps Ball in Boston.
"For us, it's beautiful, just to have him in our home," said his mother Ola Brown.
Brown has worked for USAir for the past ten years. His co-workers lined the jetway to welcome his with cheers and hugs. Even the fire department turned out and saluted him as his plane landed Thursday afternoon.
Brown said he never expected a greeting like the one he received.
Brown wasn't called to duty in Iraq. He volunteered earlier this year when other members of his unit were activated.
He must return to the hospital following his weekend stay in Massachusetts and isn't sure when he will be released.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 5 2006, 01:12 PM
There are not one, but two from the Fayetteville area injured in this article. I wonder why the yard sale is being held. Hopefully it is just to help the families afford ariline tickets to get to San Antonio so they can visit their wounded relatives. As usual, my prayers are with these injured Americans and their families.
QUOTE
Fayetteville Marine Injured in Iraq
O'Connell Originally Listed as Searcy Resident
This article was published on Friday, November 3, 2006 9:49 PM CST in News
By Dan Craft
The Morning News
Lance Cpl. Chris Traxson of Rogers and Lance Cpl. Trey O'Connell of Fayetteville were both injured when the device exploded near their Humvee near Balad, north of Baghdad, said 1st Sgt. Eric Olson of the 24th Marine Regiment.
O'Connell was originally listed as a Searcy resident. Two other Marines in the vehicle were also injured.
O'Connell, 22, of Fayetteville, is a manager for the Dollar General on Garland Avenue in Fayetteville, said Tina Ryan, assistant manager at the store.
O'Connell's parents live in Searcy, Ryan said.
"It's so hard because Trey is such a nice guy. Always smiling, always in a good mood," Ryan said. "I can't believe he's hurt."
O'Connell was on his second tour in Iraq, having served several months there in 2004, Olson said. O'Connell and Traxson both deployed in early September, Olson said.
Both men are being treated at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
O'Connell is in stable condition, alert and walking around, while Traxson is stable and conscious, but not moving around much, Olson said.
"It's good to know he's walking. That really makes my day," Ryan said. "His family wasn't so optimistic when he first came home."
O'Connell graduated from high school in Nevada, Mo., and moved to Fayetteville about three years ago, working as a floating manager at several area Dollar General outlets before taking over the Garland Street store, Ryan said.
Traxson, 26, is a Rogers police officer.
"They're both good Marines, and we wish them the best in their recovery," Olson said.
The two were treated at hospitals in Iraq and Germany before being transferred to Fort Sam Houston, Olson said.
They were scheduled to stay in Iraq until sometime next spring, although their exact return dates could not be released due to operational security requirements, Olson said.
The other two Marines in the Humvee were not from Arkansas, Olson said. The nature and extent of their injuries were not immediately known, he said.
At A Glance
Injured Marines
A yard sale to raise money for Lance Cpl. Trey O'Connell is planned for Nov. 25. Donations for the yard sale can be directed to Tina Ryan at (479) 387-1579. The time and site of the sale will be announced at a later date.
Cards and letters of support for Lance Cpt. Chris Traxson may be sent in care of the Rogers Police Department, 1905 S. Dixieland Road, Rogers, 72758. They will be forwarded to Traxson.
Officials ask that flowers and other items not be sent.
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/11/04/news/110406fzinjuredmarine.txt
O'Connell Originally Listed as Searcy Resident
This article was published on Friday, November 3, 2006 9:49 PM CST in News
By Dan Craft
The Morning News
Lance Cpl. Chris Traxson of Rogers and Lance Cpl. Trey O'Connell of Fayetteville were both injured when the device exploded near their Humvee near Balad, north of Baghdad, said 1st Sgt. Eric Olson of the 24th Marine Regiment.
O'Connell was originally listed as a Searcy resident. Two other Marines in the vehicle were also injured.
O'Connell, 22, of Fayetteville, is a manager for the Dollar General on Garland Avenue in Fayetteville, said Tina Ryan, assistant manager at the store.
O'Connell's parents live in Searcy, Ryan said.
"It's so hard because Trey is such a nice guy. Always smiling, always in a good mood," Ryan said. "I can't believe he's hurt."
O'Connell was on his second tour in Iraq, having served several months there in 2004, Olson said. O'Connell and Traxson both deployed in early September, Olson said.
Both men are being treated at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
O'Connell is in stable condition, alert and walking around, while Traxson is stable and conscious, but not moving around much, Olson said.
"It's good to know he's walking. That really makes my day," Ryan said. "His family wasn't so optimistic when he first came home."
O'Connell graduated from high school in Nevada, Mo., and moved to Fayetteville about three years ago, working as a floating manager at several area Dollar General outlets before taking over the Garland Street store, Ryan said.
Traxson, 26, is a Rogers police officer.
"They're both good Marines, and we wish them the best in their recovery," Olson said.
The two were treated at hospitals in Iraq and Germany before being transferred to Fort Sam Houston, Olson said.
They were scheduled to stay in Iraq until sometime next spring, although their exact return dates could not be released due to operational security requirements, Olson said.
The other two Marines in the Humvee were not from Arkansas, Olson said. The nature and extent of their injuries were not immediately known, he said.
At A Glance
Injured Marines
A yard sale to raise money for Lance Cpl. Trey O'Connell is planned for Nov. 25. Donations for the yard sale can be directed to Tina Ryan at (479) 387-1579. The time and site of the sale will be announced at a later date.
Cards and letters of support for Lance Cpt. Chris Traxson may be sent in care of the Rogers Police Department, 1905 S. Dixieland Road, Rogers, 72758. They will be forwarded to Traxson.
Officials ask that flowers and other items not be sent.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 5 2006, 01:20 PM
It is good to know that there are disabled vets out there to assist those returning to America and civilian life make the adjustments that they will need to make in order to get their lives back in order. Lord knows, they and their families will need all the help they can get.
QUOTE
B-25 transports young wounded vets back in time
Web Posted: 11/04/2006 12:11 AM CST
Scott Huddleston
Express-News Staff
Barely six months have passed since Army Pfc. Josh Stein's Bradley vehicle hit an explosive in Iraq that, he says, "pretty much blew it all to hell."
Days later, he awoke at Brooke Army Medical Center, where troops wounded in the war are healing. He now struggles to cope with life without his legs.
Yet, with the grit of a warrior hoping to someday walk down the aisle when his two young girls marry, he crawled through a B-25, from rear to nose, using little more than his arms to get through narrow sections, as the plane was in flight Friday.
What he saw when he got to the greenhouse-like nose of the World War II craft was a breathtaking view of San Antonio, and miles of the country he served.
"That was the best," said Stein, 23. "The very, very front is the best view in the world."
Tens of thousands of people are expected to see more than a dozen aerial performances and about 30 aircraft on display at Lackland AFB's AirFest 2006 today and Sunday. Both shows build to a climactic exhibition by the Air Force Thunderbirds in their F-16s at about 2:30 p.m.
But Stein and 14 other patients from BAMC were the stars on Friday, being treated to lunch and 30-minute flights in "Special Delivery," a B-25.
B-25s, with fore and aft gun stations, were a famous aircraft of the war, used to attack Japanese targets. Doolittle's Raiders flew them in a famous 1942 attack on Tokyo.
Special Delivery is set to perform shortly after noon today. Its mission Friday was to spread hope from one group of disabled veterans to another. With help from the plane's owner, Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, Disabled American Veterans, the group sponsoring its appearance, let some of today's wounded vets take it for a spin.
Del Rio resident Bobby Barrera, 58, was at BAMC in 1969 after his personnel carrier hit a land mine in Vietnam. He had one arm amputated at the wrist, the other amputated at the shoulder, and severe burns.
He remembers disabled World War II and Korean veterans by his bed, giving encouragement. Now, as 2nd vice commander of Disabled American Veterans, he's passing that spirit on.
"Someone was always there for me," he said. "I see these young kids with a fantastic attitude. They're making a huge sacrifice for their country. This is the least we can do."
The disabled vets' group donated $1 million for the Center for the Intrepid, a modern, $37 million rehabilitation facility at BAMC to open in January. But the group also is giving today's wounded troops optimism, said Rob Lewis, the group's marketing and special events manager.
"What we're trying to do is let them see veterans from earlier conflicts," he said. "It's not a group anyone wants to be a part of. But once you are, it's important to know your history."
Like Stein, Army Spc. Jason Tucker, 22, has a wife and two young kids. His Humvee hit an explosive in Iraq in May. He lost his left arm and has anchors and screws in his right wrist, and scars on his left leg, the result of a fractured kneecap and burns on the back of his thigh.
Gazing out the window of the B-25, hearing the mechanical roar of its propellers and engines, his mind wandered.
"There was peace," said Tucker, of Williamsport, Pa. "Coming out and being able to do this is probably the best feeling in the world."
Army Sgt. Chad Rozanski, 20, of Greenbrier, Ark., said he also enjoyed doing something different. Since he had lost both legs in Iraq, the flight museum crew gently helped him into his seat.
"It's nice to know that there's a group that'll help guys like us," he said.
Some might call Rozanski brave. But he said the flight gave him appreciation of veterans who flew B-25s.
"To go up in that thing for a long time, that would take a lot of courage to do," he said.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA110406.03B.AirShow.346b8b9.html
Web Posted: 11/04/2006 12:11 AM CST
Scott Huddleston
Express-News Staff
Barely six months have passed since Army Pfc. Josh Stein's Bradley vehicle hit an explosive in Iraq that, he says, "pretty much blew it all to hell."
Days later, he awoke at Brooke Army Medical Center, where troops wounded in the war are healing. He now struggles to cope with life without his legs.
Yet, with the grit of a warrior hoping to someday walk down the aisle when his two young girls marry, he crawled through a B-25, from rear to nose, using little more than his arms to get through narrow sections, as the plane was in flight Friday.
What he saw when he got to the greenhouse-like nose of the World War II craft was a breathtaking view of San Antonio, and miles of the country he served.
"That was the best," said Stein, 23. "The very, very front is the best view in the world."
Tens of thousands of people are expected to see more than a dozen aerial performances and about 30 aircraft on display at Lackland AFB's AirFest 2006 today and Sunday. Both shows build to a climactic exhibition by the Air Force Thunderbirds in their F-16s at about 2:30 p.m.
But Stein and 14 other patients from BAMC were the stars on Friday, being treated to lunch and 30-minute flights in "Special Delivery," a B-25.
B-25s, with fore and aft gun stations, were a famous aircraft of the war, used to attack Japanese targets. Doolittle's Raiders flew them in a famous 1942 attack on Tokyo.
Special Delivery is set to perform shortly after noon today. Its mission Friday was to spread hope from one group of disabled veterans to another. With help from the plane's owner, Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, Disabled American Veterans, the group sponsoring its appearance, let some of today's wounded vets take it for a spin.
Del Rio resident Bobby Barrera, 58, was at BAMC in 1969 after his personnel carrier hit a land mine in Vietnam. He had one arm amputated at the wrist, the other amputated at the shoulder, and severe burns.
He remembers disabled World War II and Korean veterans by his bed, giving encouragement. Now, as 2nd vice commander of Disabled American Veterans, he's passing that spirit on.
"Someone was always there for me," he said. "I see these young kids with a fantastic attitude. They're making a huge sacrifice for their country. This is the least we can do."
The disabled vets' group donated $1 million for the Center for the Intrepid, a modern, $37 million rehabilitation facility at BAMC to open in January. But the group also is giving today's wounded troops optimism, said Rob Lewis, the group's marketing and special events manager.
"What we're trying to do is let them see veterans from earlier conflicts," he said. "It's not a group anyone wants to be a part of. But once you are, it's important to know your history."
Like Stein, Army Spc. Jason Tucker, 22, has a wife and two young kids. His Humvee hit an explosive in Iraq in May. He lost his left arm and has anchors and screws in his right wrist, and scars on his left leg, the result of a fractured kneecap and burns on the back of his thigh.
Gazing out the window of the B-25, hearing the mechanical roar of its propellers and engines, his mind wandered.
"There was peace," said Tucker, of Williamsport, Pa. "Coming out and being able to do this is probably the best feeling in the world."
Army Sgt. Chad Rozanski, 20, of Greenbrier, Ark., said he also enjoyed doing something different. Since he had lost both legs in Iraq, the flight museum crew gently helped him into his seat.
"It's nice to know that there's a group that'll help guys like us," he said.
Some might call Rozanski brave. But he said the flight gave him appreciation of veterans who flew B-25s.
"To go up in that thing for a long time, that would take a lot of courage to do," he said.
Posted by: Mr Kelly Nov 5 2006, 01:28 PM
QUOTE(aleman1948 @ Nov 5 2006, 03:20 PM) [snapback]331764[/snapback]
It is good to know that there are disabled vets out there to assist those returning to America and civilian life make the adjustments that they will need to make in order to get their lives back in order. Lord knows, they and their families will need all the help they can get
"What we're trying to do is let them see veterans from earlier conflicts," he said. "It's not a group anyone wants to be a part of. But once you are, it's important to know your history."
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 5 2006, 01:32 PM
The road to recovery is often a long one, as this Guard soldier's family can attest to, and he would to if he could communicate it. He Sgt. Gray was injured in Dec, 2004 and has been at his current treatment station in VA since July, 2005 and still is not able to speak, although he can answer questions. by blinking his replies to yes and no questions. May this man recover his ability to speak and return to his home to raise his children and show his love for his wife and family.
QUOTE
Wounded Soldier Makes Gains
Written by Jennifer Osborn
Thursday, November 02, 2006
PENOBSCOT — Sgt. Harold Gray, the local soldier wounded in Iraq, has begun showing signs of improvement, his father said.
Harold GrayGray, 35, is a member of the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion. He suffered serious shrapnel injuries after a roadside bomb hit a convoy he had been riding in Dec. 26, 2004, in Mosul.
Gray has been at Togus VA Medical Center since July 2005 after spending six months at hospitals in Florida and Washington, D.C.
His father, George Gray, said Harold has been giving the “thumbs up” sign. When questioned, Gray has been blinking twice to answer “yes” and once to answer “no,” the elder Gray said. He can move his limbs and squeeze someone’s hand on command.
“He’s just doing good,” said Gray. “One of his main doctors who sees him says Harold’s in there, he just hasn’t figured out how to come out yet.”
“It’s been a long time,” Gray said. “So many ups and downs. I’ve said goodbye to him two or three times. It wasn’t because I wanted him to leave, but I wanted what’s best for him.”
The soldier’s wife, Laurie, travels to Augusta every day to take care of her husband. George Gray goes Saturdays. Harold Gray’s mother visits Sundays. The rest of the family, which includes the soldier’s young daughters, Natalie, Mercedes and Isabelle, visit as well.
When asked about his thoughts on the war, Gray said, “I don’t like it, but I don’t see how we can back out.”
“It’s hard every day to hear about some other boy getting hurt — or girl,” he said.
“Part of my stomach got ripped out when he was hurt,” Gray said. “But, he was doing what he thought he should be doing.”
Gray said he has gotten through the past two years thanks to his wife, Amy Gray, and Harold’s wife, Laurie.
The couple had been newlyweds when Harold was deployed to Iraq. They had dated about a year before marrying, Gray said.
Gray said the support the family has had from the community and the hospital has been wonderful.
“I want to thank the whole state of Maine for the support we’ve had,” Gray said.
Gray attended a funeral a few weeks ago and someone he had never met asked him about his son.
All Gray wants for Christmas is his son back home in Penobscot.
Laurie Gray has had the couple’s house made handicapped-accessible.
“It might be all he needs to get home in familiar surroundings,” Gray said.
http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4991&Itemid=31
Written by Jennifer Osborn
Thursday, November 02, 2006
PENOBSCOT — Sgt. Harold Gray, the local soldier wounded in Iraq, has begun showing signs of improvement, his father said.
Harold GrayGray, 35, is a member of the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion. He suffered serious shrapnel injuries after a roadside bomb hit a convoy he had been riding in Dec. 26, 2004, in Mosul.
Gray has been at Togus VA Medical Center since July 2005 after spending six months at hospitals in Florida and Washington, D.C.
His father, George Gray, said Harold has been giving the “thumbs up” sign. When questioned, Gray has been blinking twice to answer “yes” and once to answer “no,” the elder Gray said. He can move his limbs and squeeze someone’s hand on command.
“He’s just doing good,” said Gray. “One of his main doctors who sees him says Harold’s in there, he just hasn’t figured out how to come out yet.”
“It’s been a long time,” Gray said. “So many ups and downs. I’ve said goodbye to him two or three times. It wasn’t because I wanted him to leave, but I wanted what’s best for him.”
The soldier’s wife, Laurie, travels to Augusta every day to take care of her husband. George Gray goes Saturdays. Harold Gray’s mother visits Sundays. The rest of the family, which includes the soldier’s young daughters, Natalie, Mercedes and Isabelle, visit as well.
When asked about his thoughts on the war, Gray said, “I don’t like it, but I don’t see how we can back out.”
“It’s hard every day to hear about some other boy getting hurt — or girl,” he said.
“Part of my stomach got ripped out when he was hurt,” Gray said. “But, he was doing what he thought he should be doing.”
Gray said he has gotten through the past two years thanks to his wife, Amy Gray, and Harold’s wife, Laurie.
The couple had been newlyweds when Harold was deployed to Iraq. They had dated about a year before marrying, Gray said.
Gray said the support the family has had from the community and the hospital has been wonderful.
“I want to thank the whole state of Maine for the support we’ve had,” Gray said.
Gray attended a funeral a few weeks ago and someone he had never met asked him about his son.
All Gray wants for Christmas is his son back home in Penobscot.
Laurie Gray has had the couple’s house made handicapped-accessible.
“It might be all he needs to get home in familiar surroundings,” Gray said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 5 2006, 01:38 PM
QUOTE(Mr Kelly @ Nov 5 2006, 03:28 PM) [snapback]331770[/snapback]
"What we're trying to do is let them see veterans from earlier conflicts," he said. "It's not a group anyone wants to be a part of. But once you are, it's important to know your history."
Thanks Mr. Kelly! This is a longstanding tradition in our military of helping their own out. It is reassuring to know that it continues unbroken today.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 5 2006, 11:40 PM
This soldier came home from Iraq to tend to his severely injured father when he learned of an uncle who had been killed in an IED incident. This was is just hitting some families too hard.
QUOTE
Nephew Of Fallen Soldier Also Served In Uncle's Unit In Iraq
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WCPO SPECIAL SECTION
Tri-state Casualties In Iraq
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Isaacs and his uncle Ricky were in the same unit in Iraq
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
Pvt. Joey Isaacs, nephew
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
Father and son in family photo
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
First Sgt. Ricky McGinnis
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
McGinnis and Isaacs served in the same unit in Iraq
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
Reported by: Jay Warren
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: Phillip Lee
First posted: 10/30/2006 11:03:55 PM
It was a week ago Private Joey Isaacs, of Fairfield Township, while serving in Iraq, learned that his father was injured in a horrific accident here in the Tri-state.
Then days later his uncle, First Sgt. Ricky McGinnis, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
Private Isaacs arrived in the Tri-state this afternoon to visit his father at University Hospital in Cincinnati.
Isaacs' father Joe is at University Hospital with two crushed legs after a semi truck crashed into him last Tuesday.
And while he visits his father, Isaacs must now prepare for the funeral of his uncle.
And in two weeks, he will be back in Iraq.
It was Tuesday when Joe Isaacs stopped to help a woman who lost what she was hauling on the roadway.
"He was helping her pick it back on the truck," said his Pvt. Isaacs. "A semi-truck came around the corner too fast, lost control, smashed him between the semi and his truck -- and drug them both down the road."
Isaacs' father's legs were crushed and it was feared that he would lose them both.
His uncle, First Sergeant Ricky McGinnis went to talk to his nephew.
"The last time I saw my uncle, he came to my barracks to visit me," Issacs recalled, "because I was having a rough time with my dad, his accident."
"He came in and he told me he was there for me, I could come talk to him -- be strong, to keep doing my job, and that he loved me -- and he gave me a 'hooah!,' which is the Army saying."
"Hooah," for soldiers -- it symbolizes their esprit de corps -- and that is what Issacs says his uncle had, and then some.
"I tried to call him across the radio to see if he wanted to go to dinner and they said he was on patrol," said Issacs.
"Then about 10 to 15 minutes later, it came across the radio that someone in his troop was hit by an IED," said Issacs, "and they pulled me out of the room."
Isaacs would later learn that his uncle, who actually served in the same squadron, had been wounded. Wounds that would later claim his life.
"What makes it worse is just seeing my Mom, the way she is and that's the hardest part for me," said Issacs. "That's why I'm glad I'm home now, so I can take care of my Mom."
And while Private Isaacs says he'll stay strong for his family, he says they could use a few prayers.
"My family is going through a very rough time and God's been there with us," said Issacs.
"God saved my dad, and my uncle's with God now," said Issacs. "So, nd he's in a much better place than where we were."
9News has learned that physicians were able to save the legs of his father, Joe Isaacs, and that they are hoping for a complete recovery, but it will take months.
Issacs told 9News that funeral arrangements for his uncle have yet to be made.
http://www.wcpo.com/news/2006/local/10/30/hamilton_soldier.html
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WCPO SPECIAL SECTION
Tri-state Casualties In Iraq
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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RELATED WCPO STORIES
Hamilton Soldier Dies In Iraq (10/28/06)
Family Mourns Hamilton Soldier Killed In Iraq (10/29/06)
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RELATED PICTURES
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Isaacs and his uncle Ricky were in the same unit in Iraq
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
Pvt. Joey Isaacs, nephew
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
Father and son in family photo
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
First Sgt. Ricky McGinnis
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
McGinnis and Isaacs served in the same unit in Iraq
(WCPO/WCPO.com)
Reported by: Jay Warren
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: Phillip Lee
First posted: 10/30/2006 11:03:55 PM
It was a week ago Private Joey Isaacs, of Fairfield Township, while serving in Iraq, learned that his father was injured in a horrific accident here in the Tri-state.
Then days later his uncle, First Sgt. Ricky McGinnis, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
Private Isaacs arrived in the Tri-state this afternoon to visit his father at University Hospital in Cincinnati.
Isaacs' father Joe is at University Hospital with two crushed legs after a semi truck crashed into him last Tuesday.
And while he visits his father, Isaacs must now prepare for the funeral of his uncle.
And in two weeks, he will be back in Iraq.
It was Tuesday when Joe Isaacs stopped to help a woman who lost what she was hauling on the roadway.
"He was helping her pick it back on the truck," said his Pvt. Isaacs. "A semi-truck came around the corner too fast, lost control, smashed him between the semi and his truck -- and drug them both down the road."
Isaacs' father's legs were crushed and it was feared that he would lose them both.
His uncle, First Sergeant Ricky McGinnis went to talk to his nephew.
"The last time I saw my uncle, he came to my barracks to visit me," Issacs recalled, "because I was having a rough time with my dad, his accident."
"He came in and he told me he was there for me, I could come talk to him -- be strong, to keep doing my job, and that he loved me -- and he gave me a 'hooah!,' which is the Army saying."
"Hooah," for soldiers -- it symbolizes their esprit de corps -- and that is what Issacs says his uncle had, and then some.
"I tried to call him across the radio to see if he wanted to go to dinner and they said he was on patrol," said Issacs.
"Then about 10 to 15 minutes later, it came across the radio that someone in his troop was hit by an IED," said Issacs, "and they pulled me out of the room."
Isaacs would later learn that his uncle, who actually served in the same squadron, had been wounded. Wounds that would later claim his life.
"What makes it worse is just seeing my Mom, the way she is and that's the hardest part for me," said Issacs. "That's why I'm glad I'm home now, so I can take care of my Mom."
And while Private Isaacs says he'll stay strong for his family, he says they could use a few prayers.
"My family is going through a very rough time and God's been there with us," said Issacs.
"God saved my dad, and my uncle's with God now," said Issacs. "So, nd he's in a much better place than where we were."
9News has learned that physicians were able to save the legs of his father, Joe Isaacs, and that they are hoping for a complete recovery, but it will take months.
Issacs told 9News that funeral arrangements for his uncle have yet to be made.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 6 2006, 07:55 PM
Here is a football fan who was able to return to Chicago and was treated to a Bears game, an activity he was never able to enjoy before going to Iraq. Thanks to those generous denizens of the Chicago area who made this possible for him.
QUOTE
Injured Marine Bears Down In Chicago
Home On Leave, Palatine Soldier's Wish Comes True
POSTED: 11:07 am CST November 6, 2006
UPDATED: 12:04 pm CST November 6, 2006
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CHICAGO -- Two weeks ago while patrolling Iraq's Al Anbar province, Lance Cpl. Joe Green's truck hit a roadside bomb.
The 22-year-old Marine from Palatine suffered second- and third-degree burns to his face. Four buddies in the truck were also wounded, some far more severely. They've all been recovering in a Texas hospital.
Just before Green came back to Palatine Friday on a 30-day leave from the hospital, his parents, Rick and Kim Green, were asked by a state official what he needed.
"We didn't talk about a whole heck of a lot of things that he would like to do on his 30-day leave, but the one thing he did say was, 'I've never been to Soldier Field. I've never seen the Bears,' " his father said. "Everybody in Iraq has become instant Bear fans because they're 7-0. He said, 'I would love to see the Bears play.' "
Consider it a wish fulfilled.
Rick Green returned the call to the state official -- Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn's senior policy adviser Eric Schuller -- and set the wheels in motion. Soon, WLS-AM (890) morning host Eileen Byrne was telling her listeners about Green. They began flooding the phones with ticket offers. Calls came in to the Bears as well.
Finally, the perfect opportunity came -- a skybox seat that would keep Joe Green out of the chilly weather. Someone else dropped off some Bears sweatshirts and spending money. Another guy offered a limo (the Greens turned that down).
Joe and his father sat in that skybox -- Boeing's luxury suite -- on Sunday, soaking up the Bears and a lot of love from Chicagoans.
"It brings tears to our eyes that there are people who are so supportive of the troops over there," Rick Green said.
"Some people will tell you 'You're appreciated,' and some don't care," Joe Green said. "It's good to hear about all the people who appreciate what the guys are still doing over there."
Green is a 2003 graduate of Palatine High School and a lifelong Bears fan. He signed up for the Marine Corps Reserves stationed out of Waukegan about two years ago and is attached to the 1st Battalion, 24th Marines.
He's only been able to catch "SportsCenter" highlights of the Bears during food breaks in Iraq. He doesn't know yet who his favorite player is -- but the Bears know Green. The team's senior director of ticket operations, George McCaskey, has been in contact with the family.
"Mr. McCaskey said, 'That son of yours is a popular guy because the Bears are getting a lot of phone calls,'" the Marine's father said.
Green arrived Friday afternoon at O'Hare and was escorted through Palatine by eight squad cars. His neighbors were waiting to celebrate. His sister, Jennifer, came home from college.
The suite at Soldier Field was on loan to the USO this weekend as part of a schedule of events to honor veterans in advance of Veterans Day.
The USO wasn't the only group to step up. Also helping Green were the Wounded Heroes Foundation and the Disabled Patriots Foundation, both based in the Chicago area.
Said Lisa Moeller, president of the USO of Illinois: "It's the least we can do."
http://www.nbc5.com/news/10252124/detail.html
Home On Leave, Palatine Soldier's Wish Comes True
POSTED: 11:07 am CST November 6, 2006
UPDATED: 12:04 pm CST November 6, 2006
Email This Story | Print This Story
Sign Up for Breaking News Alerts
CHICAGO -- Two weeks ago while patrolling Iraq's Al Anbar province, Lance Cpl. Joe Green's truck hit a roadside bomb.
The 22-year-old Marine from Palatine suffered second- and third-degree burns to his face. Four buddies in the truck were also wounded, some far more severely. They've all been recovering in a Texas hospital.
Just before Green came back to Palatine Friday on a 30-day leave from the hospital, his parents, Rick and Kim Green, were asked by a state official what he needed.
"We didn't talk about a whole heck of a lot of things that he would like to do on his 30-day leave, but the one thing he did say was, 'I've never been to Soldier Field. I've never seen the Bears,' " his father said. "Everybody in Iraq has become instant Bear fans because they're 7-0. He said, 'I would love to see the Bears play.' "
Consider it a wish fulfilled.
Rick Green returned the call to the state official -- Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn's senior policy adviser Eric Schuller -- and set the wheels in motion. Soon, WLS-AM (890) morning host Eileen Byrne was telling her listeners about Green. They began flooding the phones with ticket offers. Calls came in to the Bears as well.
Finally, the perfect opportunity came -- a skybox seat that would keep Joe Green out of the chilly weather. Someone else dropped off some Bears sweatshirts and spending money. Another guy offered a limo (the Greens turned that down).
Joe and his father sat in that skybox -- Boeing's luxury suite -- on Sunday, soaking up the Bears and a lot of love from Chicagoans.
"It brings tears to our eyes that there are people who are so supportive of the troops over there," Rick Green said.
"Some people will tell you 'You're appreciated,' and some don't care," Joe Green said. "It's good to hear about all the people who appreciate what the guys are still doing over there."
Green is a 2003 graduate of Palatine High School and a lifelong Bears fan. He signed up for the Marine Corps Reserves stationed out of Waukegan about two years ago and is attached to the 1st Battalion, 24th Marines.
He's only been able to catch "SportsCenter" highlights of the Bears during food breaks in Iraq. He doesn't know yet who his favorite player is -- but the Bears know Green. The team's senior director of ticket operations, George McCaskey, has been in contact with the family.
"Mr. McCaskey said, 'That son of yours is a popular guy because the Bears are getting a lot of phone calls,'" the Marine's father said.
Green arrived Friday afternoon at O'Hare and was escorted through Palatine by eight squad cars. His neighbors were waiting to celebrate. His sister, Jennifer, came home from college.
The suite at Soldier Field was on loan to the USO this weekend as part of a schedule of events to honor veterans in advance of Veterans Day.
The USO wasn't the only group to step up. Also helping Green were the Wounded Heroes Foundation and the Disabled Patriots Foundation, both based in the Chicago area.
Said Lisa Moeller, president of the USO of Illinois: "It's the least we can do."
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 7 2006, 11:40 PM
Here is a very inspirational story about a Catholic Priest who was injured 18 months ago in Iraq and has now at long last began to speak again, although he still has a long way to go. We give thanks for all of these small miracles!
QUOTE
Priest injured in Iraq 30 months ago awakes
By MAURA LERNER
November 5, 2006
On Oct. 26, Phyllis Vakoc of Plymouth, Minn., got a phone call from her son's hospital room.
"Be quiet, don't say anything and be patient," a friend on the other end of the line told her. Puzzled, Vakoc waited. And then she heard her son's voice.
"Hi, Mom," he said, and she froze. It had been two and a half years since her son had suffered a devastating head injury in Iraq. Two and a half years since he had spoken. "I thought I was hearing things," she said. "I thought I'd never hear that voice again."
The Rev. Timothy Vakoc, a Catholic priest, was so seriously wounded that doctors at first thought he wouldn't survive. But in recent days, he has started to speak, to the astonished delight of family, friends and caretakers.
So far, it's only a few words at a time, and a struggle at that. But medical experts call it a significant breakthrough.
"Nobody ever expected him to live. Nobody ever expected this to happen," said his sister, Anita Brand.
Their faith, though, helped sustain the whole family. "I have always held out hope."
Vakoc (pronounced VAH-kitch), 46, has spent most of the last two years at the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center in what doctors call a "minimally responsive" state. He needs round-the-clock care, and he can't move much more than his left arm, hands, and a few muscles in his face and neck.
In recent months, family, friends and hospital staff saw signs, often subtle, that he was becoming increasingly alert. But he had not spoken since the explosion. No one could be certain how much of his mental function was still intact.
"All of a sudden Tim was on the phone and he was talking to me," said his mother, Phyllis, 80. "He said 'Mom.' He said 'goodbye.' He said a lot of things in between I couldn't catch. For two and a half years we've been waiting. We've been praying for a miracle."
Jim Schumacher, a speech therapist who has been working with Vakoc since May, heard him speak the next day. "I was thrilled," he said.
Father Tim, as he's known, was a parish priest before joining the Army. He was a chaplain in Bosnia and Germany before heading to Iraq in 2003. He was known as a funny guy with a wry sense of humor - there's a picture of him in sunglasses and fatigues, holding two fingers behind another soldier's head.
In Iraq, he held prayer services for fallen soldiers and escorted them to the plane home, his mother said.
He was struck by a roadside bomb shortly after saying mass for troops near Mosul. The bomb shattered his left eye and pierced his skull, severely damaging his brain. It was May 29, 2004, the 12th anniversary of his ordination as a priest.
For months, he lay in critical condition at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. He was transferred to the Minneapolis VA hospital two years ago, and has been there longer than any other soldier wounded in the war.
Just three weeks ago, one of his doctors said she thought he'd never speak again. The hospital was preparing to cut off his speech therapy because they had seen no progress.
And then he spoke.
His sister Anita stops short of using the word miracle. "We don't want to turn Tim's room into a shrine," she said.
But for family and friends, many of them devout Catholics, his newfound voice is vindication of their refusal to give up on him, even in the bleakest times.
Brenda Simmons, a longtime friend, was in the room on Oct. 26 when Father Tim first spoke. Simmons, a holistic health practitioner from Colorado, visits every month to pray with him, talk and offer alternative therapies, such as healing touch.
That afternoon, when he woke up from a nap, she said, "Hi, Tim. Can you say hi back?"
He said, "Hi."
Simmons tried not to look shocked. "Can you say Mom?" she asked.
"Very clear again, he said 'Mom,' " she said last week. "I was just like, 'Oh, my gosh.' " He repeated a few more words. "And I said, 'Tim, can you say, Thank you, God?' And he said 'Thank you, God.' "
Simmons started calling Father Tim's relatives one by one, and handing him the phone.
"He spoke as clear as a bell, albeit a rusty one," said his sister Anita, who lives in Virginia. "He sounded so much like my dad."
At first glance, Father Tim can appear shut off from the world. He sits motionless in a wheelchair with his head tilted to one side, his lower lip extended in a slight pout. His one good eye might lock on a visitor, or look right past him.
Today, his most animated feature is his left arm. He can play thumb wars and arm-wrestle and give a quick thumbs-up on request. He can hold a rosary and wave goodbye, and, with help, approximate a salute.
In August, doctors removed the tracheotomy tube, and he was given a computerized voice machine. By touching the screen, he can activate an electronic voice to speak for him. Yes. No. Hello, Gorgeous.
But even with the machine, his responses have been unpredictable. Sometimes he hits the same word over and over. Sometimes he doesn't respond at all.
At one time, Schumacher thought Father Tim had made as much progress as he could. Now, the VA has stepped up his therapy.
No one can say how much further he'll progress. "There's so much we don't know about recovery from brain injury," said Dr. Barbara Sigford, head of rehabilitation at the VA hospital. "I think we have to wait and see."
And no one can be sure why he started speaking now, 30 months after his injury. "Sometimes it's just when the patient is ready and able," Schumacher said.
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/kshb/news/article/0,1925,KSHB_9418_5122563,00.html
By MAURA LERNER
November 5, 2006
On Oct. 26, Phyllis Vakoc of Plymouth, Minn., got a phone call from her son's hospital room.
"Be quiet, don't say anything and be patient," a friend on the other end of the line told her. Puzzled, Vakoc waited. And then she heard her son's voice.
"Hi, Mom," he said, and she froze. It had been two and a half years since her son had suffered a devastating head injury in Iraq. Two and a half years since he had spoken. "I thought I was hearing things," she said. "I thought I'd never hear that voice again."
The Rev. Timothy Vakoc, a Catholic priest, was so seriously wounded that doctors at first thought he wouldn't survive. But in recent days, he has started to speak, to the astonished delight of family, friends and caretakers.
So far, it's only a few words at a time, and a struggle at that. But medical experts call it a significant breakthrough.
"Nobody ever expected him to live. Nobody ever expected this to happen," said his sister, Anita Brand.
Their faith, though, helped sustain the whole family. "I have always held out hope."
Vakoc (pronounced VAH-kitch), 46, has spent most of the last two years at the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center in what doctors call a "minimally responsive" state. He needs round-the-clock care, and he can't move much more than his left arm, hands, and a few muscles in his face and neck.
In recent months, family, friends and hospital staff saw signs, often subtle, that he was becoming increasingly alert. But he had not spoken since the explosion. No one could be certain how much of his mental function was still intact.
"All of a sudden Tim was on the phone and he was talking to me," said his mother, Phyllis, 80. "He said 'Mom.' He said 'goodbye.' He said a lot of things in between I couldn't catch. For two and a half years we've been waiting. We've been praying for a miracle."
Jim Schumacher, a speech therapist who has been working with Vakoc since May, heard him speak the next day. "I was thrilled," he said.
Father Tim, as he's known, was a parish priest before joining the Army. He was a chaplain in Bosnia and Germany before heading to Iraq in 2003. He was known as a funny guy with a wry sense of humor - there's a picture of him in sunglasses and fatigues, holding two fingers behind another soldier's head.
In Iraq, he held prayer services for fallen soldiers and escorted them to the plane home, his mother said.
He was struck by a roadside bomb shortly after saying mass for troops near Mosul. The bomb shattered his left eye and pierced his skull, severely damaging his brain. It was May 29, 2004, the 12th anniversary of his ordination as a priest.
For months, he lay in critical condition at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. He was transferred to the Minneapolis VA hospital two years ago, and has been there longer than any other soldier wounded in the war.
Just three weeks ago, one of his doctors said she thought he'd never speak again. The hospital was preparing to cut off his speech therapy because they had seen no progress.
And then he spoke.
His sister Anita stops short of using the word miracle. "We don't want to turn Tim's room into a shrine," she said.
But for family and friends, many of them devout Catholics, his newfound voice is vindication of their refusal to give up on him, even in the bleakest times.
Brenda Simmons, a longtime friend, was in the room on Oct. 26 when Father Tim first spoke. Simmons, a holistic health practitioner from Colorado, visits every month to pray with him, talk and offer alternative therapies, such as healing touch.
That afternoon, when he woke up from a nap, she said, "Hi, Tim. Can you say hi back?"
He said, "Hi."
Simmons tried not to look shocked. "Can you say Mom?" she asked.
"Very clear again, he said 'Mom,' " she said last week. "I was just like, 'Oh, my gosh.' " He repeated a few more words. "And I said, 'Tim, can you say, Thank you, God?' And he said 'Thank you, God.' "
Simmons started calling Father Tim's relatives one by one, and handing him the phone.
"He spoke as clear as a bell, albeit a rusty one," said his sister Anita, who lives in Virginia. "He sounded so much like my dad."
At first glance, Father Tim can appear shut off from the world. He sits motionless in a wheelchair with his head tilted to one side, his lower lip extended in a slight pout. His one good eye might lock on a visitor, or look right past him.
Today, his most animated feature is his left arm. He can play thumb wars and arm-wrestle and give a quick thumbs-up on request. He can hold a rosary and wave goodbye, and, with help, approximate a salute.
In August, doctors removed the tracheotomy tube, and he was given a computerized voice machine. By touching the screen, he can activate an electronic voice to speak for him. Yes. No. Hello, Gorgeous.
But even with the machine, his responses have been unpredictable. Sometimes he hits the same word over and over. Sometimes he doesn't respond at all.
At one time, Schumacher thought Father Tim had made as much progress as he could. Now, the VA has stepped up his therapy.
No one can say how much further he'll progress. "There's so much we don't know about recovery from brain injury," said Dr. Barbara Sigford, head of rehabilitation at the VA hospital. "I think we have to wait and see."
And no one can be sure why he started speaking now, 30 months after his injury. "Sometimes it's just when the patient is ready and able," Schumacher said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 8 2006, 10:48 PM
Here is another young soldier who leaves behind a wife who really was only getting to know her husband. The honeymoon wasn't even over before he was deployed. There are many such as these in Iraq today.
QUOTE
Newlywed Ft. Myers soldier killed in Iraq
By Ed Johnson
ejohnson@news-press.com
Originally posted on November 07, 2006
Special to news-press.com
Mile Henderson of Fort Myers was killed in Iraq on Monday. He is picutred here with his wife Artis.
Miles Henderson became an Army aviator because he wanted to help avenge the
terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
He was married for just three weeks when he deployed overseas. On Monday he became the 2,268th soldier killed in action in Iraq.
Henderson was piloting an Apache helicopter over Salah ad Din Province, northwest of Baghdad, when he and another aviator were killed in the crash of an Apache helicopter gunship.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, according to the Army. Early reports did not indicate any hostile fire at the time he helicopter went down.
Henderson, 24, and his wife, Artis, both claimed Fort Myers as their hometown, although he was originally from Canadian, Texas, a panhandle town of about 2,300.
His wife could not provide many details about his death. She said she was still in a state of shock and disbelief this afternoon.
She learned of his death last night when she came home and found two uniformed army officers at her front door.
The words they spoke were the same ones so many others have had to
hear during wartime, devastating in their simplicity.
"They said they regretted to inform me that Chief Warrant Officer Miles Henderson had been killed in action and that the matter was under investigation," Artis said.
"I just stood there in disbelief. There was no way I was mentally prepared for this."
Now, sometimes choking back tears, Artis said, she is left with memories of
the man she married five short months ago.
"My regret is that I was so convinced this would never happen," she added. "I wish I had prepared some kind of speech or something to tell you what he was like. He was so young, so handsome. Everything one could ask for in a husband."
He was also, she said, a dedicated soldier.
"He always said if something happened to him to tell everyone he was proud to serve his country," she said. "He was honored to be there (Iraq). He said he worked with a wonderful group of guys and girls. I know he would have went there even if he knew it would turn out this way. He was one of those who believed he was making things safer for all of us."
At some point his remains will be brought back to his family and, according to his wishes, he will be cremated and his ashes scattered above his family"s ranch in Texas. For now, his widow -- a term she hasn't yet adjusted to -- lives with the memories of her whirlwind romance with the soldier a friend introduced her to.
She was working for then-Senator Bob Graham in Tallahassee and he was training
at nearby Fort Rucker, Ala.
"It was just love at first sight," she said. "A friend introduced us and after that we were together every weekend. He was the man I had always dreamed about. He was so generous, so giving and so self sacraficing. I still haven1t accepted this."
In the cruel calculus of war, number 2,268 died in that Iraq crash. For
Artis Henderson it was her true love.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061107/NEWS0110/61107050/1075
By Ed Johnson
ejohnson@news-press.com
Originally posted on November 07, 2006
Special to news-press.com
Mile Henderson of Fort Myers was killed in Iraq on Monday. He is picutred here with his wife Artis.
Miles Henderson became an Army aviator because he wanted to help avenge the
terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
He was married for just three weeks when he deployed overseas. On Monday he became the 2,268th soldier killed in action in Iraq.
Henderson was piloting an Apache helicopter over Salah ad Din Province, northwest of Baghdad, when he and another aviator were killed in the crash of an Apache helicopter gunship.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, according to the Army. Early reports did not indicate any hostile fire at the time he helicopter went down.
Henderson, 24, and his wife, Artis, both claimed Fort Myers as their hometown, although he was originally from Canadian, Texas, a panhandle town of about 2,300.
His wife could not provide many details about his death. She said she was still in a state of shock and disbelief this afternoon.
She learned of his death last night when she came home and found two uniformed army officers at her front door.
The words they spoke were the same ones so many others have had to
hear during wartime, devastating in their simplicity.
"They said they regretted to inform me that Chief Warrant Officer Miles Henderson had been killed in action and that the matter was under investigation," Artis said.
"I just stood there in disbelief. There was no way I was mentally prepared for this."
Now, sometimes choking back tears, Artis said, she is left with memories of
the man she married five short months ago.
"My regret is that I was so convinced this would never happen," she added. "I wish I had prepared some kind of speech or something to tell you what he was like. He was so young, so handsome. Everything one could ask for in a husband."
He was also, she said, a dedicated soldier.
"He always said if something happened to him to tell everyone he was proud to serve his country," she said. "He was honored to be there (Iraq). He said he worked with a wonderful group of guys and girls. I know he would have went there even if he knew it would turn out this way. He was one of those who believed he was making things safer for all of us."
At some point his remains will be brought back to his family and, according to his wishes, he will be cremated and his ashes scattered above his family"s ranch in Texas. For now, his widow -- a term she hasn't yet adjusted to -- lives with the memories of her whirlwind romance with the soldier a friend introduced her to.
She was working for then-Senator Bob Graham in Tallahassee and he was training
at nearby Fort Rucker, Ala.
"It was just love at first sight," she said. "A friend introduced us and after that we were together every weekend. He was the man I had always dreamed about. He was so generous, so giving and so self sacraficing. I still haven1t accepted this."
In the cruel calculus of war, number 2,268 died in that Iraq crash. For
Artis Henderson it was her true love.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 9 2006, 01:14 PM
Those killed and injured in Iraq and Afghanistan come from all walks of life and ethnicities. Here is a Washington Native-American son who lost his life in Baghdad. This man was apparently a true patriot in the finest sense of the term.
QUOTE
Slain soldier devoted to the Army
Family recalls Fort Lewis-based sergeant as 'lovable and strong'
Amy Cannata
Staff writer
November 9, 2006
Lucas T. White loved his wife, Jennifer, and their two Jack Russell terriers.
The Moses Lake man enjoyed fishing, hunting and snowboarding. He relished his job as an Army sergeant, serving with a Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade deployed to Iraq.
White, 28, was killed Monday in Baghdad when the Army vehicle he was in was attacked by a roadside bomb and armed men.
"He was just really devoted to it. You can't really describe what it was about it. He just loved it – the physical exertion and the weapons," said Julia Brooks of her son's commitment to the Army. "When he was away from the Army, he was patient and kind, lovable and strong. He just loved the responsibility he had in the Army."
White's father, Mervin White, and grandmother Patsy Durfee live in Spokane.
Brooks lives in Polson, Mont.
"We're so proud of him," said Brooks.
White had already served one tour in Afghanistan before he was sent to Iraq. He had been in Iraq for five months and was scheduled for leave in three weeks. He was looking forward to seeing his two dogs' three puppies.
Shortly before he was deployed, White went salmon fishing on the Columbia River with family and asked his mother to give the fish he caught to his grandmother, Brooks said.
She said that when she started to cry about him leaving, he told her, "I love you Mom. Don't worry."
And she said she was reassured by what she heard from him while he was in Iraq.
"He sounded good. He sounded happy," Brooks said. "He was really a restless person. The busier he was, the happier he was."
White was born in Pendleton, Ore., and was a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He graduated from White Swan High School on the Yakama Indian Reservation.
A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Nov. 16 at Fort Lewis, Brooks said. The family will also hold a traditional Native American ceremony for White at home before he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
"He requested to be buried at Arlington so that if anything ever happened to him he could be buried by his brothers who died in combat," said Brooks. "That way they would have each other's backs."
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=158849
Family recalls Fort Lewis-based sergeant as 'lovable and strong'
Amy Cannata
Staff writer
November 9, 2006
Lucas T. White loved his wife, Jennifer, and their two Jack Russell terriers.
The Moses Lake man enjoyed fishing, hunting and snowboarding. He relished his job as an Army sergeant, serving with a Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade deployed to Iraq.
White, 28, was killed Monday in Baghdad when the Army vehicle he was in was attacked by a roadside bomb and armed men.
"He was just really devoted to it. You can't really describe what it was about it. He just loved it – the physical exertion and the weapons," said Julia Brooks of her son's commitment to the Army. "When he was away from the Army, he was patient and kind, lovable and strong. He just loved the responsibility he had in the Army."
White's father, Mervin White, and grandmother Patsy Durfee live in Spokane.
Brooks lives in Polson, Mont.
"We're so proud of him," said Brooks.
White had already served one tour in Afghanistan before he was sent to Iraq. He had been in Iraq for five months and was scheduled for leave in three weeks. He was looking forward to seeing his two dogs' three puppies.
Shortly before he was deployed, White went salmon fishing on the Columbia River with family and asked his mother to give the fish he caught to his grandmother, Brooks said.
She said that when she started to cry about him leaving, he told her, "I love you Mom. Don't worry."
And she said she was reassured by what she heard from him while he was in Iraq.
"He sounded good. He sounded happy," Brooks said. "He was really a restless person. The busier he was, the happier he was."
White was born in Pendleton, Ore., and was a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He graduated from White Swan High School on the Yakama Indian Reservation.
A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Nov. 16 at Fort Lewis, Brooks said. The family will also hold a traditional Native American ceremony for White at home before he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
"He requested to be buried at Arlington so that if anything ever happened to him he could be buried by his brothers who died in combat," said Brooks. "That way they would have each other's backs."
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 10 2006, 02:34 PM
It is not just the families that are affected by the loss and/or injury of loved ones as this NYT article points out. It focuses on one of the units hardest hit during the heavy losses of October. I only posted the first page. There are two more that follow.
QUOTE
How Iraq's rising death toll hits one U.S. unit.
By Michael Luo and Michael Wilson / The New York TimesPublished: November 9, 2006
BAGHDAD: : Memorial services honoring fallen soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment in Iraq used to require planning meetings of as long as 45 minutes. But at this point, they take barely five.
"We're here again," said Chaplain John Hill. A roadside bomb had killed another soldier from the battalion the day before. He launched into the unit's "memorial ceremony execution matrix," a 40-item checklist of tasks that includes everything from collecting personal effects to finding a singer.
"Unfortunately, we've gotten, I won't say, good at this," said Lieutenant Colonel Craig Osborne, the battalion's commander, wrapping up the meeting almost as soon as it began. "It's become habitual."
In October, 105 American troops died in Iraq, the most since January 2005. The growing body count, more than three years after President George W. Bush declared mission accomplished in Iraq, became a major factor in the sweeping Democratic gains in Congress this week. Osborne's soldiers lost nine comrades, just as the battalion was beginning to make preparations for coming home later this month.
Today in Americas
A step back to a father's counsel
Globalist: In more fluid Mideast, what now for the U.S.?
Grief binds unit's 2 worlds"When something like this happens, all you do is think about it," said Sergeant First Class Robert Warman, who watched a Humvee carrying four soldiers get blown to bits in front of him from a massive bomb hidden in the road last month.
"You think about it when you go to the mess hall, when you go to take a shower, when you lay down to sleep. You think and you think and you think, and you cry."
The 800-strong battalion, part of the first brigade of the 4th Infantry Division based in Fort Hood, Texas, has been patrolling a vast swath of land west of Baghdad riven by Sunni Arab insurgents. The toll on the unit in October was the most of any battalion or squadron, according to a New York Times database of war casualties compiled from information provided by the Department of Defense.
Back home, among the soldiers' wives, fear spread in ever-widening circles. News sped from a woman's living room in Killeen, outside of Fort Hood, to her friend across town, and across the country.
After hearing that a member of her husband's unit was killed, Debbie Borawski braced herself. She was so certain that an army officer was going to arrive at her home that she called a friend to come and wait with her. "I pretty much almost blacked out, " she said.
Hour by hour from their home in Fort Hood, she filters the news of every roadside bomb, every sniper attack. "Until you hear that he's safe, it almost kills you," she said. "It eats you away."
The soldiers, who deployed last November, have less than a month left to go in Iraq.
In the battalion's first tour in Iraq, when it aided in the eventual capture of Saddam Hussein in Tikrit, it lost just a handful of soldiers. Until September, only four soldiers of the 800 in the battalion had been killed in combat during this tour. On Oct. 1, a platoon of soldiers from A Company set out to establish an observation post near a road that had been plagued by concealed bombs.
Specialist Heriberto Hernandez, 20, was among a group of soldiers in a Humvee that rolled up toward a bridge near where they would set up. Specialist Hernandez and another soldier got out, while Corporal Chase Haag, 22, a soldier from Portland, Oregon, who was in the gunner's hatch, continued down the road with two others. The explosion that followed detonated right below Haag. Hernandez said he could tell right away after he rushed up that his friend was gone.
Still, he gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until the medevac helicopter arrived. Specialist Zachary Mayhew, who was one of Haag's closest confidants in the platoon, splinted his mangled leg. "We got him out of there in 25 minutes," Hernandez said.
They learned later that their friend had died. That shook the younger soldiers in the platoon, who had protected themselves with an inflated sense of invincibility.
The soldier's death forced couples like Sergeant Joseph Wilson and his wife, Sara, to strip away denial from their conversations.
"He doesn't really like to talk about it," said Sara Wilson, 26, living in Arizona until her husband's return. "I've kind of forced him to talk about things, especially Haag's death. He gets upset and starts crying."
By Michael Luo and Michael Wilson / The New York TimesPublished: November 9, 2006
BAGHDAD: : Memorial services honoring fallen soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment in Iraq used to require planning meetings of as long as 45 minutes. But at this point, they take barely five.
"We're here again," said Chaplain John Hill. A roadside bomb had killed another soldier from the battalion the day before. He launched into the unit's "memorial ceremony execution matrix," a 40-item checklist of tasks that includes everything from collecting personal effects to finding a singer.
"Unfortunately, we've gotten, I won't say, good at this," said Lieutenant Colonel Craig Osborne, the battalion's commander, wrapping up the meeting almost as soon as it began. "It's become habitual."
In October, 105 American troops died in Iraq, the most since January 2005. The growing body count, more than three years after President George W. Bush declared mission accomplished in Iraq, became a major factor in the sweeping Democratic gains in Congress this week. Osborne's soldiers lost nine comrades, just as the battalion was beginning to make preparations for coming home later this month.
Today in Americas
A step back to a father's counsel
Globalist: In more fluid Mideast, what now for the U.S.?
Grief binds unit's 2 worlds"When something like this happens, all you do is think about it," said Sergeant First Class Robert Warman, who watched a Humvee carrying four soldiers get blown to bits in front of him from a massive bomb hidden in the road last month.
"You think about it when you go to the mess hall, when you go to take a shower, when you lay down to sleep. You think and you think and you think, and you cry."
The 800-strong battalion, part of the first brigade of the 4th Infantry Division based in Fort Hood, Texas, has been patrolling a vast swath of land west of Baghdad riven by Sunni Arab insurgents. The toll on the unit in October was the most of any battalion or squadron, according to a New York Times database of war casualties compiled from information provided by the Department of Defense.
Back home, among the soldiers' wives, fear spread in ever-widening circles. News sped from a woman's living room in Killeen, outside of Fort Hood, to her friend across town, and across the country.
After hearing that a member of her husband's unit was killed, Debbie Borawski braced herself. She was so certain that an army officer was going to arrive at her home that she called a friend to come and wait with her. "I pretty much almost blacked out, " she said.
Hour by hour from their home in Fort Hood, she filters the news of every roadside bomb, every sniper attack. "Until you hear that he's safe, it almost kills you," she said. "It eats you away."
The soldiers, who deployed last November, have less than a month left to go in Iraq.
In the battalion's first tour in Iraq, when it aided in the eventual capture of Saddam Hussein in Tikrit, it lost just a handful of soldiers. Until September, only four soldiers of the 800 in the battalion had been killed in combat during this tour. On Oct. 1, a platoon of soldiers from A Company set out to establish an observation post near a road that had been plagued by concealed bombs.
Specialist Heriberto Hernandez, 20, was among a group of soldiers in a Humvee that rolled up toward a bridge near where they would set up. Specialist Hernandez and another soldier got out, while Corporal Chase Haag, 22, a soldier from Portland, Oregon, who was in the gunner's hatch, continued down the road with two others. The explosion that followed detonated right below Haag. Hernandez said he could tell right away after he rushed up that his friend was gone.
Still, he gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until the medevac helicopter arrived. Specialist Zachary Mayhew, who was one of Haag's closest confidants in the platoon, splinted his mangled leg. "We got him out of there in 25 minutes," Hernandez said.
They learned later that their friend had died. That shook the younger soldiers in the platoon, who had protected themselves with an inflated sense of invincibility.
The soldier's death forced couples like Sergeant Joseph Wilson and his wife, Sara, to strip away denial from their conversations.
"He doesn't really like to talk about it," said Sara Wilson, 26, living in Arizona until her husband's return. "I've kind of forced him to talk about things, especially Haag's death. He gets upset and starts crying."
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 11 2006, 06:50 PM
Four Americans were killed in Afghanistan. Although I don't have any further information at this time, here is what I do have.
QUOTE
The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died of injuries suffered when an IED detonated near their vehicle Oct. 31 in Wygal Valley, Afghanistan.
Killed were:
Maj. Douglas E. Sloan, 40, of Evans Mills, N.Y.
Sgt. Charles J. McClain, 26, of Fort Riley, Kan. He later died in Asadabad, Afghanistan.
Pfc. Alex Oceguera, 19, of San Bernardino, Calif.
Sloan and Oceguera were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
McClain was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
Sgt. 1st Class William R. Brown, 30, of Fort Worth, Texas, died Nov. 6 in Sperwan-Gar, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his convoy vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Pray for them and their families.Killed were:
Maj. Douglas E. Sloan, 40, of Evans Mills, N.Y.
Sgt. Charles J. McClain, 26, of Fort Riley, Kan. He later died in Asadabad, Afghanistan.
Pfc. Alex Oceguera, 19, of San Bernardino, Calif.
Sloan and Oceguera were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
McClain was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
Sgt. 1st Class William R. Brown, 30, of Fort Worth, Texas, died Nov. 6 in Sperwan-Gar, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his convoy vehicle. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 11 2006, 10:47 PM
This is a very patriotic family who are sacrificing much more than their share for their country so others don't have to serve. This is the 3rd of three brothers to deploy to Iraq. The two older brothers have already served tours in Iraq and are back on their second go-rounds. Although they will be serving with the same stryker brigade. they are with different units in the brigade so they run next to no risk of all being injured simultaneously. Pray that these brothers, and all the other 150,000 serving in Iraq, come home safely to their families.
QUOTE
3rd son from Wash. family sent to Iraq By MELANTHIA MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 11, 7:02 AM ET
SEATTLE - Growing up, Charlie Parsons played sports, liked to travel and enjoyed learning other languages — just like his older twin brothers. When they went off to West Point, Parsons soon followed. Now, four months after Capt. Bill Parsons and Capt. Huber Parsons III deployed to Iraq, younger brother Charlie Parsons is again following their lead.
"I didn't really look at it as following in their footsteps. We just have similar interests," said Charlie Parsons, a second lieutenant from Miami, who also has a twin sister, Christine, a teacher in Jackson, Miss.
All three brothers are members of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, a Stryker Brigade Combat Team from the Army's Fort Lewis, south of Seattle. When Charlie Parsons leaves for Baghdad on Monday, he and his brothers will join an unknown number of siblings serving together in the military.
The Army doesn't maintain a database of family members serving at the same time.
"It's not normally something that you put on your records," said Joseph Piek, a Fort Lewis spokesman, noting he recalls only two sets of brothers who have served together recently.
One of the most famous military families was the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa, who died during World War II when their Navy ship, the USS Juneau, was struck Nov. 13, 1942, by a Japanese torpedo.
The Navy now discourages family members from serving together on the same ship, but policy doesn't exist that prohibits them from doing so, Piek said.
"In instances where siblings or a husband and wife might serve together ... they generally take their own precautions," he said. "They make sure they aren't traveling in the same convoy or living in the same vicinity of one another."
Though the Parsons are in the same brigade, they will likely have little opportunity to see each other.
Huber Parsons III, 28, will soon take command of A Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, while Bill Parsons is slated to lead A Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment.
Charlie Parsons, 23, is currently assigned to brigade headquarters at Fort Lewis, but will receive a new assignment after he deploys to Baghdad for eight months.
"We're not there to see each other," he said. "The benefit isn't so we can hang out, but so we're all home together and can see each other on weekends."
Bill and Huber Parsons III, who are training Iraqi Army soldiers in Mosul, did not return e-mails seeking comment.
Their father said his older sons are looking forward to their brother's arrival.
"They're happy for him to be coming," Huber Parsons II said Friday in a telephone interview from Miami, where he works as a lawyer. "I think their view is he's ready and needed to shoulder his share of the load."
The Parsons won't be together on Charlie Parsons' last weekend in the United States, but they said their goodbyes earlier this month. And Charlie Parsons and his father got to spend time together on a cross-country drive to Fort Lewis.
Huber Parsons II believes his youngest son, like his brothers, is ready to serve, both physically and mentally.
"Our boys are very interested in service to others, in this case the nation and to something that's bigger than themselves," said the elder Huber Parsons, himself a former Army reservist.
The family has already endured several of the twins' deployments.
Huber Parsons III spent a year in Iraq in 2003 and Bill Parsons was in Kosovo on a peacekeeping mission around 2002. Bill Parsons then deployed twice each to Afghanistan and Iraq on three-month missions.
"Now they're back in Iraq and Charlie's packing his duffel bag," their father said.
The dangers of war do not go unnoticed by a family with so much to lose.
The elder Huber Parsons said he and wife, Phyllis, rely on their faith, as well as their sons' training, commanders and colleagues to protect what they can no longer keep safe.
"Yes, we shed tears from time to time, both of joy and apprehension," he said, his voice breaking. "There comes a time to let your children go, and we're past that point. They are doing what they feel called to do."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061111/ap_on_re_us/army_brothers
Sat Nov 11, 7:02 AM ET
SEATTLE - Growing up, Charlie Parsons played sports, liked to travel and enjoyed learning other languages — just like his older twin brothers. When they went off to West Point, Parsons soon followed. Now, four months after Capt. Bill Parsons and Capt. Huber Parsons III deployed to Iraq, younger brother Charlie Parsons is again following their lead.
"I didn't really look at it as following in their footsteps. We just have similar interests," said Charlie Parsons, a second lieutenant from Miami, who also has a twin sister, Christine, a teacher in Jackson, Miss.
All three brothers are members of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, a Stryker Brigade Combat Team from the Army's Fort Lewis, south of Seattle. When Charlie Parsons leaves for Baghdad on Monday, he and his brothers will join an unknown number of siblings serving together in the military.
The Army doesn't maintain a database of family members serving at the same time.
"It's not normally something that you put on your records," said Joseph Piek, a Fort Lewis spokesman, noting he recalls only two sets of brothers who have served together recently.
One of the most famous military families was the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa, who died during World War II when their Navy ship, the USS Juneau, was struck Nov. 13, 1942, by a Japanese torpedo.
The Navy now discourages family members from serving together on the same ship, but policy doesn't exist that prohibits them from doing so, Piek said.
"In instances where siblings or a husband and wife might serve together ... they generally take their own precautions," he said. "They make sure they aren't traveling in the same convoy or living in the same vicinity of one another."
Though the Parsons are in the same brigade, they will likely have little opportunity to see each other.
Huber Parsons III, 28, will soon take command of A Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, while Bill Parsons is slated to lead A Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment.
Charlie Parsons, 23, is currently assigned to brigade headquarters at Fort Lewis, but will receive a new assignment after he deploys to Baghdad for eight months.
"We're not there to see each other," he said. "The benefit isn't so we can hang out, but so we're all home together and can see each other on weekends."
Bill and Huber Parsons III, who are training Iraqi Army soldiers in Mosul, did not return e-mails seeking comment.
Their father said his older sons are looking forward to their brother's arrival.
"They're happy for him to be coming," Huber Parsons II said Friday in a telephone interview from Miami, where he works as a lawyer. "I think their view is he's ready and needed to shoulder his share of the load."
The Parsons won't be together on Charlie Parsons' last weekend in the United States, but they said their goodbyes earlier this month. And Charlie Parsons and his father got to spend time together on a cross-country drive to Fort Lewis.
Huber Parsons II believes his youngest son, like his brothers, is ready to serve, both physically and mentally.
"Our boys are very interested in service to others, in this case the nation and to something that's bigger than themselves," said the elder Huber Parsons, himself a former Army reservist.
The family has already endured several of the twins' deployments.
Huber Parsons III spent a year in Iraq in 2003 and Bill Parsons was in Kosovo on a peacekeeping mission around 2002. Bill Parsons then deployed twice each to Afghanistan and Iraq on three-month missions.
"Now they're back in Iraq and Charlie's packing his duffel bag," their father said.
The dangers of war do not go unnoticed by a family with so much to lose.
The elder Huber Parsons said he and wife, Phyllis, rely on their faith, as well as their sons' training, commanders and colleagues to protect what they can no longer keep safe.
"Yes, we shed tears from time to time, both of joy and apprehension," he said, his voice breaking. "There comes a time to let your children go, and we're past that point. They are doing what they feel called to do."
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 13 2006, 11:22 PM
Here is another young casualty of the war in Iraq. He is also another in the long string of being a victim of nonhostile actions and the cause of his death is still under investigation. I was surprized to read that he was only the second resident of SanFransisco to have expired in Iraq. May God bless him and watch over his family.
QUOTE
Army Pfc. Keith J. Moore, 28, San Francisco; dies of noncombat injury
By Lee Romney, Times Staff Writer
November 12, 2006
As a chaplain at the Veterans Affairs hospital south of San Francisco, Susan Turley has faced the most intimate consequences of the Iraq war. She also has developed a deep admiration of military culture and purpose.
So when her only child revealed earlier this year he had enlisted in the Army, Turley reacted with fear and respect. Until well past 2 a.m., mother and son sat together, talking it out.
"He explained his whole journey — the process that led to his decision," said Turley, now among the grieving. "It was a turning point, where he became an adult friend of mine as well as my son."
On Oct. 14, Army Pfc. Keith J. Moore, 28, also became San Francisco's second Iraqi war casualty. His death, described by the Department of Defense only as the result of a "noncombat-related injury," is under investigation. It could be months before his family learns the particulars.
Instead, they are left with his memory — that of a young man with well-researched convictions who chose to serve his country.
Moore was a history buff who read voraciously about Vikings and ancient Greek military heroes, earning a respect for "the nobility of those that protect civilians." He was a lover of music and an amateur guitar enthusiast with eclectic taste.
Moore was born in Newton, Mass., to Turley and Clifford J. Moore Jr., an attorney. The family bounced around — to Portland, Maine; San Pedro; and outside Sacramento. It was there, in the El Dorado County town of Rescue, that Moore's sixth-grade teacher pulled Turley aside: Keith was unusually gifted, she said, and really bored.
Seeking a more individualized academic environment, the family moved to San Francisco, where Keith enrolled in Woodside International School, a tiny private academy. He studied Latin, math and science. At 16, he graduated — as a National Merit Scholar semifinalist.
"He had a pretty strong sense of what he thought was right or wrong," said school founder John Edwards, who described Moore as a loyal friend with a "fairly poker-faced" brand of humor.
Moore briefly attended a college in Florida, then returned to San Francisco, where he took classes and always seemed to be volunteering to help friends move or build something.
Military service was discussed around the dinner table, as Turley, hired at the Palo Alto VA hospital in 2003, immersed herself in her work.
Moore had talked of joining the armed forces at age 17. Now, he spoke of learning to be a bomb detonator, of seeking corrective eye surgery to become a helicopter pilot. Although "not naive about the complexities of Iraq," Turley said, her son spoke most passionately about wanting to serve Iraqi civilians by serving his country.
He completed basic and advanced training in Georgia and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division at Ft. Drum, N.Y.
Frustrated by what was to be a six-month wait for deployment to Iraq, he volunteered for a unit soon heading there.
Moore landed in August. He told his parents about heading out on eight-day patrols, and of a weapon that was rusty and in need of repairs. He died in Baghdad.
Late last month, a team of nearly 20 motorcyclists from the volunteer Patriot Guard Riders helped escort Moore's casket from San Francisco International Airport, stopping traffic on Interstate 280. Then, they turned toward the ocean that Moore loved, crawling up the Great Highway at twilight as surfers and beachgoers stood at attention to pay respects.
He was buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno.
In addition to his parents, both of San Francisco, Moore is survived by his grandmothers, Peggy Moore of Richmond, Calif.; and Marilyn Turley of Olympia, Wash.
The uncertainty surrounding the cause of death "complicates the grieving process," Turley said. "But the most important thing is my son served his country, and he's a casualty of war…. He was a beautiful person. He died way too young."
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-moore12nov12,0,7875966.story?coll=la-home-obituaries
By Lee Romney, Times Staff Writer
November 12, 2006
As a chaplain at the Veterans Affairs hospital south of San Francisco, Susan Turley has faced the most intimate consequences of the Iraq war. She also has developed a deep admiration of military culture and purpose.
So when her only child revealed earlier this year he had enlisted in the Army, Turley reacted with fear and respect. Until well past 2 a.m., mother and son sat together, talking it out.
"He explained his whole journey — the process that led to his decision," said Turley, now among the grieving. "It was a turning point, where he became an adult friend of mine as well as my son."
On Oct. 14, Army Pfc. Keith J. Moore, 28, also became San Francisco's second Iraqi war casualty. His death, described by the Department of Defense only as the result of a "noncombat-related injury," is under investigation. It could be months before his family learns the particulars.
Instead, they are left with his memory — that of a young man with well-researched convictions who chose to serve his country.
Moore was a history buff who read voraciously about Vikings and ancient Greek military heroes, earning a respect for "the nobility of those that protect civilians." He was a lover of music and an amateur guitar enthusiast with eclectic taste.
Moore was born in Newton, Mass., to Turley and Clifford J. Moore Jr., an attorney. The family bounced around — to Portland, Maine; San Pedro; and outside Sacramento. It was there, in the El Dorado County town of Rescue, that Moore's sixth-grade teacher pulled Turley aside: Keith was unusually gifted, she said, and really bored.
Seeking a more individualized academic environment, the family moved to San Francisco, where Keith enrolled in Woodside International School, a tiny private academy. He studied Latin, math and science. At 16, he graduated — as a National Merit Scholar semifinalist.
"He had a pretty strong sense of what he thought was right or wrong," said school founder John Edwards, who described Moore as a loyal friend with a "fairly poker-faced" brand of humor.
Moore briefly attended a college in Florida, then returned to San Francisco, where he took classes and always seemed to be volunteering to help friends move or build something.
Military service was discussed around the dinner table, as Turley, hired at the Palo Alto VA hospital in 2003, immersed herself in her work.
Moore had talked of joining the armed forces at age 17. Now, he spoke of learning to be a bomb detonator, of seeking corrective eye surgery to become a helicopter pilot. Although "not naive about the complexities of Iraq," Turley said, her son spoke most passionately about wanting to serve Iraqi civilians by serving his country.
He completed basic and advanced training in Georgia and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division at Ft. Drum, N.Y.
Frustrated by what was to be a six-month wait for deployment to Iraq, he volunteered for a unit soon heading there.
Moore landed in August. He told his parents about heading out on eight-day patrols, and of a weapon that was rusty and in need of repairs. He died in Baghdad.
Late last month, a team of nearly 20 motorcyclists from the volunteer Patriot Guard Riders helped escort Moore's casket from San Francisco International Airport, stopping traffic on Interstate 280. Then, they turned toward the ocean that Moore loved, crawling up the Great Highway at twilight as surfers and beachgoers stood at attention to pay respects.
He was buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno.
In addition to his parents, both of San Francisco, Moore is survived by his grandmothers, Peggy Moore of Richmond, Calif.; and Marilyn Turley of Olympia, Wash.
The uncertainty surrounding the cause of death "complicates the grieving process," Turley said. "But the most important thing is my son served his country, and he's a casualty of war…. He was a beautiful person. He died way too young."
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 15 2006, 12:42 AM
Americans aren't the only affected by the war in Iraq. Here is the story of a young British sargeant who worked in intelligence who was killed after only a week in Iraq. The UK has lost 125 soldiers so far in the war in Iraq.
QUOTE
Iraq attacks: 'Why did she have to die for such a silly cause?'
By Terri Judd and Kim Sengupta
Published: 15 November 2006
A week ago Ted Elliott opened up a surprise parcel to find a pair of silk-lined gloves, an early Christmas present posted by his daughter as she set off for Iraq.
It was typical of Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott, 34, her family said yesterday after learning of her death on Sunday in Iraq, to be so thoughtful. She had noticed that Parkinson's disease had left her father's hand permanently frozen and in the flurry of pre-deployment had remembered to send the present.
"She was just such a lovely girl, so sensible and kind. We were just waiting to find out her new address so we could send something to her," Mr Elliott's wife said yesterday.
"Ted is utterly heartbroken. It was his only daughter. You just don't expect them to go before you.
"When she said she was going to Iraq I said I didn't believe in them being sent over there. She was just treating it as a job she had to do. She had been to many difficult places, but I don't think she liked this one. Why did she have to die for such a silly cause?" added Mrs Elliott.
Sharron Elliott, who was one of four soldiers killed in an attack on a boat on the Shatt al-Arab waterway, bringing the total number of British troops killed since the end of the war to 125, had had a difficult life. Her cousin, 22-year-old Judith Pattison, was killed in the 1989 Kegworth air crash when a plane bound for Belfast crashed into the M1. Then her fiancé, also a soldier, died in a motorcycle crash before their wedding.
Before deploying to Iraq, Sgt Elliott had been caring for a close friend suffering from cancer. Her letters home from Basra were full of concern about her father.
Her mother, Elsie Manning, said at her home in South Shields: "Sharron was the most beautiful, caring person in the world. She was very strong-minded and very compassionate.
"She had lots of friends and used to look after one of them who had cancer so that her husband could have a break - that is the sort of person she was. She loved cooking and used to take over the kitchen when she came home, whipping up all kinds of exotic dishes for us all to try. She was very close to her four stepbrothers and was 'best man' at her stepbrother David's wedding. She was delighted to become an auntie again last year to her little nephew Bradley.
"Sharron deployed to Iraq just over a week ago. Her life was the Army and she had served all over the world. It is of some comfort to the family that she died doing what she loved.
"We all loved her so much - she has left such a big hole in our lives. She was the most fantastic person, she was just amazing and touched the hearts of everyone she met. We can never replace her."
The Army had been Sharron's life from the moment she was born and grew up in the small Suffolk town of Hadleigh. Her father had served in the forces, two of her elder stepbrothers went on to do so, and so did cousins and other relatives. Ted Elliott was fiercely proud of his girl taking up the mantle.
Neighbours remember a beautifully behaved child growing up among the small group of simple redbrick homes surrounding a green, where she played with her stepbrothers Michael, Gary and David.
She joined the Army at the age of 18. She spent her early career in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, becoming the first woman in the Army to qualify as an aircraft technician.
Her history teacher, Penny Cook, said last night: "We are devastated by what has happened. What is so poignant is that it also happened on Remembrance Sunday.
"I remember she had a desire to go into the forces. For many young people it's a career they can get training in and make a living out of."
Sgt Elliott's godmother, 72-year-old Maureen Holland, recalled: "She met her boyfriend on a course where they were learning to repair helicopters. I saw her when she came back to look for a wedding dress. But then her fiancé died tragically. People asked if she would be giving up the Army afterwards, but she said she wouldn't, and she would finish the course because she wanted to do it for him. She was a very caring person and when her fiancé died, I remember her saying that she was going to stay with his parents to be with them.
"She was very determined and she was the first woman to pass this particular course. She was just so dedicated to her life in the Army.
"She was an absolutely lovely girl. Her parents must be really proud."
After six years in the Army, Sgt Elliott transferred to the Intelligence Corps, subsequently serving in Northern Ireland and Kosovo before being posted to Iraq.
Part of her training was at the 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group headquarters at Chicksands in Bedfordshire, where students are encouraged to study the local culture and customs at postings abroad. Students are also taught to question perceived wisdom and to question policy and disagree with the official view if necessary.
Her commanding officer in Iraq, Lt Col Andrew Park, said she was "never afraid to challenge the status quo, she would always give her opinion. Dedicated and professional, Staff Sergeant Elliott was an inspiration to all she worked with."
The other victims
* Warrant Officer Lee Hopkins, 35, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, was just five weeks into a six-month tour of Iraq, but had already made an "immediate impact", his commanding officer said. Lt-Col Andrew Park also paid tribute to the soldier as a "dedicated family man". He leaves a wife, Amanda, to whom he was married for 10 years, and a son aged three. "He led from the front with a quiet authority and paid attention to every detail," Lt-Col Park said.
* Corporal Ben Nowak, 27, of 45 Commando Royal Marines, was described by his uncle as "as an extraordinary soldier and an extraordinary young man". A promising young footballer, Cpl Nowak, of Speke in Merseyside, had trials with Southampton. But he joined the Royal Marines at 17 and became a rifleman, later qualifying as a physical training instructor. His uncle, Michael McEvatt, added: "He was so proud of what he did."
* Marine Jason Hylton, 33, of 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, was a divorced father of two teenage sons who lived with his parents in Swadlincote, Derbyshire. He had volunteered for a tour of duty in Iraq. His brother Daz, 37, said: "He loved the marine life and thoroughly enjoyed his job." But Marine Hylton's girlfriend, Sasha Martin, said: "He should never have been sent to Iraq, and it was not even his boat that he was on when he died."
A week ago Ted Elliott opened up a surprise parcel to find a pair of silk-lined gloves, an early Christmas present posted by his daughter as she set off for Iraq.
It was typical of Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott, 34, her family said yesterday after learning of her death on Sunday in Iraq, to be so thoughtful. She had noticed that Parkinson's disease had left her father's hand permanently frozen and in the flurry of pre-deployment had remembered to send the present.
"She was just such a lovely girl, so sensible and kind. We were just waiting to find out her new address so we could send something to her," Mr Elliott's wife said yesterday.
"Ted is utterly heartbroken. It was his only daughter. You just don't expect them to go before you.
"When she said she was going to Iraq I said I didn't believe in them being sent over there. She was just treating it as a job she had to do. She had been to many difficult places, but I don't think she liked this one. Why did she have to die for such a silly cause?" added Mrs Elliott.
Sharron Elliott, who was one of four soldiers killed in an attack on a boat on the Shatt al-Arab waterway, bringing the total number of British troops killed since the end of the war to 125, had had a difficult life. Her cousin, 22-year-old Judith Pattison, was killed in the 1989 Kegworth air crash when a plane bound for Belfast crashed into the M1. Then her fiancé, also a soldier, died in a motorcycle crash before their wedding.
Before deploying to Iraq, Sgt Elliott had been caring for a close friend suffering from cancer. Her letters home from Basra were full of concern about her father.
Her mother, Elsie Manning, said at her home in South Shields: "Sharron was the most beautiful, caring person in the world. She was very strong-minded and very compassionate.
"She had lots of friends and used to look after one of them who had cancer so that her husband could have a break - that is the sort of person she was. She loved cooking and used to take over the kitchen when she came home, whipping up all kinds of exotic dishes for us all to try. She was very close to her four stepbrothers and was 'best man' at her stepbrother David's wedding. She was delighted to become an auntie again last year to her little nephew Bradley.
"Sharron deployed to Iraq just over a week ago. Her life was the Army and she had served all over the world. It is of some comfort to the family that she died doing what she loved.
"We all loved her so much - she has left such a big hole in our lives. She was the most fantastic person, she was just amazing and touched the hearts of everyone she met. We can never replace her."
The Army had been Sharron's life from the moment she was born and grew up in the small Suffolk town of Hadleigh. Her father had served in the forces, two of her elder stepbrothers went on to do so, and so did cousins and other relatives. Ted Elliott was fiercely proud of his girl taking up the mantle.
Neighbours remember a beautifully behaved child growing up among the small group of simple redbrick homes surrounding a green, where she played with her stepbrothers Michael, Gary and David.
She joined the Army at the age of 18. She spent her early career in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, becoming the first woman in the Army to qualify as an aircraft technician.
Her history teacher, Penny Cook, said last night: "We are devastated by what has happened. What is so poignant is that it also happened on Remembrance Sunday.
"I remember she had a desire to go into the forces. For many young people it's a career they can get training in and make a living out of."
Sgt Elliott's godmother, 72-year-old Maureen Holland, recalled: "She met her boyfriend on a course where they were learning to repair helicopters. I saw her when she came back to look for a wedding dress. But then her fiancé died tragically. People asked if she would be giving up the Army afterwards, but she said she wouldn't, and she would finish the course because she wanted to do it for him. She was a very caring person and when her fiancé died, I remember her saying that she was going to stay with his parents to be with them.
"She was very determined and she was the first woman to pass this particular course. She was just so dedicated to her life in the Army.
"She was an absolutely lovely girl. Her parents must be really proud."
After six years in the Army, Sgt Elliott transferred to the Intelligence Corps, subsequently serving in Northern Ireland and Kosovo before being posted to Iraq.
Part of her training was at the 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group headquarters at Chicksands in Bedfordshire, where students are encouraged to study the local culture and customs at postings abroad. Students are also taught to question perceived wisdom and to question policy and disagree with the official view if necessary.
Her commanding officer in Iraq, Lt Col Andrew Park, said she was "never afraid to challenge the status quo, she would always give her opinion. Dedicated and professional, Staff Sergeant Elliott was an inspiration to all she worked with."
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1984585.ece
By Terri Judd and Kim Sengupta
Published: 15 November 2006
A week ago Ted Elliott opened up a surprise parcel to find a pair of silk-lined gloves, an early Christmas present posted by his daughter as she set off for Iraq.
It was typical of Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott, 34, her family said yesterday after learning of her death on Sunday in Iraq, to be so thoughtful. She had noticed that Parkinson's disease had left her father's hand permanently frozen and in the flurry of pre-deployment had remembered to send the present.
"She was just such a lovely girl, so sensible and kind. We were just waiting to find out her new address so we could send something to her," Mr Elliott's wife said yesterday.
"Ted is utterly heartbroken. It was his only daughter. You just don't expect them to go before you.
"When she said she was going to Iraq I said I didn't believe in them being sent over there. She was just treating it as a job she had to do. She had been to many difficult places, but I don't think she liked this one. Why did she have to die for such a silly cause?" added Mrs Elliott.
Sharron Elliott, who was one of four soldiers killed in an attack on a boat on the Shatt al-Arab waterway, bringing the total number of British troops killed since the end of the war to 125, had had a difficult life. Her cousin, 22-year-old Judith Pattison, was killed in the 1989 Kegworth air crash when a plane bound for Belfast crashed into the M1. Then her fiancé, also a soldier, died in a motorcycle crash before their wedding.
Before deploying to Iraq, Sgt Elliott had been caring for a close friend suffering from cancer. Her letters home from Basra were full of concern about her father.
Her mother, Elsie Manning, said at her home in South Shields: "Sharron was the most beautiful, caring person in the world. She was very strong-minded and very compassionate.
"She had lots of friends and used to look after one of them who had cancer so that her husband could have a break - that is the sort of person she was. She loved cooking and used to take over the kitchen when she came home, whipping up all kinds of exotic dishes for us all to try. She was very close to her four stepbrothers and was 'best man' at her stepbrother David's wedding. She was delighted to become an auntie again last year to her little nephew Bradley.
"Sharron deployed to Iraq just over a week ago. Her life was the Army and she had served all over the world. It is of some comfort to the family that she died doing what she loved.
"We all loved her so much - she has left such a big hole in our lives. She was the most fantastic person, she was just amazing and touched the hearts of everyone she met. We can never replace her."
The Army had been Sharron's life from the moment she was born and grew up in the small Suffolk town of Hadleigh. Her father had served in the forces, two of her elder stepbrothers went on to do so, and so did cousins and other relatives. Ted Elliott was fiercely proud of his girl taking up the mantle.
Neighbours remember a beautifully behaved child growing up among the small group of simple redbrick homes surrounding a green, where she played with her stepbrothers Michael, Gary and David.
She joined the Army at the age of 18. She spent her early career in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, becoming the first woman in the Army to qualify as an aircraft technician.
Her history teacher, Penny Cook, said last night: "We are devastated by what has happened. What is so poignant is that it also happened on Remembrance Sunday.
"I remember she had a desire to go into the forces. For many young people it's a career they can get training in and make a living out of."
Sgt Elliott's godmother, 72-year-old Maureen Holland, recalled: "She met her boyfriend on a course where they were learning to repair helicopters. I saw her when she came back to look for a wedding dress. But then her fiancé died tragically. People asked if she would be giving up the Army afterwards, but she said she wouldn't, and she would finish the course because she wanted to do it for him. She was a very caring person and when her fiancé died, I remember her saying that she was going to stay with his parents to be with them.
"She was very determined and she was the first woman to pass this particular course. She was just so dedicated to her life in the Army.
"She was an absolutely lovely girl. Her parents must be really proud."
After six years in the Army, Sgt Elliott transferred to the Intelligence Corps, subsequently serving in Northern Ireland and Kosovo before being posted to Iraq.
Part of her training was at the 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group headquarters at Chicksands in Bedfordshire, where students are encouraged to study the local culture and customs at postings abroad. Students are also taught to question perceived wisdom and to question policy and disagree with the official view if necessary.
Her commanding officer in Iraq, Lt Col Andrew Park, said she was "never afraid to challenge the status quo, she would always give her opinion. Dedicated and professional, Staff Sergeant Elliott was an inspiration to all she worked with."
The other victims
* Warrant Officer Lee Hopkins, 35, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, was just five weeks into a six-month tour of Iraq, but had already made an "immediate impact", his commanding officer said. Lt-Col Andrew Park also paid tribute to the soldier as a "dedicated family man". He leaves a wife, Amanda, to whom he was married for 10 years, and a son aged three. "He led from the front with a quiet authority and paid attention to every detail," Lt-Col Park said.
* Corporal Ben Nowak, 27, of 45 Commando Royal Marines, was described by his uncle as "as an extraordinary soldier and an extraordinary young man". A promising young footballer, Cpl Nowak, of Speke in Merseyside, had trials with Southampton. But he joined the Royal Marines at 17 and became a rifleman, later qualifying as a physical training instructor. His uncle, Michael McEvatt, added: "He was so proud of what he did."
* Marine Jason Hylton, 33, of 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, was a divorced father of two teenage sons who lived with his parents in Swadlincote, Derbyshire. He had volunteered for a tour of duty in Iraq. His brother Daz, 37, said: "He loved the marine life and thoroughly enjoyed his job." But Marine Hylton's girlfriend, Sasha Martin, said: "He should never have been sent to Iraq, and it was not even his boat that he was on when he died."
A week ago Ted Elliott opened up a surprise parcel to find a pair of silk-lined gloves, an early Christmas present posted by his daughter as she set off for Iraq.
It was typical of Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott, 34, her family said yesterday after learning of her death on Sunday in Iraq, to be so thoughtful. She had noticed that Parkinson's disease had left her father's hand permanently frozen and in the flurry of pre-deployment had remembered to send the present.
"She was just such a lovely girl, so sensible and kind. We were just waiting to find out her new address so we could send something to her," Mr Elliott's wife said yesterday.
"Ted is utterly heartbroken. It was his only daughter. You just don't expect them to go before you.
"When she said she was going to Iraq I said I didn't believe in them being sent over there. She was just treating it as a job she had to do. She had been to many difficult places, but I don't think she liked this one. Why did she have to die for such a silly cause?" added Mrs Elliott.
Sharron Elliott, who was one of four soldiers killed in an attack on a boat on the Shatt al-Arab waterway, bringing the total number of British troops killed since the end of the war to 125, had had a difficult life. Her cousin, 22-year-old Judith Pattison, was killed in the 1989 Kegworth air crash when a plane bound for Belfast crashed into the M1. Then her fiancé, also a soldier, died in a motorcycle crash before their wedding.
Before deploying to Iraq, Sgt Elliott had been caring for a close friend suffering from cancer. Her letters home from Basra were full of concern about her father.
Her mother, Elsie Manning, said at her home in South Shields: "Sharron was the most beautiful, caring person in the world. She was very strong-minded and very compassionate.
"She had lots of friends and used to look after one of them who had cancer so that her husband could have a break - that is the sort of person she was. She loved cooking and used to take over the kitchen when she came home, whipping up all kinds of exotic dishes for us all to try. She was very close to her four stepbrothers and was 'best man' at her stepbrother David's wedding. She was delighted to become an auntie again last year to her little nephew Bradley.
"Sharron deployed to Iraq just over a week ago. Her life was the Army and she had served all over the world. It is of some comfort to the family that she died doing what she loved.
"We all loved her so much - she has left such a big hole in our lives. She was the most fantastic person, she was just amazing and touched the hearts of everyone she met. We can never replace her."
The Army had been Sharron's life from the moment she was born and grew up in the small Suffolk town of Hadleigh. Her father had served in the forces, two of her elder stepbrothers went on to do so, and so did cousins and other relatives. Ted Elliott was fiercely proud of his girl taking up the mantle.
Neighbours remember a beautifully behaved child growing up among the small group of simple redbrick homes surrounding a green, where she played with her stepbrothers Michael, Gary and David.
She joined the Army at the age of 18. She spent her early career in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, becoming the first woman in the Army to qualify as an aircraft technician.
Her history teacher, Penny Cook, said last night: "We are devastated by what has happened. What is so poignant is that it also happened on Remembrance Sunday.
"I remember she had a desire to go into the forces. For many young people it's a career they can get training in and make a living out of."
Sgt Elliott's godmother, 72-year-old Maureen Holland, recalled: "She met her boyfriend on a course where they were learning to repair helicopters. I saw her when she came back to look for a wedding dress. But then her fiancé died tragically. People asked if she would be giving up the Army afterwards, but she said she wouldn't, and she would finish the course because she wanted to do it for him. She was a very caring person and when her fiancé died, I remember her saying that she was going to stay with his parents to be with them.
"She was very determined and she was the first woman to pass this particular course. She was just so dedicated to her life in the Army.
"She was an absolutely lovely girl. Her parents must be really proud."
After six years in the Army, Sgt Elliott transferred to the Intelligence Corps, subsequently serving in Northern Ireland and Kosovo before being posted to Iraq.
Part of her training was at the 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group headquarters at Chicksands in Bedfordshire, where students are encouraged to study the local culture and customs at postings abroad. Students are also taught to question perceived wisdom and to question policy and disagree with the official view if necessary.
Her commanding officer in Iraq, Lt Col Andrew Park, said she was "never afraid to challenge the status quo, she would always give her opinion. Dedicated and professional, Staff Sergeant Elliott was an inspiration to all she worked with."
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 16 2006, 01:02 AM
Here is another British citizen, this time an 18-year-old Marine who was severely injured and will require a lengthy recuperation. I hope he is able to fully recover. Just thank God that he is alive, as some of his mates are not.
QUOTE
Marine injured in Iraq
Jack Cooper
A TEENAGE Royal Marine from Shaw has been seriously injured in an explosion in Iraq which killed four servicemen.
Jack Cooper (18) had been in the country for only eight days when he suffered face, chest and abdominal injures in a makeshift bomb attack on a patrol boat on Remembrance Sunday.
His best friend Ben Nowak (27), from Liverpool, was killed in the attack along with another marine and two soldiers, including the second British servicewoman to be killed in action in Iraq. Two other servicemen were also seriously injured when the boat was hit on the Shatt al–Arab waterway in Basra.
SURGERY
Jack, a former Royton and Crompton School pupil, had emergency surgery in Iraq on Sunday to remove shrapnel from either side of his spine. A piece of shrapnel also hit him in the neck and another went through his face.
He has now been flown to a hospital in Birmingham, where he is expected to undergo further surgery today.
His devastated parents, Clint and Sue, have travelled to the Midlands to be by their son’s bedside.
His grandparents, Brian and Sheila Cooper, are hoping to join them later this week with his sister, 14-year-old Millie.
Jack received a determination award when he passed out into the Marines in June and his grandfather said: “His facial injuries are bad and he can’t speak. He is having another scan this morning and they are hoping to operate on his face today.
“But he is a very, very fit lad. He would think nothing of doing an 11-mile run just to keep fit for the job.
“I think he is going to be devastated about Ben. That will take as much to get over as his injuries.”
His wife described how Jack loved the job he had dreamed about doing since leaving school and added: “It was a living nightmare when he was sent to Iraq, but it was something he wanted to do. You can’t stop them. We are very proud of him.”
Jack joined the Royal Marines in October, 2005, and was posted to Iraq on November 4.
The other soldiers and marines killed in the blast have been named as Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott (34), from Ipswich, Warrant Officer Class 2 Lee Hopkins (35) of the Royal Signals, and and Marine Jason Hylton (33).
Lt Col White said: “539 Assault Squadron, supported by 45 Commando, are providing a boat group to patrol the Shatt al–Arab river.
“On Sunday, elements of the boat group were conducting a routine patrol of the waterway moving from south to north.
“While near a pontoon bridge, one of the boats came under attack from what is termed an improvised explosive device and it was this attack that killed four and seriously injured three service personnel.”
http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/NEWSW01.html
Jack Cooper
A TEENAGE Royal Marine from Shaw has been seriously injured in an explosion in Iraq which killed four servicemen.
Jack Cooper (18) had been in the country for only eight days when he suffered face, chest and abdominal injures in a makeshift bomb attack on a patrol boat on Remembrance Sunday.
His best friend Ben Nowak (27), from Liverpool, was killed in the attack along with another marine and two soldiers, including the second British servicewoman to be killed in action in Iraq. Two other servicemen were also seriously injured when the boat was hit on the Shatt al–Arab waterway in Basra.
SURGERY
Jack, a former Royton and Crompton School pupil, had emergency surgery in Iraq on Sunday to remove shrapnel from either side of his spine. A piece of shrapnel also hit him in the neck and another went through his face.
He has now been flown to a hospital in Birmingham, where he is expected to undergo further surgery today.
His devastated parents, Clint and Sue, have travelled to the Midlands to be by their son’s bedside.
His grandparents, Brian and Sheila Cooper, are hoping to join them later this week with his sister, 14-year-old Millie.
Jack received a determination award when he passed out into the Marines in June and his grandfather said: “His facial injuries are bad and he can’t speak. He is having another scan this morning and they are hoping to operate on his face today.
“But he is a very, very fit lad. He would think nothing of doing an 11-mile run just to keep fit for the job.
“I think he is going to be devastated about Ben. That will take as much to get over as his injuries.”
His wife described how Jack loved the job he had dreamed about doing since leaving school and added: “It was a living nightmare when he was sent to Iraq, but it was something he wanted to do. You can’t stop them. We are very proud of him.”
Jack joined the Royal Marines in October, 2005, and was posted to Iraq on November 4.
The other soldiers and marines killed in the blast have been named as Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott (34), from Ipswich, Warrant Officer Class 2 Lee Hopkins (35) of the Royal Signals, and and Marine Jason Hylton (33).
Lt Col White said: “539 Assault Squadron, supported by 45 Commando, are providing a boat group to patrol the Shatt al–Arab river.
“On Sunday, elements of the boat group were conducting a routine patrol of the waterway moving from south to north.
“While near a pontoon bridge, one of the boats came under attack from what is termed an improvised explosive device and it was this attack that killed four and seriously injured three service personnel.”
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 16 2006, 01:09 PM
Here is yet another Native American from the Farmington, NM area who was severely injured. His young wife and child will hopefully be able to travel to see him and assist him in his recovery and rehabilitation, which promises to be a long one since he is missing an arm to the elbow and has a severely fractured leg.
QUOTE
Local soldier badly injured in Iraq
By Cory Frolik The Daily Times
Article Launched:11/13/2006 12:00:00 AM MST
FARMINGTON - In the early morning hours of Nov. 9, Army Spc. Alroy Billiman was helping transport goods and supplies from Jordan to Iraq when an explosion ripped through his Humvee.
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and road bombs using propane tanks and garage-door openers are among the most dangerous threats for American patrol units in Iraq, the U.S. Department of Defense reports.
Billiman's brother, Eric Thomas, 32, of Farmington, says soldiers fear roadside bombs the most. Billiman once told Thomas that nothing scared him like the possibility of being hit by such a blast.
Billiman's worst fears about IEDs came true on Thursday morning when one such device detonated beneath his Humvee transport. Details are limited but Billiman, a member of the Army Reserve First Battalion 133 Infantry, was riding in the truck carrying military staff, food and other necessities to other military units at the time of the explosion.
The explosion almost killed 27-year-old Billiman, states a release from the Navajo Nation. His right arm from the elbow down had to be amputated and his right leg was fractured. Shortly thereafter he was taken to a hospital in Germany for treatment.
According to the release, there were four personnel at the front of the armored unit. Only Billiman was seriously injured.
His wife, Katara, 23, of Farmington, was in class at San Juan College when military officials called her to relate the incident. She missed the call but was later told of the news.
It was Eric's wife, Cheryl Thomas, who told the world that Thursday was a sleepless night at their household.
The tension only broke when the family finally learned that Billiman's condition was stable.
What they learned about Billiman's injuries brought equal parts of sadness and relief. Family members were naturally upset about the extent of the young man's injuries but they were enormously relieved to learn that he was alive and expected to recover.
"You want our soldiers to come back the way they left. But it is not always the way (it goes). Thank God; his injuries could have been a lot worse. He could have come back in a coffin. The Lord has been with our family and him," Cheryl said.
As soon as Billiman's family learned of his injuries, they began a prayer chain. His three brothers and three sisters began praying that God would look over him in this, his time of need.
On Friday afternoon, Thomas finally talked to his brother over the phone.
Billiman's voice was weak. He spoke in short sentences. His respirator tube had just been removed and he sounded groggy. But his words were encouraging.
"He wanted me to tell everyone that I'm going to get through this and I'm going to get home,'" Thomas said. "Instead of breaking down and crying, instead of feeling sorry for himself, he said tell everybody I'm strong. Tell everybody I'm going to make it.'"
Cheryl praised Billiman's perseverance.
"He had a positive attitude. He just letting everyone know that he's going to make it through," she said.
However, the comfort that resulted from his brother's words only lasted so long. Family members are eager for Billiman to get home. Thomas said they will not feel relieved until seeing Billiman in the flesh.
At least for now, Billiman is being treated at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near Ramstein, Germay. He is expected to be transferred to a hospital in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
His wife plans see him in either Germany or Washington, but the family is concerned about her suffering financially. She is a student and a new mother who does not have the money to travel all over the country, or world, if it comes to that.
The family started a fund at Wells Fargo bank to help defray the costs to her. Anyone interested in contributing to the fund can visit a Wells Fargo bank in the area and tell the bank cashier they are interested in donating. To donate, a person must only mention Alroy or Katara Billiman's name.
http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_4649056
By Cory Frolik The Daily Times
Article Launched:11/13/2006 12:00:00 AM MST
FARMINGTON - In the early morning hours of Nov. 9, Army Spc. Alroy Billiman was helping transport goods and supplies from Jordan to Iraq when an explosion ripped through his Humvee.
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and road bombs using propane tanks and garage-door openers are among the most dangerous threats for American patrol units in Iraq, the U.S. Department of Defense reports.
Billiman's brother, Eric Thomas, 32, of Farmington, says soldiers fear roadside bombs the most. Billiman once told Thomas that nothing scared him like the possibility of being hit by such a blast.
Billiman's worst fears about IEDs came true on Thursday morning when one such device detonated beneath his Humvee transport. Details are limited but Billiman, a member of the Army Reserve First Battalion 133 Infantry, was riding in the truck carrying military staff, food and other necessities to other military units at the time of the explosion.
The explosion almost killed 27-year-old Billiman, states a release from the Navajo Nation. His right arm from the elbow down had to be amputated and his right leg was fractured. Shortly thereafter he was taken to a hospital in Germany for treatment.
According to the release, there were four personnel at the front of the armored unit. Only Billiman was seriously injured.
His wife, Katara, 23, of Farmington, was in class at San Juan College when military officials called her to relate the incident. She missed the call but was later told of the news.
It was Eric's wife, Cheryl Thomas, who told the world that Thursday was a sleepless night at their household.
The tension only broke when the family finally learned that Billiman's condition was stable.
What they learned about Billiman's injuries brought equal parts of sadness and relief. Family members were naturally upset about the extent of the young man's injuries but they were enormously relieved to learn that he was alive and expected to recover.
"You want our soldiers to come back the way they left. But it is not always the way (it goes). Thank God; his injuries could have been a lot worse. He could have come back in a coffin. The Lord has been with our family and him," Cheryl said.
As soon as Billiman's family learned of his injuries, they began a prayer chain. His three brothers and three sisters began praying that God would look over him in this, his time of need.
On Friday afternoon, Thomas finally talked to his brother over the phone.
Billiman's voice was weak. He spoke in short sentences. His respirator tube had just been removed and he sounded groggy. But his words were encouraging.
"He wanted me to tell everyone that I'm going to get through this and I'm going to get home,'" Thomas said. "Instead of breaking down and crying, instead of feeling sorry for himself, he said tell everybody I'm strong. Tell everybody I'm going to make it.'"
Cheryl praised Billiman's perseverance.
"He had a positive attitude. He just letting everyone know that he's going to make it through," she said.
However, the comfort that resulted from his brother's words only lasted so long. Family members are eager for Billiman to get home. Thomas said they will not feel relieved until seeing Billiman in the flesh.
At least for now, Billiman is being treated at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near Ramstein, Germay. He is expected to be transferred to a hospital in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
His wife plans see him in either Germany or Washington, but the family is concerned about her suffering financially. She is a student and a new mother who does not have the money to travel all over the country, or world, if it comes to that.
The family started a fund at Wells Fargo bank to help defray the costs to her. Anyone interested in contributing to the fund can visit a Wells Fargo bank in the area and tell the bank cashier they are interested in donating. To donate, a person must only mention Alroy or Katara Billiman's name.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 18 2006, 12:51 AM
You learn some interesting things from reading these articles. In one posted a few days ago, I noted that the soldier listed was only the second one from the SanFrancosco area killed in Iraq. This article is about the first one killed from AtlanticCity. You would think that the larger cities would have lost more residents in the war, but I guess many more come from small towns and rural areas than I previously had thought. Go figure.
Anyway, this is a young 21-year-old whose family hadn't told his mother that he had been ordered to Iraq. It must have been doubly tough on her to hear of his death at the same time she learned that he was there. My heart and prayers especially go out to her tonight.
QUOTE
N.J. soldier killed in Iraq
A young Atlantic City man who hoped to make a career out of the Army instead gave his life for it when he was killed in Iraq.
The family of Spc. Eric Rivera, 21, said Army officials informed them of his death Tuesday.
As of Thursday, the Pentagon had not officially confirmed Rivera's death and the circumstances of his death were not immediately known. He had told family members that his platoon was operating in an area west of Ramadi.
Rivera was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany.
As relatives gathered at the Rivera family home Thursday, a letter the soldier wrote to his brother before his death arrived in the mail.
"It's funny to say but it feels like I have no life. I'm so brainwashed by the Army . . . but I love it," Rivera wrote to his 27-year-old brother, Jeff Rivera.
Eric Rivera graduated from Atlantic City High School in 2003 and joined the Army shortly after. He is the first Atlantic City resident to die in the Iraq war.
Jeff Rivera said his brother wanted to spend 20 years in the Army, retire, and then join the Atlantic City Police Department.
He said his brother surprised the family when he went into the Army, and that he re-enlisted in the same manner last June.
"He wasn't afraid," Jeff Rivera said. "When you have to go, you have to go. It's your destiny."
Their mother, Cayetana Palacios, 51, was so worried about her son that no one told her he was in Iraq, according to Jeff Rivera.
Palacios, an immigrant from El Salvador who works as a housekeeper at Caesars Atlantic City, learned her son was at war at the same time she found out the war had killed him.
She had visited her son last June in Germany while he was on leave.
"He call me a queen and I call him my king. And he was so sweet all the time," Palacios said.
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061117/NEWS01/61117005/1004/LIVING
A young Atlantic City man who hoped to make a career out of the Army instead gave his life for it when he was killed in Iraq.
The family of Spc. Eric Rivera, 21, said Army officials informed them of his death Tuesday.
As of Thursday, the Pentagon had not officially confirmed Rivera's death and the circumstances of his death were not immediately known. He had told family members that his platoon was operating in an area west of Ramadi.
Rivera was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany.
As relatives gathered at the Rivera family home Thursday, a letter the soldier wrote to his brother before his death arrived in the mail.
"It's funny to say but it feels like I have no life. I'm so brainwashed by the Army . . . but I love it," Rivera wrote to his 27-year-old brother, Jeff Rivera.
Eric Rivera graduated from Atlantic City High School in 2003 and joined the Army shortly after. He is the first Atlantic City resident to die in the Iraq war.
Jeff Rivera said his brother wanted to spend 20 years in the Army, retire, and then join the Atlantic City Police Department.
He said his brother surprised the family when he went into the Army, and that he re-enlisted in the same manner last June.
"He wasn't afraid," Jeff Rivera said. "When you have to go, you have to go. It's your destiny."
Their mother, Cayetana Palacios, 51, was so worried about her son that no one told her he was in Iraq, according to Jeff Rivera.
Palacios, an immigrant from El Salvador who works as a housekeeper at Caesars Atlantic City, learned her son was at war at the same time she found out the war had killed him.
She had visited her son last June in Germany while he was on leave.
"He call me a queen and I call him my king. And he was so sweet all the time," Palacios said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 18 2006, 01:09 PM
Here is the story of a civilian contractor who is undergoing a long course of reconstruction and rehabilitation from an injury he received. I am sure many of our military personnel have or are undergoing similiar treatment.
QUOTE
St. Louis Doctors Maximize Hand Function Of Contractor Injured In Iraq
created: 11/9/2006 2:33:25 PM
updated: 11/11/2006 1:40:13 AM
By Kay Quinn
Healthbeat Reporter
(KSDK) - A St. Louis man working for a security company in Iraq suffered serious injuries when a roadside bomb detonated under the truck he was driving. Once he was back home, St. Louis doctors devised a creative solution to maximize the function of his hand.
Jacob Beckmann, 25, was working as a triggerman for a private security company in Iraq, carrying a machine gun seven days a week, providing protection for the U.S. military. For security reasons, he can't tell us exactly where he was.
But the day of the attack, he was in an Army Corps of Engineers convoy carrying two truckloads of volatile C-4, or high-quality plastic explosive used to destroy ammunition from Saddam Hussein's regime.
"Just driving down the road in the convoy you can see the trail the diesel oil I left behind," says Beckmann as he looks at photographs of the attack.
He thinks about it every day.
On October 27, 2005, an explosively formed projectile (EFP) hit the heavily armored pick up truck he was driving.
"It was completely buried on shoulder of road," says Beckmann of the roadside bomb, "and they're usually electronically detonated by someone (with a cell phone or garage door opener) as you pass by."
The EFP, a crude ball of molten copper, narrowly missed Beckmann's head and passed through the driver's side window.
"This one in particular was a shaped charge that hit us. They can defeat any armor that's out there.
Two co-workers who were passengers in the seat beside him were killed instantly.
"At the time, I just remember a lot of heat and dust," says Beckmann. "Immediately my vision was obscured.
"I felt a lot of pain in my arms. I figured my hands were gone at the time. It was that bad and I lost control of the vehicle and we ended up turning sideways into a canal about a half-mile down the road."
Others in the convoy rescued him from water up to his neck in the overturned truck.
Beckmann was rushed to a military hospital in the green zone in Baghdad. Burned and missing part of his right hand, he needed 10 units of blood just to survive. Two days later, he was medevaced to Germany. Ten days after that, he was flown by private jet back to St. Louis.
"I lost my thumb on this side and a piece of my bone," says Beckmann as he shows the scars from his injuries.
Safely back home last winter, local surgeons were in a race against time to make the most of what had.
"The most urgent thing is trying to get nerve supply back to the muscles. If the muscles can't get that back within a certain amount of time, it's impossible to get them back working again," says Dr. Thomas Tung, a hand surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
Because of all of the shrapnel in his body, Beckmann couldn't tolerate a nerve transplant. So in ten hour operations over two days, doctors grafted nerves from his left arm and leg to replace damaged nerves on his right side. Surgeons also devised a new thumb out of his index finger.
"We shortened the bone and repositioned his index finger so that it was more in the angle of a thumb to be able to oppose his other digits. Some of the tendons we had to shorten because the biomechanics were different now," says Tung.
Beckmann will always carry the scars and shrapnel from the attack, but thanks to his age and determination, this young man is doing well. After all he's been through, he still talks about going back to Iraq.
"I had fun, actually as messed up as that sounds," says Beckmann. "I liked the job, I liked the people and I don't know, I thought we were doing something good over there."
Tang says Beckmann will always have limited function, but he also says age is on his side. He says young patients often compensate well once they adjust to life with a newly reconstructed limb.
Along with the thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq, there are also 20,000 private security forces.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=107245
created: 11/9/2006 2:33:25 PM
updated: 11/11/2006 1:40:13 AM
By Kay Quinn
Healthbeat Reporter
(KSDK) - A St. Louis man working for a security company in Iraq suffered serious injuries when a roadside bomb detonated under the truck he was driving. Once he was back home, St. Louis doctors devised a creative solution to maximize the function of his hand.
Jacob Beckmann, 25, was working as a triggerman for a private security company in Iraq, carrying a machine gun seven days a week, providing protection for the U.S. military. For security reasons, he can't tell us exactly where he was.
But the day of the attack, he was in an Army Corps of Engineers convoy carrying two truckloads of volatile C-4, or high-quality plastic explosive used to destroy ammunition from Saddam Hussein's regime.
"Just driving down the road in the convoy you can see the trail the diesel oil I left behind," says Beckmann as he looks at photographs of the attack.
He thinks about it every day.
On October 27, 2005, an explosively formed projectile (EFP) hit the heavily armored pick up truck he was driving.
"It was completely buried on shoulder of road," says Beckmann of the roadside bomb, "and they're usually electronically detonated by someone (with a cell phone or garage door opener) as you pass by."
The EFP, a crude ball of molten copper, narrowly missed Beckmann's head and passed through the driver's side window.
"This one in particular was a shaped charge that hit us. They can defeat any armor that's out there.
Two co-workers who were passengers in the seat beside him were killed instantly.
"At the time, I just remember a lot of heat and dust," says Beckmann. "Immediately my vision was obscured.
"I felt a lot of pain in my arms. I figured my hands were gone at the time. It was that bad and I lost control of the vehicle and we ended up turning sideways into a canal about a half-mile down the road."
Others in the convoy rescued him from water up to his neck in the overturned truck.
Beckmann was rushed to a military hospital in the green zone in Baghdad. Burned and missing part of his right hand, he needed 10 units of blood just to survive. Two days later, he was medevaced to Germany. Ten days after that, he was flown by private jet back to St. Louis.
"I lost my thumb on this side and a piece of my bone," says Beckmann as he shows the scars from his injuries.
Safely back home last winter, local surgeons were in a race against time to make the most of what had.
"The most urgent thing is trying to get nerve supply back to the muscles. If the muscles can't get that back within a certain amount of time, it's impossible to get them back working again," says Dr. Thomas Tung, a hand surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
Because of all of the shrapnel in his body, Beckmann couldn't tolerate a nerve transplant. So in ten hour operations over two days, doctors grafted nerves from his left arm and leg to replace damaged nerves on his right side. Surgeons also devised a new thumb out of his index finger.
"We shortened the bone and repositioned his index finger so that it was more in the angle of a thumb to be able to oppose his other digits. Some of the tendons we had to shorten because the biomechanics were different now," says Tung.
Beckmann will always carry the scars and shrapnel from the attack, but thanks to his age and determination, this young man is doing well. After all he's been through, he still talks about going back to Iraq.
"I had fun, actually as messed up as that sounds," says Beckmann. "I liked the job, I liked the people and I don't know, I thought we were doing something good over there."
Tang says Beckmann will always have limited function, but he also says age is on his side. He says young patients often compensate well once they adjust to life with a newly reconstructed limb.
Along with the thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq, there are also 20,000 private security forces.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 19 2006, 08:32 AM
This is an article about a girl who took care of her brothers throughout life and lost them both, one to a sniper in Iraq; the other to his own weapon in Afghanistan. This is a true tragedy for this family and their wives, not to mention the sister.
QUOTE
Devoted sister loses 2 brothers to war By ANGIE WAGNER, AP National Writer
Sat Nov 18, 1:55 PM ET
LUBBOCK, Texas - When she was 7 and her brothers were 5 and 3, their mother pulled up to a convenience store, shooed them out and called their father to come get them.
Clearly, their mother wanted nothing to do with them. And it was just as clear to young Monica Velez that as the older sister, she would take care of her brothers. She would make sure they knew they were loved and wanted.
While their father worked long hours as a police officer, the sister took on the mother's role, always fussing after the boys, dressing them and making sure they were fed.
They spent afternoons playing hide-and-seek and Army in a West Texas cotton field. They were inseparable: Monica, Freddy and Andrew.
Monica, now 27, still remembers the three of them dancing on the bed. She laughs when she recalls the day Freddy flipped a three-wheeler on top of his brother. Before tending to him, he came inside to eat a tortilla.
How was it possible that she could lose them both?
They were her baby brothers, the boys she adored. She devoted so much time to them that she never even wanted children of her own.
The brothers followed each other into the Army. Freddy first, then Andrew.
They came home that way, too. Freddy, then Andrew.
___
Born Jose Alfredo, Freddy was the kind of baby you could put down in one place and he wouldn't move. But sit Andrew down, said their father, Roy Velez, and he'd be crawling all over the place.
Monica always saw them almost as twins. They had their own little laughs and smirks and secrets between them. She called it their "code."
Freddy was more quiet, the thinker, the team player. Andrew, leaner and more athletic, could be cocky and that got him into fights that forced Freddy to stand up for him.
The brothers were devoted to their sister, doing everything she suggested. If Monica said the sky was purple, they believed her.
Things began to change when Roy Velez remarried. His new wife, Carmen Velez, took in the children as if they were her own. It was a tough adjustment, but the boys took to Carmen.
It took Monica longer. She was so used to playing the mother.
When she was 15, she called a meeting with her brothers. She wasn't getting along with their father and stepmother and wanted to move out and live with a friend in town. Freddy agreed with her, but not Andrew.
"I remember when I was walking out the door and he cried and said, 'Please don't leave me.' That was probably the biggest mistake of my life was to walk away," Monica said.
Their father says the boys spent many nights praying and crying for Monica to return.
To make sure her brothers didn't think she had abandoned them, she wrote them letters or cards every day, always giving guidance.
The brothers became closer than ever — though Andrew resented it when Freddy, in his junior year, started dating Nickie Janssen. Freddy and Nickie spent almost every free moment together, and they planned to marry.
At Estacado High School in Lubbock, Freddy was an honor student who wanted to be a paramedic or forensic pathologist. He had been accepted to Texas Tech University, but when a military recruiter came to the high school, he was interested. Always the protector, he saw it as a way to help people, like when he worked as a lifeguard. He thought he could be an Army medic.
Shortly after high school graduation in 2000, Freddy headed off to basic training.
He was a hard act to follow — so personable, likable, a hit with teachers. Andrew worried about measuring up.
"I'm never going to be as good as Fred," Andrew told his sister.
It's not that Andrew wasn't as well-liked or smart. He was just different. He loved to cook and clean house and was crazy for the Denver Broncos. As much as he wanted to be like Freddy, Andrew also wanted to find his own path.
By the time Freddy left, Andrew had fallen in love, too — with his 16-year-old classmate, Veronica Guajardo.
Soon she was pregnant, and with his father's permission, he dropped out of high school, got his GED and married Veronica. Two more children followed.
Freddy and Nickie married in 2002.
Freddy was based at Fort Hood, part of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division, nicknamed Ghost Battalion. His was a tank and a Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicle unit.
Just as she had studied up on wrestling moves and football plays so she would know what her brothers were doing during matches and games, Monica now read all about the 2-7 Cav, visited the base and asked to see a Humvee and a Bradley.
No one ever expected much of the three Velez siblings, she thought, and now Freddy was marching off to war. She was proud when Freddy was deployed to Iraq in March of 2004 — but she was worried, too.
Don't be a hero, warned the devoted sister, who already had another reason to be concerned: Andrew had followed his brother into the Army the year before.
___
By November 2004, 23-year-old Freddy was operating in Fallujah, 43 miles west of Baghdad. It was the beginning of a ferocious battle for the city, and his unit conducted door-to-door searches and bomb sweeps and checked out intelligence reports. Freddy's job was to provide cover fire if the others came under attack.
Freddy was the soldier you wanted to be next to in war — loyal, ready to do anything asked of him, but also goofy, loved for his antics. Once he challenged team leader Akram Abdelwahab, known as Abe, to a race between Abe's car and Freddy's motorcycle, which promptly ran out of gas.
On Nov. 13, Ghost Battalion was checking out a house. Abe, the point man, and another soldier went inside. Then, boom. An ambush in the kitchen. A grenade blast snapped Abe's right leg in two places and ripped four inches of bone from his arm.
Freddy was outside. Crack, crack, crack — a sniper fired from another building.
Bullets tore through Freddy's body.
Somehow, Abe made it outside, and suddenly Freddy was sprawled across his legs.
Even in the fog of war, Abe heard Freddy take six or seven breaths. They were his last.
When the news reached the family, Monica and Nickie were together. Monica was so distraught that the military officers thought she was the wife. Blackness surrounded her and she couldn't breathe. Her mind flashed back to memories of teaching Freddy to brush his teeth and comb his hair, of putting him on the school bus.
Andrew got word of his brother's death while stationed in Kuwait. He picked up a large tool and tore down a shed with it.
Talking to his sister on the phone, he couldn't speak at first, but then he began to scream. He screamed for a long time.
Still, just as Freddy had done so many times for him, Andrew took care of his brother. He escorted him home, talking all the way to Freddy's body, packed in ice.
His sister and father tried to get him to talk about Freddy's death and what he was feeling. But Andrew locked up.
"I knew that there was something so deep inside of him, that he would never open up about," Roy Velez said.
As the sole surviving son in the family, Andrew had the option of not returning to combat. Instead, he told his family he wanted to finish what Freddy started.
But Monica knew he wasn't ready.
He couldn't sleep at night and talked about how Freddy looked before and after the autopsy. Once, he turned up in an alley, disoriented and not making sense.
Just weeks after Freddy's death, on Dec. 6, 2004, Andrew e-mailed his sister: "Keep your head up and keep fighting just like Freddy cause that is what I am going to do until I die just like him 'cause I want to be one day as strong as him just like he wanted to be strong like Daddy."
Two weeks later, he e-mailed Monica from Fort Irwin, Calif., where he was based.
"I still can't believe that he is gone. I have these (expletive) dreams about seeing him in that box. There is a lot of (expletive) I'm trying to sort out. ... He was my hero — I always looked up to that guy. I just don't want him to be gone."
Andrew was dealing with marital trouble, too, Monica said. (Veronica Velez refused to comment for this story.)
He started having flashbacks to the war and hallucinated that Veronica and their three children were soldiers, Monica said.
He called his sister from Fort Irwin and said he visited a chaplain a few times, but it didn't help. And the Army, he said, asked him stupid questions about returning to combat.
"The things that I've done, I'm not the same," he told his sister. "At first, you're scared to do it, to kill somebody and then you just do it. And then you start noticing you enjoy it. And you try to find as many as you can and kill as many as you can. Then you come home and see your kids and you think — how could I do that?"
In February 2006, Andrew was deployed again, this time to Afghanistan. The Army said Andrew was given a mental health assessment and did not indicate he needed any help.
He was part of a unit that maintained tanks, but also did a lot of guard work and was dispatched on missions.
Monica kept up her mothering ways, constantly asking him to check his gear. He promised he would.
"I can never forget how beautiful you are to me and how much you mean to me. You have been the best sister I could have," Andrew wrote her in a Feb. 25 e-mail from Afghanistan. "You have never let me down and always been there for me and Fred. You took care of us and I will never forget how much you sacrificed for us. You are always in my heart and I will always be with you."
A few months passed. Monica, still concerned, proposed arranging for Andrew to be reassigned to Fort Hood. Come home, she said; the two of them could share an apartment while he and Veronica worked on their problems.
Andrew responded that he'd get the paperwork together for a request. Monica started looking for a place.
"You always take care of me," he told his sister. "You always have my back."
But a sister's love was not enough.
On July 25, inside an office building in Sharona, Afghanistan, 22-year-old Andrew slipped the muzzle of a M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon into his mouth. He pulled the trigger.
His death is under investigation.
The brothers were buried at the bottom of a small hill at Resthaven Memorial Park in Lubbock. Freddy's wife gave up her plot so Freddy and Andrew could rest side by side, the way they would have wanted it — together, just as in life.
Sometimes Monica lies down between her brothers and waits for that feeling to come, when she knows they are with her. For so many years she had guided them, helped and comforted them, made sure they never felt abandoned.
And now she's the one who's left behind.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061118/ap_on_re_us/a_sister_s_griefSat Nov 18, 1:55 PM ET
LUBBOCK, Texas - When she was 7 and her brothers were 5 and 3, their mother pulled up to a convenience store, shooed them out and called their father to come get them.
Clearly, their mother wanted nothing to do with them. And it was just as clear to young Monica Velez that as the older sister, she would take care of her brothers. She would make sure they knew they were loved and wanted.
While their father worked long hours as a police officer, the sister took on the mother's role, always fussing after the boys, dressing them and making sure they were fed.
They spent afternoons playing hide-and-seek and Army in a West Texas cotton field. They were inseparable: Monica, Freddy and Andrew.
Monica, now 27, still remembers the three of them dancing on the bed. She laughs when she recalls the day Freddy flipped a three-wheeler on top of his brother. Before tending to him, he came inside to eat a tortilla.
How was it possible that she could lose them both?
They were her baby brothers, the boys she adored. She devoted so much time to them that she never even wanted children of her own.
The brothers followed each other into the Army. Freddy first, then Andrew.
They came home that way, too. Freddy, then Andrew.
___
Born Jose Alfredo, Freddy was the kind of baby you could put down in one place and he wouldn't move. But sit Andrew down, said their father, Roy Velez, and he'd be crawling all over the place.
Monica always saw them almost as twins. They had their own little laughs and smirks and secrets between them. She called it their "code."
Freddy was more quiet, the thinker, the team player. Andrew, leaner and more athletic, could be cocky and that got him into fights that forced Freddy to stand up for him.
The brothers were devoted to their sister, doing everything she suggested. If Monica said the sky was purple, they believed her.
Things began to change when Roy Velez remarried. His new wife, Carmen Velez, took in the children as if they were her own. It was a tough adjustment, but the boys took to Carmen.
It took Monica longer. She was so used to playing the mother.
When she was 15, she called a meeting with her brothers. She wasn't getting along with their father and stepmother and wanted to move out and live with a friend in town. Freddy agreed with her, but not Andrew.
"I remember when I was walking out the door and he cried and said, 'Please don't leave me.' That was probably the biggest mistake of my life was to walk away," Monica said.
Their father says the boys spent many nights praying and crying for Monica to return.
To make sure her brothers didn't think she had abandoned them, she wrote them letters or cards every day, always giving guidance.
The brothers became closer than ever — though Andrew resented it when Freddy, in his junior year, started dating Nickie Janssen. Freddy and Nickie spent almost every free moment together, and they planned to marry.
At Estacado High School in Lubbock, Freddy was an honor student who wanted to be a paramedic or forensic pathologist. He had been accepted to Texas Tech University, but when a military recruiter came to the high school, he was interested. Always the protector, he saw it as a way to help people, like when he worked as a lifeguard. He thought he could be an Army medic.
Shortly after high school graduation in 2000, Freddy headed off to basic training.
He was a hard act to follow — so personable, likable, a hit with teachers. Andrew worried about measuring up.
"I'm never going to be as good as Fred," Andrew told his sister.
It's not that Andrew wasn't as well-liked or smart. He was just different. He loved to cook and clean house and was crazy for the Denver Broncos. As much as he wanted to be like Freddy, Andrew also wanted to find his own path.
By the time Freddy left, Andrew had fallen in love, too — with his 16-year-old classmate, Veronica Guajardo.
Soon she was pregnant, and with his father's permission, he dropped out of high school, got his GED and married Veronica. Two more children followed.
Freddy and Nickie married in 2002.
Freddy was based at Fort Hood, part of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division, nicknamed Ghost Battalion. His was a tank and a Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicle unit.
Just as she had studied up on wrestling moves and football plays so she would know what her brothers were doing during matches and games, Monica now read all about the 2-7 Cav, visited the base and asked to see a Humvee and a Bradley.
No one ever expected much of the three Velez siblings, she thought, and now Freddy was marching off to war. She was proud when Freddy was deployed to Iraq in March of 2004 — but she was worried, too.
Don't be a hero, warned the devoted sister, who already had another reason to be concerned: Andrew had followed his brother into the Army the year before.
___
By November 2004, 23-year-old Freddy was operating in Fallujah, 43 miles west of Baghdad. It was the beginning of a ferocious battle for the city, and his unit conducted door-to-door searches and bomb sweeps and checked out intelligence reports. Freddy's job was to provide cover fire if the others came under attack.
Freddy was the soldier you wanted to be next to in war — loyal, ready to do anything asked of him, but also goofy, loved for his antics. Once he challenged team leader Akram Abdelwahab, known as Abe, to a race between Abe's car and Freddy's motorcycle, which promptly ran out of gas.
On Nov. 13, Ghost Battalion was checking out a house. Abe, the point man, and another soldier went inside. Then, boom. An ambush in the kitchen. A grenade blast snapped Abe's right leg in two places and ripped four inches of bone from his arm.
Freddy was outside. Crack, crack, crack — a sniper fired from another building.
Bullets tore through Freddy's body.
Somehow, Abe made it outside, and suddenly Freddy was sprawled across his legs.
Even in the fog of war, Abe heard Freddy take six or seven breaths. They were his last.
When the news reached the family, Monica and Nickie were together. Monica was so distraught that the military officers thought she was the wife. Blackness surrounded her and she couldn't breathe. Her mind flashed back to memories of teaching Freddy to brush his teeth and comb his hair, of putting him on the school bus.
Andrew got word of his brother's death while stationed in Kuwait. He picked up a large tool and tore down a shed with it.
Talking to his sister on the phone, he couldn't speak at first, but then he began to scream. He screamed for a long time.
Still, just as Freddy had done so many times for him, Andrew took care of his brother. He escorted him home, talking all the way to Freddy's body, packed in ice.
His sister and father tried to get him to talk about Freddy's death and what he was feeling. But Andrew locked up.
"I knew that there was something so deep inside of him, that he would never open up about," Roy Velez said.
As the sole surviving son in the family, Andrew had the option of not returning to combat. Instead, he told his family he wanted to finish what Freddy started.
But Monica knew he wasn't ready.
He couldn't sleep at night and talked about how Freddy looked before and after the autopsy. Once, he turned up in an alley, disoriented and not making sense.
Just weeks after Freddy's death, on Dec. 6, 2004, Andrew e-mailed his sister: "Keep your head up and keep fighting just like Freddy cause that is what I am going to do until I die just like him 'cause I want to be one day as strong as him just like he wanted to be strong like Daddy."
Two weeks later, he e-mailed Monica from Fort Irwin, Calif., where he was based.
"I still can't believe that he is gone. I have these (expletive) dreams about seeing him in that box. There is a lot of (expletive) I'm trying to sort out. ... He was my hero — I always looked up to that guy. I just don't want him to be gone."
Andrew was dealing with marital trouble, too, Monica said. (Veronica Velez refused to comment for this story.)
He started having flashbacks to the war and hallucinated that Veronica and their three children were soldiers, Monica said.
He called his sister from Fort Irwin and said he visited a chaplain a few times, but it didn't help. And the Army, he said, asked him stupid questions about returning to combat.
"The things that I've done, I'm not the same," he told his sister. "At first, you're scared to do it, to kill somebody and then you just do it. And then you start noticing you enjoy it. And you try to find as many as you can and kill as many as you can. Then you come home and see your kids and you think — how could I do that?"
In February 2006, Andrew was deployed again, this time to Afghanistan. The Army said Andrew was given a mental health assessment and did not indicate he needed any help.
He was part of a unit that maintained tanks, but also did a lot of guard work and was dispatched on missions.
Monica kept up her mothering ways, constantly asking him to check his gear. He promised he would.
"I can never forget how beautiful you are to me and how much you mean to me. You have been the best sister I could have," Andrew wrote her in a Feb. 25 e-mail from Afghanistan. "You have never let me down and always been there for me and Fred. You took care of us and I will never forget how much you sacrificed for us. You are always in my heart and I will always be with you."
A few months passed. Monica, still concerned, proposed arranging for Andrew to be reassigned to Fort Hood. Come home, she said; the two of them could share an apartment while he and Veronica worked on their problems.
Andrew responded that he'd get the paperwork together for a request. Monica started looking for a place.
"You always take care of me," he told his sister. "You always have my back."
But a sister's love was not enough.
On July 25, inside an office building in Sharona, Afghanistan, 22-year-old Andrew slipped the muzzle of a M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon into his mouth. He pulled the trigger.
His death is under investigation.
The brothers were buried at the bottom of a small hill at Resthaven Memorial Park in Lubbock. Freddy's wife gave up her plot so Freddy and Andrew could rest side by side, the way they would have wanted it — together, just as in life.
Sometimes Monica lies down between her brothers and waits for that feeling to come, when she knows they are with her. For so many years she had guided them, helped and comforted them, made sure they never felt abandoned.
And now she's the one who's left behind.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 20 2006, 08:15 PM
Here is a young marine who was killed recently who had been anticipating his wedding upon his return. My heart goes out to his fiance and family.
QUOTE
illed In Iraq
Marine Had Only Been In Iraq For Two Months
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A Sacramento Marine was killed Tuesday while serving in Iraq.
Lance Corporal Timothy Brown, 21, died after his humvee was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq’s Al Anbar province.
Brown had only been in Iraq for two months when he was killed.
Speaking to KCRA 3's Edie Lambert Wednesday night, Brown’s family described him as a prankster and an athlete. Brown was a wrestler at Sacramento's Foothill High School.
The family was planning Brown's wedding. He and his fiancee met when they were 15 years old.
"He would always tell me I was his soul mate and the love of his life and I felt the same way. I’m just going to miss his personality and his smile," said Brown's Fiancee, Ashley Milami.
While Brown's mother is mourning the death of her son, she's also battling cancer.
"They told me it was terminal cancer but he gave me all the hope because that's what I was living for, to dance at his wedding," said Susan Brown.
"Joining the Marines, he was proud. When he came home I saw a man, not a little boy that had left, but they made him into a man, a man that I really respected. And I felt that he wanted to be there to honor his country and he said no matter what, Mom, I'm there for our freedom," Brown said.
Timothy Brown will be buried next week at Mount Vernon Memorial Park in Fair Oaks, and he has now been awarded the Purple Heart.
http://www.kcra.com/news/10331931/detail.html#
Marine Had Only Been In Iraq For Two Months
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A Sacramento Marine was killed Tuesday while serving in Iraq.
Lance Corporal Timothy Brown, 21, died after his humvee was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq’s Al Anbar province.
Brown had only been in Iraq for two months when he was killed.
Speaking to KCRA 3's Edie Lambert Wednesday night, Brown’s family described him as a prankster and an athlete. Brown was a wrestler at Sacramento's Foothill High School.
The family was planning Brown's wedding. He and his fiancee met when they were 15 years old.
"He would always tell me I was his soul mate and the love of his life and I felt the same way. I’m just going to miss his personality and his smile," said Brown's Fiancee, Ashley Milami.
While Brown's mother is mourning the death of her son, she's also battling cancer.
"They told me it was terminal cancer but he gave me all the hope because that's what I was living for, to dance at his wedding," said Susan Brown.
"Joining the Marines, he was proud. When he came home I saw a man, not a little boy that had left, but they made him into a man, a man that I really respected. And I felt that he wanted to be there to honor his country and he said no matter what, Mom, I'm there for our freedom," Brown said.
Timothy Brown will be buried next week at Mount Vernon Memorial Park in Fair Oaks, and he has now been awarded the Purple Heart.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 21 2006, 06:52 PM
This soldier is lucky indeed, as are the other members of his unit. He only suffered a conucssion and ruptured eardrum when an IED went off. No other members of his unit were killed or seriously wounded either. Hopefully he will remain safe as he still has over half a year to go in Iraq.
CODE
Harrisonburg Soldier Recovering In Iraq; Roadside Bomb Injures Unit In Baghdad Posted 2006-11-20
By Kelly Jasper
Mike And Alice Minnis of Harrisonburg have a son serving in Iraq. Cpl. Michael Minnis was recently injured.
Photo by Pete Marovich
HARRISONBURG — A Harrisonburg solider is recovering in Baghdad this week from injuries sustained in a roadside bomb attack.
Alice and Mike Minnis of Nelson Drive got the news last week in a call from an Army official in Alexandria. The official told the family that their son, Cpl. Michael Minnis, had been injured in combat.
Minnis, 22, is a fire-support specialist with Company A, 23rd Infantry Division, 1st Battalion. He was deployed to Iraq in June.
Thankfully, Alice said, her son only suffered a concussion and busted eardrum in the incident.
Details were sparse at first, but now, a week after the improvised explosive device blew up near Minnis’ platoon near Baghdad, she knows he’s doing OK. It’s not clear where exactly Minnis and his unit were at the time of the explosion or what type of vehicle they were traveling in.
"We just know he was in Baghdad," Alice said. "We weren’t told much else."
While others from his unit were injured, no one was killed in the attack, Alice said.
"They were very lucky," she said from her home on Sunday.
Alice said she doesn’t know the extent of the other soldiers’ injuries but that Michael was traveling with a 12-person striker unit.
The IED that exploded near the unit is a common roadside bomb responsible for more than half of all American fatalities in Iraq, according to Icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks U.S. military casualties.
The Harrisonburg family said they talked to Michael online last week.
He told them he was hospitalized for a day and a half at the base hospital in Baghdad.
"He said, "Everybody’s doing just fine," Alice said.
As of Sunday, her son wasn’t back to full duty just yet, she said.
"It could be within the next couple of days," she said. He’s still on medication to help with the concussion, she said.
Minnis is scheduled to return home next summer.
Throughout her son’s deployment, Alice says the community has been supportive.
In September, her neighbors tied dozens of yellow ribbons and bows around trees and mailboxes on Nelson Drive.
"We appreciate all the community support and prayer," she said.
http://www.rocktownweekly.com/news_details.php?AID=7390&CHID=1
By Kelly Jasper
Mike And Alice Minnis of Harrisonburg have a son serving in Iraq. Cpl. Michael Minnis was recently injured.
Photo by Pete Marovich
HARRISONBURG — A Harrisonburg solider is recovering in Baghdad this week from injuries sustained in a roadside bomb attack.
Alice and Mike Minnis of Nelson Drive got the news last week in a call from an Army official in Alexandria. The official told the family that their son, Cpl. Michael Minnis, had been injured in combat.
Minnis, 22, is a fire-support specialist with Company A, 23rd Infantry Division, 1st Battalion. He was deployed to Iraq in June.
Thankfully, Alice said, her son only suffered a concussion and busted eardrum in the incident.
Details were sparse at first, but now, a week after the improvised explosive device blew up near Minnis’ platoon near Baghdad, she knows he’s doing OK. It’s not clear where exactly Minnis and his unit were at the time of the explosion or what type of vehicle they were traveling in.
"We just know he was in Baghdad," Alice said. "We weren’t told much else."
While others from his unit were injured, no one was killed in the attack, Alice said.
"They were very lucky," she said from her home on Sunday.
Alice said she doesn’t know the extent of the other soldiers’ injuries but that Michael was traveling with a 12-person striker unit.
The IED that exploded near the unit is a common roadside bomb responsible for more than half of all American fatalities in Iraq, according to Icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks U.S. military casualties.
The Harrisonburg family said they talked to Michael online last week.
He told them he was hospitalized for a day and a half at the base hospital in Baghdad.
"He said, "Everybody’s doing just fine," Alice said.
As of Sunday, her son wasn’t back to full duty just yet, she said.
"It could be within the next couple of days," she said. He’s still on medication to help with the concussion, she said.
Minnis is scheduled to return home next summer.
Throughout her son’s deployment, Alice says the community has been supportive.
In September, her neighbors tied dozens of yellow ribbons and bows around trees and mailboxes on Nelson Drive.
"We appreciate all the community support and prayer," she said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 22 2006, 09:21 AM
This is a tragic story of a soldier who was schedulced to be home for Thanksgiving but was killed before that happy occasion arrived. I especially pray that his family is blessed wit warm memories of him and that they are wrapped in the love of our Lord.
QUOTE
Franklin Co. Soldier Dies in Iraq
Amelia Hines
WNEG NewsCHANNEL 32
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Private First Class Daniel Joseph Allman, II was due to come home for Thanksgiving. But only a week before his trip, his hummer ran over a roadside bomb in Iraq.
“They were in my yard and I asked how bad he was hurt, cause they didn't have on white gloves like my son told me; if he got killed they would have on white gloves. And they told me then that he had been killed,” Allman’s mother tells NewsChannel 32.
Only 20 years old, Daniel leaves behind his 2 year old daughter Haleigh.
“Now she's got to grow up without her daddy.”
He also leaves behind his younger brother, Michael, and his step dad and his mom...who says she remembers when he first told her in April he was leaving Germany to go to Iraq.
“When he called and told me that he was being sent to Iraq, I was scared and he was scared too,” Amanda remembers.
But he told her if anything happened he would go down fighting.
“There was one thing Danny taught me...you'll never get no where in your life running scared,” his younger brother, Michael says.
Daniel's mom says that he didn't need to put on this uniform to become a man. She says that from a very young age, he took care of responsibilities and gave his little brother advice.
“He kept telling Michael, you've got responsibilities and you've got to take care of them.
Just like he did for his daughter and his country.
“Just pray for us and be proud of our troops for what they're doing because my son scarified his life not only for us but for everybody,” Amanda wanted to add.
And until his body arrives, she will hang on to anything that shows her Daniel is near.
Daniel's mom found a yellow balloon in a field today.
She says it's a sign that's he's with her. She was told her son's body has to go to Dover, Delaware before it can come home to her.
The earliest his body would be back in Franklin County would be next Wednesday.
His burial has not yet been scheduled.
http://www.wneg32.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WNEG/MGArticle/NEG_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149191729802&path=
Amelia Hines
WNEG NewsCHANNEL 32
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Private First Class Daniel Joseph Allman, II was due to come home for Thanksgiving. But only a week before his trip, his hummer ran over a roadside bomb in Iraq.
“They were in my yard and I asked how bad he was hurt, cause they didn't have on white gloves like my son told me; if he got killed they would have on white gloves. And they told me then that he had been killed,” Allman’s mother tells NewsChannel 32.
Only 20 years old, Daniel leaves behind his 2 year old daughter Haleigh.
“Now she's got to grow up without her daddy.”
He also leaves behind his younger brother, Michael, and his step dad and his mom...who says she remembers when he first told her in April he was leaving Germany to go to Iraq.
“When he called and told me that he was being sent to Iraq, I was scared and he was scared too,” Amanda remembers.
But he told her if anything happened he would go down fighting.
“There was one thing Danny taught me...you'll never get no where in your life running scared,” his younger brother, Michael says.
Daniel's mom says that he didn't need to put on this uniform to become a man. She says that from a very young age, he took care of responsibilities and gave his little brother advice.
“He kept telling Michael, you've got responsibilities and you've got to take care of them.
Just like he did for his daughter and his country.
“Just pray for us and be proud of our troops for what they're doing because my son scarified his life not only for us but for everybody,” Amanda wanted to add.
And until his body arrives, she will hang on to anything that shows her Daniel is near.
Daniel's mom found a yellow balloon in a field today.
She says it's a sign that's he's with her. She was told her son's body has to go to Dover, Delaware before it can come home to her.
The earliest his body would be back in Franklin County would be next Wednesday.
His burial has not yet been scheduled.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 25 2006, 06:23 PM
Here is a colonol who wanted combat experience so that he could teach and be assured that he knew what he was talking about. He got what he wanted, and more.
QUOTE
To Teach, Col. Asked to Be Put in War Zone. To make matters worse, he was scheduled to visit home for Thanksigiving. Oh, the ironies of war!
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 18, 2006; Page A16
Army Col. Thomas H. Felts Sr. believed he'd be instructing other officers someday, so he wanted to experience life in a war zone. He volunteered for Iraq duty to prepare himself to become a military teacher.
Felts, 45, a father of four from Sandston, Va., was killed Tuesday in Baghdad when an explosive device detonated near his vehicle, according to the Defense Department. He had been scheduled to visit his family for Thanksgiving.
Army Col. Thomas H. Felts Sr. of Virginia, killed in a Baghdad blast, was to be home for Thanksgiving. (AP)
Felts, a University of Richmond graduate, led a team that was helping train the Iraqi army. His tour interrupted his studies at the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., home to his wife, Kim, and three daughters and son.
Peter Schifferle, an instructor at the school, said his friend could have chosen to remain in school but instead made the difficult decision to leave for Iraq. Schifferle said Felts thought the tour would help prepare him to teach others.
"Tom volunteered for that job even though he didn't have to," Schifferle said. "Although he was a colonel, he had never personally been in combat. He volunteered to leave his wife and children."
Yesterday at Fort Leavenworth, Felts's family and friends gathered for a memorial service.
Felts sang in his church choir and played the guitar, said his brother-in-law, John Waldrop. He talked to his family from Iraq nearly every day via webcam.
"He was the kind of person you wanted to be around and wanted to be like," Waldrop said.
Felts had been in the Army for 23 years and had served at bases across the country, including in Colorado and Texas, according to officials at Fort Leavenworth. He started his military career as a cavalry trooper with the Virginia Army National Guard and was in the Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Richmond.
University of Richmond biology professor W. John Hayden recalled Felts as an inquisitive student who worked in his laboratory and helped him research the spotted-spurge plant. Hayden and Felts, who had a double major in biology and chemistry, would chat about science.
"He had a positive, can-do type of attitude," Hayden said. "It was, 'If that's what has to be done, we'll roll up our sleeves and do it.' "
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/17/AR2006111701677.html
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 18, 2006; Page A16
Army Col. Thomas H. Felts Sr. believed he'd be instructing other officers someday, so he wanted to experience life in a war zone. He volunteered for Iraq duty to prepare himself to become a military teacher.
Felts, 45, a father of four from Sandston, Va., was killed Tuesday in Baghdad when an explosive device detonated near his vehicle, according to the Defense Department. He had been scheduled to visit his family for Thanksgiving.
Army Col. Thomas H. Felts Sr. of Virginia, killed in a Baghdad blast, was to be home for Thanksgiving. (AP)
Felts, a University of Richmond graduate, led a team that was helping train the Iraqi army. His tour interrupted his studies at the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., home to his wife, Kim, and three daughters and son.
Peter Schifferle, an instructor at the school, said his friend could have chosen to remain in school but instead made the difficult decision to leave for Iraq. Schifferle said Felts thought the tour would help prepare him to teach others.
"Tom volunteered for that job even though he didn't have to," Schifferle said. "Although he was a colonel, he had never personally been in combat. He volunteered to leave his wife and children."
Yesterday at Fort Leavenworth, Felts's family and friends gathered for a memorial service.
Felts sang in his church choir and played the guitar, said his brother-in-law, John Waldrop. He talked to his family from Iraq nearly every day via webcam.
"He was the kind of person you wanted to be around and wanted to be like," Waldrop said.
Felts had been in the Army for 23 years and had served at bases across the country, including in Colorado and Texas, according to officials at Fort Leavenworth. He started his military career as a cavalry trooper with the Virginia Army National Guard and was in the Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Richmond.
University of Richmond biology professor W. John Hayden recalled Felts as an inquisitive student who worked in his laboratory and helped him research the spotted-spurge plant. Hayden and Felts, who had a double major in biology and chemistry, would chat about science.
"He had a positive, can-do type of attitude," Hayden said. "It was, 'If that's what has to be done, we'll roll up our sleeves and do it.' "
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 26 2006, 10:26 AM
This is an article about another young Marine who recently was married after having graduating from college with a degree in criminal justice. There are way too many of these stories about young Americans leaving behind young wives and families. My heart goes out to this family and those left behind as they grieve his loss.
QUOTE
Marine from local unit is killed in Iraq
Tiffin U., Clyde High grad hit by roadside bomb.
By JENNIFER FEEHAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Lance Cpl. Jeremy Shock, 22, a native of Green Springs, Ohio, was killed Sunday when the Humvee he was traveling in was struck by a roadside bomb in Fallujah, Iraq.
The 2002 Clyde High School graduate, became the second member of the Perrysburg Township-based Weapons Company, 1st Batallion, 24th Marines to be killed in action in Iraq in less than two weeks.
Memorial services were held Saturday for Sgt. Bryan Burgess, 35, of Westland, Mich., who was killed in combat Nov. 9.
Another member of the company, Cpl. John Lockwood, of Washtenaw, Mich., was seriously injured in Sunday's fatal explosion. Lt. Col. Joe Reimer said the extent of Corporal Lockwood's injuries was unknown, although he was expected to recover.
Friends and family members of Corporal Shock were devastated by the news of his death.
Lacy Cherry remembers the first time she met him a few days after moving in at Tiffin University.
The 6-foot, 2-inch, 200-pound football player "was just going around to the dorms introducing himself to everybody," Ms. Cherry recalled. "Ever since then we have been really, really close."
A family member, who did not want to be identified, said Corporal Shock's parents, Duane and Sherry Shock of Green Springs, did not want to speak to the media.
"There's a huge void," he said. "His parents are very, we're all very proud of who he was and who he is to us. He was an exceptional young man."
A spring 2006 graduate of Tiffin University, Corporal Shock earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, said Lisa Williams, executive director of media relations for the university. He had enlisted in the Marine fin University, Corporal Shock earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, said Lisa Williams, executive director of media relations for the university. He had enlisted in the Marine Corps reserves just prior to his senior year, and in April, married his college sweetheart, Clara Ramirez.
"When he received word he was going to Iraq - I remember it was him pushing this [marriage] issue ... ," said Bonnie Tiell, former assistant athletic director and tennis coach at Tiffin University. "He was just caring and just loved her completely."
Ms. Cherry said the couple were married at the courthouse in Tiffin and had a small reception afterward at a local restaurant. They were planning a larger wedding with Mrs. Shock's family in her native Ecuador next summer, she said.
Corporal Shock's former roommates Seth Mahon and Jake Tidaback remembered a good friend who was smart, worked hard, and made them laugh. "Jeremy was the greatest guy I ever met, and I'm not just saying that because he's gone now," Mr. Mahon said.
"You always hear people say this but he was that guy who if he only had five dollars and you needed it, he was going to give it to you. He never asked for help. If you needed something, he was always there for you," Mr. Mahon said.
Mr. Tidaback called Corporal Shock "the typical best friend, the kid that would be there whenever you needed him. He was always happy. If you were having a bad day, he would make it a good day."
He said Corporal Shock wanted to go into the Marines.
"I couldn't think of a better person to serve our country," Mr. Tidaback said. "That's how I'm getting by right now. I'm reminding myself that's what he wanted to do."
Both Mr. Tidaback and Mr. Mahon had kept in touch with Corporal Shock by e-mail since late September when he arrived in Iraq. "When he got there he basically just told us it had its ups and downs, but it didn't seem too bad," Mr. Mahon said. "Jeremy wasn't a very negative person. Even if it would've been the most horrible thing, he wouldn't have said that."
Still, they said, he sounded eager to get home to his new wife and his old friends.
"He will definitely be missed," Mr. Mahon said. "He's taking a lot of hearts with him."
The flag was lowered to half-staff yesterday at Clyde High School, where Corporal Shock's brother, Zac, is a sophomore and his sister, Sara, is a freshman.
Clyde High School Principal Joe Webb said he coached the soldier when he was a lineman on the school's football team. "Jeremy was just one of those young men who was kind and caring, very outgoing," he recalled. "He was just a great kid to coach. Whatever you asked him to do, you knew he would give his maximum effort and get it done."
Clyde-Green Springs Superintendent Todd Helms, who was the principal when Corporal Shock was in high school, said he "put a lot of effort into everything he attempted to do and obviously was doing the same for the military.
"We were proud to have him as part of our district, and I'm sure the military was proud to have him as well."
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/NEWS17/611210379
Tiffin U., Clyde High grad hit by roadside bomb.
By JENNIFER FEEHAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Lance Cpl. Jeremy Shock, 22, a native of Green Springs, Ohio, was killed Sunday when the Humvee he was traveling in was struck by a roadside bomb in Fallujah, Iraq.
The 2002 Clyde High School graduate, became the second member of the Perrysburg Township-based Weapons Company, 1st Batallion, 24th Marines to be killed in action in Iraq in less than two weeks.
Memorial services were held Saturday for Sgt. Bryan Burgess, 35, of Westland, Mich., who was killed in combat Nov. 9.
Another member of the company, Cpl. John Lockwood, of Washtenaw, Mich., was seriously injured in Sunday's fatal explosion. Lt. Col. Joe Reimer said the extent of Corporal Lockwood's injuries was unknown, although he was expected to recover.
Friends and family members of Corporal Shock were devastated by the news of his death.
Lacy Cherry remembers the first time she met him a few days after moving in at Tiffin University.
The 6-foot, 2-inch, 200-pound football player "was just going around to the dorms introducing himself to everybody," Ms. Cherry recalled. "Ever since then we have been really, really close."
A family member, who did not want to be identified, said Corporal Shock's parents, Duane and Sherry Shock of Green Springs, did not want to speak to the media.
"There's a huge void," he said. "His parents are very, we're all very proud of who he was and who he is to us. He was an exceptional young man."
A spring 2006 graduate of Tiffin University, Corporal Shock earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, said Lisa Williams, executive director of media relations for the university. He had enlisted in the Marine fin University, Corporal Shock earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, said Lisa Williams, executive director of media relations for the university. He had enlisted in the Marine Corps reserves just prior to his senior year, and in April, married his college sweetheart, Clara Ramirez.
"When he received word he was going to Iraq - I remember it was him pushing this [marriage] issue ... ," said Bonnie Tiell, former assistant athletic director and tennis coach at Tiffin University. "He was just caring and just loved her completely."
Ms. Cherry said the couple were married at the courthouse in Tiffin and had a small reception afterward at a local restaurant. They were planning a larger wedding with Mrs. Shock's family in her native Ecuador next summer, she said.
Corporal Shock's former roommates Seth Mahon and Jake Tidaback remembered a good friend who was smart, worked hard, and made them laugh. "Jeremy was the greatest guy I ever met, and I'm not just saying that because he's gone now," Mr. Mahon said.
"You always hear people say this but he was that guy who if he only had five dollars and you needed it, he was going to give it to you. He never asked for help. If you needed something, he was always there for you," Mr. Mahon said.
Mr. Tidaback called Corporal Shock "the typical best friend, the kid that would be there whenever you needed him. He was always happy. If you were having a bad day, he would make it a good day."
He said Corporal Shock wanted to go into the Marines.
"I couldn't think of a better person to serve our country," Mr. Tidaback said. "That's how I'm getting by right now. I'm reminding myself that's what he wanted to do."
Both Mr. Tidaback and Mr. Mahon had kept in touch with Corporal Shock by e-mail since late September when he arrived in Iraq. "When he got there he basically just told us it had its ups and downs, but it didn't seem too bad," Mr. Mahon said. "Jeremy wasn't a very negative person. Even if it would've been the most horrible thing, he wouldn't have said that."
Still, they said, he sounded eager to get home to his new wife and his old friends.
"He will definitely be missed," Mr. Mahon said. "He's taking a lot of hearts with him."
The flag was lowered to half-staff yesterday at Clyde High School, where Corporal Shock's brother, Zac, is a sophomore and his sister, Sara, is a freshman.
Clyde High School Principal Joe Webb said he coached the soldier when he was a lineman on the school's football team. "Jeremy was just one of those young men who was kind and caring, very outgoing," he recalled. "He was just a great kid to coach. Whatever you asked him to do, you knew he would give his maximum effort and get it done."
Clyde-Green Springs Superintendent Todd Helms, who was the principal when Corporal Shock was in high school, said he "put a lot of effort into everything he attempted to do and obviously was doing the same for the military.
"We were proud to have him as part of our district, and I'm sure the military was proud to have him as well."
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 26 2006, 10:37 PM
Every family with one member deployed in Iraq dreads that knock on the door or that call in the middle of the night. It is the anxiety that follows the call for those with a relative who is wounded and no further details are given. There can be no way to know just what goes through their minds as they await further information or, hopefully, contact with their injured loved one.
QUOTE
Wounded soldier's Portage family gives thanks
Thursday, November 23, 2006
By Sarita Chourey
schourey@kalamazoogazette.com 388-8575
The call came at 5 a.m.
Ken Schuring picked up the phone, barely awake. It was Lynn, his daughter-in-law. She said his son K.C., a Marine in Iraq, had been shot three times -- twice in the leg and once in the head.
``So many things go through your head,'' Schuring said from his Portage office at John Schuring Jr. Insurance Agency.
``Is he all right? Will he survive? I don't wish this on anyone.''
For 12 hours last week he knew nothing, except that his 37-year-old son was on his way to Germany for medical attention.
Today, as families across the country give thanks for prosperity and well-being, the Schurings will be giving thanks for K.C.'s survival.
For the last five years, Ken Schuring has spent Thanksgiving in Farmington Hills with K.C., Lynn, and their two children, Carolynn, 7, and Christian, 11. This year he'll spend it with one of his other two sons, Chad, who works in the insurance office with him, or Ben, while K.C. is recuperating at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
When Schuring received word from Lynn that K.C. was going to be all right, he said, ``It took a giant weight right off me. I hollered out to the front office, `Chad! He's OK!'''
The next day, Schuring was able to reach his son by telephone.
``I said, `K.C., what happened?' He said, `I don't want to leave. I haven't completed my mission.'''
During that mission one morning last week, Maj. K.C. Schuring was shot by snipers. American and Iraqi troops were searching for arms and explosives in a city in northern Iraq when a bullet spun K.C.'s helmet and grazed his head, his father said. He was knocked unconscious just before a second bullet severed his femur and a third lodged in his calf. Two fellow American soldiers dragged him off the road and into a courtyard. He told his father he never felt the bullets enter his body.
Schuring said K.C., who had been in Iraq for two months, said he was sure he had killed one of the men who had shot him before he went down. What happened to the other shooter, he doesn't know.
A graduate of Portage Central High School and Hope College, where he was an art major, K.C. was working in quality control for a company in the Farmington Hills area that makes parts for General Electric before shipping out to Iraq.
Earlier this week, K.C. arrived at Bethesda to receive treatment for an infection in his leg and to have metal pieces inserted to reconnect his femur.
Ken Schuring said Thanksgiving has never been so meaningful. ``I'll never forget this. We're all very, very thankful he's back in the U.S. again and is going to get excellent care here,'' he said.
``Hopefully he'll be home for Christmas.''
http://www.mlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-20/1164299175140720.xml&coll=7
Thursday, November 23, 2006
By Sarita Chourey
schourey@kalamazoogazette.com 388-8575
The call came at 5 a.m.
Ken Schuring picked up the phone, barely awake. It was Lynn, his daughter-in-law. She said his son K.C., a Marine in Iraq, had been shot three times -- twice in the leg and once in the head.
``So many things go through your head,'' Schuring said from his Portage office at John Schuring Jr. Insurance Agency.
``Is he all right? Will he survive? I don't wish this on anyone.''
For 12 hours last week he knew nothing, except that his 37-year-old son was on his way to Germany for medical attention.
Today, as families across the country give thanks for prosperity and well-being, the Schurings will be giving thanks for K.C.'s survival.
For the last five years, Ken Schuring has spent Thanksgiving in Farmington Hills with K.C., Lynn, and their two children, Carolynn, 7, and Christian, 11. This year he'll spend it with one of his other two sons, Chad, who works in the insurance office with him, or Ben, while K.C. is recuperating at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
When Schuring received word from Lynn that K.C. was going to be all right, he said, ``It took a giant weight right off me. I hollered out to the front office, `Chad! He's OK!'''
The next day, Schuring was able to reach his son by telephone.
``I said, `K.C., what happened?' He said, `I don't want to leave. I haven't completed my mission.'''
During that mission one morning last week, Maj. K.C. Schuring was shot by snipers. American and Iraqi troops were searching for arms and explosives in a city in northern Iraq when a bullet spun K.C.'s helmet and grazed his head, his father said. He was knocked unconscious just before a second bullet severed his femur and a third lodged in his calf. Two fellow American soldiers dragged him off the road and into a courtyard. He told his father he never felt the bullets enter his body.
Schuring said K.C., who had been in Iraq for two months, said he was sure he had killed one of the men who had shot him before he went down. What happened to the other shooter, he doesn't know.
A graduate of Portage Central High School and Hope College, where he was an art major, K.C. was working in quality control for a company in the Farmington Hills area that makes parts for General Electric before shipping out to Iraq.
Earlier this week, K.C. arrived at Bethesda to receive treatment for an infection in his leg and to have metal pieces inserted to reconnect his femur.
Ken Schuring said Thanksgiving has never been so meaningful. ``I'll never forget this. We're all very, very thankful he's back in the U.S. again and is going to get excellent care here,'' he said.
``Hopefully he'll be home for Christmas.''
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 27 2006, 06:26 PM
Here is yet another story of a young soldier whose wife is expecting a child in a few months. Another baby who will never know the joys that its father could bestow. These scars will last the lifetime of the mother awaiting the delivery of new life and will be carried through to the young one he will never know.
QUOTE
Expectant father is killed during first tour in Iraq; family recalls his dedication to protecting people
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Week of Feb. 23
Incendiary words
Bundles of bucks
Emphasis on education
Former councilman and veteran community activist among hopefuls in Democratic contest for this Bronx district
BY COLLIN NASH
STAFF WRITER; Cara Tabachnick contributed to this story.
Published November 18 2006
With his wife of just over a year expecting their first child in three months, Spc. Justin R. Garcia had bubbled with excitement and expectation at the thought of being a parent.
But Garcia, of Elmhurst, Queens, who started his first tour of duty in Iraq in late June, was killed Tuesday when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee during combat operations in Baghdad, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday.
ALLALAKAZARCACOCTDEDCFLGAHIIDILINIAKSKYLAMEMDMAMIMNMSMOMTNENVNHNJNMNYNCNDOHOKORPARISCSDTNTXUTVTVAWAWVWIWY
"He wanted all those crazy things, a home, a family, all those things we take for granted," said his older sister, who asked not to be named. "He couldn't wait to be home with his baby."
Garcia, 26, a mortar man, enlisted in the Army in July 2004. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis in Washington state, at the end of November 2004.
"He wanted to go into the service because he had compassion and he wanted to serve his country," Garcia's grandfather, Sam Lim, said Friday, fighting back tears outside the modest, two-story frame house in Elmhurst where his grandson grew up. "He loved being a soldier."
Col. Thomas H. Felts Sr., of Sandston, Va., also died in the explosion.
Garcia spent his childhood in Florida, where he lost both of his parents when he was 12, said his grandfather, who declined to elaborate.
Growing up in Elmhurst with his grandfather, Garcia attended St. Agnes Boys High School on the Upper West Side.
While earning a bachelor's degree in criminal justice at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Rockland County, he met his wife-to-be, Michelle, Lim said.
Ever the "protective" one, as his sister described him, Garcia aspired to become a state trooper.
"He's my little brother, but I always felt he was protecting me," she said. "I always felt safe when he was around."
He was a pillar, but he was also a regular guy, a rabid New York Knicks and Mets fan and ever the cutup, his sister said.
"He was a ham," his grandfather said.
http://www.norwalkadvocate.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nysold184981159nov18,0,1845533.story
Email this story
Printer friendly format
Top Stories
Week of Feb. 23
Incendiary words
Bundles of bucks
Emphasis on education
Former councilman and veteran community activist among hopefuls in Democratic contest for this Bronx district
BY COLLIN NASH
STAFF WRITER; Cara Tabachnick contributed to this story.
Published November 18 2006
With his wife of just over a year expecting their first child in three months, Spc. Justin R. Garcia had bubbled with excitement and expectation at the thought of being a parent.
But Garcia, of Elmhurst, Queens, who started his first tour of duty in Iraq in late June, was killed Tuesday when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee during combat operations in Baghdad, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday.
ALLALAKAZARCACOCTDEDCFLGAHIIDILINIAKSKYLAMEMDMAMIMNMSMOMTNENVNHNJNMNYNCNDOHOKORPARISCSDTNTXUTVTVAWAWVWIWY
"He wanted all those crazy things, a home, a family, all those things we take for granted," said his older sister, who asked not to be named. "He couldn't wait to be home with his baby."
Garcia, 26, a mortar man, enlisted in the Army in July 2004. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis in Washington state, at the end of November 2004.
"He wanted to go into the service because he had compassion and he wanted to serve his country," Garcia's grandfather, Sam Lim, said Friday, fighting back tears outside the modest, two-story frame house in Elmhurst where his grandson grew up. "He loved being a soldier."
Col. Thomas H. Felts Sr., of Sandston, Va., also died in the explosion.
Garcia spent his childhood in Florida, where he lost both of his parents when he was 12, said his grandfather, who declined to elaborate.
Growing up in Elmhurst with his grandfather, Garcia attended St. Agnes Boys High School on the Upper West Side.
While earning a bachelor's degree in criminal justice at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Rockland County, he met his wife-to-be, Michelle, Lim said.
Ever the "protective" one, as his sister described him, Garcia aspired to become a state trooper.
"He's my little brother, but I always felt he was protecting me," she said. "I always felt safe when he was around."
He was a pillar, but he was also a regular guy, a rabid New York Knicks and Mets fan and ever the cutup, his sister said.
"He was a ham," his grandfather said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 28 2006, 08:42 PM
I hate seeing these stories about young Americans with pregnant wives being killed in Iraq. Unfortunately, it seems to happen all to often and I just can't not post them when I do run across them. I will literally put a face with this one.
QUOTE
Army soldier from Iowa killed in Iraq
By The Associated Press | Saturday, November 25, 2006
(0) Comments | Rate this article | Default | Large
DES MOINES (AP) — An Army soldier from Iowa was killed in Iraq, the military confirmed Thursday.
Sgt. James Musack, 23, of Riverside, was injured in a non-combat related incident in Samarra, Iraq, on Tuesday, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Defense.
On Wednesday, his brother Reggie Grandstaff said Musack was shot and killed.
“He was just shot and killed and that’s all we actually know,” Grandstaff said.
Grandstaff, 21, said he last saw his brother when he was home on leave in July. He last spoke to him about 1½ weeks ago, he said.
“He was scared,” Grandstaff said.
He said his brother enlisted in the Army Reserves on his 17th birthday, later entering the regular Army. Musack was assigned to the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Musack was a 2002 graduate of Highland High School, where he played football and basketball. He also liked to work on cars and hang out with his friends, his brother said.
Musack was looking forward to getting out of the Army and starting a family, Grandstaff said.
“When he started, he wanted it to be a career, but after about four years he was ready to get out and live a normal life,” he said.
His brother wanted to be a firefighter, Grandstaff said.
“He just liked to help people,” he said.
Grandstaff said his girlfriend is six-months pregnant and that his brother was looking forward to being an uncle.
“He was excited about that, he couldn’t wait,” Grandstaff said.
He said his brother will be remembered as a caring person — and a good big brother.
“He was the best, man,” Grandstaff said, his voice breaking. “My brother was one of the best people I knew. He would give anything for anybody.”
http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2006/11/25/news/state/doc4567d4a4f3c88570549391.txt
By The Associated Press | Saturday, November 25, 2006
(0) Comments | Rate this article | Default | Large
DES MOINES (AP) — An Army soldier from Iowa was killed in Iraq, the military confirmed Thursday.
Sgt. James Musack, 23, of Riverside, was injured in a non-combat related incident in Samarra, Iraq, on Tuesday, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Defense.
On Wednesday, his brother Reggie Grandstaff said Musack was shot and killed.
“He was just shot and killed and that’s all we actually know,” Grandstaff said.
Grandstaff, 21, said he last saw his brother when he was home on leave in July. He last spoke to him about 1½ weeks ago, he said.
“He was scared,” Grandstaff said.
He said his brother enlisted in the Army Reserves on his 17th birthday, later entering the regular Army. Musack was assigned to the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Musack was a 2002 graduate of Highland High School, where he played football and basketball. He also liked to work on cars and hang out with his friends, his brother said.
Musack was looking forward to getting out of the Army and starting a family, Grandstaff said.
“When he started, he wanted it to be a career, but after about four years he was ready to get out and live a normal life,” he said.
His brother wanted to be a firefighter, Grandstaff said.
“He just liked to help people,” he said.
Grandstaff said his girlfriend is six-months pregnant and that his brother was looking forward to being an uncle.
“He was excited about that, he couldn’t wait,” Grandstaff said.
He said his brother will be remembered as a caring person — and a good big brother.
“He was the best, man,” Grandstaff said, his voice breaking. “My brother was one of the best people I knew. He would give anything for anybody.”
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 29 2006, 04:07 PM
This man wanted to become a US citizen but was killed before he was able to fulfill that wish. It is really too bad that his family hadn't seen him in almost four years and that he was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. It is also ironic that he was killed on Veteran's Day.
QUOTE
Local deceased Army Sgt. De Jesus Lucio remembered by family
KGET-TV
November 21, 2006
A Bakersfield family is mourning the loss of their soldier son killed in Iraq. Sgt. Angel De Jesus Lucio, 22, wanted to be in the Army, his family said, and even though he was not from the U.S. he was proud to serve. De Jesus Lucio's father said his son will always be an angel for him.Posted 11/21/06
BAKERSFIELD - A Bakersfield family is mourning the loss of their soldier son killed in Iraq.
Sgt. Angel De Jesus Lucio, 22, wanted to be in the Army, his family said, and even though he was not from the U.S. he was proud to serve.
De Jesus Lucio's father said his son will always be an angel for him.
The soldier was on his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed on Veterans Day when officials said a bomb exploded near his military vehicle.
Lucio's father said growing up, his son always wanted to be in the Army and joined shortly after high school graduation four years ago with his parents' support. Worry set in when Lucio was sent to the Middle East.
I told him to "be careful," said Ignacio Lucio, the soldier's father. "Too many people dying. Be careful. It's too dangerous."
When away from the battlefield, Lucio loved being with family, his parents Ignacio and Marina, and his two brothers and two sisters. The young soldier was recently married to Daniela, whom he met while stationed in Germany.
The last time the family saw their soldier was during Christmas four years ago.
His mother is grateful she spoke with her son on the phone for the last time just two days before he died.
Lucio was going to get his U.S. citizenship when he returned from Iraq in March.
Funeral services begin Wednesday and will continue Friday in Los Angeles.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15843335/
KGET-TV
November 21, 2006
A Bakersfield family is mourning the loss of their soldier son killed in Iraq. Sgt. Angel De Jesus Lucio, 22, wanted to be in the Army, his family said, and even though he was not from the U.S. he was proud to serve. De Jesus Lucio's father said his son will always be an angel for him.Posted 11/21/06
BAKERSFIELD - A Bakersfield family is mourning the loss of their soldier son killed in Iraq.
Sgt. Angel De Jesus Lucio, 22, wanted to be in the Army, his family said, and even though he was not from the U.S. he was proud to serve.
De Jesus Lucio's father said his son will always be an angel for him.
The soldier was on his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed on Veterans Day when officials said a bomb exploded near his military vehicle.
Lucio's father said growing up, his son always wanted to be in the Army and joined shortly after high school graduation four years ago with his parents' support. Worry set in when Lucio was sent to the Middle East.
I told him to "be careful," said Ignacio Lucio, the soldier's father. "Too many people dying. Be careful. It's too dangerous."
When away from the battlefield, Lucio loved being with family, his parents Ignacio and Marina, and his two brothers and two sisters. The young soldier was recently married to Daniela, whom he met while stationed in Germany.
The last time the family saw their soldier was during Christmas four years ago.
His mother is grateful she spoke with her son on the phone for the last time just two days before he died.
Lucio was going to get his U.S. citizenship when he returned from Iraq in March.
Funeral services begin Wednesday and will continue Friday in Los Angeles.
Posted by: aleman1948 Nov 30 2006, 11:48 AM
Here is yet another young soldier with a wife and 2-year-old left behind. This next generation is going to be an interesting one, many raised without one or the other parent because they were killed in Iraq. Obviously, this has happened in previous generations, but this time there is much more controversy surrounding the conflict and out entry into it than ever before. Pray that these families will grow and prosper.
QUOTE
ONLINE UPDATE: Albuquerque soldier dies from non-combat injuries in Iraq
The Associated Press
Article Launched:11/22/2006 05:11:27 PM MST
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A soldier based at Fort Bragg has died in Iraq from non-combat injuries, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.
Spc. Eric Vizcaino, 21, of Albuquerque, N.M., died Tuesday in Balad from injuries he suffered a day earlier in Samarra in what the military said was a non-combat related incident. Details weren't immediately available from the Army on Wednesday.
Vizcaino, a 2003 graduate of West Mesa High School, was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg.
Vizcaino talked to his father Sunday morning and told him about a mission he was scheduled to do the next day in Baghdad. The mission proved fatal, his father, Juan Vizcaino, told Albuquerque television station KOB-TV.
Eric Vizcaino was shot and killed Monday, his father said.
"Well, what can I say," Juan Vizcaino said. "It happens, and this time it happened to my family and my son."
"It's hard," he added, saying he couldn't put into words his feelings about losing his son.
Vizcaino's wife and 2-year-old daughter were at Fort Bragg awaiting the arrival of the soldier's body from Germany.
The family said memorial services were planned for
Thanksgiving Day at San Jose Parish and at San Felipe de Neri church on Sunday.
Juan Vizcaino said he had talked to his son about leaving the Army when his tour was over, but his son had wanted to remain a soldier despite the threat of death.
"He was giving everything to this country," his father said.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/news/ci_4706847The Associated Press
Article Launched:11/22/2006 05:11:27 PM MST
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A soldier based at Fort Bragg has died in Iraq from non-combat injuries, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.
Spc. Eric Vizcaino, 21, of Albuquerque, N.M., died Tuesday in Balad from injuries he suffered a day earlier in Samarra in what the military said was a non-combat related incident. Details weren't immediately available from the Army on Wednesday.
Vizcaino, a 2003 graduate of West Mesa High School, was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg.
Vizcaino talked to his father Sunday morning and told him about a mission he was scheduled to do the next day in Baghdad. The mission proved fatal, his father, Juan Vizcaino, told Albuquerque television station KOB-TV.
Eric Vizcaino was shot and killed Monday, his father said.
"Well, what can I say," Juan Vizcaino said. "It happens, and this time it happened to my family and my son."
"It's hard," he added, saying he couldn't put into words his feelings about losing his son.
Vizcaino's wife and 2-year-old daughter were at Fort Bragg awaiting the arrival of the soldier's body from Germany.
The family said memorial services were planned for
Thanksgiving Day at San Jose Parish and at San Felipe de Neri church on Sunday.
Juan Vizcaino said he had talked to his son about leaving the Army when his tour was over, but his son had wanted to remain a soldier despite the threat of death.
"He was giving everything to this country," his father said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 1 2006, 02:25 PM
This Marine's Down's Syndrome brother hasn't been told yet of his death. These stories break my heart and never fail to make my eyes water when I read them. Rest in peace Danny! May God watch over your brothers and parents and help them through this difficult time in their lives.
QUOTE
Horror of war hits home
La Puente man killed while on duty with the Marines in Iraq
By Claudia Palma Staff Writer
• Video: Lance Cpl. Mario Gonzalez
LA PUENTE - Mario Gonzalez remembers a day when his young son was asked what he wanted to be when he graduated from high school.
The boy replied that he wanted to be a Marine.
Lance Cpl. Mario Daniel Gonzalez fulfilled that dream at age 18. More than three years later, the La Puente resident was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
Gonzalez died Nov. 14. He is the 21st person from the San Gabriel Valley - and the fourth from La Puente - to be killed in the Iraq War since it began in March 2003.
Danny, as everyone called him, graduated from Nueva Vista Continuation High School in 2003, and joined the Marines' "Buddy Program" with his best friend, Roberto Mu oz.
Danny Gonzalez left for boot camp a boy and returned a respectful, responsible grown man, said Mario Gonzalez, 48. Danny joined the infantry, and Roberto went a different direction.
They hung out together for a few days, said Mario Gonzalez, when they happened to get a leave at the same time in August.
During that time, Danny would tell his father how he wanted to go back with his unit, the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
He didn't want to abandon or leave them behind. He also had plans for when his service was completed in March, his father said.
Danny proposed to Dalila Ramirez, 18, his girlfriend of 10 months, before leaving in September.
They planned to marry as soon as he returned from his tour of duty. He told his family and friends in his unit how he wanted to join the police academy and become a policeman.
"When he chose the infantry division, I told him I didn't like it at all," his father said in Spanish. "But it was his decision, and he said it will give him experience, and the police force will give him more opportunities if he had experience, so he couldn't let the opportunity pass him by."
"I know they have a job to do and must follow orders, but it's war of vain. I am still proud of the way \ died, he's a hero," Gonzalez said.
Patricia Arreola, 47, of Baldwin Park says her son Danny seemed to choose dangerous professions.
"He was so excited about what the \ offered him: a house, money and benefits," she said.
She says the government killed her son, by luring him to the war and letting him get killed.
"He didn't deserve to die," she said.
Gonzalez said he noticed a change in his son's tone and demeanor during his last two communications from Iraq.
"He sounded bad, and was worried after seeing how things are much different in Iraq than when he was stationed in Afghanistan He had lost a few friends there in the last few weeks."
Even though Danny was anxious to get back home, and worried after knowing the dangers in Iraq, he remained strong and proud to do his job.
"He was defending the country he loved, and was proud to be Mexican American. Parents can only give their kids their blessing and hope for their return. But it's hard to see them return in a box," Gonzalez said.
Rogelio, 17, says his older brother gave him advice and influenced him in a positive way, and was always happy.
"I miss him," he said.
He liked soccer and cheered for Mexico during the World Cup, went paintballing with his brothers and friends, loved to joke around, and always tried to make everyone around him smile.
Danny's older brother Ricardo, 24, who has Down syndrome, has not been told what has happened to Danny, for fear of his reaction.
Ricardo adored Danny, and told him "I love you" when Danny would call, Mario said.
Gonzalez said Ricardo sees the Marines coming and going from his home, and sees his family crying, but doesn't yet understand why.
Late Thursday, Mario Gonzalez saw Ricardo walk to a picture of Danny displayed in their home with flowers in front of it.
He saluted his little brother, just like a Marine.
Funeral services are pending.
http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_4698282
La Puente man killed while on duty with the Marines in Iraq
By Claudia Palma Staff Writer
• Video: Lance Cpl. Mario Gonzalez
LA PUENTE - Mario Gonzalez remembers a day when his young son was asked what he wanted to be when he graduated from high school.
The boy replied that he wanted to be a Marine.
Lance Cpl. Mario Daniel Gonzalez fulfilled that dream at age 18. More than three years later, the La Puente resident was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
Gonzalez died Nov. 14. He is the 21st person from the San Gabriel Valley - and the fourth from La Puente - to be killed in the Iraq War since it began in March 2003.
Danny, as everyone called him, graduated from Nueva Vista Continuation High School in 2003, and joined the Marines' "Buddy Program" with his best friend, Roberto Mu oz.
Danny Gonzalez left for boot camp a boy and returned a respectful, responsible grown man, said Mario Gonzalez, 48. Danny joined the infantry, and Roberto went a different direction.
They hung out together for a few days, said Mario Gonzalez, when they happened to get a leave at the same time in August.
During that time, Danny would tell his father how he wanted to go back with his unit, the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
He didn't want to abandon or leave them behind. He also had plans for when his service was completed in March, his father said.
Danny proposed to Dalila Ramirez, 18, his girlfriend of 10 months, before leaving in September.
They planned to marry as soon as he returned from his tour of duty. He told his family and friends in his unit how he wanted to join the police academy and become a policeman.
"When he chose the infantry division, I told him I didn't like it at all," his father said in Spanish. "But it was his decision, and he said it will give him experience, and the police force will give him more opportunities if he had experience, so he couldn't let the opportunity pass him by."
"I know they have a job to do and must follow orders, but it's war of vain. I am still proud of the way \ died, he's a hero," Gonzalez said.
Patricia Arreola, 47, of Baldwin Park says her son Danny seemed to choose dangerous professions.
"He was so excited about what the \ offered him: a house, money and benefits," she said.
She says the government killed her son, by luring him to the war and letting him get killed.
"He didn't deserve to die," she said.
Gonzalez said he noticed a change in his son's tone and demeanor during his last two communications from Iraq.
"He sounded bad, and was worried after seeing how things are much different in Iraq than when he was stationed in Afghanistan He had lost a few friends there in the last few weeks."
Even though Danny was anxious to get back home, and worried after knowing the dangers in Iraq, he remained strong and proud to do his job.
"He was defending the country he loved, and was proud to be Mexican American. Parents can only give their kids their blessing and hope for their return. But it's hard to see them return in a box," Gonzalez said.
Rogelio, 17, says his older brother gave him advice and influenced him in a positive way, and was always happy.
"I miss him," he said.
He liked soccer and cheered for Mexico during the World Cup, went paintballing with his brothers and friends, loved to joke around, and always tried to make everyone around him smile.
Danny's older brother Ricardo, 24, who has Down syndrome, has not been told what has happened to Danny, for fear of his reaction.
Ricardo adored Danny, and told him "I love you" when Danny would call, Mario said.
Gonzalez said Ricardo sees the Marines coming and going from his home, and sees his family crying, but doesn't yet understand why.
Late Thursday, Mario Gonzalez saw Ricardo walk to a picture of Danny displayed in their home with flowers in front of it.
He saluted his little brother, just like a Marine.
Funeral services are pending.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 2 2006, 04:36 PM
I have been through Shiprock, NM many times while driving from Denver to California to visit relatives. It is a typical reservation city and a very tightly knit community. This is another one of our Native American sons who thankfully was not killed but will take some time to recover and rehabilitation since he lost part of his foot in the explosion. All my best to this family and those in Shiprock who have come together to assist them in their time of need.
QUOTE
Injured soldier to return home from Iraq
By Erny Zah The Daily Times
Article Launched:12/02/2006 12:00:00 AM MST
SHIPROCK — Maryann Tome looked at a printed color photo of her nephew, Cpl. Jason Paul, 21, of Shiprock. He was sitting in a hospital bed.
"That's the only picture we have of him (since he was injured)," she said.
Paul, who is a 2004 graduate of Shiprock High School, lost part of a foot after stepping on a improvised explosive device during a firefight in Iraq on Nov. 17. He is scheduled to return home today after staying more than a week at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
His parents were flown out by the military to be with their son. However, that is the only expense that was paid. In turn, the family held a benefit dinner and motorcycle run to help the parents sustain themselves as they spent time with
their son while he recovered.
"He is coming home," said Tome, adding that Paul is flying into Farmington today and she is appreciative to the help people provided for the family.
In less than a week, the family had two fundraising events. One was a motorcycle ride, which raised about $700, and the other was a benefit dinner, which helped the parents while they were on the East Coast.
Nearly 50 people were present at the Shiprock Chapter House for the Wednesday night dinner, where participants listened to speakers.
The table in the front was decorated with a Pendelton blanket with framed pictures of Paul placed atop the table.
Navajo Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. was one of the speakers.
Speaking entirely in Navajo, Dayish said that his office is committed to serving veterans and active soldiers, as well as their families.
Paul enlisted in the Marine Corps before he graduated in 2004, then left for boot camp about a week after graduation. He is a former Marine Corps Junior ROTC cadet and obtained the rank of cadet captain.
He is the oldest of five boys. His brother, Jacob, 18, is taking care of Paul's other younger brothers while their parents were in Bethesda.
"I was shocked," Jacob said when he heard about his brother being injured.
He added that his brothers also took the news about Jason being injured "hard."
The dinner was organized mostly by Paul's aunts, including Elsie Paul, 51, of Shiprock. She has a daughter and a son serving in military. Her son, Sgt. Travis Harvey, is serving in Iraq.
"He's on his second tour," she said about her son.
She said she is thankful that Jason's recovery appears to be encouraging, but the fact that he was hurt makes her worry about her son.
"It really bothers me, especially since my son is out there," she said. "It gets stressful."
News about Jason's injury has reached his old high school as well.
In the ROTC classroom in Shiprock High School, the address for Jason's hospital is written across the chalkboard, with a phrase: Please take moment to send this HERO a card.
http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_4759616
By Erny Zah The Daily Times
Article Launched:12/02/2006 12:00:00 AM MST
SHIPROCK — Maryann Tome looked at a printed color photo of her nephew, Cpl. Jason Paul, 21, of Shiprock. He was sitting in a hospital bed.
"That's the only picture we have of him (since he was injured)," she said.
Paul, who is a 2004 graduate of Shiprock High School, lost part of a foot after stepping on a improvised explosive device during a firefight in Iraq on Nov. 17. He is scheduled to return home today after staying more than a week at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
His parents were flown out by the military to be with their son. However, that is the only expense that was paid. In turn, the family held a benefit dinner and motorcycle run to help the parents sustain themselves as they spent time with
their son while he recovered.
"He is coming home," said Tome, adding that Paul is flying into Farmington today and she is appreciative to the help people provided for the family.
In less than a week, the family had two fundraising events. One was a motorcycle ride, which raised about $700, and the other was a benefit dinner, which helped the parents while they were on the East Coast.
Nearly 50 people were present at the Shiprock Chapter House for the Wednesday night dinner, where participants listened to speakers.
The table in the front was decorated with a Pendelton blanket with framed pictures of Paul placed atop the table.
Navajo Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. was one of the speakers.
Speaking entirely in Navajo, Dayish said that his office is committed to serving veterans and active soldiers, as well as their families.
Paul enlisted in the Marine Corps before he graduated in 2004, then left for boot camp about a week after graduation. He is a former Marine Corps Junior ROTC cadet and obtained the rank of cadet captain.
He is the oldest of five boys. His brother, Jacob, 18, is taking care of Paul's other younger brothers while their parents were in Bethesda.
"I was shocked," Jacob said when he heard about his brother being injured.
He added that his brothers also took the news about Jason being injured "hard."
The dinner was organized mostly by Paul's aunts, including Elsie Paul, 51, of Shiprock. She has a daughter and a son serving in military. Her son, Sgt. Travis Harvey, is serving in Iraq.
"He's on his second tour," she said about her son.
She said she is thankful that Jason's recovery appears to be encouraging, but the fact that he was hurt makes her worry about her son.
"It really bothers me, especially since my son is out there," she said. "It gets stressful."
News about Jason's injury has reached his old high school as well.
In the ROTC classroom in Shiprock High School, the address for Jason's hospital is written across the chalkboard, with a phrase: Please take moment to send this HERO a card.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 3 2006, 08:18 AM
Here is a rare report of a soldier who was injured in Afghanistan. For some reason their injury list hasn't been updated since September, but this soldier was injured on Halloween. At any rate, he is lucky to be alive because of the heroic actions of an Afghanistani security officer. Good luck to him and his wife and family as he goes through what promises to be a long rehabilitation process.
QUOTE
Area soldier wounded in Afghanistan
Klint Camp bears shrapnel from bomb
By Dan Nienaber
The Free Press
MANKATO —
Painful reminders of what happened Halloween morning in Afghanistan are still deep under Klint Camp’s skin — festering in his flesh in some places, buried between bone matter in others.
That’s where what’s left of the shrapnel from the unexpected explosion will stay for now. Doctors have already dug out all the metal they can without running the risk of doing more damage than it’s worth.
“I had a little tangle with a suicide bomber,” Camp said, getting straight to the reason for his slight limp. “I’m doing a lot better now than I was.
“I’m supposed to be on crutches. But I get so sick of those things.”
It was a “tangle” that Camp, who lives near Mapleton with his wife, Neely, never saw coming. He was sitting around a campfire brewing coffee with a few other guys from his platoon, taking a break while providing security at a camp near Miri, Afghanistan. With explosives and jam jars full of nuts, bolts and other pieces of metal wrapped around his body, a villager slipped by security and bolted toward Camp and his buddies.
They were the target, but an Afghan National Police officer grabbed the bomber by the shoulder and turned him around. That forced an early detonation of the 30 to 40 pounds of explosives and sent the bulk of the shrapnel spraying in a different direction. It was a heroic move that saved Camp and the other soldiers but killed the officer.
“He blew us out of our chairs and I landed in a tree about 10 feet behind me,” Camp said. “I never saw anything at all. I thought we were being mortared.”
Some of the flying metal did hit Camp’s group. He noticed the blood seeping from his left boot first. The holes in his right thigh and right arm weren’t apparent until later, after he was dragged under a truck by another man.
Those were gory details Camp kept to himself while calling his mother, Becky Jacobsen, from a hospital tent later that day.
“He told me his foot was hurt and there was shrapnel,” Jacobsen said from her home in Okoboji, Iowa. “I didn’t get any of the details. I guess there’s some things a mother doesn’t need to know.”
It was enough to hear Klint’s voice on the other side of the line, Jacobsen added. Having him say he was well was easier to take than having someone else call to tell her what happened.
There are many details Camp hasn’t told his mother, or wife for that matter, about his duty as a member of an elite U.S. Army sniper platoon. Many involve the two-month mission he pulled in the Bagram Valley, the same place where the Russians lost two divisions of troops in a week during its war with Afghanistan.
It’s the area where tons of poppy and marijuana plants are grown for the drug trade that funds Taliban forces.
“We were pretty much sent in to start fights and take out insurgents,” Camp said.
Daytime firefights weren’t as bad because you could only hear the rounds whistling by your head, he said. Skirmishes at night were more frightening because Camp could see the bullets as they flashed around him.
“And there was the heat,” he said. “There were no showers. Plus you’re sleeping in moon dust, which is like powdered sugar, but it’s dirt.
“Then you have to deal with the scorpions, the snakes and centipedes this long,” Camp added, holding his hands about two feet apart. “There’s Russian mine fields that have never been cleaned up. Mines everywhere. It was 55 of the worst days of my life.”
It was during a trip out of the valley that Camp lost one of his friends, a soldier who was shot in the neck while Camp’s convoy was traveling through a narrow mountain pass. They were at the back of the convoy and could see they were heading for trouble. Turning back was not an option, though.
“I’m watching the firefight start, knowing we had to go through there,” Camp said. “All you do when you get done is shake. You want to curl up in a ball and cry because you just had the shit scared out of you.”
Camp was eventually sent to hospital in Germany after the Oct. 31 bombing in Miri. Except for a two-week leave in July, it was the first time he had slept in a bed during eight months of duty.
The next stop was stateside during Veterans Day (Nov. 11). It bothered him, he said, that all the media coverage of the holiday focused on soldiers in Iraq. It seems like the soldiers in Afghanistan, where the “war on terrorism” started after Sept. 11, have been forgotten, Camp said.
Seeing people protesting the war isn’t easy, either, he added. It’s not that Camp doesn’t agree with the people carrying signs and shouting slogans, because he does agree on some points.
“They have the same thoughts as I do about Iraq, I’m sure,” he said. “We’re there for the wrong reasons. Protesting just sends a bad message to everyone who has been there or who is going there. I just don’t want to see it up and down the streets — the same as abortion protests.”
Camp is scheduled to return to his home base of Fort Drum in New York within a few weeks. He will go through some rehabilitation there before being discharged in April. Neely Camp, who was known as Neely Prenzlow before she married Klint two years ago, said she can’t wait to have her husband back. They’ve spent a total of about three months together since the wedding, she said.
“I’m very proud of him,” she said. “He struggled with figuring out what he wanted to do with his future, and I know this whole experience has made him grow a lot within himself. He knows what he’s capable of and he’s proud of himself, too.”
http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/local_story_332231956.html?start:int=0
Klint Camp bears shrapnel from bomb
By Dan Nienaber
The Free Press
MANKATO —
Painful reminders of what happened Halloween morning in Afghanistan are still deep under Klint Camp’s skin — festering in his flesh in some places, buried between bone matter in others.
That’s where what’s left of the shrapnel from the unexpected explosion will stay for now. Doctors have already dug out all the metal they can without running the risk of doing more damage than it’s worth.
“I had a little tangle with a suicide bomber,” Camp said, getting straight to the reason for his slight limp. “I’m doing a lot better now than I was.
“I’m supposed to be on crutches. But I get so sick of those things.”
It was a “tangle” that Camp, who lives near Mapleton with his wife, Neely, never saw coming. He was sitting around a campfire brewing coffee with a few other guys from his platoon, taking a break while providing security at a camp near Miri, Afghanistan. With explosives and jam jars full of nuts, bolts and other pieces of metal wrapped around his body, a villager slipped by security and bolted toward Camp and his buddies.
They were the target, but an Afghan National Police officer grabbed the bomber by the shoulder and turned him around. That forced an early detonation of the 30 to 40 pounds of explosives and sent the bulk of the shrapnel spraying in a different direction. It was a heroic move that saved Camp and the other soldiers but killed the officer.
“He blew us out of our chairs and I landed in a tree about 10 feet behind me,” Camp said. “I never saw anything at all. I thought we were being mortared.”
Some of the flying metal did hit Camp’s group. He noticed the blood seeping from his left boot first. The holes in his right thigh and right arm weren’t apparent until later, after he was dragged under a truck by another man.
Those were gory details Camp kept to himself while calling his mother, Becky Jacobsen, from a hospital tent later that day.
“He told me his foot was hurt and there was shrapnel,” Jacobsen said from her home in Okoboji, Iowa. “I didn’t get any of the details. I guess there’s some things a mother doesn’t need to know.”
It was enough to hear Klint’s voice on the other side of the line, Jacobsen added. Having him say he was well was easier to take than having someone else call to tell her what happened.
There are many details Camp hasn’t told his mother, or wife for that matter, about his duty as a member of an elite U.S. Army sniper platoon. Many involve the two-month mission he pulled in the Bagram Valley, the same place where the Russians lost two divisions of troops in a week during its war with Afghanistan.
It’s the area where tons of poppy and marijuana plants are grown for the drug trade that funds Taliban forces.
“We were pretty much sent in to start fights and take out insurgents,” Camp said.
Daytime firefights weren’t as bad because you could only hear the rounds whistling by your head, he said. Skirmishes at night were more frightening because Camp could see the bullets as they flashed around him.
“And there was the heat,” he said. “There were no showers. Plus you’re sleeping in moon dust, which is like powdered sugar, but it’s dirt.
“Then you have to deal with the scorpions, the snakes and centipedes this long,” Camp added, holding his hands about two feet apart. “There’s Russian mine fields that have never been cleaned up. Mines everywhere. It was 55 of the worst days of my life.”
It was during a trip out of the valley that Camp lost one of his friends, a soldier who was shot in the neck while Camp’s convoy was traveling through a narrow mountain pass. They were at the back of the convoy and could see they were heading for trouble. Turning back was not an option, though.
“I’m watching the firefight start, knowing we had to go through there,” Camp said. “All you do when you get done is shake. You want to curl up in a ball and cry because you just had the shit scared out of you.”
Camp was eventually sent to hospital in Germany after the Oct. 31 bombing in Miri. Except for a two-week leave in July, it was the first time he had slept in a bed during eight months of duty.
The next stop was stateside during Veterans Day (Nov. 11). It bothered him, he said, that all the media coverage of the holiday focused on soldiers in Iraq. It seems like the soldiers in Afghanistan, where the “war on terrorism” started after Sept. 11, have been forgotten, Camp said.
Seeing people protesting the war isn’t easy, either, he added. It’s not that Camp doesn’t agree with the people carrying signs and shouting slogans, because he does agree on some points.
“They have the same thoughts as I do about Iraq, I’m sure,” he said. “We’re there for the wrong reasons. Protesting just sends a bad message to everyone who has been there or who is going there. I just don’t want to see it up and down the streets — the same as abortion protests.”
Camp is scheduled to return to his home base of Fort Drum in New York within a few weeks. He will go through some rehabilitation there before being discharged in April. Neely Camp, who was known as Neely Prenzlow before she married Klint two years ago, said she can’t wait to have her husband back. They’ve spent a total of about three months together since the wedding, she said.
“I’m very proud of him,” she said. “He struggled with figuring out what he wanted to do with his future, and I know this whole experience has made him grow a lot within himself. He knows what he’s capable of and he’s proud of himself, too.”
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 3 2006, 08:56 AM
This is the story of a wounded Iraq veteran who shows no physical signs of her trauma. She has a severe case of PTSD, which one can certainly understand given her actions. This is yet another hidden time bomb that is ticking inside of many who have returned from action and really do not realize that they are similarly inflicted. Many cases of this condition will continue to surface over the coming months and years. Bestof luck to her, her husband, and brothers and sisters. My prayers are certainly with them all.
QUOTE
'Emotional rollercoaster' hits war hero By SHARON COHEN, AP National Writer
Sat Dec 2, 12:22 PM ET
Spc. Ashley Pullen wasn't thinking about the dozens of Iraqi insurgents who had just ambushed the convoy. Or their piles of guns and grenades or the bullets ripping through the air around her.
Her bloody comrade lay on the road south of Baghdad, and she had to help the gravely wounded soldier — fast.
So she hustled as quickly as her short legs would carry her, ignoring the heat, the ferocious battle and her heavy gear.
She ran 100, 200, 300 feet — the length of a football field.
It was March 20, 2005, the day Pullen, a member of the Kentucky National Guard's 617th Military Police Company, became a hero. It was the day that would earn this daughter of small-town America a Bronze Star for valor.
Now, 21 months later, Pullen is a casualty of war, struggling with invisible battle scars.
Pullen is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, the result of a year in Iraq marked by harrowing brushes with danger and death — tempered with daily prayers for survival.
Pullen, now 22, doesn't go out much these days and she says her moods swing for no good reason.
"It's just an emotional roller coaster every day," she says. "I have no other way to describe it. I can be a perfectly happy, normal person. Then five seconds later, I will be so mad that I can't see straight."
Pullen says she has a hard time concentrating long enough to read a book. And she hasn't totally shaken some habits that made perfect sense in a war zone but don't translate to the quiet roads of south-central Kentucky.
Sometimes when she drives, she says, her husband, Daniel, notices she's veering too close to the center line — something she did in Iraq to try to avoid roadside bombs.
"Baby," he gently warns her, "hellooo ..."
Pullen says she once was always smiling, always happy.
Then came the war. And everything changed.
Pullen, who joined the Guard at age 17 to help pay for college, didn't want a desk job. She chose the military police, feeling it better suited someone who "likes to be to be in the middle of everything." In Iraq, she found herself in the thick of explosions, gunfire and mortar attacks.
The ambush that turned her into a hero started on a steamy March morning just outside Baghdad. Here's how Pullen remembers it:
She was driving one of three Humvees providing security behind a 30-vehicle convoy when the crackle of gunshots and the boom of rocket-propelled grenades suddenly filled the air.
Pullen's unit moved ahead to counterattack, flanking the insurgents so they couldn't escape.
Pullen got out of her Humvee and braced herself against the back of it. She and other soldiers unleashed a torrent of gunfire and grenades on 40 to 50 insurgents attacking from a nearby orchard.
She could see the enemy clearly, armed with dozens of AK-47s, machine guns and grenades. Pullen blasted away with her M-4 rifle, emptying a 30-round magazine, then reloaded and opened fire again.
"You don't have time to be scared," she says. "You just have time to react. ... The fear doesn't set in until later when you say, 'Oh my God, what happened?' ... When the bullets start flying, you're saying OK, 'I want to live through this' and you do everything you can to survive."
Answering a radio call — "Everybody's down! I need help" — Pullen backed up her Humvee part way, then ran about 300 feet to a gravely wounded sergeant, who was screaming and rocking in agony. (Pullen says she didn't pull her truck next to him, fearing that would create a bigger target for the insurgents.)
Dodging bullets, she dropped to her knees to help her comrade. "It hurts! It hurts!" he yelled. She got him out of his bloody vest, lifted his shirt and saw a single slug had pierced his stomach through his back, leaving a hole the size of a quarter.
Pullen tried to bandage and calm him.
"Think of green grass and trees and home," she said. "Think about your little boy. Think about ANYTHING but here." Pullen was herself thinking of the first blush of spring at her Kentucky home. "I don't know if that comforted him, but it worked for me."
As she was tending to the sergeant, a medic from her company fired a shoulder-held rocket launcher at a sniper's nest. "Back blast clear!" he shouted, a warning to stay far away. But Pullen was close enough to touch his leg.
She blanketed her body — all 5-foot-2 — over the wounded sergeant to protect him. The blast knocked her on her backside.
When it was over, at least 26 insurgents were dead and six were wounded. Three civilians in the convoy also were killed. The three wounded members of Pullen's company all survived.
The insurgents' arsenal, according to a military report, included 35 AK-47s and machine guns, 16 rocket-propelled grenades, 39 hand grenades, 175 full or empty AK-47 magazines, 2,500 loose rounds — and a video camera with footage of the ambush.
Pullen was awarded a Bronze Star with the V device for valor. (Several other soldiers in the unit also were honored, including Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, who was given the Silver Star — the first woman to receive that award since World War II — for her bravery. She killed at least three insurgents.)
In a recommendation for Pullen's medal, her company commander wrote: "Tremendous dedication and focus. Credited with saving the life of a team leader that day. Incredible courage."
Pullen served seven more months in Iraq, learning to cope in a world where the threat of death was a daily fact of life.
"You get up in the morning, you say your prayers and you hope to God that you come back that night," she says in her soft lilt. "You kind of get numb ... which was my way of coping. You just kind of shut everything off and become a robot. Emotions get you nowhere. They get you in trouble. ... It's hard to come back and be normal."
When she returned home last fall to Edmonton, Ky., her mother, stepfather and uncle — all Desert Storm veterans — praised her as a hero. Pullen doesn't buy it.
"You got to do what you got to do," she says. "I didn't have a choice in the matter. If you see an accident on the road, you're going to stop and make sure everything is OK. ... It's my job."
But Pullen also says the emotional strain of doing her job began wearing on her while she still was in Iraq. She had nightmares that zombies and Iraqis were coming after her.
She noticed her own dramatic personality transformation — from easygoing to "this huge, flaming ball of anger." She says she tries to rein in her emotions around her three younger sisters and two younger brothers. "It's hard for me to explain to them, 'It's not your fault I'm mad,'" she says. "They try to understand."
Her father does, too. "He says just forget it," she explains. "I say, 'Dad, you can't forget it. You just have to learn to live with it.' ... He doesn't want this to haunt me and hold me back the rest of my life — being just 22 years old."
Pullen says even now, she doesn't go out alone. When she's on the road, familiar sights like overpasses can be frightening because they remind her of where the enemy lurked.
Pullen leans heavily on her husband. They've been sweethearts since they met at an after-school program at age 15.
"God bless my husband, he tries," she says. "I know it puts him through hell." There are days, she says, when she calls him at work and says: "'I need you here. Come home.' I am just bursting out in tears for no reason. ... I need that lifeline."
Daniel says he had his own anxiety attacks when his wife was in Iraq. When she called, he says, "You always had the worry — this may be the last time I ever talk to her. What should I say?"
Pullen has been seeing a psychiatrist twice a month. At each visit, the doctor talks to her, then turns to Daniel. "How is she doing?' the doctor asks.
"He can pick up on things I don't notice," Ashley Pullen says.
Daniel says sometimes the smallest gestures in the morning — a goofy grin or a silence — indicate whether it'll be a good or bad day for his wife.
The two are preparing for the birth of their first child — a son — who is due this month.
Meanwhile, Pullen stays close to home with family, far from the world that caused her so much emotional turmoil.
"I don't watch the news," she says. "I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to see it. I don't even like the word Iraq."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061202/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/women_in_war_hero
Sat Dec 2, 12:22 PM ET
Spc. Ashley Pullen wasn't thinking about the dozens of Iraqi insurgents who had just ambushed the convoy. Or their piles of guns and grenades or the bullets ripping through the air around her.
Her bloody comrade lay on the road south of Baghdad, and she had to help the gravely wounded soldier — fast.
So she hustled as quickly as her short legs would carry her, ignoring the heat, the ferocious battle and her heavy gear.
She ran 100, 200, 300 feet — the length of a football field.
It was March 20, 2005, the day Pullen, a member of the Kentucky National Guard's 617th Military Police Company, became a hero. It was the day that would earn this daughter of small-town America a Bronze Star for valor.
Now, 21 months later, Pullen is a casualty of war, struggling with invisible battle scars.
Pullen is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, the result of a year in Iraq marked by harrowing brushes with danger and death — tempered with daily prayers for survival.
Pullen, now 22, doesn't go out much these days and she says her moods swing for no good reason.
"It's just an emotional roller coaster every day," she says. "I have no other way to describe it. I can be a perfectly happy, normal person. Then five seconds later, I will be so mad that I can't see straight."
Pullen says she has a hard time concentrating long enough to read a book. And she hasn't totally shaken some habits that made perfect sense in a war zone but don't translate to the quiet roads of south-central Kentucky.
Sometimes when she drives, she says, her husband, Daniel, notices she's veering too close to the center line — something she did in Iraq to try to avoid roadside bombs.
"Baby," he gently warns her, "hellooo ..."
Pullen says she once was always smiling, always happy.
Then came the war. And everything changed.
Pullen, who joined the Guard at age 17 to help pay for college, didn't want a desk job. She chose the military police, feeling it better suited someone who "likes to be to be in the middle of everything." In Iraq, she found herself in the thick of explosions, gunfire and mortar attacks.
The ambush that turned her into a hero started on a steamy March morning just outside Baghdad. Here's how Pullen remembers it:
She was driving one of three Humvees providing security behind a 30-vehicle convoy when the crackle of gunshots and the boom of rocket-propelled grenades suddenly filled the air.
Pullen's unit moved ahead to counterattack, flanking the insurgents so they couldn't escape.
Pullen got out of her Humvee and braced herself against the back of it. She and other soldiers unleashed a torrent of gunfire and grenades on 40 to 50 insurgents attacking from a nearby orchard.
She could see the enemy clearly, armed with dozens of AK-47s, machine guns and grenades. Pullen blasted away with her M-4 rifle, emptying a 30-round magazine, then reloaded and opened fire again.
"You don't have time to be scared," she says. "You just have time to react. ... The fear doesn't set in until later when you say, 'Oh my God, what happened?' ... When the bullets start flying, you're saying OK, 'I want to live through this' and you do everything you can to survive."
Answering a radio call — "Everybody's down! I need help" — Pullen backed up her Humvee part way, then ran about 300 feet to a gravely wounded sergeant, who was screaming and rocking in agony. (Pullen says she didn't pull her truck next to him, fearing that would create a bigger target for the insurgents.)
Dodging bullets, she dropped to her knees to help her comrade. "It hurts! It hurts!" he yelled. She got him out of his bloody vest, lifted his shirt and saw a single slug had pierced his stomach through his back, leaving a hole the size of a quarter.
Pullen tried to bandage and calm him.
"Think of green grass and trees and home," she said. "Think about your little boy. Think about ANYTHING but here." Pullen was herself thinking of the first blush of spring at her Kentucky home. "I don't know if that comforted him, but it worked for me."
As she was tending to the sergeant, a medic from her company fired a shoulder-held rocket launcher at a sniper's nest. "Back blast clear!" he shouted, a warning to stay far away. But Pullen was close enough to touch his leg.
She blanketed her body — all 5-foot-2 — over the wounded sergeant to protect him. The blast knocked her on her backside.
When it was over, at least 26 insurgents were dead and six were wounded. Three civilians in the convoy also were killed. The three wounded members of Pullen's company all survived.
The insurgents' arsenal, according to a military report, included 35 AK-47s and machine guns, 16 rocket-propelled grenades, 39 hand grenades, 175 full or empty AK-47 magazines, 2,500 loose rounds — and a video camera with footage of the ambush.
Pullen was awarded a Bronze Star with the V device for valor. (Several other soldiers in the unit also were honored, including Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, who was given the Silver Star — the first woman to receive that award since World War II — for her bravery. She killed at least three insurgents.)
In a recommendation for Pullen's medal, her company commander wrote: "Tremendous dedication and focus. Credited with saving the life of a team leader that day. Incredible courage."
Pullen served seven more months in Iraq, learning to cope in a world where the threat of death was a daily fact of life.
"You get up in the morning, you say your prayers and you hope to God that you come back that night," she says in her soft lilt. "You kind of get numb ... which was my way of coping. You just kind of shut everything off and become a robot. Emotions get you nowhere. They get you in trouble. ... It's hard to come back and be normal."
When she returned home last fall to Edmonton, Ky., her mother, stepfather and uncle — all Desert Storm veterans — praised her as a hero. Pullen doesn't buy it.
"You got to do what you got to do," she says. "I didn't have a choice in the matter. If you see an accident on the road, you're going to stop and make sure everything is OK. ... It's my job."
But Pullen also says the emotional strain of doing her job began wearing on her while she still was in Iraq. She had nightmares that zombies and Iraqis were coming after her.
She noticed her own dramatic personality transformation — from easygoing to "this huge, flaming ball of anger." She says she tries to rein in her emotions around her three younger sisters and two younger brothers. "It's hard for me to explain to them, 'It's not your fault I'm mad,'" she says. "They try to understand."
Her father does, too. "He says just forget it," she explains. "I say, 'Dad, you can't forget it. You just have to learn to live with it.' ... He doesn't want this to haunt me and hold me back the rest of my life — being just 22 years old."
Pullen says even now, she doesn't go out alone. When she's on the road, familiar sights like overpasses can be frightening because they remind her of where the enemy lurked.
Pullen leans heavily on her husband. They've been sweethearts since they met at an after-school program at age 15.
"God bless my husband, he tries," she says. "I know it puts him through hell." There are days, she says, when she calls him at work and says: "'I need you here. Come home.' I am just bursting out in tears for no reason. ... I need that lifeline."
Daniel says he had his own anxiety attacks when his wife was in Iraq. When she called, he says, "You always had the worry — this may be the last time I ever talk to her. What should I say?"
Pullen has been seeing a psychiatrist twice a month. At each visit, the doctor talks to her, then turns to Daniel. "How is she doing?' the doctor asks.
"He can pick up on things I don't notice," Ashley Pullen says.
Daniel says sometimes the smallest gestures in the morning — a goofy grin or a silence — indicate whether it'll be a good or bad day for his wife.
The two are preparing for the birth of their first child — a son — who is due this month.
Meanwhile, Pullen stays close to home with family, far from the world that caused her so much emotional turmoil.
"I don't watch the news," she says. "I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to see it. I don't even like the word Iraq."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 4 2006, 06:33 PM
Here is an article detailing the stresses faced by women who have served. I knew that there were many women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I had no idea that it was this many. Good luck to these and all the other women who have given so much of themselves.
QUOTE
Women face emotional wounds of war
SHARON COHEN
Associated Press
CHICAGO - The nightmares didn't start until months after Alicia Flores returned home. The images were stark and disturbing: In one dream, a dying Iraqi man desperately grabbed her arm. In another, she was lost in a blinding sandstorm.
Sometimes, Flores awakened to discover her mouth was dust-dry - as if she were really stumbling through the scorching, 120-degree desert.
The nightmares bring Flores back to Iraq, and her service in the Army's 92nd Chemical Company. She was just 19 when her unit arrived there. Now 23, she's left with memories of women and children being killed, of hauling bodies, of shooting a teenage Iraqi fighter. ("It was him or me," she says.)
"I'm fine with what I did over there ...," Flores says. "In my eyes, I did a good thing. It really doesn't bother me. The only thing that bothers me is I just want to sleep more."
Flores is one of a new generation of women who have returned from war to cope with emotional stress or physical wounds that linger long after the sounds of mortar and gunfire have faded. Studies of Vietnam and Gulf War veterans have documented post-traumatic stress in females - with higher rates than men, in some cases.
But the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has seen a far larger deployment of women - more than 155,000 - with far more females exposed to ambushes, roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and other deadly hazards. And they have been left with an increased risk of combat-like stress.
Flores says she's not alarmed by her diagnosis of post-traumatic stress; she's getting help for her sleeping problems. It wasn't the war, but the adjustment to the civilian world that she found difficult.
"It was OK - now what?" she says. "You have nobody to talk to. Your family can't relate to what you and your soldiers had and it's just really hard. ... I felt lost. ... I didn't know what to do with my time."
That anxiety - along with depression, irritability and feelings of isolation - also are common symptoms for men with post-traumatic stress, but some mental health experts believe there are distinct pressures for women veterans.
Some come from military service itself - where some women feel they need to prove themselves - while others come from the transition from vigilant soldier to caring wife or mother.
"Women are pulled in different directions," says Darrah Westrup, lead psychologist at the Veteran Affairs' Women's Trauma Recovery Program in Menlo Park, Calif. "They want to be a good partner. They want to be a good mother. ... They want to be a good solider."
Returning home can be especially stressful for women who may find themselves running a household, taking care of children, going to work and dealing with insomnia or other war-related problems, says Diane Shearod, women veterans program manager at the Hines VA Hospital in Chicago.
"They get frustrated with themselves not being able to manage like they did before," she says. "They have to run the kids to school. They have to take them to different functions. Can you imagine what that's like with just two to three hours sleep? You're wondering, 'Am I going to be like this forever?'"
Though it's too soon to gauge the toll on women veterans, some early studies have offered a few clues.
For example, the VA reports that slightly more than a third of 23,635 women veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan evaluated from 2002 to last August had a preliminary diagnosis of a mental disorder.
Those numbers provide just a partial glimpse into the problem: Many women veterans, like men, don't go to VA hospitals or prefer to seek private help.
A second study released early this year also found that of more than 220,000 Iraq veterans, 23.6 percent of women had a mental health concern - compared with 18.6 percent for men (an insignificant difference, according to Col. Dr. Charles Hoge, one of the study's authors).
Mental health experts say one of the biggest contributors to psychological problems for women in uniform is military sexual trauma - a term that covers verbal harassment and physical assault, which is a strong risk factor for PTSD.
Studies conducted by the VA health system vary, but generally about 20 percent of women report a physical assault during their service, Westrup says. "Unfortunately, a huge aspect of that experience is guilt and self-blame and shame on top of stress," she adds.
Last year, the Pentagon announced a new policy of confidentiality, so sexual assault victims can report the incident and get help but law enforcement and senior commanders are not immediately notified.
Compounding the emotional turmoil for women are wounds and ailments that range from life-changing - the loss of limbs and brain injuries - to temporary, such as infections and rashes.
Some of the short-term health problems are likely tied to the harsh realities of war, where women can go weeks without a shower and spend months hauling gear and lifting heavy weapons in triple-digit heat.
The VA found 29 percent of the women veterans it evaluated returned with genital or urinary system problems, 33 percent had digestive illnesses and 42 percent had back troubles, arthritis and other muscular ailments.
Aneta Urban had a bad back after two tours in Iraq - one in a Marine military police company. She says she hauled as much as 70 pounds of gear.
But the impact on her psyche was greater. When Urban, now 31, returned from active duty to suburban Chicago last year, she didn't want to socialize with friends, regarding it as a waste of time and money.
"I'd think, 'There are troops in Iraq and they're giving up so much and people are partying and not even thinking about that,' " she says. "I still feel like that sometimes. ... They worry about what Paris Hilton is wearing. But every day, people are dying, young troops."
Then there were those who annoyed her by asking if she'd killed anyone. "Why would you want to know that? It's such a personal question," she says. "I believe in God and whatever I did in Iraq, I will answer for later."
She was frustrated, too, that no one was rushing to hire her.
"People would say, 'Oh, you're a veteran, you've done two tours, you're golden. Everybody will want you.' " It didn't happen. "That," she says, "added to my depression."
The death of a beloved cousin sent her into a tailspin; one day she found it difficult to breathe, and she checked herself into a hospital for exhaustion and stress.
More than a year later, Urban says she's much better. She's in college, studying for a master's degree in accounting, working as a detention officer at a police department and thinking about an FBI career.
"When you're busy," she says, "you don't have a lot of time to sit around and think about things."
Urban's bumpy road back isn't unusual.
Some women veterans - including those without psychological problems - say it takes time to decompress and switch gears from hard-nosed soldier to nurturing mother.
Darcie Greuel, a VA nurse in Milwaukee, spent nearly a year at the 452nd Combat Support Hospital in Afghanistan, then rejoined her husband and their three children.
"I was trying to get back into being a wife and a mother," she says. "But it was 'Wow, they survived without me.' ... I really didn't know where my place was. I had to be really careful. I didn't want my husband to think I was not appreciative of what he did. I didn't want to come back and say, 'It's all going to be my way.' "
Greuel, now 40, also had to settle back into her job. She returned to nursing but missed the adrenaline rush. She became irritated when colleagues griped about being overworked and sensed that people no longer wanted to listen to - or would understand - her war stories.
Greuel now gets together with military friends a few times a year, and has decided to return to college to complete her bachelor's degree in nursing.
Greuel found her way back into her family and work life without professional help.
But mental health experts say women veterans who do need counseling tend to respond well to treatment - perhaps even better than men - because they're more open about their emotions.
The problem is many women - just like men - are reluctant to take that first step.
Some are so determined to re-establish that bond with their children that they'll ignore their own problems, says Katherine Dong, women veterans program manager at the North Chicago VA Medical Center.
"They want to make it up to their family for being gone, yet they have all these symptoms and all these thoughts that are still haunting them," she says. "Women tend to put their families' needs above their own. They're trying to push their bad stuff aside and focus on their families and unfortunately, it's not always successful."
Keri Christensen was one of those veterans who did turn to the VA for help after serving with the Wisconsin National Guard in Iraq.
She had agonized leaving behind two small daughters - the younger less than a year old. "There were very guilty feelings ... that I was just neglecting my children," she says. "I was a stay-at-home mom ... but it was my call to duty and I felt I needed to do that."
She tried to stay connected to her girls, ordering books online, having them shipped to her in the war zone, recording them and sending the tapes back home. Her husband, Brian, tried to fill the void, joining his elder daughter's Brownie troop and attending meetings with her.
But when Christensen returned last winter, she had a hard time negotiating her domestic life, she says, because she was so depressed.
One of her wartime duties had been working next to the mortuary in Kuwait where she routinely saw flag-draped coffins of dead soldiers. "You'd see their possessions in a packet, their date of birth," she says. "They were kids - 19, 20, 21 - that was hard."
"They send you home and expect you to live your life normally," she adds. "You can't. Well, maybe some people can. I wasn't able to."
Christensen says she had panic attacks and hated driving, fearing she'd run red lights - something done in convoys she was on in Iraq - with her daughters in the car.
"I just don't like to go places," she says. "I'd rather stay in my own house, which I know is safe."
Alicia Flores, meanwhile, is thinking of leaving her home in Chicago, where she has been working as dental assistant and living with her mother, biding her time in the two years since she left the Army but failed to leave Iraq behind.
She has joined the Army Reserve and may return to the war zone.
"I feel restless, just not secure," she says, "like I'm waiting for something."
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/16156211.htm
SHARON COHEN
Associated Press
CHICAGO - The nightmares didn't start until months after Alicia Flores returned home. The images were stark and disturbing: In one dream, a dying Iraqi man desperately grabbed her arm. In another, she was lost in a blinding sandstorm.
Sometimes, Flores awakened to discover her mouth was dust-dry - as if she were really stumbling through the scorching, 120-degree desert.
The nightmares bring Flores back to Iraq, and her service in the Army's 92nd Chemical Company. She was just 19 when her unit arrived there. Now 23, she's left with memories of women and children being killed, of hauling bodies, of shooting a teenage Iraqi fighter. ("It was him or me," she says.)
"I'm fine with what I did over there ...," Flores says. "In my eyes, I did a good thing. It really doesn't bother me. The only thing that bothers me is I just want to sleep more."
Flores is one of a new generation of women who have returned from war to cope with emotional stress or physical wounds that linger long after the sounds of mortar and gunfire have faded. Studies of Vietnam and Gulf War veterans have documented post-traumatic stress in females - with higher rates than men, in some cases.
But the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has seen a far larger deployment of women - more than 155,000 - with far more females exposed to ambushes, roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and other deadly hazards. And they have been left with an increased risk of combat-like stress.
Flores says she's not alarmed by her diagnosis of post-traumatic stress; she's getting help for her sleeping problems. It wasn't the war, but the adjustment to the civilian world that she found difficult.
"It was OK - now what?" she says. "You have nobody to talk to. Your family can't relate to what you and your soldiers had and it's just really hard. ... I felt lost. ... I didn't know what to do with my time."
That anxiety - along with depression, irritability and feelings of isolation - also are common symptoms for men with post-traumatic stress, but some mental health experts believe there are distinct pressures for women veterans.
Some come from military service itself - where some women feel they need to prove themselves - while others come from the transition from vigilant soldier to caring wife or mother.
"Women are pulled in different directions," says Darrah Westrup, lead psychologist at the Veteran Affairs' Women's Trauma Recovery Program in Menlo Park, Calif. "They want to be a good partner. They want to be a good mother. ... They want to be a good solider."
Returning home can be especially stressful for women who may find themselves running a household, taking care of children, going to work and dealing with insomnia or other war-related problems, says Diane Shearod, women veterans program manager at the Hines VA Hospital in Chicago.
"They get frustrated with themselves not being able to manage like they did before," she says. "They have to run the kids to school. They have to take them to different functions. Can you imagine what that's like with just two to three hours sleep? You're wondering, 'Am I going to be like this forever?'"
Though it's too soon to gauge the toll on women veterans, some early studies have offered a few clues.
For example, the VA reports that slightly more than a third of 23,635 women veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan evaluated from 2002 to last August had a preliminary diagnosis of a mental disorder.
Those numbers provide just a partial glimpse into the problem: Many women veterans, like men, don't go to VA hospitals or prefer to seek private help.
A second study released early this year also found that of more than 220,000 Iraq veterans, 23.6 percent of women had a mental health concern - compared with 18.6 percent for men (an insignificant difference, according to Col. Dr. Charles Hoge, one of the study's authors).
Mental health experts say one of the biggest contributors to psychological problems for women in uniform is military sexual trauma - a term that covers verbal harassment and physical assault, which is a strong risk factor for PTSD.
Studies conducted by the VA health system vary, but generally about 20 percent of women report a physical assault during their service, Westrup says. "Unfortunately, a huge aspect of that experience is guilt and self-blame and shame on top of stress," she adds.
Last year, the Pentagon announced a new policy of confidentiality, so sexual assault victims can report the incident and get help but law enforcement and senior commanders are not immediately notified.
Compounding the emotional turmoil for women are wounds and ailments that range from life-changing - the loss of limbs and brain injuries - to temporary, such as infections and rashes.
Some of the short-term health problems are likely tied to the harsh realities of war, where women can go weeks without a shower and spend months hauling gear and lifting heavy weapons in triple-digit heat.
The VA found 29 percent of the women veterans it evaluated returned with genital or urinary system problems, 33 percent had digestive illnesses and 42 percent had back troubles, arthritis and other muscular ailments.
Aneta Urban had a bad back after two tours in Iraq - one in a Marine military police company. She says she hauled as much as 70 pounds of gear.
But the impact on her psyche was greater. When Urban, now 31, returned from active duty to suburban Chicago last year, she didn't want to socialize with friends, regarding it as a waste of time and money.
"I'd think, 'There are troops in Iraq and they're giving up so much and people are partying and not even thinking about that,' " she says. "I still feel like that sometimes. ... They worry about what Paris Hilton is wearing. But every day, people are dying, young troops."
Then there were those who annoyed her by asking if she'd killed anyone. "Why would you want to know that? It's such a personal question," she says. "I believe in God and whatever I did in Iraq, I will answer for later."
She was frustrated, too, that no one was rushing to hire her.
"People would say, 'Oh, you're a veteran, you've done two tours, you're golden. Everybody will want you.' " It didn't happen. "That," she says, "added to my depression."
The death of a beloved cousin sent her into a tailspin; one day she found it difficult to breathe, and she checked herself into a hospital for exhaustion and stress.
More than a year later, Urban says she's much better. She's in college, studying for a master's degree in accounting, working as a detention officer at a police department and thinking about an FBI career.
"When you're busy," she says, "you don't have a lot of time to sit around and think about things."
Urban's bumpy road back isn't unusual.
Some women veterans - including those without psychological problems - say it takes time to decompress and switch gears from hard-nosed soldier to nurturing mother.
Darcie Greuel, a VA nurse in Milwaukee, spent nearly a year at the 452nd Combat Support Hospital in Afghanistan, then rejoined her husband and their three children.
"I was trying to get back into being a wife and a mother," she says. "But it was 'Wow, they survived without me.' ... I really didn't know where my place was. I had to be really careful. I didn't want my husband to think I was not appreciative of what he did. I didn't want to come back and say, 'It's all going to be my way.' "
Greuel, now 40, also had to settle back into her job. She returned to nursing but missed the adrenaline rush. She became irritated when colleagues griped about being overworked and sensed that people no longer wanted to listen to - or would understand - her war stories.
Greuel now gets together with military friends a few times a year, and has decided to return to college to complete her bachelor's degree in nursing.
Greuel found her way back into her family and work life without professional help.
But mental health experts say women veterans who do need counseling tend to respond well to treatment - perhaps even better than men - because they're more open about their emotions.
The problem is many women - just like men - are reluctant to take that first step.
Some are so determined to re-establish that bond with their children that they'll ignore their own problems, says Katherine Dong, women veterans program manager at the North Chicago VA Medical Center.
"They want to make it up to their family for being gone, yet they have all these symptoms and all these thoughts that are still haunting them," she says. "Women tend to put their families' needs above their own. They're trying to push their bad stuff aside and focus on their families and unfortunately, it's not always successful."
Keri Christensen was one of those veterans who did turn to the VA for help after serving with the Wisconsin National Guard in Iraq.
She had agonized leaving behind two small daughters - the younger less than a year old. "There were very guilty feelings ... that I was just neglecting my children," she says. "I was a stay-at-home mom ... but it was my call to duty and I felt I needed to do that."
She tried to stay connected to her girls, ordering books online, having them shipped to her in the war zone, recording them and sending the tapes back home. Her husband, Brian, tried to fill the void, joining his elder daughter's Brownie troop and attending meetings with her.
But when Christensen returned last winter, she had a hard time negotiating her domestic life, she says, because she was so depressed.
One of her wartime duties had been working next to the mortuary in Kuwait where she routinely saw flag-draped coffins of dead soldiers. "You'd see their possessions in a packet, their date of birth," she says. "They were kids - 19, 20, 21 - that was hard."
"They send you home and expect you to live your life normally," she adds. "You can't. Well, maybe some people can. I wasn't able to."
Christensen says she had panic attacks and hated driving, fearing she'd run red lights - something done in convoys she was on in Iraq - with her daughters in the car.
"I just don't like to go places," she says. "I'd rather stay in my own house, which I know is safe."
Alicia Flores, meanwhile, is thinking of leaving her home in Chicago, where she has been working as dental assistant and living with her mother, biding her time in the two years since she left the Army but failed to leave Iraq behind.
She has joined the Army Reserve and may return to the war zone.
"I feel restless, just not secure," she says, "like I'm waiting for something."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 5 2006, 07:29 PM
This is yet another young Marine who really never had a chance to live life. Dying at age 19 is too much of a sacrifice to ask of anyone. I hope this family finds solace and comfort as they continue their lives without Heath.
QUOTE
Family mourns Marine
Saturday, November 25, 2006
By Lori Monsewicz REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER
CANTON McKinley High School graduate Heath D. Warner had dreamed of becoming a U.S. Marine.
When the 19-year-old was “killed instantly by the blast” from an IED (improvised explosive device) during hostilities in Haqlaniya, Iraq, on Wednesday morning, he died just that — a Marine, private first class.
“We need men and women like Heath to serve our country so that we can have the privileges we have. I am in awe of my son,” Scott Warner said Friday, fighting back tears as he spoke to media in his living room.
The single-star banner identifying a soldier’s home still hung in the front window of the Perkins Avenue NW house. An American flag and a Marine flag were proudly displayed on the front porch.
Warner was a gunner on an armored Humvee engaged in operations against insurgents in the Al Anbar province, according to the casualty report Marine officials supplied his parents, Scott and Melissa Warner.
The report said that Warner was wearing a helmet, flak jacket and other protective gear but died from “severe blast injuries.”
Other Marines on duty with Heath Warner also were killed, Scott Warner said.
Family Anxiously awaited word
The Warners were notified of his death on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. They hadn’t heard from their son since they received a letter from him Oct. 28. The letter, dated Oct. 1, began in Arabic. Melissa Warner said her son, who’d taught himself Japanese, was learning Arabic.
A 2005 graduate, Heath Warner had only been a Marine for about a year and a half, returning home on leave only a couple of times, she said. He went to Iraq about 10 weeks ago to serve a six-month tour of duty.
“We knew they were doing some sort of operation,” Scott Warner said. “I know he would have been in contact with us if he was able to.” Melissa Warner said their son had called her five or six times a day when he had been stationed in Hawaii.
Scott Warner said the weeks without word from Heath made him anxious.
“Every day, you would just pray that you wouldn’t hear (bad news) ... that, ‘OK, I got through another day.’ But then, too, I just desperately wanted to hear from my son,” he said.
Instead, he got a visit from officials, and the news wasn’t good.
“It was like you see on TV,” Scott Warner recalled. “The car pulls up, the Marines come out and they come up to your house and you (just) know.”
Private family Thanksgiving
The family sent inquiring media away Thursday, celebrating their memories of Heath Warner’s last Thanksgiving.
“I know that’s what my son would have wanted,” Melissa Warner said. “Last year, he ate and ate and ate until he got sick. He loved Thanksgiving and this time of year. He loved to smell the turkey.”
And he loved to spend time with his family, she said, calling him “very nurturing” and pointing out that his younger brothers — Chandler, 14, and Ashton, 7, — “just adored him.” She said Chandler was Heath Warner’s best friend, and said that when he was home last, Ashton “was on him like Velcro.”
The family celebrated Heath Warner’s 20th birthday in August, knowing he would be in Iraq when he actually turned 20 on Jan. 2.
Loved the Marines
“He was so proud to be in his dress blues,” Scott Warner said, smiling. “He would put on his dress blues to go to the mall and pick up chicks.”
The young Marine had planned to return to Canton when he left the service, Melissa Warner said. Her son told her that he wanted to be a McKinley principal and then, as a former Marine and Canton City Schools graduate, he planned “to straighten those kids out,” she said, smiling through tears.
Scott Warner said his son was committed to the Marines, and had been intent on joining since childhood, even more so since Sept. 11, 2001.
“He always had a desire to serve,” he said. “I was from a family with the core values of ‘God, family and country.’ I instilled that in Heath. It was natural that he would join the service.” Grandparents, great-grandparents and uncles had served in various branches of the military.
“He knew what was ahead,” Scott Warner said. “He believed in what he was doing.”
His wife agreed, calling their son, “a wonderful, wonderful young man. He was a hero, and his heart was in it 100 percent,” she said.
And although she is honoring her son’s life by talking about him, she said, she is devastated by his death.
“He wanted to get married and have kids. He’ll never get to do that now,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “I’ll never see my grandkids; I’ll never see him get married.”
Her husband asked that residents in the community “put out their flags” in honor of his son.
He said the military provided no information as to when the body would be returned to the United States.
But, he said, “I know where my son is. He’s in heaven. He’s with the Lord.”
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=321259&r=0&Category=9&subCategoryID=0
Saturday, November 25, 2006
By Lori Monsewicz REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER
CANTON McKinley High School graduate Heath D. Warner had dreamed of becoming a U.S. Marine.
When the 19-year-old was “killed instantly by the blast” from an IED (improvised explosive device) during hostilities in Haqlaniya, Iraq, on Wednesday morning, he died just that — a Marine, private first class.
“We need men and women like Heath to serve our country so that we can have the privileges we have. I am in awe of my son,” Scott Warner said Friday, fighting back tears as he spoke to media in his living room.
The single-star banner identifying a soldier’s home still hung in the front window of the Perkins Avenue NW house. An American flag and a Marine flag were proudly displayed on the front porch.
Warner was a gunner on an armored Humvee engaged in operations against insurgents in the Al Anbar province, according to the casualty report Marine officials supplied his parents, Scott and Melissa Warner.
The report said that Warner was wearing a helmet, flak jacket and other protective gear but died from “severe blast injuries.”
Other Marines on duty with Heath Warner also were killed, Scott Warner said.
Family Anxiously awaited word
The Warners were notified of his death on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. They hadn’t heard from their son since they received a letter from him Oct. 28. The letter, dated Oct. 1, began in Arabic. Melissa Warner said her son, who’d taught himself Japanese, was learning Arabic.
A 2005 graduate, Heath Warner had only been a Marine for about a year and a half, returning home on leave only a couple of times, she said. He went to Iraq about 10 weeks ago to serve a six-month tour of duty.
“We knew they were doing some sort of operation,” Scott Warner said. “I know he would have been in contact with us if he was able to.” Melissa Warner said their son had called her five or six times a day when he had been stationed in Hawaii.
Scott Warner said the weeks without word from Heath made him anxious.
“Every day, you would just pray that you wouldn’t hear (bad news) ... that, ‘OK, I got through another day.’ But then, too, I just desperately wanted to hear from my son,” he said.
Instead, he got a visit from officials, and the news wasn’t good.
“It was like you see on TV,” Scott Warner recalled. “The car pulls up, the Marines come out and they come up to your house and you (just) know.”
Private family Thanksgiving
The family sent inquiring media away Thursday, celebrating their memories of Heath Warner’s last Thanksgiving.
“I know that’s what my son would have wanted,” Melissa Warner said. “Last year, he ate and ate and ate until he got sick. He loved Thanksgiving and this time of year. He loved to smell the turkey.”
And he loved to spend time with his family, she said, calling him “very nurturing” and pointing out that his younger brothers — Chandler, 14, and Ashton, 7, — “just adored him.” She said Chandler was Heath Warner’s best friend, and said that when he was home last, Ashton “was on him like Velcro.”
The family celebrated Heath Warner’s 20th birthday in August, knowing he would be in Iraq when he actually turned 20 on Jan. 2.
Loved the Marines
“He was so proud to be in his dress blues,” Scott Warner said, smiling. “He would put on his dress blues to go to the mall and pick up chicks.”
The young Marine had planned to return to Canton when he left the service, Melissa Warner said. Her son told her that he wanted to be a McKinley principal and then, as a former Marine and Canton City Schools graduate, he planned “to straighten those kids out,” she said, smiling through tears.
Scott Warner said his son was committed to the Marines, and had been intent on joining since childhood, even more so since Sept. 11, 2001.
“He always had a desire to serve,” he said. “I was from a family with the core values of ‘God, family and country.’ I instilled that in Heath. It was natural that he would join the service.” Grandparents, great-grandparents and uncles had served in various branches of the military.
“He knew what was ahead,” Scott Warner said. “He believed in what he was doing.”
His wife agreed, calling their son, “a wonderful, wonderful young man. He was a hero, and his heart was in it 100 percent,” she said.
And although she is honoring her son’s life by talking about him, she said, she is devastated by his death.
“He wanted to get married and have kids. He’ll never get to do that now,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “I’ll never see my grandkids; I’ll never see him get married.”
Her husband asked that residents in the community “put out their flags” in honor of his son.
He said the military provided no information as to when the body would be returned to the United States.
But, he said, “I know where my son is. He’s in heaven. He’s with the Lord.”
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 6 2006, 02:44 PM
This is yet another young American who leaves behind a widow and two young children, 3-1/2 years and 3 months old. I don't know if he ever got to see his youngest or not, but this is a loss that will be felt by the children as well as his widow, parents and the rest of his family and friends. Join me in a moment of silence for his passing, as well as the others who have given their all.
QUOTE
Reed City school honors former graduate fallen in Iraq
BY SALLY BARBER, CADILLAC NEWS
REED CITY - Spc. Bradley N. Shilling, a 2003 Reed City High School graduate killed Saturday in Iraq, was remembered by students and faculty Wednesday morning in a special ceremony recognizing his sacrifice.
A member of the Michigan National Guard, Shilling was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment of Big Rapids. He died of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations in Baghdad.
Family and friends of the 22-year-old gathered at the school to observe a ceremonial flag lowering in Shilling's honor. Eagle Scouts from Boy Scout Troop No. 74 of Reed City performed the ritual. Scout and trumpeter Toby Hamann played “Taps.”
As the flag was lowered on the school's front lawn, high school principal Tom Antioho addressed students in their classrooms and called for a moment of silence.
Antioho acknowledged Shilling's service to country and remembered others who have also served to preserve our nation's freedoms.
“I don't know if the kids will fully know what Brad sacrificed for our liberties,” he said. “As I reflect back, I appreciate it more and more. Because of their ultimate sacrifice, they give us the benefit of living in the best country in the world.”
The K-12 school community is a tight-knit group and is sharing in the family's the loss, he noted.
“We're all impacted,” he said. “We all have family or know someone who is serving. We have to stay mentally strong to know they are doing the right thing.”
Prior to the service, Shilling's widow, D.J. Shilling, expressed gratitude to the community and school for their sympathies and support.
“It's an honor on his behalf,” she said. “It's the only thing that's going to get us through.”
The soldier leaves behind a 3 1/2 year-old daughter, Abbie, and 3 month-old son, Jordan. They family resides in Stanwood.
“He loved his wife, his children and his country,” said Shilling's grandmother Shirley Knight. “He always said D.J. was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was a proud and giving and loving father.”
Shilling enlisted in 2001.
“This is something he wanted to do since he was 17 - to serve his country,” Knight said.
Shilling's younger sister “Sam” is a junior at Reed City High School. Her friends shared the family's grief.
“It made it close to home,” said Sara Beilfuss. “I've been close to his sister since I was little. He was a really easy-going, nice and friendly guy.”
Sam's absence in class this week was a constant reminder of the loss.
“Everyone thought about it,” said Jessica Ringler.
Members of the Reed City Ministerial Association were available Tuesday for students and staff members who sought grief counseling.
“When these things happen you have to deal with it sensitively and with compassion,” Antioho said. “It's another life lesson we have to endure.”
http://www.cadillacnews.com/articles/2006/11/24/news/news03.txt
BY SALLY BARBER, CADILLAC NEWS
REED CITY - Spc. Bradley N. Shilling, a 2003 Reed City High School graduate killed Saturday in Iraq, was remembered by students and faculty Wednesday morning in a special ceremony recognizing his sacrifice.
A member of the Michigan National Guard, Shilling was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment of Big Rapids. He died of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations in Baghdad.
Family and friends of the 22-year-old gathered at the school to observe a ceremonial flag lowering in Shilling's honor. Eagle Scouts from Boy Scout Troop No. 74 of Reed City performed the ritual. Scout and trumpeter Toby Hamann played “Taps.”
As the flag was lowered on the school's front lawn, high school principal Tom Antioho addressed students in their classrooms and called for a moment of silence.
Antioho acknowledged Shilling's service to country and remembered others who have also served to preserve our nation's freedoms.
“I don't know if the kids will fully know what Brad sacrificed for our liberties,” he said. “As I reflect back, I appreciate it more and more. Because of their ultimate sacrifice, they give us the benefit of living in the best country in the world.”
The K-12 school community is a tight-knit group and is sharing in the family's the loss, he noted.
“We're all impacted,” he said. “We all have family or know someone who is serving. We have to stay mentally strong to know they are doing the right thing.”
Prior to the service, Shilling's widow, D.J. Shilling, expressed gratitude to the community and school for their sympathies and support.
“It's an honor on his behalf,” she said. “It's the only thing that's going to get us through.”
The soldier leaves behind a 3 1/2 year-old daughter, Abbie, and 3 month-old son, Jordan. They family resides in Stanwood.
“He loved his wife, his children and his country,” said Shilling's grandmother Shirley Knight. “He always said D.J. was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was a proud and giving and loving father.”
Shilling enlisted in 2001.
“This is something he wanted to do since he was 17 - to serve his country,” Knight said.
Shilling's younger sister “Sam” is a junior at Reed City High School. Her friends shared the family's grief.
“It made it close to home,” said Sara Beilfuss. “I've been close to his sister since I was little. He was a really easy-going, nice and friendly guy.”
Sam's absence in class this week was a constant reminder of the loss.
“Everyone thought about it,” said Jessica Ringler.
Members of the Reed City Ministerial Association were available Tuesday for students and staff members who sought grief counseling.
“When these things happen you have to deal with it sensitively and with compassion,” Antioho said. “It's another life lesson we have to endure.”
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 7 2006, 11:20 PM
It is a good thing this Marine has a positive attitude. He is going to need it as he rehabs and gets used to a prosthetic leg. I wish him the best, as well as his girlfriend and family.
QUOTE
Mount Zion Marine wounded
By HUEY FREEMAN - H&R Staff Writer
MOUNT ZION - When a Marine Corps Reserve officer called Mike Watson at work to tell him his son had been seriously injured in Iraq, he asked the officer if his son would survive.
The officer told him only that he would tell him more later, during a home visit.
"That scared me to death," Mike Watson said in an interview at his home in Mount Zion.
Perhaps that scare helped the Watsons to receive the grim truth in a softer light.
Lance Cpl. Chad Watson, 23, had his right leg amputated above the knee Wednesday after the Humvee he was riding in on patrol in Fallujah was blasted by a bomb, apparently detonated as the vehicle passed over it.
During the attack, Watson also broke his left ankle and suffered shrapnel wounds to his face, including his eyelid and his right arm. The three other Marines in the vehicle also were injured, some suffering broken bones.
After being treated in Fallujah, Watson was flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. He will remain there until next week, when he is expected to be transferred to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
Chad Watson, a 2001 graduate of Mount Zion High School and quarterback of its football team, joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 2004 while attending Indiana University on a partial wrestling scholarship. He was deployed to Iraq in September, serving with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment, 4th Marine Division.
Just 14 hours after the incident, Watson called his parents. Mike Watson said he was amazed that he was more concerned about how they were feeling than about himself.
When Mike Watson said to him, "They told me they took off your leg," his son joked, "Huh, they told me that, too."
Chad Watson, whose high school football coach calls him "one of the toughest guys we've had here," is also known for his positive attitude.
"They're going to strap some high-tech crap on me, and we're going to take off running," the Marine told his father.
Chad's 22-year-old girlfriend, Jill Kinsella, a graduate student at Eastern Illinois University, said she also talked to Chad, and he is in high spirits.
"If he still wants to run a marathon, I'm right there beside him," Kinsella said. "He can probably still outrun me. He said he wants to dance at some of the weddings we are going to. He's looking forward to the future, walking and dancing."
http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2006/12/02/news/local_news/1019532.txt
By HUEY FREEMAN - H&R Staff Writer
MOUNT ZION - When a Marine Corps Reserve officer called Mike Watson at work to tell him his son had been seriously injured in Iraq, he asked the officer if his son would survive.
The officer told him only that he would tell him more later, during a home visit.
"That scared me to death," Mike Watson said in an interview at his home in Mount Zion.
Perhaps that scare helped the Watsons to receive the grim truth in a softer light.
Lance Cpl. Chad Watson, 23, had his right leg amputated above the knee Wednesday after the Humvee he was riding in on patrol in Fallujah was blasted by a bomb, apparently detonated as the vehicle passed over it.
During the attack, Watson also broke his left ankle and suffered shrapnel wounds to his face, including his eyelid and his right arm. The three other Marines in the vehicle also were injured, some suffering broken bones.
After being treated in Fallujah, Watson was flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. He will remain there until next week, when he is expected to be transferred to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
Chad Watson, a 2001 graduate of Mount Zion High School and quarterback of its football team, joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 2004 while attending Indiana University on a partial wrestling scholarship. He was deployed to Iraq in September, serving with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment, 4th Marine Division.
Just 14 hours after the incident, Watson called his parents. Mike Watson said he was amazed that he was more concerned about how they were feeling than about himself.
When Mike Watson said to him, "They told me they took off your leg," his son joked, "Huh, they told me that, too."
Chad Watson, whose high school football coach calls him "one of the toughest guys we've had here," is also known for his positive attitude.
"They're going to strap some high-tech crap on me, and we're going to take off running," the Marine told his father.
Chad's 22-year-old girlfriend, Jill Kinsella, a graduate student at Eastern Illinois University, said she also talked to Chad, and he is in high spirits.
"If he still wants to run a marathon, I'm right there beside him," Kinsella said. "He can probably still outrun me. He said he wants to dance at some of the weddings we are going to. He's looking forward to the future, walking and dancing."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 8 2006, 04:01 PM
This soldier was killed just days before he was scheduled to return home from Iraq. He had not yet started a family, as far as having kids goes, but had married not long before being deployed and there were certainly plans in place for a family. Our country has suffered much larger losses than we know or acknowledge. This is just another example of what has been lost to the future. Just imagine the horror of thinking that your son/husband/brother could actually be at the door only to find a military information team awaiting your answer.
QUOTE
Family grieves for soldier killed days before his Iraq tour ended
By John Christoffersen, Associated Press Writer | December 2, 2006
SALEM, Conn. --Sharon Hamill was home alone, sitting at the table eating lunch when she was startled by a noise around the garage. Then the doorbell rang.
Breaking News Alerts She looked through the tinted window and spotted a green uniform. It must be her son Jason, an Army captain due home any day from Iraq who had a reputation for pulling pranks.
"I went to the door to let him in," Sharon Hamill said. "When I saw two men in uniform, I knew what it was. They looked at me and shook their head."
Jason was dead. He and two other soldiers were killed Nov. 26 in Baghdad by a roadside bomb while riding in an armored vehicle.
"In our eyes, he was a hero," his mother said Wednesday, fighting back tears.
Hamill's family is among the latest to grieve in a war that has taken the lives of nearly 3,000 U.S. service members and lasted longer than America's participation in World War II.
Hamill, 31, had spent a year in Iraq clearing the type of bomb that killed him and many other American troops.
"The hard part is finding the bombs," he wrote in an e-mail to his family in January. "They're very creative at hiding them but we have tons of technology and techniques to find them."
Hamill, a triplet, grew up in Salem, a tiny rural town in eastern Connecticut still sprinkled with farms. He wrestled in high school and played the drums in the band.
That's when Jon Stadler met Hamill and quickly became friends. When Hamill was around, everyone knew something funny would happen.
On a dare Hamill jumped in a frigid lake on New Year's Eve. He and Stadler took the wheels off a friend's car and plastered it with bumper stickers. Another time Hamill's father caught him tipping cows.
"He said they do tip," said his father, Richard Hamill. "But one of them starting chasing them, so they decided to get the heck out of there."
After graduating from the University of Connecticut, Hamill followed in his father's footsteps and joined the military nearly a decade ago.
"I think that just fits his personality," his father said. "He's kind of a rugged guy, a little bit on the dangerous side of life."
But family and friends saw another side to the warrior when he met his wife, Karen, while stationed in Texas. When the couple married last year, Hamill brought tears to his wife's eyes as he gave a toast pledging his love and respect.
"You could just hear it in his voice and see it in his face when he talked about her," Stadler said.
Hamill served in Kosovo and Afghanistan before heading to Iraq a year ago. Hamill wrote lengthy e-mails home but was guarded in what he told his parents.
His family asked if he needed better body armor, but Hamill said he was well protected.
In January, his mother told him about a wicked ice storm in Connecticut and promised to send a package.
"If you slit the top open in the middle, the cookies may get slit open," she wrote.
As the violence escalated, Hamill's mother avoided the news. His father learned only recently that his son was in Baghdad, hoping he was in a safer outlying area.
Hamill's e-mails grew shorter. By the end of his tour, he admitted he was emotionally drained.
"We're all ready to get out of here," Hamill wrote in his final e-mail home a day before he died. "It's been a long year, but only a few more days!"
Hamill and his wife, who lived in Kileen, Texas, planned to start a family. Hamill was thinking of going back to college.
The couple had already bought plane tickets to travel home to Connecticut in January for Hamill's 32nd birthday with his siblings.
After his mother received the bad news, she called her husband at work.
"We have two Army men here to talk about Jason," she said.
Richard Hamill didn't understand. Jason wasn't home. Why are they there?
"Are you all right?" he asked his wife.
"No," she answered. "There's been an accident."
His wife grew silent.
"Is Jason alive?" he asked.
"No," she said.
Hamill rushed home.
Now a flag flies at half mast in the front yard of the family home. The phone and the doorbell ring constantly with flowers and condolences.
He will be buried Wednesday in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.
It hurts Richard Hamill to dwell too much. He knows his son believed in a mission that has grown increasingly unpopular back home.
He wrestles with why his son was out on another mission just days before his departure.
"They transferred responsibility to the new unit," his father said. "His unit was all packed up and ready to come home."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/12/02/family_grieves_for_soldier_killed_days_before_his_iraq_tour_ended/
By John Christoffersen, Associated Press Writer | December 2, 2006
SALEM, Conn. --Sharon Hamill was home alone, sitting at the table eating lunch when she was startled by a noise around the garage. Then the doorbell rang.
Breaking News Alerts She looked through the tinted window and spotted a green uniform. It must be her son Jason, an Army captain due home any day from Iraq who had a reputation for pulling pranks.
"I went to the door to let him in," Sharon Hamill said. "When I saw two men in uniform, I knew what it was. They looked at me and shook their head."
Jason was dead. He and two other soldiers were killed Nov. 26 in Baghdad by a roadside bomb while riding in an armored vehicle.
"In our eyes, he was a hero," his mother said Wednesday, fighting back tears.
Hamill's family is among the latest to grieve in a war that has taken the lives of nearly 3,000 U.S. service members and lasted longer than America's participation in World War II.
Hamill, 31, had spent a year in Iraq clearing the type of bomb that killed him and many other American troops.
"The hard part is finding the bombs," he wrote in an e-mail to his family in January. "They're very creative at hiding them but we have tons of technology and techniques to find them."
Hamill, a triplet, grew up in Salem, a tiny rural town in eastern Connecticut still sprinkled with farms. He wrestled in high school and played the drums in the band.
That's when Jon Stadler met Hamill and quickly became friends. When Hamill was around, everyone knew something funny would happen.
On a dare Hamill jumped in a frigid lake on New Year's Eve. He and Stadler took the wheels off a friend's car and plastered it with bumper stickers. Another time Hamill's father caught him tipping cows.
"He said they do tip," said his father, Richard Hamill. "But one of them starting chasing them, so they decided to get the heck out of there."
After graduating from the University of Connecticut, Hamill followed in his father's footsteps and joined the military nearly a decade ago.
"I think that just fits his personality," his father said. "He's kind of a rugged guy, a little bit on the dangerous side of life."
But family and friends saw another side to the warrior when he met his wife, Karen, while stationed in Texas. When the couple married last year, Hamill brought tears to his wife's eyes as he gave a toast pledging his love and respect.
"You could just hear it in his voice and see it in his face when he talked about her," Stadler said.
Hamill served in Kosovo and Afghanistan before heading to Iraq a year ago. Hamill wrote lengthy e-mails home but was guarded in what he told his parents.
His family asked if he needed better body armor, but Hamill said he was well protected.
In January, his mother told him about a wicked ice storm in Connecticut and promised to send a package.
"If you slit the top open in the middle, the cookies may get slit open," she wrote.
As the violence escalated, Hamill's mother avoided the news. His father learned only recently that his son was in Baghdad, hoping he was in a safer outlying area.
Hamill's e-mails grew shorter. By the end of his tour, he admitted he was emotionally drained.
"We're all ready to get out of here," Hamill wrote in his final e-mail home a day before he died. "It's been a long year, but only a few more days!"
Hamill and his wife, who lived in Kileen, Texas, planned to start a family. Hamill was thinking of going back to college.
The couple had already bought plane tickets to travel home to Connecticut in January for Hamill's 32nd birthday with his siblings.
After his mother received the bad news, she called her husband at work.
"We have two Army men here to talk about Jason," she said.
Richard Hamill didn't understand. Jason wasn't home. Why are they there?
"Are you all right?" he asked his wife.
"No," she answered. "There's been an accident."
His wife grew silent.
"Is Jason alive?" he asked.
"No," she said.
Hamill rushed home.
Now a flag flies at half mast in the front yard of the family home. The phone and the doorbell ring constantly with flowers and condolences.
He will be buried Wednesday in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.
It hurts Richard Hamill to dwell too much. He knows his son believed in a mission that has grown increasingly unpopular back home.
He wrestles with why his son was out on another mission just days before his departure.
"They transferred responsibility to the new unit," his father said. "His unit was all packed up and ready to come home."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 9 2006, 01:56 PM
Another young American's story. This young soldier had asked his girlfriend to marry him when he returned, but they will never know the joy of wedded bliss that awaited. My heart goes out to her, his family, and friends and as usual a special prayer will be said for his soul.
QUOTE
Former BMHS student dies in Iraq
By SHARI LOPATIN
The Daily Courier
Reece D. Moreno
Friends and family describe him as fun-loving and a free spirit traits they now remember most about 19-year-old Reece D. Moreno, who died in Balad, Iraq, Friday.
Moreno spent his entire high school career at Bradshaw Mountain High School, until he transferred to Yavapai County High School at the end of his senior year to graduate early, said his mother Regan Parsons.
"He had the talent to do that," she said.
According to a United States Department of Defense press release, Moreno was not in combat at the time of his death. He was part of the 92nd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.
Right before he left to go overseas, Parsons said he asked his girlfriend to marry him.
More than anything, teachers and friends remember Moreno's contagious laugh. His mother said his smile brought joy to everyone.
"He was tremendously well-liked by all the other students," said his U.S. government teacher, George Ponte.
"He was just a really great person to hang out with," recalled Moreno's best friend since sixth grade, Tyler Schreffler. "The first time I'd ever do something, I'd do it with him. We used to make all kinds of silly movies."
With hobbies like playing guitar, bodybuilding and playing sports, Parsons described her son as a sweet boy and a good teenager who always had respect for adults.
The teachers at Bradshaw Mountain received news of Moreno's death Monday morning.
"I knew he was going into the service. I didn't know he was going to Iraq, so it all hit at once," said Athletic Director Maury Ruble, who had Moreno as a student in his English class. "He took a stand and did things a lot of us can't say we have done."
For U.S. history teacher, Larry Haese, losing Moreno was difficult. He said he had a special connection with his student, an individual who enjoyed life and came to class with a smile every day.
"We got along great," he said. "Just a fun-loving kid you could laugh with, you could joke with."
Shock swept the faces of Moreno's former teachers as they spoke about their lost student.
"I don't know if I had any impact on his life ... but he's the kind of kid that's the reason why you teach," Haese said.
However, Haese said Moreno probably didn't have a lot of direction in life and therefore saw the military as a way to guide him. Ponte recalled Moreno talking during his senior year about joining the military. He seemed excited about it.
"He was going to go to college, but he decided not to. It wasn't really his thing," Schreffler said.
Moreno's mother doesn't know why her son joined the army. She said he enjoyed boot camp.
"When he got to advanced training, it was too boring," she said.
Most of all, she said Moreno had a kind and loving heart. He loved to make everyone laugh.
"You wouldn't want to watch a movie without him," she said.
http://prescottdailycourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=42009&TM=25467.57
By SHARI LOPATIN
The Daily Courier
Reece D. Moreno
Friends and family describe him as fun-loving and a free spirit traits they now remember most about 19-year-old Reece D. Moreno, who died in Balad, Iraq, Friday.
Moreno spent his entire high school career at Bradshaw Mountain High School, until he transferred to Yavapai County High School at the end of his senior year to graduate early, said his mother Regan Parsons.
"He had the talent to do that," she said.
According to a United States Department of Defense press release, Moreno was not in combat at the time of his death. He was part of the 92nd Engineer Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.
Right before he left to go overseas, Parsons said he asked his girlfriend to marry him.
More than anything, teachers and friends remember Moreno's contagious laugh. His mother said his smile brought joy to everyone.
"He was tremendously well-liked by all the other students," said his U.S. government teacher, George Ponte.
"He was just a really great person to hang out with," recalled Moreno's best friend since sixth grade, Tyler Schreffler. "The first time I'd ever do something, I'd do it with him. We used to make all kinds of silly movies."
With hobbies like playing guitar, bodybuilding and playing sports, Parsons described her son as a sweet boy and a good teenager who always had respect for adults.
The teachers at Bradshaw Mountain received news of Moreno's death Monday morning.
"I knew he was going into the service. I didn't know he was going to Iraq, so it all hit at once," said Athletic Director Maury Ruble, who had Moreno as a student in his English class. "He took a stand and did things a lot of us can't say we have done."
For U.S. history teacher, Larry Haese, losing Moreno was difficult. He said he had a special connection with his student, an individual who enjoyed life and came to class with a smile every day.
"We got along great," he said. "Just a fun-loving kid you could laugh with, you could joke with."
Shock swept the faces of Moreno's former teachers as they spoke about their lost student.
"I don't know if I had any impact on his life ... but he's the kind of kid that's the reason why you teach," Haese said.
However, Haese said Moreno probably didn't have a lot of direction in life and therefore saw the military as a way to guide him. Ponte recalled Moreno talking during his senior year about joining the military. He seemed excited about it.
"He was going to go to college, but he decided not to. It wasn't really his thing," Schreffler said.
Moreno's mother doesn't know why her son joined the army. She said he enjoyed boot camp.
"When he got to advanced training, it was too boring," she said.
Most of all, she said Moreno had a kind and loving heart. He loved to make everyone laugh.
"You wouldn't want to watch a movie without him," she said.
Posted by: Sun Dec 9 2006, 06:42 PM
Insanity defined ............
" Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a diferent result...."
I am deeply saddened by the death discussed above... This war is insain..
My prayers go out to the family, and to all
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 10 2006, 08:12 AM
Here is another young American who will be missed by his parents, siblings, wife, children, and community. The thing that really got to me was that he had only spoken briefly with his family after arriving in Iraq, was apparently cut off, and didn't have a chance to say goodbye before he died. The ironies of this war continue to amaze, sadden, and sicken me.
QUOTE
Family remembers slain soldier
November 30, 2006
Arrangements for funeral services are pending through Boone Funeral Home in Bossier City for U.S. Army Pvt. Joshua Cain Burrows, who was killed Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near his military vehicle in Baghdad, Iraq.
By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com
A mourning garland on the door at Notini's Restaurant in Bossier City on Wednesday symbolized the sadness of local families who have lost a son and grandson in the War on Terror.
The black crepe contrasted with the traffic that flowed along busy Airline Drive near East Texas Street, a flow that surged oblivious to the sorrow of the loss of a 20-year-old who also was a husband, father and brother.
"It's been weeks since I last spoke to Josh, and the last phone conversation I had with him .... well, the phone cut me off," his wife of less than a year, Victoria Kolniak Burrows, said Wednesday. "I didn't get to say 'Goodbye' or 'I love you.'"
U.S. Army Pvt. Joshua Cain Burrows was in Iraq when she spoke with him, and had barely arrived there. He was just a little over a month into his tour Sunday when he and several other soldiers were killed.
Only two of the soldiers with Burrows have been identified by the military.
They are Capt. Jason R. Hamill, 31, of New Haven, Conn., and 1st Lt. David M. Fraser, 25, whose hometown in Texas was not specified. Hamill and Fraser were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, and like Burrows were deployed out of Fort Hood.
Stan Kolniak, Victoria Burrows' grandfather and well-known Bossier City restaurateur — his family opened Notini's in 1978 — said the family hopes to learn more about the nature of the incident that claimed the young soldier's life.
For one thing, he said, Burrows was trained in heavy equipment use.
"He didn't plan on going to college, and was very mechanically minded," said Kolniak, a World War II veteran of Navy submarine service. "He trained for a year and went to school for heavy equipment, operating cranes and that type of stuff. I can't imagine him being in a Humvee, unless he was picking up some equipment for their unit."
Burrows and his wife met about two years ago, in traffic.
"We met at a red light," she said. "I was yelling out the window."
No, they weren't in a collision. And they attended different high schools.
He was going to Bossier High School, and she was at Benton High.
But something between them connected, and "we watched a movie and hung out," she said.
They married last year and have a 6-month-old son, Landon Ray Burrows, who she said was the focus of her husband's life when they were together.
"When he was younger he liked being outdoors," she said. "Now, he just enjoyed spending time with me and with his son ... that was about it."
Stanley Kolniak is active in veterans causes and is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars 12th District Honor Guard, and said he's asked the unit to take part in services that are now being planned for the young soldier.
"I'm not too sure what the Army will provide," Kolniak said. "But we can come up with 20 to 22 people."
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006611300338
November 30, 2006
Arrangements for funeral services are pending through Boone Funeral Home in Bossier City for U.S. Army Pvt. Joshua Cain Burrows, who was killed Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near his military vehicle in Baghdad, Iraq.
By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com
A mourning garland on the door at Notini's Restaurant in Bossier City on Wednesday symbolized the sadness of local families who have lost a son and grandson in the War on Terror.
The black crepe contrasted with the traffic that flowed along busy Airline Drive near East Texas Street, a flow that surged oblivious to the sorrow of the loss of a 20-year-old who also was a husband, father and brother.
"It's been weeks since I last spoke to Josh, and the last phone conversation I had with him .... well, the phone cut me off," his wife of less than a year, Victoria Kolniak Burrows, said Wednesday. "I didn't get to say 'Goodbye' or 'I love you.'"
U.S. Army Pvt. Joshua Cain Burrows was in Iraq when she spoke with him, and had barely arrived there. He was just a little over a month into his tour Sunday when he and several other soldiers were killed.
Only two of the soldiers with Burrows have been identified by the military.
They are Capt. Jason R. Hamill, 31, of New Haven, Conn., and 1st Lt. David M. Fraser, 25, whose hometown in Texas was not specified. Hamill and Fraser were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, and like Burrows were deployed out of Fort Hood.
Stan Kolniak, Victoria Burrows' grandfather and well-known Bossier City restaurateur — his family opened Notini's in 1978 — said the family hopes to learn more about the nature of the incident that claimed the young soldier's life.
For one thing, he said, Burrows was trained in heavy equipment use.
"He didn't plan on going to college, and was very mechanically minded," said Kolniak, a World War II veteran of Navy submarine service. "He trained for a year and went to school for heavy equipment, operating cranes and that type of stuff. I can't imagine him being in a Humvee, unless he was picking up some equipment for their unit."
Burrows and his wife met about two years ago, in traffic.
"We met at a red light," she said. "I was yelling out the window."
No, they weren't in a collision. And they attended different high schools.
He was going to Bossier High School, and she was at Benton High.
But something between them connected, and "we watched a movie and hung out," she said.
They married last year and have a 6-month-old son, Landon Ray Burrows, who she said was the focus of her husband's life when they were together.
"When he was younger he liked being outdoors," she said. "Now, he just enjoyed spending time with me and with his son ... that was about it."
Stanley Kolniak is active in veterans causes and is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars 12th District Honor Guard, and said he's asked the unit to take part in services that are now being planned for the young soldier.
"I'm not too sure what the Army will provide," Kolniak said. "But we can come up with 20 to 22 people."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 11 2006, 06:26 PM
Here is yet another Native American who has laid his life down. He will be missed by his family and by his tribe as well judging by the comments his tribe members have uttered here. Rest in peace Nathan. My prayers will be added to those already spoken in your native language. Somehow I think all of our prayers will be accepted by our great spirit.
QUOTE
With drums, prayers, fallen soldier is honored
By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press Writer
NEW TOWN - Hundreds packed an auditorium to honor a fallen warrior, joining in prayers in Nathan Goodiron's native Hidatsa language and smiling through tears at pictures of his high school basketball games and his time with his newborn son.
In this photo provided by Three Affiliated Tribes, Three Affiliated Tribes Council Representative Mervin Packineau, right, holds Harriet Goodiron after she recieved a Pendleton blanket from theTribe in honor of her fallen son, North Dakota National Guard Cpl. Nathan Goodiron, of Mandaree, N.D., during a memorial service, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006, in New Town, N.D. Goodiron was killed last week on duty in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Three Affiliated Tribes, L.M. Baker) ** NO SALES **
"He was proud to be an American soldier, an American Indian soldier. He knew the meaning of the word sacrifice," said Marcus Wells Jr., the chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes. "He was a good son, a good husband and a proud father."
Goodiron, 25, of Mandaree, known on the Fort Berthold reservation as Young Eagle, was killed Thanksgiving Day in Afghanistan when a grenade struck his vehicle while he was on patrol. He was a corporal in the 1st Battalion of the North Dakota National Guard's 188th Air Defense Artillery.
Tribal officials said he was the first member of the Three Affiliated Tribes to be killed in the war on terror. The tribal memorial service was held Wednesday in the auditorium of the Four Bears Casino and Lodge west of New Town.
Friends and family members talked of Goodiron's love of sports and service to his country. A huge screen showed highlights of his life, as a member of Mandaree's 1999 state tournament basketball team, a soldier training for military duty and a father holding his newborn son.
The service featured drum songs and Hidatsa prayers. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara make up the Three Affiliated Tribes.
Among those attending were about 50 American Indian veterans.
Goodiron's father, Paul, asked people to remember the soldiers still on duty.
"For every one of them still there, putting their lives in harm's way, I wish I could shake their hands," he said.
Nathan Hale, of Mandaree, a Tribal Council member, remembered how Nathan Goodiron volunteered to dress up as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny to entertain children.
"He was a funny, enjoyable person to be around," Hale said.
"He chose to defend his country. He gave his life for what he believed in," Hale said.
Tribal officials said Goodiron, who joined the Guard in 2001, enjoyed working with computers, and developed a PowePoint program about the tribal constitution. He attended classes at Minot State University.
The commander of the North Dakota National Guard, Maj. Gen. Dave Sprynczynatyk, said Goodiron was a true hero who "made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of all of us."
Harvey Peterson, of Beach, the commander-elect of the American Legion of North Dakota, called Goodiron "truly a noble servant to his nation and to his fellow man."
Survivors include his wife, his son, two stepchildren, his parents and his brother.
Tribal officials said Goodiron's body was expected to arrive today in Minot, and a wake was scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday at the Mandaree High School. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Mandaree High School.
http://www.bismarktribune.com/articles/2006/11/30/news/state/124786.txt
By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press Writer
NEW TOWN - Hundreds packed an auditorium to honor a fallen warrior, joining in prayers in Nathan Goodiron's native Hidatsa language and smiling through tears at pictures of his high school basketball games and his time with his newborn son.
In this photo provided by Three Affiliated Tribes, Three Affiliated Tribes Council Representative Mervin Packineau, right, holds Harriet Goodiron after she recieved a Pendleton blanket from theTribe in honor of her fallen son, North Dakota National Guard Cpl. Nathan Goodiron, of Mandaree, N.D., during a memorial service, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006, in New Town, N.D. Goodiron was killed last week on duty in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Three Affiliated Tribes, L.M. Baker) ** NO SALES **
"He was proud to be an American soldier, an American Indian soldier. He knew the meaning of the word sacrifice," said Marcus Wells Jr., the chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes. "He was a good son, a good husband and a proud father."
Goodiron, 25, of Mandaree, known on the Fort Berthold reservation as Young Eagle, was killed Thanksgiving Day in Afghanistan when a grenade struck his vehicle while he was on patrol. He was a corporal in the 1st Battalion of the North Dakota National Guard's 188th Air Defense Artillery.
Tribal officials said he was the first member of the Three Affiliated Tribes to be killed in the war on terror. The tribal memorial service was held Wednesday in the auditorium of the Four Bears Casino and Lodge west of New Town.
Friends and family members talked of Goodiron's love of sports and service to his country. A huge screen showed highlights of his life, as a member of Mandaree's 1999 state tournament basketball team, a soldier training for military duty and a father holding his newborn son.
The service featured drum songs and Hidatsa prayers. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara make up the Three Affiliated Tribes.
Among those attending were about 50 American Indian veterans.
Goodiron's father, Paul, asked people to remember the soldiers still on duty.
"For every one of them still there, putting their lives in harm's way, I wish I could shake their hands," he said.
Nathan Hale, of Mandaree, a Tribal Council member, remembered how Nathan Goodiron volunteered to dress up as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny to entertain children.
"He was a funny, enjoyable person to be around," Hale said.
"He chose to defend his country. He gave his life for what he believed in," Hale said.
Tribal officials said Goodiron, who joined the Guard in 2001, enjoyed working with computers, and developed a PowePoint program about the tribal constitution. He attended classes at Minot State University.
The commander of the North Dakota National Guard, Maj. Gen. Dave Sprynczynatyk, said Goodiron was a true hero who "made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of all of us."
Harvey Peterson, of Beach, the commander-elect of the American Legion of North Dakota, called Goodiron "truly a noble servant to his nation and to his fellow man."
Survivors include his wife, his son, two stepchildren, his parents and his brother.
Tribal officials said Goodiron's body was expected to arrive today in Minot, and a wake was scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday at the Mandaree High School. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Mandaree High School.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 12 2006, 08:12 AM
I always hate to hear these stories whereing a soldier was close to coming home when they ran into an unfortunate turn of fate. It is especially cruel when it comes close to the holidays and there is mail in transit either to or from the soldier involved. Lord, I ask that this family, and all of those who have sufferred such losses, receive your blessings and that they find peace in the protection of Our Blessed Mother and your Sacred Heart, Amen.
QUOTE
Ohio soldier killed by explosive in Iraq
By Barbara Carmen and Matt Zapotosky
The Columbus Dispatch
Saturday, December 9, 2006 12:09 AM
Karen Pomante packed her son's Christmas gifts and made sure to mail them by last Sunday's deadline to reach Iraq.
Don't send much, her 22-year-old son had told her. Vincent Pomante III would have to pack it when he came home. His three-year hitch with the Army would be up Jan. 9.
Instead, Pomante, a standout wrestler for Westerville South High School, will come home to full honors.
The U.S. Army specialist and tank gunner was killed Wednesday by an improvised explosive device. His family is still waiting to find out exactly how and where he was killed.
His mother learned of her son's death Thursday, and family members, including the soldier's younger sister, Amy, and his father, Vincent Jr., are making funeral arrangements.
Karen Pomante said her son was proud of his Army service.
“9/11 had a huge effect for my son and his friends,” she said.
Her son, known to friends and family as “V.J.,” was happy most of the time, his mother said. “He really liked being outside. He liked to fish. He liked to play Frisbee golf. He sailed with his friends whenever he could be anywhere near water.”
George Crooks, Pomante's wrestling coach at Westerville South, remembered the lanky kid who was “able to put anybody in the cradle.”
Pomante, who was nearly 6 feet, 5 inches and wrestled at 189 pounds, had qualified for the district tournament in his senior year after a comeback victory against a wrestler from Hilliard Davidson.
“He jumped up in joy,” Crooks said. “It was a good way for him to finish his four-year career.”
Off the mat, Pomante was “always smiling” and was famous for bringing his sense of humor to the team. Four days before he had to shave his head for wrestling season, Pomante came to school sporting a mullet, Crooks said.
Now, the only reminders Crooks have of Pomante are an American flag patch and an Iraqi dinar that Pomante gave him during a visit home last year. Both are hanging in Crooks' classroom.
His mom had sent V.J. a small Christmas tree, some beef jerky, a new pillow and CDs of comedian Larry the Cable Guy.
“He thought he was going to be home by the end of February,” she said.
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=232076By Barbara Carmen and Matt Zapotosky
The Columbus Dispatch
Saturday, December 9, 2006 12:09 AM
Karen Pomante packed her son's Christmas gifts and made sure to mail them by last Sunday's deadline to reach Iraq.
Don't send much, her 22-year-old son had told her. Vincent Pomante III would have to pack it when he came home. His three-year hitch with the Army would be up Jan. 9.
Instead, Pomante, a standout wrestler for Westerville South High School, will come home to full honors.
The U.S. Army specialist and tank gunner was killed Wednesday by an improvised explosive device. His family is still waiting to find out exactly how and where he was killed.
His mother learned of her son's death Thursday, and family members, including the soldier's younger sister, Amy, and his father, Vincent Jr., are making funeral arrangements.
Karen Pomante said her son was proud of his Army service.
“9/11 had a huge effect for my son and his friends,” she said.
Her son, known to friends and family as “V.J.,” was happy most of the time, his mother said. “He really liked being outside. He liked to fish. He liked to play Frisbee golf. He sailed with his friends whenever he could be anywhere near water.”
George Crooks, Pomante's wrestling coach at Westerville South, remembered the lanky kid who was “able to put anybody in the cradle.”
Pomante, who was nearly 6 feet, 5 inches and wrestled at 189 pounds, had qualified for the district tournament in his senior year after a comeback victory against a wrestler from Hilliard Davidson.
“He jumped up in joy,” Crooks said. “It was a good way for him to finish his four-year career.”
Off the mat, Pomante was “always smiling” and was famous for bringing his sense of humor to the team. Four days before he had to shave his head for wrestling season, Pomante came to school sporting a mullet, Crooks said.
Now, the only reminders Crooks have of Pomante are an American flag patch and an Iraqi dinar that Pomante gave him during a visit home last year. Both are hanging in Crooks' classroom.
His mom had sent V.J. a small Christmas tree, some beef jerky, a new pillow and CDs of comedian Larry the Cable Guy.
“He thought he was going to be home by the end of February,” she said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 12 2006, 04:46 PM
Here is another American soldier who was into his second tour of duty in Iraq and has left behind a wife and three children (ages 9, 8, and 9 months). His mother had recently sent him a goody package, but it probably never arrived before he died. There are almost 3000 stories like this of Americans who have died as well as over 22,000 stories of those who have been injured in Iraq. Please remember these fine Americans and their families in your prayers.[quote] Iraq blast kills Army soldier; Iowa parents grieve loss of son
By JARED STRONG
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Two Iowa parents are mourning the loss of their son, an Army soldier who was killed Thursday in a bomb attack in Iraq.
Army Staff Sgt. Jeremy W. Mulhair, 35, was killed just more than a month after he left for a second tour of duty in Iraq, the U.S. Department of Defense said Saturday. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division in Fort Hood, Texas.
Mulhair died when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle during reconnaissance operations in Taji, about 20 miles north of Baghdad.
The soldier's mother, Mildred Mulhair of Kimballton, said the last time she talked with her son was shortly before he was deployed in late October.
"He was proud of his service. He was ready to do his duty, but he wasn't really excited because he has a 9-month-old baby," Mildred Mulhair said.
Jeremy Mulhair grew up in the Omaha area and served with the ROTC and National Guard before joining the Army about seven years ago, shortly before he was married, his mother said. His parents moved to Iowa about eight years ago.
Mulhair's wife and three children - ages 9, 8 and 9 months - live on the military base at Fort Hood.
Mildred Mulhair said her son had previously served overseas in Korea and in Iraq for a year, shortly after the war began in 2003.
"He always did play with army men when he was little," she said, adding that her son was following in the footsteps of his father, Jerry, who is a Vietnam veteran.
Mildred Mulhair recently sent her son a care package with a letter, snack food and toiletries. She doubts that it made it to him before his death, and has requested that military officials return the letter to her.
She said that funeral services will be scheduled after her son's body is returned to Texas, but that the burial will take place in Omaha.
Forty-seven Iowans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of the war in March 2003.
Mulhair's death came during the deadliest month for civilians in Iraq since the war began.http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061203/NEWS08/612030345/-1/BUSINESS04
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 13 2006, 10:31 AM
Here is a Louisiana veteran of a previous tour in Iraq who leaves behind a young son. If you go back through the previous posts in this thread you will find way too many of these stories. Pray for Ryan and his family that they are able to cope and adapt to his passing.
QUOTE
Bomb blast kills La. soldier serving in Iraq
By SONYA KIMBRELL
Advocate staff writer
Published: Dec 7, 2006
A 26-year-old soldier from Vacherie was killed by a roadside bomb Monday while on a mission in Iraq, family members said Wednesday.
The U.S. Department of Defense has not confirmed the death, but the family of U.S. Army Sgt. Jay Ryan Gauthreaux was notified Monday night that he was killed, said his stepmother, Wanda Gauthreaux of Gonzales.
Gauthreaux said her stepson — who left behind a 4-year-old son, Devin — had been in Iraq since the end of September. It was his second tour of duty in that country.
“He was there in 2004,” she said Wednesday afternoon.
The Department of Defense hasn’t released details of the incident.
But Gauthreaux said she was told her stepson died when the Humvee he was riding in hit an improvised explosive device near Baqubah, Iraq. The family was informed he was the only soldier to die in the blast.
“We were told he was hand-picked for the mission because he was the highest-scoring marksman in his unit,” she said.
Sgt. Gauthreaux, a Vacherie native, graduated in 1998 from St. James High School, where he played football and tennis. He enlisted in the U.S. Army while still in school and left for basic training a week after graduating, his stepmother said.
“He was career Army. It was what he always wanted to do. He was caring and giving and believed in what he was doing. He was a hero in our book,” she said.
His father, Michael Gauthreaux, also lives in Gonzales. His mother, Faye Crawford, lives in Missouri.
Sgt. Gauthreaux was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas.
Gauthreaux said the family doesn’t know when the Army will return the body.
Funeral arrangements are pending with Ourso Funeral Home in Donaldsonville. The funeral will be in Vacherie, she said.
By SONYA KIMBRELL
Advocate staff writer
Published: Dec 7, 2006
A 26-year-old soldier from Vacherie was killed by a roadside bomb Monday while on a mission in Iraq, family members said Wednesday.
The U.S. Department of Defense has not confirmed the death, but the family of U.S. Army Sgt. Jay Ryan Gauthreaux was notified Monday night that he was killed, said his stepmother, Wanda Gauthreaux of Gonzales.
Gauthreaux said her stepson — who left behind a 4-year-old son, Devin — had been in Iraq since the end of September. It was his second tour of duty in that country.
“He was there in 2004,” she said Wednesday afternoon.
The Department of Defense hasn’t released details of the incident.
But Gauthreaux said she was told her stepson died when the Humvee he was riding in hit an improvised explosive device near Baqubah, Iraq. The family was informed he was the only soldier to die in the blast.
“We were told he was hand-picked for the mission because he was the highest-scoring marksman in his unit,” she said.
Sgt. Gauthreaux, a Vacherie native, graduated in 1998 from St. James High School, where he played football and tennis. He enlisted in the U.S. Army while still in school and left for basic training a week after graduating, his stepmother said.
“He was career Army. It was what he always wanted to do. He was caring and giving and believed in what he was doing. He was a hero in our book,” she said.
His father, Michael Gauthreaux, also lives in Gonzales. His mother, Faye Crawford, lives in Missouri.
Sgt. Gauthreaux was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas.
Gauthreaux said the family doesn’t know when the Army will return the body.
Funeral arrangements are pending with Ourso Funeral Home in Donaldsonville. The funeral will be in Vacherie, she said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 13 2006, 09:45 PM
This is the first female Marine officer killed in Iraq. She sounds like she was quite a lady who loved to run and finished many marathons and iron-man triathlons, including inside Iraq. I am sure she will be missed by the press corps as she was responsible for escorting the press in Iraq. God rest her soul and bless her family. There is another link at the end of the story with furthe information about her.
QUOTE
O.C. native dies in Iraq
The Mission Viejo graduate is the first female Marine officer killed in the war.
By ERIKA I. RITCHIE
The Orange County Register
MISSION VIEJO – Megan McClung loved running, rain, shine or heat.
Even in war, the 34-year-old USMC major with red hair and flashing brown eyes tried to maintain balance – running along the Tigris at nightfall and competing in the Marine Marathon race in October in the U.S. She competed in six Ironmans and planned to run in a marathon on Sunday in Iraq.
But her life was cut short Wednesday when a roadside bomb blew up the truck she was riding in in Ramadi, Iraq. Two other military personnel were also killed. She was the first female Marine officer to be killed in the conflict, based on Defense Department statistics, the Associated Press reported.
McClung grew up in Mission Viejo, graduated from Mission Viejo High School, and received her officer's commission from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1995. In 2004, she left active duty and went to Iraq as a private contractor for Kellogg, Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary. She came out of the Reserves in 2006 and returned to Iraq as a Marine.
"We can't sum up her 34 years in a brief statement," her parents, Re and Michael McClung said from their home in Coupeville, Wash. "We know she was an outstanding Marine, a good friend, beloved sister and daughter. People always told us they felt better after spending time with her."
Since her death, friends and colleagues remembered her in blogs on the Internet calling her a great friend, an avid athlete and a patriot.
A colleague at the Public Affairs Office at MCAS Cherry Point recounted the numerous phone calls she received from across the U.S. after news of McClung's death. In her blog entry, she wrote: "We cried, we tried to comfort each other. As we talked about Megan, many times we ended up laughing as we remembered something Megan had said or done."
A journalist who worked with her in Iraq writes she was "a sharp and talented young woman … who can never be replaced."
Don Karpinen, a 20-year neighbor of the McClungs in Mission Viejo, knew that McClung was determined and goal-oriented even as a child and teenager. "She was witty and she stood on her own laurels," he said. "She had her opinions and wasn't afraid to express them."
McClung most recently served as a public affairs officer assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Her mother said her daughter always ended her briefings with "Be bold, be brief and be gone.
"Megan lived by her own words," she said.
A memorial service will be held at the Marine Corps Memorial Chapel at the Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Va. on Dec. 18. McClung will be buried at the Arlington National Cemetery the next day.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1380551.phpThe Mission Viejo graduate is the first female Marine officer killed in the war.
By ERIKA I. RITCHIE
The Orange County Register
MISSION VIEJO – Megan McClung loved running, rain, shine or heat.
Even in war, the 34-year-old USMC major with red hair and flashing brown eyes tried to maintain balance – running along the Tigris at nightfall and competing in the Marine Marathon race in October in the U.S. She competed in six Ironmans and planned to run in a marathon on Sunday in Iraq.
But her life was cut short Wednesday when a roadside bomb blew up the truck she was riding in in Ramadi, Iraq. Two other military personnel were also killed. She was the first female Marine officer to be killed in the conflict, based on Defense Department statistics, the Associated Press reported.
McClung grew up in Mission Viejo, graduated from Mission Viejo High School, and received her officer's commission from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1995. In 2004, she left active duty and went to Iraq as a private contractor for Kellogg, Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary. She came out of the Reserves in 2006 and returned to Iraq as a Marine.
"We can't sum up her 34 years in a brief statement," her parents, Re and Michael McClung said from their home in Coupeville, Wash. "We know she was an outstanding Marine, a good friend, beloved sister and daughter. People always told us they felt better after spending time with her."
Since her death, friends and colleagues remembered her in blogs on the Internet calling her a great friend, an avid athlete and a patriot.
A colleague at the Public Affairs Office at MCAS Cherry Point recounted the numerous phone calls she received from across the U.S. after news of McClung's death. In her blog entry, she wrote: "We cried, we tried to comfort each other. As we talked about Megan, many times we ended up laughing as we remembered something Megan had said or done."
A journalist who worked with her in Iraq writes she was "a sharp and talented young woman … who can never be replaced."
Don Karpinen, a 20-year neighbor of the McClungs in Mission Viejo, knew that McClung was determined and goal-oriented even as a child and teenager. "She was witty and she stood on her own laurels," he said. "She had her opinions and wasn't afraid to express them."
McClung most recently served as a public affairs officer assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Her mother said her daughter always ended her briefings with "Be bold, be brief and be gone.
"Megan lived by her own words," she said.
A memorial service will be held at the Marine Corps Memorial Chapel at the Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Va. on Dec. 18. McClung will be buried at the Arlington National Cemetery the next day.
Another link with information about Maj. McClung http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003496042
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 14 2006, 08:56 PM
This death led to the meeting of the two families of the deceased. I guess you could call this bittersweet as Marco's biological family got to meet Marco's girlfriend and daughter.
QUOTE
Family finds fallen Longwood soldier's girlfriend
By Henry Pierson Curtis
Orlando Sentinel
Posted December 8 2006
ORLANDO · A family's search for the girlfriend and infant daughter of a Special Forces soldier from Longwood who was mortally wounded this week in Iraq ended with a phone call.
Spc. Marco Miller's brother and sisters found his girlfriend's telephone number late Tuesday, the same day the paratrooper was taken off life support at a military hospital in Germany.
Miller, 36, suffered massive head wounds Sunday from enemy fire while conducting an escort mission in Taji, Iraq. Miller was assigned to the 3rd Battalion Support Company, 20th Special Forces Group, Camp Blanding, the Department of Defense announced late Thursday.
The Army flew his sisters and brother to Germany, where they decided nothing more could be done for him, the family said. Marco Miller's siblings knew he had a child but did not know his girlfriend's name and were unable to reach her earlier in the week.
They found Misty Jefferson's phone number among Marco Miller's papers, his brother said.
"I personally wanted to be the one who told her," younger brother Demond Miller said Thursday afternoon. "She's already part of our family."
The Fern Park security consultant met Jefferson and his niece, 5-month-old Tamia Michelle, on Wednesday when he flew home from Germany.
"They will come to the funeral," he said of the family gathering to be held next week in Miller's hometown of Warren, Ohio. Jefferson would not speak to the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday, saying she was still trying to deal with Marco Miller's death.
Renee Daniels, the soldier's mother, said in a telephone interview that she was looking forward to finally holding her sixth grandchild. She and other family members knew the baby's name, but her son Marco, whom she described as very private, hadn't told them his girlfriend's name.
Jefferson, of Maitland, dated Marco Miller for about a year before he shipped out last spring for Iraq. After their daughter's birth in August, she e-mailed him photos of Tamia, family members said.
A veteran of the first Gulf War, he re-enlisted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, family members said. Jefferson's name apparently was not included on the list of those who should be notified in the event of his death, Demond Miller said.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-adeadsoldier08dec08,0,3913032.story
By Henry Pierson Curtis
Orlando Sentinel
Posted December 8 2006
ORLANDO · A family's search for the girlfriend and infant daughter of a Special Forces soldier from Longwood who was mortally wounded this week in Iraq ended with a phone call.
Spc. Marco Miller's brother and sisters found his girlfriend's telephone number late Tuesday, the same day the paratrooper was taken off life support at a military hospital in Germany.
Miller, 36, suffered massive head wounds Sunday from enemy fire while conducting an escort mission in Taji, Iraq. Miller was assigned to the 3rd Battalion Support Company, 20th Special Forces Group, Camp Blanding, the Department of Defense announced late Thursday.
The Army flew his sisters and brother to Germany, where they decided nothing more could be done for him, the family said. Marco Miller's siblings knew he had a child but did not know his girlfriend's name and were unable to reach her earlier in the week.
They found Misty Jefferson's phone number among Marco Miller's papers, his brother said.
"I personally wanted to be the one who told her," younger brother Demond Miller said Thursday afternoon. "She's already part of our family."
The Fern Park security consultant met Jefferson and his niece, 5-month-old Tamia Michelle, on Wednesday when he flew home from Germany.
"They will come to the funeral," he said of the family gathering to be held next week in Miller's hometown of Warren, Ohio. Jefferson would not speak to the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday, saying she was still trying to deal with Marco Miller's death.
Renee Daniels, the soldier's mother, said in a telephone interview that she was looking forward to finally holding her sixth grandchild. She and other family members knew the baby's name, but her son Marco, whom she described as very private, hadn't told them his girlfriend's name.
Jefferson, of Maitland, dated Marco Miller for about a year before he shipped out last spring for Iraq. After their daughter's birth in August, she e-mailed him photos of Tamia, family members said.
A veteran of the first Gulf War, he re-enlisted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, family members said. Jefferson's name apparently was not included on the list of those who should be notified in the event of his death, Demond Miller said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 14 2006, 11:59 PM
This story is truly tragic. Can you just imagine the horror in the mind of Ivan's fiance when she received word that he had died only to be struck with the double tragedy of getting his engagement ring two hours later? War is cruel and the results are not often pretty, but this is especially hard to take!
QUOTE
Her dreams crushed day ring arrives
S.I. fiancé dies during 2nd tour in Iraq
BY TANYANIKA SAMUELS and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Sgt. Yevgeniy Ryndych
The first blow was delivered to the fiancée of a Staten Island soldier by a man in uniform - word that her beloved was killed in combat in Iraq.
The second was delivered two hours later by a FedEx truck - a package from Sgt. Yevgeniy Ryndych with an engagement ring inside.
This story of love, war and cruel fate was described by Ryndych's grieving brother last night after the military confirmed that the 24-year-old soldier was felled Wednesday by a homemade bomb while on foot patrol with his unit in Ramadi.
Fighting back tears, his face tight with grief, Ivan Ryndych said his brother's beloved was named Kim, but he couldn't bring himself to talk about her - or what their life together might have been.
But his eyes flashed with anger when he realized he lost his brother on the same day a historic report damning President Bush's failing Iraq strategy came out.
"It won't change anything," said Ivan Ryndych, 20 today.
While weeping friends and relative gathered at the family's tidy home on a cul-de-sac, the Stars and Stripes flew at half-staff outside and loud wails could be heard coming from inside.
Ukrainian immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in 1998, the Ryndyches moved to Staten Island from Brooklyn a year ago. Their living room was filled with photographs of their son in uniform. He also had a younger sister.
Yevgeniy Ryndych joined the Army less than a month after the World Trade Center attacks, trained as an infantryman, and had a reputation as a crack shot.
"My brother wanted to go into the Army since forever," Ivan Ryndych said. "He wasn't the sporty type. He sat home and read books all the time and played army and strategy-type video games."
A graduate of Lafayette High School, Yevgeniy Ryndych loved Leo Tolstoy's novels and history books, his brother said. But he loved the Army even more.
Yevgeniy Ryndych was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colo. He did his first tour in Iraq in 2004, and when he returned to Colorado he signed up to be a Green Beret.
But when his unit was called back for a second tour, he interrupted his training and returned to Iraq in October with his buddies. "I don't want to leave them behind," he told his brother.
His unit was sent to help Marines battling for control of Al Anbar Province.
Ivan Ryndych said family members visited his brother in Colorado Springs over the summer and met his fiancée. He said he never dreamed it would be the last time he'd see him alive.
Yevgeniy Ryndych is the 175th Fort Carson soldier killed in Iraq, the military said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/478326p-402300c.html
S.I. fiancé dies during 2nd tour in Iraq
BY TANYANIKA SAMUELS and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Sgt. Yevgeniy Ryndych
The first blow was delivered to the fiancée of a Staten Island soldier by a man in uniform - word that her beloved was killed in combat in Iraq.
The second was delivered two hours later by a FedEx truck - a package from Sgt. Yevgeniy Ryndych with an engagement ring inside.
This story of love, war and cruel fate was described by Ryndych's grieving brother last night after the military confirmed that the 24-year-old soldier was felled Wednesday by a homemade bomb while on foot patrol with his unit in Ramadi.
Fighting back tears, his face tight with grief, Ivan Ryndych said his brother's beloved was named Kim, but he couldn't bring himself to talk about her - or what their life together might have been.
But his eyes flashed with anger when he realized he lost his brother on the same day a historic report damning President Bush's failing Iraq strategy came out.
"It won't change anything," said Ivan Ryndych, 20 today.
While weeping friends and relative gathered at the family's tidy home on a cul-de-sac, the Stars and Stripes flew at half-staff outside and loud wails could be heard coming from inside.
Ukrainian immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in 1998, the Ryndyches moved to Staten Island from Brooklyn a year ago. Their living room was filled with photographs of their son in uniform. He also had a younger sister.
Yevgeniy Ryndych joined the Army less than a month after the World Trade Center attacks, trained as an infantryman, and had a reputation as a crack shot.
"My brother wanted to go into the Army since forever," Ivan Ryndych said. "He wasn't the sporty type. He sat home and read books all the time and played army and strategy-type video games."
A graduate of Lafayette High School, Yevgeniy Ryndych loved Leo Tolstoy's novels and history books, his brother said. But he loved the Army even more.
Yevgeniy Ryndych was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Fort Carson, Colo. He did his first tour in Iraq in 2004, and when he returned to Colorado he signed up to be a Green Beret.
But when his unit was called back for a second tour, he interrupted his training and returned to Iraq in October with his buddies. "I don't want to leave them behind," he told his brother.
His unit was sent to help Marines battling for control of Al Anbar Province.
Ivan Ryndych said family members visited his brother in Colorado Springs over the summer and met his fiancée. He said he never dreamed it would be the last time he'd see him alive.
Yevgeniy Ryndych is the 175th Fort Carson soldier killed in Iraq, the military said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 15 2006, 12:02 PM
Here is another young soldier who had just completed a leave at home and told his family that it was the best leave he had ever had because he now had a wife and a son. Upon returning to Iraq he was killed within a matter of days. At least this family got a last chance to see their brave soldier before he departed. I am sure all of our prayers are with him and his family in their time of need.
QUOTE
Minden soldier killed in Iraq
Sgt. Josh Madden had just returned to Iraq from holiday leave at home.
December 8, 2006
Sgt. Josh Madden, during his deplyment to Iraq. The Minden soldier was killed in combat Sunday. Fallen soldier
U.S. Army Sgt. Josh Madden
Hometown: Minden.
Age: 21.
Family: wife Dani, infant son Jaxon.
Education: 2003 graduate Minden High School.
"He was the only person who made me laugh or be happy... I won't be happy, or laugh, for a long time."
Dani Madden, widow of fallen Minden soldier
Dani Madden (left) stands with her husband, Army Sgt. Josh Madden, and their 3-month-old son Jaxon, during Josh Madden's visit home in Minden in November 2006.
U.S. Army Sgt. Josh Madden.
By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com
MINDEN -- A Webster Parish soldier who returned to Iraq over the weekend after a leave home was killed Wednesday, his family has told The Times.
Sgt. Joshua Barrett Madden, 21, died with at least four other U.S. Army soldiers in Task Force Lightning when a roadside bomb detonated near them. They were conducting combat operations near Kirkuk in northern Iraq. He was one of 11 U.S. military personnel killed that day.
"He just got back to Iraq Sunday," said his father, Jerry Madden, a music minister who until recently lived in Sibley. "We put him on the airplane in Shreveport" the morning of Dec. 1.
Joshua Madden joined the Army in June 2003, shortly after graduating from Minden High School. The member of the 25th Infantry Division out of Hawaii served one previous tour in Iraq, got married in October 2005 and was the father of a 3-month-old son, Jerry Madden said. Josh Madden would have mustered out of Army service in June.
"He mentioned to us before he went back that this was probably the best leave he had ever had," his father said. Earlier leaves were good, "but he had more of a complete feeling because he had a wife and child."
His widow is Aimee Danielle "Dani" Smock Madden, 21, originally from Athens in Claiborne Parish, and the couple's new son is Jaxon Levi Madden, born Sept. 1.
Josh Madden originally intended to go to college to become an officer after he had gained on-the-ground experience as a soldier, his father said, but had decided to go to college possibly to pursue a civilian career after he married and had a son.
"He always wanted to be in the military," Jerry Madden said. "We talked to him about going to college first, and he said they don't respect lieutenants who go straight into service from college. He wanted to get experience and then go back in as an officer. He said he would have the hash marks to prove it."
For Dani Madden, his death is a crushing loss, though Thursday night a throng of family, friends and well-wishers, forming a stream through the family's cozy home in Minden, provided support and solace.
"He was the only person who made me laugh or be happy," she said. "I won't be happy, or laugh, for a long time."
Madden is at least the 90th Louisiana soldier, or soldier assigned to a Louisiana unit, to die in combat since Sept. 11, 2001.
Another local soldier, Army Pvt. Josh Burrows, was killed Nov. 26 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, out of Fort Hood, Texas. In addition to having the same first name, the soldiers were close in age, had each gotten married recently and each had an infant son.
"We read about that young soldier, and felt for his family," Jerry Madden said. That was before the knock came on his door and two Army officers broke the terrible news to him and his family Wednesday night.
Josh Madden's mother is Cindy Madden, a well-known music teacher for several schools in the Minden area. He has three older siblings who survive him, Jennifer Banamati, David C. Madden and Kevin D. Madden.
Jerry Madden said his son was a private person would have hated any publicity surrounding his death, but he'd shared thoughts of passing with an older brother during his leave.
"He told his older brother 'If I don't make it, don't mourn for me, celebrate my life,'" his father said. "Everyone he came in contact with, he touched one way or the other."
He said plans are being made for his son's funeral.
"This is going to be a celebration of his life, because he meant so much to so many people," Jerry Madden said.
Josh Madden is the first soldier from Minden to die in the war, and the loss of five soldiers from storied Schofield Barracks was the Hawaiian fort's single largest loss of life in battle since the Vietnam War.
Col. Tim Ryan, rear detachment commander of the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, said Thursday that the news of the five deaths strengthens "our resolve to comfort and support these families and our community.
"First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the families, loved ones and comrades of these brave soldiers," he said. "Learning that someone you love isn't coming home is the most difficult news to hear, and this incident speaks to the incredible sacrifice borne not only by our soldiers but by families across our nation."
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061208/NEWS01/612080313
Sgt. Josh Madden had just returned to Iraq from holiday leave at home.
December 8, 2006
Sgt. Josh Madden, during his deplyment to Iraq. The Minden soldier was killed in combat Sunday. Fallen soldier
U.S. Army Sgt. Josh Madden
Hometown: Minden.
Age: 21.
Family: wife Dani, infant son Jaxon.
Education: 2003 graduate Minden High School.
"He was the only person who made me laugh or be happy... I won't be happy, or laugh, for a long time."
Dani Madden, widow of fallen Minden soldier
Dani Madden (left) stands with her husband, Army Sgt. Josh Madden, and their 3-month-old son Jaxon, during Josh Madden's visit home in Minden in November 2006.
U.S. Army Sgt. Josh Madden.
By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com
MINDEN -- A Webster Parish soldier who returned to Iraq over the weekend after a leave home was killed Wednesday, his family has told The Times.
Sgt. Joshua Barrett Madden, 21, died with at least four other U.S. Army soldiers in Task Force Lightning when a roadside bomb detonated near them. They were conducting combat operations near Kirkuk in northern Iraq. He was one of 11 U.S. military personnel killed that day.
"He just got back to Iraq Sunday," said his father, Jerry Madden, a music minister who until recently lived in Sibley. "We put him on the airplane in Shreveport" the morning of Dec. 1.
Joshua Madden joined the Army in June 2003, shortly after graduating from Minden High School. The member of the 25th Infantry Division out of Hawaii served one previous tour in Iraq, got married in October 2005 and was the father of a 3-month-old son, Jerry Madden said. Josh Madden would have mustered out of Army service in June.
"He mentioned to us before he went back that this was probably the best leave he had ever had," his father said. Earlier leaves were good, "but he had more of a complete feeling because he had a wife and child."
His widow is Aimee Danielle "Dani" Smock Madden, 21, originally from Athens in Claiborne Parish, and the couple's new son is Jaxon Levi Madden, born Sept. 1.
Josh Madden originally intended to go to college to become an officer after he had gained on-the-ground experience as a soldier, his father said, but had decided to go to college possibly to pursue a civilian career after he married and had a son.
"He always wanted to be in the military," Jerry Madden said. "We talked to him about going to college first, and he said they don't respect lieutenants who go straight into service from college. He wanted to get experience and then go back in as an officer. He said he would have the hash marks to prove it."
For Dani Madden, his death is a crushing loss, though Thursday night a throng of family, friends and well-wishers, forming a stream through the family's cozy home in Minden, provided support and solace.
"He was the only person who made me laugh or be happy," she said. "I won't be happy, or laugh, for a long time."
Madden is at least the 90th Louisiana soldier, or soldier assigned to a Louisiana unit, to die in combat since Sept. 11, 2001.
Another local soldier, Army Pvt. Josh Burrows, was killed Nov. 26 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, out of Fort Hood, Texas. In addition to having the same first name, the soldiers were close in age, had each gotten married recently and each had an infant son.
"We read about that young soldier, and felt for his family," Jerry Madden said. That was before the knock came on his door and two Army officers broke the terrible news to him and his family Wednesday night.
Josh Madden's mother is Cindy Madden, a well-known music teacher for several schools in the Minden area. He has three older siblings who survive him, Jennifer Banamati, David C. Madden and Kevin D. Madden.
Jerry Madden said his son was a private person would have hated any publicity surrounding his death, but he'd shared thoughts of passing with an older brother during his leave.
"He told his older brother 'If I don't make it, don't mourn for me, celebrate my life,'" his father said. "Everyone he came in contact with, he touched one way or the other."
He said plans are being made for his son's funeral.
"This is going to be a celebration of his life, because he meant so much to so many people," Jerry Madden said.
Josh Madden is the first soldier from Minden to die in the war, and the loss of five soldiers from storied Schofield Barracks was the Hawaiian fort's single largest loss of life in battle since the Vietnam War.
Col. Tim Ryan, rear detachment commander of the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, said Thursday that the news of the five deaths strengthens "our resolve to comfort and support these families and our community.
"First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the families, loved ones and comrades of these brave soldiers," he said. "Learning that someone you love isn't coming home is the most difficult news to hear, and this incident speaks to the incredible sacrifice borne not only by our soldiers but by families across our nation."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 16 2006, 01:24 AM
This is one lucky Marine reservist. He survived a first attack on the riverboat he was assigned to then he was hit during a second attack. There was a third attack while he was awaiting helicopter transport after receiving treatment on the boat. He has lost a thumb and had a bullet traverse his neck but luckily it missed all the vital organs in the area, instead breaking his collar bone. Although I cannot say that I am glad to post stories about wounded veterans returning home, at least I can say that this one is about someone who didn't die in Iraq. Pray for his rapid recovery so that he can get on with his life.
QUOTE
Home from war: Wounded Leesburg marine describes facing enemy in Iraq
By: Anne Keisman
12/12/2006
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
Lance Cpl. Chris Charette, 21, sat in his parents' comfortable living room in Leesburg on Friday. It was a far cry from the scene he faced seven weeks ago: on a boat, patrolling a strategic river in Iraq -- under fire from the enemy.
On Oct. 26, Charette was shot twice - once in the neck and once in the left hand, which caused him to lose his thumb. He is left-handed.
After three hospital stays - Iraq, Germany and Bethesda, Md. -- he is now home, recovering with the help of his family, his girlfriend and physical therapy three times a week.
The Marine reservist lives with his parents, Diane and David Charette, and younger siblings Chelsea and David, in the Potomac Crossing neighborhood in Leesburg.
"We're just glad he's back. He is leading a semi-normal life right now. He still needs a lot of help," said his mother.
His left arm is temporarily paralyzed, but he gains more sensation every day. The stitches in his neck were recently removed and the physical therapy helps keep his neck and arm muscles strong.
"I'm just looking forward to one day when I won't need any medications and can drive my car," he said. He owns a Nissan NX2000, which sits idle in the driveway.
Ambushed on the Euphrates
Charette, a 2003 Stone Bridge High grad, had only been in Iraq about 10 days when he was wounded. His unit, based out of Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., is charged with protecting the waterways and dams near the city of Haditha in the Euphrates River Valley.
On Oct. 26, his unit had not yet engaged in any combat. This was about to change.
"We were on patrol on the [Euphrates] River and came under ambush," Charette said. He remembers hearing the "clanging" sound of metal hitting metal -- from his side of the boat.
"We looked onshore and there were guys hiding behind palm trees shooting at us. And we all started firing.
"We got through that ambush fine," Charette said. "But about 10 minutes later, we were ambushed again on the same side. And that time, I was hit. It hit my hand and it took off my thumb. At the time I had gloves on. I looked down and saw there was a hole in my glove and I was bleeding."
About 20 to 30 seconds later, he said, he was hit again through the neck.
"When I got hit in the neck, it threw me. It hit me hard and threw me onto my back and it paralyzed my left arm. And when I tried to get back up I couldn't do it because I couldn't move my arm.
"[The bullet] went through my neck at an angle so that it hit my collar bone, my clavicle, my scapula and went out through my shoulder. It didn't hit anything important, luckily."
Charette methodically listed everything the bullet missed: his carotid artery, his esophagus, his lungs.
"That's when the guy next to me yelled, 'Charette's hit! Charette's hit!'" One of his shipmates immediately placed a tourniquet on his arm.
Then a corpsman, the Marine equivalent to an U.S. Army medic, came over from another boat just as the second ambush ceased. The corpsman got the bleeding stopped in about a minute. But, before the Medevac arrived, the patrol boat was ambushed a third time.
"Immediately, Doc Schu, my corpsman, jumped on top of me so I wouldn't get hit or hurt anymore."
Through a reign of bullets, they finally made it to the helicopter, which transported him to Al Asad Surgical Hospital.
"They took care of me at the hospital. They put a mask on my face and I woke up a week and a half later in Germany," he said.
Two visions of Iraq
Charette reflected on two visions of war-torn Iraq: the violent one that left him bleeding on the deck of a boat, and another - one not often heard about.
His unit was stationed next to a large lake in the Al Anbar Province, Lake Qadisiyah. The lake made the news recently when a helicopter crashed into it.
"The lake was crystal clear. [There were] palm trees, yellow sand. In the early morning, you hear from the city ... the prayers. It comes out of nowhere. Sometimes they are singing, sometimes they are talking. But it's kind of peaceful, looking out over the water - the sun just coming up."
The soldier could see a kind of hope in the area's natural beauty. Since being home, he has stopped watching the news because of the constant barrage of negative images from Iraq.
"What I see on TV is not what I saw in Iraq. I saw a lot of positive stuff in Iraq." Schools are being built, he said, and police are being trained.
"There are so many people over there trying to make a difference, trying to help people out," he said. "Luckily, in Iraq, we didn't hear all the politics. We just do our thing.
"All the news shows is the body count."
The doctors tell him he could have surgery to relocate his pointer finger to act as a thumb for his left hand. He is seriously considering it.
While in Bethesda recovering, he received many gifts and visitors. One day, singer Stevie Nicks dropped by and gave him a brand-new iPod with 800 songs on it. Actor Gary Sinese and Miss Pennsylvania Emily Wills also came by.
Charette still keeps in touch with his buddies in Iraq, sometimes by phone, mostly by e-mail and instant messenging.
He is currently on military leave from Best Buy in Leesburg. He looks forward to returning to work and possibly buying a house when he is fully recovered.
He said he has the option to return to Iraq but has not decided if he will. He will definitely stay in the reserves, even if his disability keeps him off the front lines.
"Even if they gave me an office job ... I'd do it - as long as I can serve in the military and serve my country," he said.
Charette will receive his Purple Heart as soon as the paperwork moves through the process.
http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=17582756&BRD=2553&PAG=461&dept_id=506035&rfi=6
By: Anne Keisman
12/12/2006
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
Lance Cpl. Chris Charette, 21, sat in his parents' comfortable living room in Leesburg on Friday. It was a far cry from the scene he faced seven weeks ago: on a boat, patrolling a strategic river in Iraq -- under fire from the enemy.
On Oct. 26, Charette was shot twice - once in the neck and once in the left hand, which caused him to lose his thumb. He is left-handed.
After three hospital stays - Iraq, Germany and Bethesda, Md. -- he is now home, recovering with the help of his family, his girlfriend and physical therapy three times a week.
The Marine reservist lives with his parents, Diane and David Charette, and younger siblings Chelsea and David, in the Potomac Crossing neighborhood in Leesburg.
"We're just glad he's back. He is leading a semi-normal life right now. He still needs a lot of help," said his mother.
His left arm is temporarily paralyzed, but he gains more sensation every day. The stitches in his neck were recently removed and the physical therapy helps keep his neck and arm muscles strong.
"I'm just looking forward to one day when I won't need any medications and can drive my car," he said. He owns a Nissan NX2000, which sits idle in the driveway.
Ambushed on the Euphrates
Charette, a 2003 Stone Bridge High grad, had only been in Iraq about 10 days when he was wounded. His unit, based out of Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., is charged with protecting the waterways and dams near the city of Haditha in the Euphrates River Valley.
On Oct. 26, his unit had not yet engaged in any combat. This was about to change.
"We were on patrol on the [Euphrates] River and came under ambush," Charette said. He remembers hearing the "clanging" sound of metal hitting metal -- from his side of the boat.
"We looked onshore and there were guys hiding behind palm trees shooting at us. And we all started firing.
"We got through that ambush fine," Charette said. "But about 10 minutes later, we were ambushed again on the same side. And that time, I was hit. It hit my hand and it took off my thumb. At the time I had gloves on. I looked down and saw there was a hole in my glove and I was bleeding."
About 20 to 30 seconds later, he said, he was hit again through the neck.
"When I got hit in the neck, it threw me. It hit me hard and threw me onto my back and it paralyzed my left arm. And when I tried to get back up I couldn't do it because I couldn't move my arm.
"[The bullet] went through my neck at an angle so that it hit my collar bone, my clavicle, my scapula and went out through my shoulder. It didn't hit anything important, luckily."
Charette methodically listed everything the bullet missed: his carotid artery, his esophagus, his lungs.
"That's when the guy next to me yelled, 'Charette's hit! Charette's hit!'" One of his shipmates immediately placed a tourniquet on his arm.
Then a corpsman, the Marine equivalent to an U.S. Army medic, came over from another boat just as the second ambush ceased. The corpsman got the bleeding stopped in about a minute. But, before the Medevac arrived, the patrol boat was ambushed a third time.
"Immediately, Doc Schu, my corpsman, jumped on top of me so I wouldn't get hit or hurt anymore."
Through a reign of bullets, they finally made it to the helicopter, which transported him to Al Asad Surgical Hospital.
"They took care of me at the hospital. They put a mask on my face and I woke up a week and a half later in Germany," he said.
Two visions of Iraq
Charette reflected on two visions of war-torn Iraq: the violent one that left him bleeding on the deck of a boat, and another - one not often heard about.
His unit was stationed next to a large lake in the Al Anbar Province, Lake Qadisiyah. The lake made the news recently when a helicopter crashed into it.
"The lake was crystal clear. [There were] palm trees, yellow sand. In the early morning, you hear from the city ... the prayers. It comes out of nowhere. Sometimes they are singing, sometimes they are talking. But it's kind of peaceful, looking out over the water - the sun just coming up."
The soldier could see a kind of hope in the area's natural beauty. Since being home, he has stopped watching the news because of the constant barrage of negative images from Iraq.
"What I see on TV is not what I saw in Iraq. I saw a lot of positive stuff in Iraq." Schools are being built, he said, and police are being trained.
"There are so many people over there trying to make a difference, trying to help people out," he said. "Luckily, in Iraq, we didn't hear all the politics. We just do our thing.
"All the news shows is the body count."
The doctors tell him he could have surgery to relocate his pointer finger to act as a thumb for his left hand. He is seriously considering it.
While in Bethesda recovering, he received many gifts and visitors. One day, singer Stevie Nicks dropped by and gave him a brand-new iPod with 800 songs on it. Actor Gary Sinese and Miss Pennsylvania Emily Wills also came by.
Charette still keeps in touch with his buddies in Iraq, sometimes by phone, mostly by e-mail and instant messenging.
He is currently on military leave from Best Buy in Leesburg. He looks forward to returning to work and possibly buying a house when he is fully recovered.
He said he has the option to return to Iraq but has not decided if he will. He will definitely stay in the reserves, even if his disability keeps him off the front lines.
"Even if they gave me an office job ... I'd do it - as long as I can serve in the military and serve my country," he said.
Charette will receive his Purple Heart as soon as the paperwork moves through the process.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 17 2006, 07:27 AM
Here is yet another one of those strange ironies that we have seen previously. This Marine's family made a life-sized poster to send to him on his birthday, but he didn't make it long enough to see the honor that they had paid him. The loss of this Marine's life is a loss to everybody including our country as he was also involved as a teacher and spent time working in the halls fo congress. He will be missed by many and his passing is truly tragic for our country as well.
QUOTE
Marine's Character, Honor Recalled
By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 7, 2006; Page B03
The poster-size photograph his wife planned to mail to Iraq was a surprise: Holding a large banner reading, "Happy Birthday Major Dad," she and the couple's three young children posed smiling. It was to mark Trane McCloud's 40th birthday next week.
But the toll of war intervened before the gift was sent. Maj. Joseph "Trane" McCloud, 39, was killed Sunday when the CH-46 helicopter he was riding in crash-landed in a lake in Anbar province.
The career Marine, who considered Alexandria his home, had been in Iraq for three months as the operations officer with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. "He gave his life doing what he believed in," said his mother, Roma Anderson.
"He was the love of my life," said his wife, Maggie McCloud, her voice breaking, "and I'm so devastated that my children are not going to grow up with him, because he was a man of character and honor."
Described as "a Marine's Marine," McCloud served some of the best days of his career with his boots on the ground, as a platoon and company commander, his family and friends said.
He also worked at the Pentagon, did a fellowship on Capitol Hill and served as an instructor at the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico.
"He shaped and molded a lot of kids into Marine officers," said R.J. "Mac" McDougall, a friend and retired chief warrant officer. "A lot of them are over in Iraq, and they're doing great because of Trane."
During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, McCloud served on the USS Missouri, as part of the final group of Marines to work aboard the ship before it was decommissioned.
Shortly after President Bush declared the war on terrorism, McCloud was deployed to Zamboanga, in the Philippines, in charge of a small Marine unit during a time of violence and bombings. The Washington Post profiled the work of his unit, as part of a series of stories about the Sep. 11, 2001, Marines.
Later, when McCloud worked for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), he assisted on military issues and took a special interest in a loan forgiveness program for inner-city teachers. "He really worked the issue hard," Wilson said.
McCloud was recalled yesterday as a good-natured man with a dry humor who cherished his family -- and his two-tone 1959 Ford Fairlane. In their Fort Hunt neighborhood, residents knew by the sight of the car that it was McCloud.
"He just loved it," McDougall said. Some days, McCloud went cruising. Other times, "he would go out and sit in the car and just think."
McCloud and his wife had moved from Alexandria to Hawaii this year, when he was assigned to Kaneohe Bay. Before he left for Iraq, he made sure he had one day with each of his children -- their own special "daddy day," his wife said.
A 1989 graduate of the University of Tennessee, McCloud enjoyed following his alma mater's football team, which is what inspired his wife and children -- Hayden, 7, Grace, 5, and Meghan, 2 -- to dress in the school's orange uniforms for his birthday photograph.
"I wanted to do something he would appreciate," his wife said. But it remains a gift unknown.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/06/AR2006120602046.html
By Donna St. George
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 7, 2006; Page B03
The poster-size photograph his wife planned to mail to Iraq was a surprise: Holding a large banner reading, "Happy Birthday Major Dad," she and the couple's three young children posed smiling. It was to mark Trane McCloud's 40th birthday next week.
But the toll of war intervened before the gift was sent. Maj. Joseph "Trane" McCloud, 39, was killed Sunday when the CH-46 helicopter he was riding in crash-landed in a lake in Anbar province.
The career Marine, who considered Alexandria his home, had been in Iraq for three months as the operations officer with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. "He gave his life doing what he believed in," said his mother, Roma Anderson.
"He was the love of my life," said his wife, Maggie McCloud, her voice breaking, "and I'm so devastated that my children are not going to grow up with him, because he was a man of character and honor."
Described as "a Marine's Marine," McCloud served some of the best days of his career with his boots on the ground, as a platoon and company commander, his family and friends said.
He also worked at the Pentagon, did a fellowship on Capitol Hill and served as an instructor at the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico.
"He shaped and molded a lot of kids into Marine officers," said R.J. "Mac" McDougall, a friend and retired chief warrant officer. "A lot of them are over in Iraq, and they're doing great because of Trane."
During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, McCloud served on the USS Missouri, as part of the final group of Marines to work aboard the ship before it was decommissioned.
Shortly after President Bush declared the war on terrorism, McCloud was deployed to Zamboanga, in the Philippines, in charge of a small Marine unit during a time of violence and bombings. The Washington Post profiled the work of his unit, as part of a series of stories about the Sep. 11, 2001, Marines.
Later, when McCloud worked for Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), he assisted on military issues and took a special interest in a loan forgiveness program for inner-city teachers. "He really worked the issue hard," Wilson said.
McCloud was recalled yesterday as a good-natured man with a dry humor who cherished his family -- and his two-tone 1959 Ford Fairlane. In their Fort Hunt neighborhood, residents knew by the sight of the car that it was McCloud.
"He just loved it," McDougall said. Some days, McCloud went cruising. Other times, "he would go out and sit in the car and just think."
McCloud and his wife had moved from Alexandria to Hawaii this year, when he was assigned to Kaneohe Bay. Before he left for Iraq, he made sure he had one day with each of his children -- their own special "daddy day," his wife said.
A 1989 graduate of the University of Tennessee, McCloud enjoyed following his alma mater's football team, which is what inspired his wife and children -- Hayden, 7, Grace, 5, and Meghan, 2 -- to dress in the school's orange uniforms for his birthday photograph.
"I wanted to do something he would appreciate," his wife said. But it remains a gift unknown.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 18 2006, 06:59 PM
Here is the first soldier that I am posting on this thread who was serving his third tour in Iraq. He didn't have to return but volunteered so that a friend wouldn't have to do so. He also expressed some views critical of the way things were going in reference to training of Iraqi security forces and the professionalism not being exhibited by them. I am sure he will be missed by his friends and family. Remember him in your prayers.
QUOTE
'Real special man' killed on 3rd tour in Iraq
Manatee High grad filled in for platoon mate
By ANTHONY CORMIER
anthony.cormier@heraldtribune.com
BRADENTON -- Staff Sgt. John Hartman didn't have to go back to Iraq -- he had already served two tours and had a plum post-combat assignment awaiting him at a base in Oklahoma.
But when a platoon mate's wife gave birth earlier this year, Hartman was compelled to help him out.
So Hartman, a veteran Army artilleryman and Manatee High School graduate, headed back to Baghdad in his friend's stead. It was a sacrifice that cost Hartman his life.
Hartman, 39, was killed Thursday when a roadside bomb detonated near a Humvee in Baghdad. He was manning a machine gun atop the vehicle and took the brunt of the blast.
Hartman, a father of two, is the seventh person from Southwest Florida killed during the war in Iraq. Six have been killed since the official end of combat operations in May 2003. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Pentagon had confirmed the deaths of 2,892 troops during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Family and friends said there were four others in the Humvee, and Hartman's brother said Tuesday that "everybody in that vehicle died."
"An Army liaison told us that all five of them were killed," said Jared Hartman of Port Charlotte. "I don't know if that's gotten out yet, but the Army told us there were 'mass casualties.'"
Pentagon officials could not be reached Tuesday afternoon, and a spokeswoman at Fort Stewart, Ga., where Hartman's regiment is based, declined to comment on other casualties.
Hartman sometimes expressed to his friends that he was frustrated with the war's direction, especially the disorganization of Iraqi security forces.
When Hartman decided to return for a third tour in July, he was assigned to a military transition team made up of Special Forces operators, Army Rangers and other experienced soldiers who worked in small groups to train the Iraqi military.
He was dismayed that police checkpoints throughout Baghdad provided little resistance to insurgents, who have wreaked havoc across Iraq during post-combat operations.
In a letter to a friend, Hartman said he recently saw a bound and gagged man try to escape a truck at an Iraqi checkpoint -- but the man was shoved back inside the truck and a group of insurgents moved past unnoticed.
"Some of the stories are unbelievable," said Rich Hickey, a longtime friend who served alongside Hartman in the late 1980s.
Hartman was a skinny teenager who graduated from Manatee High in 1986. He didn't have a lick of fear -- or a clue what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.
He joined the Army for a short stint after high school, then got out but couldn't get comfortable in civilian life.
He bounced between jobs -- he was once a roofer in Bradenton -- and made his way to stay with friends in Washington before re-enlisting in November 1990.
Like his father, a Marine who fought in Vietnam, Hartman loved the camaraderie of the military.
He wasn't afraid of war, or of dying, his father said Tuesday. But the one thing he could not stand was to be away from his fellow soldiers while they were fighting.
"I don't think he was ever scared of anything in his life," said his father, John Hartman, of Lake City. "He just loved the military, that type of life. He thought he could never see the world by staying at home."
Hartman, who recently divorced, rolled into Iraq during the initial invasion to provide a deadly range of fire with a 155mm Paladin howitzer. The second go-around had Hartman in downtown Baghdad, patrolling some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods in an armed Humvee.
"He never saw the inside of the Green Zone," the protected area, Hickey said.
His trips home were often brief, but the fish were plentiful. A lifelong fisherman and hunter, Hartman was an outdoorsman who would rather be digging ditches than sitting behind a computer screen.
Hartman's sense of humor often kept other soldiers, and even harried family members, afloat during times of trouble. Witness, for instance, pictures of a recent fishing trip: Hartman and Hickey are shirtless and possibly a bit drunk, smiling like fools as they cradle small fish.
"He was one of those guys that it didn't matter what was going on," Jared Hartman said, "John could make you laugh. He was a real special man."
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061206/NEWS/612060330/1060
Manatee High grad filled in for platoon mate
By ANTHONY CORMIER
anthony.cormier@heraldtribune.com
BRADENTON -- Staff Sgt. John Hartman didn't have to go back to Iraq -- he had already served two tours and had a plum post-combat assignment awaiting him at a base in Oklahoma.
But when a platoon mate's wife gave birth earlier this year, Hartman was compelled to help him out.
So Hartman, a veteran Army artilleryman and Manatee High School graduate, headed back to Baghdad in his friend's stead. It was a sacrifice that cost Hartman his life.
Hartman, 39, was killed Thursday when a roadside bomb detonated near a Humvee in Baghdad. He was manning a machine gun atop the vehicle and took the brunt of the blast.
Hartman, a father of two, is the seventh person from Southwest Florida killed during the war in Iraq. Six have been killed since the official end of combat operations in May 2003. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Pentagon had confirmed the deaths of 2,892 troops during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Family and friends said there were four others in the Humvee, and Hartman's brother said Tuesday that "everybody in that vehicle died."
"An Army liaison told us that all five of them were killed," said Jared Hartman of Port Charlotte. "I don't know if that's gotten out yet, but the Army told us there were 'mass casualties.'"
Pentagon officials could not be reached Tuesday afternoon, and a spokeswoman at Fort Stewart, Ga., where Hartman's regiment is based, declined to comment on other casualties.
Hartman sometimes expressed to his friends that he was frustrated with the war's direction, especially the disorganization of Iraqi security forces.
When Hartman decided to return for a third tour in July, he was assigned to a military transition team made up of Special Forces operators, Army Rangers and other experienced soldiers who worked in small groups to train the Iraqi military.
He was dismayed that police checkpoints throughout Baghdad provided little resistance to insurgents, who have wreaked havoc across Iraq during post-combat operations.
In a letter to a friend, Hartman said he recently saw a bound and gagged man try to escape a truck at an Iraqi checkpoint -- but the man was shoved back inside the truck and a group of insurgents moved past unnoticed.
"Some of the stories are unbelievable," said Rich Hickey, a longtime friend who served alongside Hartman in the late 1980s.
Hartman was a skinny teenager who graduated from Manatee High in 1986. He didn't have a lick of fear -- or a clue what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.
He joined the Army for a short stint after high school, then got out but couldn't get comfortable in civilian life.
He bounced between jobs -- he was once a roofer in Bradenton -- and made his way to stay with friends in Washington before re-enlisting in November 1990.
Like his father, a Marine who fought in Vietnam, Hartman loved the camaraderie of the military.
He wasn't afraid of war, or of dying, his father said Tuesday. But the one thing he could not stand was to be away from his fellow soldiers while they were fighting.
"I don't think he was ever scared of anything in his life," said his father, John Hartman, of Lake City. "He just loved the military, that type of life. He thought he could never see the world by staying at home."
Hartman, who recently divorced, rolled into Iraq during the initial invasion to provide a deadly range of fire with a 155mm Paladin howitzer. The second go-around had Hartman in downtown Baghdad, patrolling some of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods in an armed Humvee.
"He never saw the inside of the Green Zone," the protected area, Hickey said.
His trips home were often brief, but the fish were plentiful. A lifelong fisherman and hunter, Hartman was an outdoorsman who would rather be digging ditches than sitting behind a computer screen.
Hartman's sense of humor often kept other soldiers, and even harried family members, afloat during times of trouble. Witness, for instance, pictures of a recent fishing trip: Hartman and Hickey are shirtless and possibly a bit drunk, smiling like fools as they cradle small fish.
"He was one of those guys that it didn't matter what was going on," Jared Hartman said, "John could make you laugh. He was a real special man."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 19 2006, 07:52 PM
Here is another Washington soldier injured in Iraq. His injuries aren't likely to be a permanent disability, but his friend who sustained injuries at the same time will live a life that is permanently altered as he will be fitted for prosthetics to replace his missing limbs. Remember in your prayers those who are injured as well as those who have died as they will carry the memories with them for the remainder of their lives.
QUOTE
Local soldier wounded in Iraq returns home
By Chris Rosenblum
crosenbl@centredaily.com
Barb Hoover, of Pine Glen, can breathe easier now.
Her son, Staff Sgt. Scott Hoover, is back in Tacoma, Wash., wounded but safe.
During a Dec. 4 patrol in Baghdad, a roadside bomb destroyed Hoover's Stryker combat vehicle, breaking his left shoulder blade, damaging his rotator cuff and sending shrapnel through his left thigh.
Evacuated by helicopter, Hoover, 37, arrived at Fort Lewis -- headquarters of his unit, the 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division -- on Tuesday after stops in Germany and Air Force bases. Doctors released him that evening to begin his recovery at home.
"He's got a long road ahead of him," his mother said. "But to see some of the servicemen who were injured and came back, he realizes he's very lucky."
He's also the second war casualty for his tiny hometown in rural Burnside Township. On May 12 last year, Sgt. Andy Jodon, 27, died when his Humvee was bombed near Samarra, Iraq. A town park renamed in his honor contains a memorial.
Since March 2003, 2,937 Americans have died in Iraq. More than 22,000 have been wounded.
Barb Hoover said her son didn't know Jodon personally but "made a few phone calls to help" after his death. She knows Jodon's widow, Bobbi Jo Jodon, from Girl Scouts, however, and thought of the family especially as her son, a 19-year veteran, began his second tour.
One month after returning to Iraq, Scott Hoover rumbled down a country road in search of a downed F-16 pilot.
The first of Bravo Company's two Strykers passed over the four 122-mm mortar shells wired together in a culvert. Hoover's came next.
Pvt. Adam Poppenhouse from Ohio took most of the blast.
He lost his right leg at the knee, but surgeons saved his left leg. Six operations later, pins and screws in his shattered arm, he wound up at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Less than a minute before the blast, he and Hoover had talked about all the improvised explosive devices, how injuries didn't matter as long as they lived.
Stunned, on top of the twisted Stryker, Hoover saw Poppenhouse inside and held his hand until the medevac arrived, telling him he was going home to see his baby girl.
The next time they spoke was on the phone.
Hoover called from Germany. Poppenhouse didn't have a phone in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed, so nurses pulled his bed close to his door and stretched a line from their station.
"He was worried to death about me, and I was worried to death about him," Hoover said.
Hoover reassured Poppenhouse that "they can do amazing things with prosthetics" and in any case, his daughter wouldn't care. Poppenhouse said he held on to those last words in the wreckage and told of holding his 2-month-old again. Both men cried.
They had survived.
"That's the main thing," Barb Hoover said. "I've talked with Adam's mother, and we keep saying, 'He's alive. He's alive.' "
So is Hoover's son, through with the war but facing a battle after the Christmas glow subsides. His wife, son and two daughters will help him. He just wishes he could do the same for his platoon.
"It's good to be home with my family," he said. "But I still worry about my brothers in arms over there."
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/local/16234896.htm
By Chris Rosenblum
crosenbl@centredaily.com
Barb Hoover, of Pine Glen, can breathe easier now.
Her son, Staff Sgt. Scott Hoover, is back in Tacoma, Wash., wounded but safe.
During a Dec. 4 patrol in Baghdad, a roadside bomb destroyed Hoover's Stryker combat vehicle, breaking his left shoulder blade, damaging his rotator cuff and sending shrapnel through his left thigh.
Evacuated by helicopter, Hoover, 37, arrived at Fort Lewis -- headquarters of his unit, the 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division -- on Tuesday after stops in Germany and Air Force bases. Doctors released him that evening to begin his recovery at home.
"He's got a long road ahead of him," his mother said. "But to see some of the servicemen who were injured and came back, he realizes he's very lucky."
He's also the second war casualty for his tiny hometown in rural Burnside Township. On May 12 last year, Sgt. Andy Jodon, 27, died when his Humvee was bombed near Samarra, Iraq. A town park renamed in his honor contains a memorial.
Since March 2003, 2,937 Americans have died in Iraq. More than 22,000 have been wounded.
Barb Hoover said her son didn't know Jodon personally but "made a few phone calls to help" after his death. She knows Jodon's widow, Bobbi Jo Jodon, from Girl Scouts, however, and thought of the family especially as her son, a 19-year veteran, began his second tour.
One month after returning to Iraq, Scott Hoover rumbled down a country road in search of a downed F-16 pilot.
The first of Bravo Company's two Strykers passed over the four 122-mm mortar shells wired together in a culvert. Hoover's came next.
Pvt. Adam Poppenhouse from Ohio took most of the blast.
He lost his right leg at the knee, but surgeons saved his left leg. Six operations later, pins and screws in his shattered arm, he wound up at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Less than a minute before the blast, he and Hoover had talked about all the improvised explosive devices, how injuries didn't matter as long as they lived.
Stunned, on top of the twisted Stryker, Hoover saw Poppenhouse inside and held his hand until the medevac arrived, telling him he was going home to see his baby girl.
The next time they spoke was on the phone.
Hoover called from Germany. Poppenhouse didn't have a phone in the intensive care unit at Walter Reed, so nurses pulled his bed close to his door and stretched a line from their station.
"He was worried to death about me, and I was worried to death about him," Hoover said.
Hoover reassured Poppenhouse that "they can do amazing things with prosthetics" and in any case, his daughter wouldn't care. Poppenhouse said he held on to those last words in the wreckage and told of holding his 2-month-old again. Both men cried.
They had survived.
"That's the main thing," Barb Hoover said. "I've talked with Adam's mother, and we keep saying, 'He's alive. He's alive.' "
So is Hoover's son, through with the war but facing a battle after the Christmas glow subsides. His wife, son and two daughters will help him. He just wishes he could do the same for his platoon.
"It's good to be home with my family," he said. "But I still worry about my brothers in arms over there."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 20 2006, 02:58 PM
This is a man who is lucky indeed to be alive. He lost 1/3 of his brain and is undergoing a series of reconstructive procedures to try to get at least part of his life put back together. His wife and 4 year-old daughter are obviously very supportive and love this man very much. Frank will carry the scars of his service with him the rest of his life and will be a walking testimony to the sacrifices that so many have given in this hour of America's involvement in Iraq. Be certain to watch the video clip of a news segment that is attached to the story.
QUOTE
Wounded Soldier To Get His Smile Back
POSTED: 2:55 pm PST December 12, 2006
UPDATED: 5:10 pm PST December 12, 2006
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SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- A soldier, wounded in Iraq, traveled from his home in Yuma to San Diego Tuesday to take the first step in getting his smile back.
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View Images: Wounded Soldier To Get His Smile Back
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It's hard to believe Sgt. Frank Sandoval has anything to smile about.
His convoy was attacked in Iraq on Nov. 28, 2005.
When an IED exploded near his Humvee, Sandoval, a gunner, was critically injured.
Shrapnel was embedded in Sandoval's brain and surgeons removed a third of his brain and half of his skull to save his life.
Now, Sandoval, 26, is able to stand, even walk with help. Speech is still difficult but he has regained many of his cerebral functions with the exception of short-term memory.
Sandoval's father told a friend about his son's injuries and his missing teeth.
That friend worked for Poway dentist Bruce Johnson.
When Johnson heard the story, he agreed to donate his time to give Sandoval dental implants and repair the soldier's smile lost more than a year ago.
The first step in the long procedure was X-rays taken Tuesday.
It will take several months before the implants are in place.
Sandoval's wife Michelle and his 4-year old daughter Joelena said they all have something to smile about.
"He's going to be rewarded for what he sacrificed," said Michelle, "but the best thing is that he's here with us now."
Sandoval has been nominated for a bronze star. He's already received a purple heart, which he gave to his daughter.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/health/10519978/detail.html
POSTED: 2:55 pm PST December 12, 2006
UPDATED: 5:10 pm PST December 12, 2006
Email This Story | Print This Story
SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- A soldier, wounded in Iraq, traveled from his home in Yuma to San Diego Tuesday to take the first step in getting his smile back.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
View Images: Wounded Soldier To Get His Smile Back
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's hard to believe Sgt. Frank Sandoval has anything to smile about.
His convoy was attacked in Iraq on Nov. 28, 2005.
When an IED exploded near his Humvee, Sandoval, a gunner, was critically injured.
Shrapnel was embedded in Sandoval's brain and surgeons removed a third of his brain and half of his skull to save his life.
Now, Sandoval, 26, is able to stand, even walk with help. Speech is still difficult but he has regained many of his cerebral functions with the exception of short-term memory.
Sandoval's father told a friend about his son's injuries and his missing teeth.
That friend worked for Poway dentist Bruce Johnson.
When Johnson heard the story, he agreed to donate his time to give Sandoval dental implants and repair the soldier's smile lost more than a year ago.
The first step in the long procedure was X-rays taken Tuesday.
It will take several months before the implants are in place.
Sandoval's wife Michelle and his 4-year old daughter Joelena said they all have something to smile about.
"He's going to be rewarded for what he sacrificed," said Michelle, "but the best thing is that he's here with us now."
Sandoval has been nominated for a bronze star. He's already received a purple heart, which he gave to his daughter.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 21 2006, 07:07 PM
Lest we forget that there are Canadians fighting in Afghanistan, here is the story of one who was injured by a land mine while going in to do some humanitarian air projects near Kandahar. It never hurts to include those from other counries who are killed or injured in Iraq and Afghanistan in your prayers.
QUOTE
Canadian soldier injured by Afghanistan landmine
17/12/2006 1:28:38 PM
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A Canadian soldier is in serious but stable condition after stepping on a landmine in the Panjwaii district of Afghanistan.
Pte. Frederic Couture was rushed for treatment in Kandahar after the incident, which occurred about noon local time on Saturday. Couture is with the 2nd Van Doos regiment of Valcartier, Que., but his age and hometown have not yet been released.
"At the time they were with the Afghan National Army; they were actually going to a shura (a meeting of village elders) in order to provide humanitarian assistance to that village," Lt. Sue Stefko told reporters.
She said Couture is in serious but stable condition. There is no word yet on whether he will be transferred to the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany for further treatment.
Couture had been working with the Operational Mentor Liaison Team (OMLT). That unit works with new Afghan National Army personnel.
The blast took place on the Route Summit road in the Pashmul area, about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar City and an area of frequent and intense fighting.
The incident took place one day after a roadside bomb killed one NATO soldier and wounded two others were injured by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan.
The soldiers -- whose nationalities have not yet been released -- were evacuated for treatment.
Most NATO troops in eastern Afghanistan are American.
Operation Falcon's Summit
NATO is planning a new offensive in the same district where Couture was wounded. The operation's code name is Operation Baaz Tsuka, or Falcon's Summit in English.
Military officials bill the offensive as a show of strength, one involving mainly U.S. and British troops.
"Operation Baaz Tsuka will send a very strong and direct message to the Taliban that the people of Afghanistan want them to leave," said Maj.-Gen. Ton Van Loon, head of Regional Command South for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, on Saturday.
However, a Canadian commander hinted Canadian troops will likely play a role.
"What I can say is RC (Regional Command) South, has announced they are going to launch an operation in vicinity where Canadian troops are operating," Gen. Tim Grant, the commander of Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan, told The Canadian Press.
"And Canadian troops are part of RC South. At the current time, Canadian troops are not involved in that operation but if they become involved in it, I will let you know."
While the military expects combat with the Taliban, one officer said the mission wasn't entirely about combat.
"We're looking for the tribal elders to support us in these endeavours," NATO Squadron Leader Dave Marsh told CP.
Some question announcing the operation in advance. However, officials say they need to give civilians a chance to evacuate.
"We are hoping in this particular circumstance that the Taliban will do as Gen. Van Loon has suggested and pack up," said Marsh.
"We are massing forces in the area but this is to send a message to the Taliban as well. This is an information-led operation which may or may not involve some manoeuvres," he added.
"The key thing is we need to send a message to the Taliban that either action could happen."
In September, NATO carried out Operation Medusa in the Panjwaii District. While they claimed to have killed hundreds of Taliban in the two-week battle, five Canadian soldiers died, including one in a friendly fire incident.
Since that operation, the Taliban have returned to their earlier hit-and-run tactics, including suicide bombings.
http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/Canadian+soldier+injured+by+Afghanistan+landmine/National/ContentPosting.aspx?isfa=1&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20061216%2fcanadian_soldier_061216&feedname=CTV-NATIONAL_V2&show=False&number=0&showbyline=False&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc
17/12/2006 1:28:38 PM
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Printer-friendly page
A Canadian soldier is in serious but stable condition after stepping on a landmine in the Panjwaii district of Afghanistan.
Pte. Frederic Couture was rushed for treatment in Kandahar after the incident, which occurred about noon local time on Saturday. Couture is with the 2nd Van Doos regiment of Valcartier, Que., but his age and hometown have not yet been released.
"At the time they were with the Afghan National Army; they were actually going to a shura (a meeting of village elders) in order to provide humanitarian assistance to that village," Lt. Sue Stefko told reporters.
She said Couture is in serious but stable condition. There is no word yet on whether he will be transferred to the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany for further treatment.
Couture had been working with the Operational Mentor Liaison Team (OMLT). That unit works with new Afghan National Army personnel.
The blast took place on the Route Summit road in the Pashmul area, about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar City and an area of frequent and intense fighting.
The incident took place one day after a roadside bomb killed one NATO soldier and wounded two others were injured by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan.
The soldiers -- whose nationalities have not yet been released -- were evacuated for treatment.
Most NATO troops in eastern Afghanistan are American.
Operation Falcon's Summit
NATO is planning a new offensive in the same district where Couture was wounded. The operation's code name is Operation Baaz Tsuka, or Falcon's Summit in English.
Military officials bill the offensive as a show of strength, one involving mainly U.S. and British troops.
"Operation Baaz Tsuka will send a very strong and direct message to the Taliban that the people of Afghanistan want them to leave," said Maj.-Gen. Ton Van Loon, head of Regional Command South for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, on Saturday.
However, a Canadian commander hinted Canadian troops will likely play a role.
"What I can say is RC (Regional Command) South, has announced they are going to launch an operation in vicinity where Canadian troops are operating," Gen. Tim Grant, the commander of Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan, told The Canadian Press.
"And Canadian troops are part of RC South. At the current time, Canadian troops are not involved in that operation but if they become involved in it, I will let you know."
While the military expects combat with the Taliban, one officer said the mission wasn't entirely about combat.
"We're looking for the tribal elders to support us in these endeavours," NATO Squadron Leader Dave Marsh told CP.
Some question announcing the operation in advance. However, officials say they need to give civilians a chance to evacuate.
"We are hoping in this particular circumstance that the Taliban will do as Gen. Van Loon has suggested and pack up," said Marsh.
"We are massing forces in the area but this is to send a message to the Taliban as well. This is an information-led operation which may or may not involve some manoeuvres," he added.
"The key thing is we need to send a message to the Taliban that either action could happen."
In September, NATO carried out Operation Medusa in the Panjwaii District. While they claimed to have killed hundreds of Taliban in the two-week battle, five Canadian soldiers died, including one in a friendly fire incident.
Since that operation, the Taliban have returned to their earlier hit-and-run tactics, including suicide bombings.
Posted by: mbaie7 Dec 21 2006, 07:59 PM
well my son releived some troops in 12-1-06 and that troop group is going back in january 07??? they need 140;000"000 in afgan.and irqa so when does it end ?? cnn international news its clear we are not wanted there!!! so my son is there for the 6th time/he was way up there in rank and Finally he said Fu###### off !! bad time as he is now walking the front lines and as he said !!!IT"S WORST THAN ANY ONE CAN IMAGINE!! so that draft talk ??? is suppose to hit us APRIL 21 07 trust whom
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 21 2006, 08:58 PM
QUOTE(mbaie7 @ Dec 21 2006, 09:59 PM) [snapback]361485[/snapback]
well my son releived some troops in 12-1-06 and that troop group is going back in january 07??? they need 140;000"000 in afgan.and irqa so when does it end ?? cnn international news its clear we are not wanted there!!! so my son is there for the 6th time/he was way up there in rank and Finally he said Fu###### off !! bad time as he is now walking the front lines and as he said !!!IT"S WORST THAN ANY ONE CAN IMAGINE!! so that draft talk ??? is suppose to hit us APRIL 21 07 trust whom
That is 140,000+ for Iraq alone and another 20,000 or so Americans under NATO control in Afghanistan.
Our prayers are with your son, as well as NorthDakotaMom. Keep us posted on his status.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 22 2006, 12:16 PM
Here is another wounded soldier with a long and arduous recovery and rehabilitation process ahead. I know that we are all pulling for him and his family as they travel the long and winding road ahead.
QUOTE
Remembering Wounded Warriors This Holiday Season Operation Christmas: Find Out How You Can Help Troops
Sgt. Pio Paau, pictured here with his son, survived an IED attack in Iraq but was badly burned. (ABCNEWS.com)
Operation Christmas: Holiday Help for Troops
Dec. 13, 2006 — Army Staff Sgt. Pio Paau watched helplessly from a stretcher as fellow soldiers tried to rescue his men, still trapped in a burning tank, ammunition exploding all around them like fireworks.
"The first sound was a loud explosion and then dust everywhere," Paau said. "I noticed I was on fire. My legs were burning pretty bad."
He did not know whether his men had made it out with him when a Blackhawk helicopter evacuated him to Baghdad.
"I met another Samoan soldier in there. I guess he was a medic, and he was asking me what happened, and I said an IED [improvised explosive device] went off and then everything got real blurry and I blacked out," Paau said.
With severe burns covering 67 percent of his body, the 33-year-old husband and father was moved from Iraq to the Brooke Army Medical Center's burn center in Texas to embark on the long road to recovery, a journey that is painful both physically and emotionally.
Fighting for Survival
A month into his recovery, Paau finally had the courage to ask the question that churned inside him.
"I said, 'Hey, what about, what about my gunner and my other two soldiers?'" he said.
The answer: Sgt. Joseph Blanco, Spc. James Costello III, and Pvt. First Class George Wu had not survived the explosion.
"We are in the Army, but to that one Bradley [unit] that I'm in command of, you grow tight with the soldiers. And they were like my sons," Paau said.
There was a small sliver of hope to cling to, though. Paau's youngest unit member, Pvt. First Class Devon Gibbons, was unconscious but fighting to survive.
Gibbons regained consciousness, and Paau planned a surprise visit. That very day, Gibbons' mother, Bonnie, delivered the terrible news.
"Bonnie just looked up and said, 'Honey, he didn't make it,'" Paau said. "And from then on out it was hard. Every night I was unable to sleep. I'd just be thinking of my guys. I felt really bad."
Today Paau continues to recover, but it's a slow and painful process.
You can feel the comradery at the burn center, as the soldiers help each other heal.
"Just by being around soldiers makes me feel happier," Paau said.
Related: How to Help U.S. Troops This Holiday Season
He says that the men he lost are alive in his heart and that their memory compels him to go on.
"Even though they're not here with me physically, I feel them around me spiritually every day," he said.
Sgt. Pio Paau, pictured here with his son, survived an IED attack in Iraq but was badly burned. (ABCNEWS.com)
Operation Christmas: Holiday Help for Troops
Dec. 13, 2006 — Army Staff Sgt. Pio Paau watched helplessly from a stretcher as fellow soldiers tried to rescue his men, still trapped in a burning tank, ammunition exploding all around them like fireworks.
"The first sound was a loud explosion and then dust everywhere," Paau said. "I noticed I was on fire. My legs were burning pretty bad."
He did not know whether his men had made it out with him when a Blackhawk helicopter evacuated him to Baghdad.
"I met another Samoan soldier in there. I guess he was a medic, and he was asking me what happened, and I said an IED [improvised explosive device] went off and then everything got real blurry and I blacked out," Paau said.
With severe burns covering 67 percent of his body, the 33-year-old husband and father was moved from Iraq to the Brooke Army Medical Center's burn center in Texas to embark on the long road to recovery, a journey that is painful both physically and emotionally.
Fighting for Survival
A month into his recovery, Paau finally had the courage to ask the question that churned inside him.
"I said, 'Hey, what about, what about my gunner and my other two soldiers?'" he said.
The answer: Sgt. Joseph Blanco, Spc. James Costello III, and Pvt. First Class George Wu had not survived the explosion.
"We are in the Army, but to that one Bradley [unit] that I'm in command of, you grow tight with the soldiers. And they were like my sons," Paau said.
There was a small sliver of hope to cling to, though. Paau's youngest unit member, Pvt. First Class Devon Gibbons, was unconscious but fighting to survive.
Gibbons regained consciousness, and Paau planned a surprise visit. That very day, Gibbons' mother, Bonnie, delivered the terrible news.
"Bonnie just looked up and said, 'Honey, he didn't make it,'" Paau said. "And from then on out it was hard. Every night I was unable to sleep. I'd just be thinking of my guys. I felt really bad."
Today Paau continues to recover, but it's a slow and painful process.
You can feel the comradery at the burn center, as the soldiers help each other heal.
"Just by being around soldiers makes me feel happier," Paau said.
Related: How to Help U.S. Troops This Holiday Season
He says that the men he lost are alive in his heart and that their memory compels him to go on.
"Even though they're not here with me physically, I feel them around me spiritually every day," he said.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 23 2006, 12:12 PM
This young Colorado soldier graduated from high school last year and had already been made a patrol commander. He died after eight weeks in Iraq. America is loosing many of its yougest and brightest to this war, but I am not telling you anything you didn't already know.
QUOTE
Roadside Bomb Kills Colorado Soldier In Iraq
(AP) COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. A Colorado City man who had been in Iraq for about eight weeks has died from injuries suffered in a roadside bomb attack in Taji, north of Baghdad, his family said.
Funeral arrangements were pending next week for Pfc. Seth Stanton, 19, said his grandfather, Joe DeMello of Woodland Park.
The Defense Department said Tuesday that Stanton was one of three soldiers, including Staff Sgt. David Staats, 30, of Pueblo, who died of injuries suffered in the attack Saturday. Also killed was Spc. Matthew Stanley, 22, of Wolfeboro Falls, N.H. All three were assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas.
DeMello said his grandson suffered multiple broken bones and internal injuries. He said the Army had planned to transport Stanton to the United States for treatment, but his mother, Anna, was notified Sunday that he had died.
"He was the commander of a patrol in Taji and he was in the lead vehicle," DeMello said. "There were three other soldiers in the vehicle, and they were all killed."
Family members and friends had left messages on Stanton's MySpace.com profile remembering the soldier after news of his death.
"I have you to blame for making me a more outgoing person, for teaching me how to let go and have fun once in a while, for showing me that taking a risk not knowing the outcome won't hurt me," one post said.
Stanton wrote on his profile, "I'm all about fun, offroading, partying, camping, anything fun." The profile also includes pictures of his Jeep Cherokee, outfitted with oversized tires, camouflage paint and a roll bar.
DeMello said Stanton was inspired to join the Army by his uncle, Eric DeMello, who fought in the first Gulf War. Stanton left for basic training shortly after he graduated from Coronado High School in 2005.
Stanton's uncle said the two had exchanged instant e-mail messages with his uncle about the cold desert nights in Iraq and had traded stories about ways to keep warm.
Joe DeMello said Stanton had plans to go to college after the served in the Army, but didn't know what to study in.
(AP) COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. A Colorado City man who had been in Iraq for about eight weeks has died from injuries suffered in a roadside bomb attack in Taji, north of Baghdad, his family said.
Funeral arrangements were pending next week for Pfc. Seth Stanton, 19, said his grandfather, Joe DeMello of Woodland Park.
The Defense Department said Tuesday that Stanton was one of three soldiers, including Staff Sgt. David Staats, 30, of Pueblo, who died of injuries suffered in the attack Saturday. Also killed was Spc. Matthew Stanley, 22, of Wolfeboro Falls, N.H. All three were assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas.
DeMello said his grandson suffered multiple broken bones and internal injuries. He said the Army had planned to transport Stanton to the United States for treatment, but his mother, Anna, was notified Sunday that he had died.
"He was the commander of a patrol in Taji and he was in the lead vehicle," DeMello said. "There were three other soldiers in the vehicle, and they were all killed."
Family members and friends had left messages on Stanton's MySpace.com profile remembering the soldier after news of his death.
"I have you to blame for making me a more outgoing person, for teaching me how to let go and have fun once in a while, for showing me that taking a risk not knowing the outcome won't hurt me," one post said.
Stanton wrote on his profile, "I'm all about fun, offroading, partying, camping, anything fun." The profile also includes pictures of his Jeep Cherokee, outfitted with oversized tires, camouflage paint and a roll bar.
DeMello said Stanton was inspired to join the Army by his uncle, Eric DeMello, who fought in the first Gulf War. Stanton left for basic training shortly after he graduated from Coronado High School in 2005.
Stanton's uncle said the two had exchanged instant e-mail messages with his uncle about the cold desert nights in Iraq and had traded stories about ways to keep warm.
Joe DeMello said Stanton had plans to go to college after the served in the Army, but didn't know what to study in.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 24 2006, 09:10 AM
I have only posted part of this lengthy article regarding a soldier who was wounded in alAnbar Province and is now undergoing a lengthy recovery. He lost both legs and suffered severe internal injuries as well. His is a tribute to the human spirit and gives us some insight into what many American veterans of the Iraq War are going through now. Bless him and his family, for theirs is a long road to traverse and there will be many challenges yet to overcome. Be sure to watch the video segments and slide show that are provided in the link as well for some added insight. Take time to stop and reflect this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as you enjoy the company of your friends and family on what this man and his family are facing this holiday season.
QUOTE
Road to recovery
JASON SPENCER, Staff Writer
Published December 24, 2006
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Photo: ALEX C. HICKS JR.
Andrew Kinard is beginning the road to recovery from injuries suffering in a bombing in Iraq.
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More On This Story
• Audio slideshow: Andrew Kinard's long road home (12/24/2006)
• Injured Marine making progress (11/29/2006)
• Marine connects with his family (11/10/2006)
• Marine facing extensive surgeries (11/07/2006)
• Supporters reach out to injured soldier (11/05/2006)
• Injured Marine faces extensive surgery (11/03/2006)
• Prayer vigil held for Marine hurt in explosion (11/02/2006)
• Injured Marine's family keeps faith (11/01/2006)
• Spartanburg Marine hurt in bomb blast (10/31/2006)
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Andrew Kinard came back from Iraq more than seven weeks ago, but in many ways, he’s spent the time here fighting harder than ever.
He’s pushed himself beyond what those who know him — family, friends, fellow Marines and doctors — sometimes thought possible. And he sees himself only pushing harder for the foreseeable future, and perhaps for the rest of his life.
Andrew, a second lieutenant who was in charge of a 26-man platoon in Iraq’s tumultuous al Anbar province, was caught in a bomb blast in late October — a blast that cost him his legs, severely injured his abdomen and chest, and caused other internal and external damage.
“How’s your hand doing?” Dr. Bill Liston asked Andrew, inside his room on the fifth floor of the National Naval Medical Center. Liston is one of a team of physicians assigned to Andrew.
Andrew looked at his left arm — bandaged from above the elbow to his palm — and gently flexed his fingers, which protruded from the bandages at the knuckle.
“It’s OK,” Andrew said, his voice only the slightest pitch higher than normal because a tube in his throat prevents him from pushing as much air over his vocal chords as he’s used to.
“It’s OK,” he said again. “It moves.”
“Can’t close it all the way?” the doctor pressed. “I haven’t talked to the orthopedic surgeons about that in awhile. But they’ll keep following you for that.”
What he recalls
The Spartanburg native was comatose for more than three weeks after arriving in Bethesda on Nov. 1, and in and out of consciousness for several weeks after that because of sedation and extensive surgeries. But he’s started to heal: He remembers some of Thanksgiving — his sister, Katherine, watched “Gone with the Wind,” with him, and sang “Jesus Loves Me” — but not much more until his 24th birthday, a week later. His memory is solid after that.
He remembers being in Iraq, his unit’s mission of guarding a strategically important bridge over the Euphrates River, though not the day there that changed his life forever.
Andrew and his men went in knowing that the last group of Marines at the U.S. outpost near Rawah, a small town on the Euphrates, went home minus several of their friends – including four men who were killed when a suicide bomber crashed a truck into a checkpoint.
And he came back, despite the circumstances, still able to think and reason, crack a joke, and smile.
Andrew possesses the kind of spirit that, as a child, drove him to seek the highest tree in his Converse Heights neighborhood so he could climb it and then jump down; the kind of purpose-driven spirit that later fell comfortably into the role of a Marine officer; and, the kind of spirit that, where others would now see their lives as ending, Andrew sees a new life beginning.
Andrew has a new mission.
“I feel that my goal is to walk,” he said.
“That’s my purpose right now: to walk again. Everything I do is aimed toward that goal. You know, whether it’s PT [physical therapy], or working out with the rubber bands” – he flexes his fingers again – “or just putting up with all the needle poking and surgeries, and maintaining a positive attitude about it.
“I will walk,” he said. “Someday.”
‘I didn’t recognize him’
Monitors of various shapes and sizes are scattered about Andrew’s room, most of them close to his bed.
The machines beep, buzz and whir – sometimes regularly, sometimes only when something needs to be checked or to send a signal to doctors and nurses.
Hospital staffers are in and out routinely. They have to weave between the visitors at Andrew’s bedside, family or sometimes friends and fellow Marines – and the occasional politician, including Arizona Sen. John McCain.
Those who don’t know Andrew might wonder how he is able to smile these days. Those who do know him would probably worry if he didn’t. He’s simply approaching his current situation the same way he has everything else in his life.
While his body looks weak, his eyes are all about strength.
He talks with animated facial expressions, those eyes widening and brightening as he grins when someone mentions something that excites him. He gestures while he speaks, sometimes causing the oxygen monitor apparatus attached to his finger to fly off. His brother Will or another family member is right there to help him slide it back on.
“He has made such tremendous progress compared to the way he looked when he first got here,” said Harry Kinard, Andrew’s father and a Spartanburg urologist.
“Honestly, when I first saw him, I -- just for a fleeting moment -- I thought maybe they had made a mistake and brought the wrong person in. I didn’t recognize him. And, then I checked him over real well, and just happened to notice a few characteristics, and said, ‘Yep, that’s Andrew.’ But literally, for a fleeting moment, I thought maybe they had made a mistake – or maybe hoping they had made a mistake.”
A stand next to the bed holds an array of bags filled with fluid that tubes lead into Andrew’s body, including a brownish liquid that goes through a feeding tube into his nose.
“That’s steak and potatoes right there,” said Harry Kinard, with a slight chuckle.
He has a reason to be in high spirits.
This past Wednesday, the Marine was able to eat solid food for the first time since leaving Iraq. He had passed a “swallow test” the day before, at which point he promptly asked for a strawberry-banana smoothie. He started the day with Rice Krispies.
The last solid food Andrew had eaten were military MREs, or meals-ready-to-eat, outside Rawah in October.
‘That’s what I want to do’
Visitors to Andrew’s room have to put on a yellow gown, a facial mask and rubber gloves. They have to be removed and discarded just before leaving; new dressing must be put on to re-enter.
“Did you sleep well last night?” sister Katherine asked as she walked up to the bed.
Andrew shook his head, looking unhappy.
“Really? We brought you some chicken noodle soup.”
And then the grin returned.
“It’s from Panera!” younger sister Courtney chimed in.
They opened the lid, and a flavorful aroma wafted through the air, briefly replacing the sterile, medicinal smell that all hospitals have. Andrew’s mouth was watering, and the three siblings took turns helping spoon the soup out for him.
“It’s amazing — and I’m just eating the broth. It’s so good. I usually like to eat the chicken,” he said with a slight laugh.
But it’s enough. (Imagine not being able to taste anything for nearly two months.)
He’s since sampled yogurt, lasagna and chicken tetrazzini.
Katherine, 26, is married and is Andrew’s older sister. She’s married to Charles Gouch, who works for the Furman Co. in Greenville. They have one daughter, Caroline. Nearly every day, Katherine posts an update on Andrew’s condition in an online journal at www.caringbridge.com.
“It’s hard to see our brother like that, but we love him very, very much and I don’t think there’s anything any one of us wouldn’t do for him,” she said.
Courtney is 21, a senior at Baylor University in Texas, majoring in international relations. Will is the youngest of the four, a 19-year-old Clemson University freshman majoring in computer engineering.
‘Constant energy’
The trio remembers that Andrew was “constant energy” growing up, sometimes rappelling down the staircase in the family’s home on Plume Street in Converse Heights.
Or maybe he was out in the neighborhood in his cowboy uniform or camouflage.
He loved Legos and taking things apart so he could put them back together again. Katherine beams when she says her brother holds the unofficial record at an officer training school in Quantico, Va., for taking apart and reassembling an AK-47 in 28 seconds.
“He’s a very smart guy, just brilliant. That’s his way of getting it out. He got permission in third grade to walk around the classroom, because he couldn’t sit still,” she said.
“He did stuff like that all the time when he was little,” Courtney said. “He was everywhere, all the time. We had this old laundry chute in our house that went down to the basement, and he would hook up a little rappelling system or whatever he did, and go all the way down.”
The Kinard family traveled often, and Andrew would always find a way to wander off on his own — exploring, doing his own thing.
The experiences he gleaned from those trips served him well.
In 1998, his family took a six-week mission trip to Kenya. It was Andrew’s first exposure to poor, primitive living conditions. He’d see them again eight years later in Rawah.
But it was a vacation years earlier, in 1993, that first put Andrew on his path.
The Kinards visited Amish country in Pennsylvania, and coming back, they were ahead of schedule. They happened to stop in Annapolis, Md., where it was parents’ weekend at the U.S. Naval Academy.
“I saw all these big guys in their white uniforms, all shiny,” he said. “It just put an impression on me. And I said, ‘Dad, that’s what I want to do.’ I didn’t get serious about it until the fourth grade. I was at an academic camp — also known as nerd school — and there was a retired air force officer there who encouraged me to write to them, to the academy for information.
“So I wrote to them — I’m sure they got a kick out of it, a letter from a fourth grader — and they wrote back and said, ‘We appreciate your interest. Give us a call, write back when you’re a junior in high school.’ I was like, ‘A junior in high school? I’ll never get there. That’s, like, so far away.’ So, I continued to have interest in going to the academy. Off and on, I learned more and more about it. And as I got into high school, I tried to do things that would set me up for success.”
‘He was a mess’
Family pictures and cards line the window ledge in the hospital room. One nurse, Rachel, also is a Washington Redskins’ cheerleader, and brought him a picture of the whole squad. Another nurse brought him a Christmas stocking. Another brought him white Christmas lights, which are draped along the top of the hospital room.
A South Carolina flag hangs in the back, from state Sen. Jim Ritchie, R-Spartanburg.
The low hum of an air compressor provides a constant backdrop in Andrew’s room. He rests on a bed full of sand and air, and the machine is designed to regularly adjust the bed, slightly altering his position, as he’s unable to move himself. It keeps him comfortable, and should limit bedsores.
http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061224/NEWS/612240347/1051/NEWS01JASON SPENCER, Staff Writer
Published December 24, 2006
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Photo: ALEX C. HICKS JR.
Andrew Kinard is beginning the road to recovery from injuries suffering in a bombing in Iraq.
Order photo reprints
• Audio slideshow: Andrew Kinard's long road home (12/24/2006)
• Injured Marine making progress (11/29/2006)
• Marine connects with his family (11/10/2006)
• Marine facing extensive surgeries (11/07/2006)
• Supporters reach out to injured soldier (11/05/2006)
• Injured Marine faces extensive surgery (11/03/2006)
• Prayer vigil held for Marine hurt in explosion (11/02/2006)
• Injured Marine's family keeps faith (11/01/2006)
• Spartanburg Marine hurt in bomb blast (10/31/2006)
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Andrew Kinard came back from Iraq more than seven weeks ago, but in many ways, he’s spent the time here fighting harder than ever.
He’s pushed himself beyond what those who know him — family, friends, fellow Marines and doctors — sometimes thought possible. And he sees himself only pushing harder for the foreseeable future, and perhaps for the rest of his life.
Andrew, a second lieutenant who was in charge of a 26-man platoon in Iraq’s tumultuous al Anbar province, was caught in a bomb blast in late October — a blast that cost him his legs, severely injured his abdomen and chest, and caused other internal and external damage.
“How’s your hand doing?” Dr. Bill Liston asked Andrew, inside his room on the fifth floor of the National Naval Medical Center. Liston is one of a team of physicians assigned to Andrew.
Andrew looked at his left arm — bandaged from above the elbow to his palm — and gently flexed his fingers, which protruded from the bandages at the knuckle.
“It’s OK,” Andrew said, his voice only the slightest pitch higher than normal because a tube in his throat prevents him from pushing as much air over his vocal chords as he’s used to.
“It’s OK,” he said again. “It moves.”
“Can’t close it all the way?” the doctor pressed. “I haven’t talked to the orthopedic surgeons about that in awhile. But they’ll keep following you for that.”
What he recalls
The Spartanburg native was comatose for more than three weeks after arriving in Bethesda on Nov. 1, and in and out of consciousness for several weeks after that because of sedation and extensive surgeries. But he’s started to heal: He remembers some of Thanksgiving — his sister, Katherine, watched “Gone with the Wind,” with him, and sang “Jesus Loves Me” — but not much more until his 24th birthday, a week later. His memory is solid after that.
He remembers being in Iraq, his unit’s mission of guarding a strategically important bridge over the Euphrates River, though not the day there that changed his life forever.
Andrew and his men went in knowing that the last group of Marines at the U.S. outpost near Rawah, a small town on the Euphrates, went home minus several of their friends – including four men who were killed when a suicide bomber crashed a truck into a checkpoint.
And he came back, despite the circumstances, still able to think and reason, crack a joke, and smile.
Andrew possesses the kind of spirit that, as a child, drove him to seek the highest tree in his Converse Heights neighborhood so he could climb it and then jump down; the kind of purpose-driven spirit that later fell comfortably into the role of a Marine officer; and, the kind of spirit that, where others would now see their lives as ending, Andrew sees a new life beginning.
Andrew has a new mission.
“I feel that my goal is to walk,” he said.
“That’s my purpose right now: to walk again. Everything I do is aimed toward that goal. You know, whether it’s PT [physical therapy], or working out with the rubber bands” – he flexes his fingers again – “or just putting up with all the needle poking and surgeries, and maintaining a positive attitude about it.
“I will walk,” he said. “Someday.”
‘I didn’t recognize him’
Monitors of various shapes and sizes are scattered about Andrew’s room, most of them close to his bed.
The machines beep, buzz and whir – sometimes regularly, sometimes only when something needs to be checked or to send a signal to doctors and nurses.
Hospital staffers are in and out routinely. They have to weave between the visitors at Andrew’s bedside, family or sometimes friends and fellow Marines – and the occasional politician, including Arizona Sen. John McCain.
Those who don’t know Andrew might wonder how he is able to smile these days. Those who do know him would probably worry if he didn’t. He’s simply approaching his current situation the same way he has everything else in his life.
While his body looks weak, his eyes are all about strength.
He talks with animated facial expressions, those eyes widening and brightening as he grins when someone mentions something that excites him. He gestures while he speaks, sometimes causing the oxygen monitor apparatus attached to his finger to fly off. His brother Will or another family member is right there to help him slide it back on.
“He has made such tremendous progress compared to the way he looked when he first got here,” said Harry Kinard, Andrew’s father and a Spartanburg urologist.
“Honestly, when I first saw him, I -- just for a fleeting moment -- I thought maybe they had made a mistake and brought the wrong person in. I didn’t recognize him. And, then I checked him over real well, and just happened to notice a few characteristics, and said, ‘Yep, that’s Andrew.’ But literally, for a fleeting moment, I thought maybe they had made a mistake – or maybe hoping they had made a mistake.”
A stand next to the bed holds an array of bags filled with fluid that tubes lead into Andrew’s body, including a brownish liquid that goes through a feeding tube into his nose.
“That’s steak and potatoes right there,” said Harry Kinard, with a slight chuckle.
He has a reason to be in high spirits.
This past Wednesday, the Marine was able to eat solid food for the first time since leaving Iraq. He had passed a “swallow test” the day before, at which point he promptly asked for a strawberry-banana smoothie. He started the day with Rice Krispies.
The last solid food Andrew had eaten were military MREs, or meals-ready-to-eat, outside Rawah in October.
‘That’s what I want to do’
Visitors to Andrew’s room have to put on a yellow gown, a facial mask and rubber gloves. They have to be removed and discarded just before leaving; new dressing must be put on to re-enter.
“Did you sleep well last night?” sister Katherine asked as she walked up to the bed.
Andrew shook his head, looking unhappy.
“Really? We brought you some chicken noodle soup.”
And then the grin returned.
“It’s from Panera!” younger sister Courtney chimed in.
They opened the lid, and a flavorful aroma wafted through the air, briefly replacing the sterile, medicinal smell that all hospitals have. Andrew’s mouth was watering, and the three siblings took turns helping spoon the soup out for him.
“It’s amazing — and I’m just eating the broth. It’s so good. I usually like to eat the chicken,” he said with a slight laugh.
But it’s enough. (Imagine not being able to taste anything for nearly two months.)
He’s since sampled yogurt, lasagna and chicken tetrazzini.
Katherine, 26, is married and is Andrew’s older sister. She’s married to Charles Gouch, who works for the Furman Co. in Greenville. They have one daughter, Caroline. Nearly every day, Katherine posts an update on Andrew’s condition in an online journal at www.caringbridge.com.
“It’s hard to see our brother like that, but we love him very, very much and I don’t think there’s anything any one of us wouldn’t do for him,” she said.
Courtney is 21, a senior at Baylor University in Texas, majoring in international relations. Will is the youngest of the four, a 19-year-old Clemson University freshman majoring in computer engineering.
‘Constant energy’
The trio remembers that Andrew was “constant energy” growing up, sometimes rappelling down the staircase in the family’s home on Plume Street in Converse Heights.
Or maybe he was out in the neighborhood in his cowboy uniform or camouflage.
He loved Legos and taking things apart so he could put them back together again. Katherine beams when she says her brother holds the unofficial record at an officer training school in Quantico, Va., for taking apart and reassembling an AK-47 in 28 seconds.
“He’s a very smart guy, just brilliant. That’s his way of getting it out. He got permission in third grade to walk around the classroom, because he couldn’t sit still,” she said.
“He did stuff like that all the time when he was little,” Courtney said. “He was everywhere, all the time. We had this old laundry chute in our house that went down to the basement, and he would hook up a little rappelling system or whatever he did, and go all the way down.”
The Kinard family traveled often, and Andrew would always find a way to wander off on his own — exploring, doing his own thing.
The experiences he gleaned from those trips served him well.
In 1998, his family took a six-week mission trip to Kenya. It was Andrew’s first exposure to poor, primitive living conditions. He’d see them again eight years later in Rawah.
But it was a vacation years earlier, in 1993, that first put Andrew on his path.
The Kinards visited Amish country in Pennsylvania, and coming back, they were ahead of schedule. They happened to stop in Annapolis, Md., where it was parents’ weekend at the U.S. Naval Academy.
“I saw all these big guys in their white uniforms, all shiny,” he said. “It just put an impression on me. And I said, ‘Dad, that’s what I want to do.’ I didn’t get serious about it until the fourth grade. I was at an academic camp — also known as nerd school — and there was a retired air force officer there who encouraged me to write to them, to the academy for information.
“So I wrote to them — I’m sure they got a kick out of it, a letter from a fourth grader — and they wrote back and said, ‘We appreciate your interest. Give us a call, write back when you’re a junior in high school.’ I was like, ‘A junior in high school? I’ll never get there. That’s, like, so far away.’ So, I continued to have interest in going to the academy. Off and on, I learned more and more about it. And as I got into high school, I tried to do things that would set me up for success.”
‘He was a mess’
Family pictures and cards line the window ledge in the hospital room. One nurse, Rachel, also is a Washington Redskins’ cheerleader, and brought him a picture of the whole squad. Another nurse brought him a Christmas stocking. Another brought him white Christmas lights, which are draped along the top of the hospital room.
A South Carolina flag hangs in the back, from state Sen. Jim Ritchie, R-Spartanburg.
The low hum of an air compressor provides a constant backdrop in Andrew’s room. He rests on a bed full of sand and air, and the machine is designed to regularly adjust the bed, slightly altering his position, as he’s unable to move himself. It keeps him comfortable, and should limit bedsores.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 25 2006, 07:44 AM
Andrew will have a real story to tell his friends and relatives when they ask how he was injured. He was in a portable bathroom when he sustained a blast from a rocket propelled grenade. Andrew was on his thrid tour of duty in Iraq when he suffered a femur fracture and knee damage. You just never know where or when you might be hit in a war zone..
QUOTE
Local Marine injured in Iraq
Leg damaged by grenade blast that killed friend
By CHRIS WETTERICH
STAFF WRITER
Published Friday, December 22, 2006
A Springfield native was injured in Iraq this week when two rocket-propelled grenades exploded nearby in Al-Anbar province.
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Andrew Harrell, 27, sustained extensive injuries to his leg, according to his aunt, Yvonne Killion of Springfield. A Marine captain, a friend of Harrell's, was killed by the grenades, said Andrew Harrell's father, Randy, who did not know the captain's name.
Andrew Harrell was being treated in Germany and is expected to recover, Randy Harrell said. He is expected to be moved to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington today.
"It broke his leg, broke the femur and messed up his knee," Randy said of the blast, which was near a portable bathroom Andrew was in.
Andrew joined the Marines after he graduated from Lanphier High School in 1996, his father said.
After leaving the hospital in Washington, he will probably undergo rehabilitation at a base at Balboa Medical Center in San Diego, near where he is stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, Calif., his father said.
"He'll be able to walk, hopefully," said Randy, who talked to his son Wednesday morning.
Andrew's wife, Gail, lives in the San Diego area, Randy said.
Andrew has done three tours in Iraq, serving about a year there, Randy said. His latest started about six weeks ago and came after a stint helping with tsunami recovery in Indonesia.
Andrew, a member of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is typically stationed on a ship in the Persian Gulf and flown into Iraq for missions, his father said. The unit was stationed at Camp Korean Village near Rutbah, Iraq, in the province's western desert, according to a Marine Corps news release.
The unit was ordered there "to help address the security situation," said a letter from Col. Brian Beaudreault to family members.
Andrew was "a pretty good football player at Lanphier," his dad said. "He's still got lots of friends in Springfield."
Randy said he expects Andrew to stay in the Marines, "if he can."
http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/103581.asp
Leg damaged by grenade blast that killed friend
By CHRIS WETTERICH
STAFF WRITER
Published Friday, December 22, 2006
A Springfield native was injured in Iraq this week when two rocket-propelled grenades exploded nearby in Al-Anbar province.
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Andrew Harrell, 27, sustained extensive injuries to his leg, according to his aunt, Yvonne Killion of Springfield. A Marine captain, a friend of Harrell's, was killed by the grenades, said Andrew Harrell's father, Randy, who did not know the captain's name.
Andrew Harrell was being treated in Germany and is expected to recover, Randy Harrell said. He is expected to be moved to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington today.
"It broke his leg, broke the femur and messed up his knee," Randy said of the blast, which was near a portable bathroom Andrew was in.
Andrew joined the Marines after he graduated from Lanphier High School in 1996, his father said.
After leaving the hospital in Washington, he will probably undergo rehabilitation at a base at Balboa Medical Center in San Diego, near where he is stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, Calif., his father said.
"He'll be able to walk, hopefully," said Randy, who talked to his son Wednesday morning.
Andrew's wife, Gail, lives in the San Diego area, Randy said.
Andrew has done three tours in Iraq, serving about a year there, Randy said. His latest started about six weeks ago and came after a stint helping with tsunami recovery in Indonesia.
Andrew, a member of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is typically stationed on a ship in the Persian Gulf and flown into Iraq for missions, his father said. The unit was stationed at Camp Korean Village near Rutbah, Iraq, in the province's western desert, according to a Marine Corps news release.
The unit was ordered there "to help address the security situation," said a letter from Col. Brian Beaudreault to family members.
Andrew was "a pretty good football player at Lanphier," his dad said. "He's still got lots of friends in Springfield."
Randy said he expects Andrew to stay in the Marines, "if he can."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 26 2006, 07:12 PM
This young soldier just can't seem to get enough. He was injured and has sufferred blurred vision but wants to go back as soon as he is able as he feels it is better him than someone else. Brian hasn't yet reached his 20th birtday but seems to know what he wants to do. I wish him the best of luck and pray that he doesn't come home with further injuries.
QUOTE
Wounds won't slow down soldier
TYRONE TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, December 24, 2006
By Bob Wheaton
bwheaton@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6375
TYRONE TWP. - Blurry vision in one eye and shrapnel in his arm doesn't stop Army Pfc. Brian Bastedo from wanting to return to Iraq.
"His opinion is, 'My buddies are over there and I need to be with them. I need to help.' And I thought, 'Wow, that's a soldier,'" Julia Bastedo said of her son.
Brian Bastedo shrugged it off. "If I have to go, I've gotta go," he said in a telephone interview from Texas, where he's based. "Better me than someone else. Because I have the experience. I know what happens, what to look for."
Bastedo, 19, a 2005 graduate of Fenton High School, was wounded when a bomb exploded in Baghdad Aug. 12, killing two fellow soldiers.
He returned home in late September for a two-week visit chronicled in The Flint Journal. Now he's back at Fort Hood, Texas.He plans to spend Christmas with the family of his bride, Melissa, in Texas. They got married Oct. 31.
While he won't be home for Christmas, Bastedo's mother said she still considers herself lucky.
"I miss him very much, but what can you do?" she said. "At least he is alive, and I've got somebody to talk to. And those that can't call home from Iraq or those that got killed, they don't have that privilege and honor."
Julia Bastedo proudly points out that her son recently scored 94 percent on a test for the school that trains mounted forces, even though he has reduced vision in one eye.
"I don't think he's deployable right now. He still has a little bit of blurry vision," she said. "He told me (he'll go to Iraq), possibly in June."
Brian Bastedo said it all depends. "It's just whenever my vision turns normal and the doctor says, 'Yeah, you can go.'"
Although Julia Bastedo expressed opposition to the war in an August interview with The Journal, she said she'll support her son's wishes.
"I'm trying to be more positive about it," she said. "This is what he (has) to do. They signed up. He's extremely well-trained.
Bastedo received 50 shrapnel holes in his right arm, eye damage and a burn on his little finger. His recovery has gone well and his mom said he's in good spirits.
"He feels great," she said. "He has no side effects or nothing. He doesn't have the nightmares that people said he was going to have."
During his leave, Brian Bastedo enjoyed many of the things that typical teens do. He had a pizza party with friends, played video games and paintball, went to a Fenton High School football game, and ate his mom's chocolate chip cookies.
His mom said people at church ask her about her son every week. She said the soldiers overseas are always in her prayers.
"I pray for them every night, the men and women," she said.
Her son hopes he can get another leave around Jan. 26, his 20th birthday.
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-40/116696050530300.xml&coll=5
TYRONE TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, December 24, 2006
By Bob Wheaton
bwheaton@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6375
TYRONE TWP. - Blurry vision in one eye and shrapnel in his arm doesn't stop Army Pfc. Brian Bastedo from wanting to return to Iraq.
"His opinion is, 'My buddies are over there and I need to be with them. I need to help.' And I thought, 'Wow, that's a soldier,'" Julia Bastedo said of her son.
Brian Bastedo shrugged it off. "If I have to go, I've gotta go," he said in a telephone interview from Texas, where he's based. "Better me than someone else. Because I have the experience. I know what happens, what to look for."
Bastedo, 19, a 2005 graduate of Fenton High School, was wounded when a bomb exploded in Baghdad Aug. 12, killing two fellow soldiers.
He returned home in late September for a two-week visit chronicled in The Flint Journal. Now he's back at Fort Hood, Texas.He plans to spend Christmas with the family of his bride, Melissa, in Texas. They got married Oct. 31.
While he won't be home for Christmas, Bastedo's mother said she still considers herself lucky.
"I miss him very much, but what can you do?" she said. "At least he is alive, and I've got somebody to talk to. And those that can't call home from Iraq or those that got killed, they don't have that privilege and honor."
Julia Bastedo proudly points out that her son recently scored 94 percent on a test for the school that trains mounted forces, even though he has reduced vision in one eye.
"I don't think he's deployable right now. He still has a little bit of blurry vision," she said. "He told me (he'll go to Iraq), possibly in June."
Brian Bastedo said it all depends. "It's just whenever my vision turns normal and the doctor says, 'Yeah, you can go.'"
Although Julia Bastedo expressed opposition to the war in an August interview with The Journal, she said she'll support her son's wishes.
"I'm trying to be more positive about it," she said. "This is what he (has) to do. They signed up. He's extremely well-trained.
Bastedo received 50 shrapnel holes in his right arm, eye damage and a burn on his little finger. His recovery has gone well and his mom said he's in good spirits.
"He feels great," she said. "He has no side effects or nothing. He doesn't have the nightmares that people said he was going to have."
During his leave, Brian Bastedo enjoyed many of the things that typical teens do. He had a pizza party with friends, played video games and paintball, went to a Fenton High School football game, and ate his mom's chocolate chip cookies.
His mom said people at church ask her about her son every week. She said the soldiers overseas are always in her prayers.
"I pray for them every night, the men and women," she said.
Her son hopes he can get another leave around Jan. 26, his 20th birthday.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 27 2006, 06:21 PM
All I can say is that he was finished before he even started. His mother deserves much better than this.
QUOTE
Family Of Newark Soldier Killed In Iraq Devastated
Jay Dow
Reporting
(CBS) NEWARK, N.J. Relatives say 19-year old Army Private Joe Luis Baines joined the military because he felt he had no other choice.
"That's the reason he joined the army -- to try to get us out of here. That was his dream, to get us out of Newark," Baines' mother Yolanda Torres told CBS 2 News.
That dream ended this weekend when army officials told the family Baines was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
Upon hearing the news, Baines' brother James was devastated. "I started crying. That's how I reacted. I don't know what to do now," James said.
Torres says she still remembers their last telephone calls,and recalls her son sounded scared. He had recently carried a fallen soldier out of battle and knew he could be next. "He was like, 'I'm calling you now because we're about to raid the town the boy was killed in,' and he said basically, 'I'm calling you just in case I don't call you back -- you know what happened,'" she said.
Baines was no stranger to adversity. He attended a high school for troubled youth in Pennsylvania. After graduation, he came home, but trouble found him quickly. His mother says he got into a fight, and a few weeks later he was shot in the leg just a few blocks from his home.
Torres didn't like the idea of her son joining the army. She says she was "against it 100 percent."
But she says for her son, a tour of duty in iraq suddenly sounded like a walk in the park, especially if it meant a new start for his family.
"I'm proud of what he did, because that was his dream. That's all he ever talked about -- his mama," Torres said.
Baines was just 19-years old.
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_354174147.html
Jay Dow
Reporting
(CBS) NEWARK, N.J. Relatives say 19-year old Army Private Joe Luis Baines joined the military because he felt he had no other choice.
"That's the reason he joined the army -- to try to get us out of here. That was his dream, to get us out of Newark," Baines' mother Yolanda Torres told CBS 2 News.
That dream ended this weekend when army officials told the family Baines was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
Upon hearing the news, Baines' brother James was devastated. "I started crying. That's how I reacted. I don't know what to do now," James said.
Torres says she still remembers their last telephone calls,and recalls her son sounded scared. He had recently carried a fallen soldier out of battle and knew he could be next. "He was like, 'I'm calling you now because we're about to raid the town the boy was killed in,' and he said basically, 'I'm calling you just in case I don't call you back -- you know what happened,'" she said.
Baines was no stranger to adversity. He attended a high school for troubled youth in Pennsylvania. After graduation, he came home, but trouble found him quickly. His mother says he got into a fight, and a few weeks later he was shot in the leg just a few blocks from his home.
Torres didn't like the idea of her son joining the army. She says she was "against it 100 percent."
But she says for her son, a tour of duty in iraq suddenly sounded like a walk in the park, especially if it meant a new start for his family.
"I'm proud of what he did, because that was his dream. That's all he ever talked about -- his mama," Torres said.
Baines was just 19-years old.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 28 2006, 12:45 PM
Here is another brave American who gave his all for his country. I wonder how his older brother who competes in the Special Olympics will deal with his passing.
QUOTE
Sad season for family of slain soldier
By Sean Leonard and Thor Jourgensen
Friday, December 22, 2006
LYNN -- When 5-year-old Matthew Stanley was picked to carry the American flag in the graduation parade for the Revere child-care center he attended, his father offered him a word of caution.
“Be careful with that,” Richard Stanley said.
Seventeen years later, Stanley can still remember his son’s reply.
“Oh, Dad, I would never let anything happen to the flag.”
Stanley died last Saturday at 22 while serving his country. A roadside bomb exploded under a Humvee he was riding in as he patrolled in Iraq.
“He died clearing that road so other soldiers could live. Two others (David Staats and Seth Stanton, both of Colorado) were also killed and one was badly injured. I’m trying to contact the one who survived,” Richard Stanley said.
The military and the Wolfeboro, N.H. church where the Stanley family worships did not have details Thursday of Stanley’s funeral. His body will be transported from Iraq to Kuwait, to Ramstien AFB in Germany and on to the Air Force base in Dover, Del. before it is taken to Wolfeboro.
Tentative plans for Stanley’s funeral in First Congregational Church were preceded this week by Wolfeboro’s show of support and sympathy for Lynn Savage, Stanley’s mother; his stepfather, James, and Stanley’s brother and sister, as well as his step-siblings.
Located on the southeastern edge of Lake Winnipesaukee, Wolfeboro has over 6,000 year-round residents and about 20,000 in the summer.
“The church and the community have come together and are very supportive,” Rev. James Christenson said. “To lose a person in a community like this is to lose a friend. There is sadness but also an acknowledgement that Matt is a hero.”
Stanley’s father echoed those words Thursday. He lives in Revere with his parents. Lynn Savage’s parent, Joe and Alice Bourgeois, live in Lynn where Jim Savage worked for 32 years at the River Works.
Matthew’s older brother, Richard, is a triple-gold Special Olympics medalist and his sister, Melissa, a student, has a double major with honors studying law.
“Matthew wanted to serve his country. Words can’t describe how proud I am of Matthew. He was as much a son of Massachusetts as he was of New Hampshire.”
Stanley joined the Army in December 2003 and was assigned to the Seventh Cavalry Regiment in May 2004. He started his second tour of duty in Iraq this October.
His military awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism (Service) Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon.
http://www.thedailyitemoflynn.com/news/view.bg?articleid=13973
By Sean Leonard and Thor Jourgensen
Friday, December 22, 2006
LYNN -- When 5-year-old Matthew Stanley was picked to carry the American flag in the graduation parade for the Revere child-care center he attended, his father offered him a word of caution.
“Be careful with that,” Richard Stanley said.
Seventeen years later, Stanley can still remember his son’s reply.
“Oh, Dad, I would never let anything happen to the flag.”
Stanley died last Saturday at 22 while serving his country. A roadside bomb exploded under a Humvee he was riding in as he patrolled in Iraq.
“He died clearing that road so other soldiers could live. Two others (David Staats and Seth Stanton, both of Colorado) were also killed and one was badly injured. I’m trying to contact the one who survived,” Richard Stanley said.
The military and the Wolfeboro, N.H. church where the Stanley family worships did not have details Thursday of Stanley’s funeral. His body will be transported from Iraq to Kuwait, to Ramstien AFB in Germany and on to the Air Force base in Dover, Del. before it is taken to Wolfeboro.
Tentative plans for Stanley’s funeral in First Congregational Church were preceded this week by Wolfeboro’s show of support and sympathy for Lynn Savage, Stanley’s mother; his stepfather, James, and Stanley’s brother and sister, as well as his step-siblings.
Located on the southeastern edge of Lake Winnipesaukee, Wolfeboro has over 6,000 year-round residents and about 20,000 in the summer.
“The church and the community have come together and are very supportive,” Rev. James Christenson said. “To lose a person in a community like this is to lose a friend. There is sadness but also an acknowledgement that Matt is a hero.”
Stanley’s father echoed those words Thursday. He lives in Revere with his parents. Lynn Savage’s parent, Joe and Alice Bourgeois, live in Lynn where Jim Savage worked for 32 years at the River Works.
Matthew’s older brother, Richard, is a triple-gold Special Olympics medalist and his sister, Melissa, a student, has a double major with honors studying law.
“Matthew wanted to serve his country. Words can’t describe how proud I am of Matthew. He was as much a son of Massachusetts as he was of New Hampshire.”
Stanley joined the Army in December 2003 and was assigned to the Seventh Cavalry Regiment in May 2004. He started his second tour of duty in Iraq this October.
His military awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism (Service) Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 29 2006, 12:28 AM
Here is the story of a medical corpsman who normally tends to others but was himself hit by a sniper. He was on his second tour in Iraq. His parents and the wife he married just before leaving for this tour will be with him when he returns to America. God bless him and may he bless Dustin and his family as he recovers from his severe wounds.
QUOTE
Iraqi Sniper Fire Forces a Healer to Tend His Own Wound
By C. J. CHIVERS
Petty Officer Third Class Dustin E. Kirby, a Navy corpsman whose efforts to save a wounded marine in Iraq were covered in an article published Nov. 2 in The New York Times, was severely wounded by an Iraqi sniper on Christmas afternoon, his family and the Marine Corps said yesterday.
The bullet struck the left side of his face while he was on the roof of Outpost Omar, the position his unit occupies in Karma, a city near Falluja in Anbar Province.
His jaw and upper palate were damaged extensively, but after several operations he was conscious and on a ventilator in a military hospital in Germany, his battalion commander, Lt. Col. Kenneth M. DeTreux, said by telephone.
Petty Officer Kirby, 22, of Hiram, Ga., was assigned to Weapons Company, Second Battalion, Eighth Marines, serving as the trauma medic for the company’s Second Mobile Assault Platoon. It was his second tour in Iraq. He had married weeks before leaving the United States in July.
He was expected to arrive today at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, where his wife, Lauren Kirby, and his parents, Gail and Jack Kirby, planned to meet him.
Although Petty Officer Kirby cannot speak because of his injuries, his mother said she had communicated with him through his brother-in-law, a serviceman who is stationed in Germany and has been at his bedside, holding a phone to Petty Officer Kirby’s ear.
Petty Officer Kirby listened to his mother and replied by writing notes, which his brother-in-law read aloud.
“He told me, ‘Don’t cry, Mama,’ ” Ms. Kirby said by telephone. “I said, ‘I have to. I’m a mom. That’s what moms do.’ ”
She added, “He wrote, ‘Be strong for me and Lauren.’ ”
In another note, she said, he wrote, simply, “Milkshake.”
Colonel DeTreux said Petty Officer Kirby began writing within minutes of being shot, when he jotted a note to his platoon before being evacuated by helicopter.
In the first note he apologized to the company’s senior enlisted man for being wounded, the colonel said. He then refused a stretcher and insisted on walking to the helicopter.
“He’s tough,” Colonel DeTreux said. “He showed his character, walking onto the aircraft himself.”
The article last month was about the battlefield treatment Petty Officer Kirby provided, and the prayers he said, for a marine who had been shot through the head by an Iraqi sniper.
The marine, Lance Cpl. Colin Smith, had been his roommate in North Carolina before their unit returned to Iraq. Lance Corporal Smith was shot at the end of a raid both men participated in on Karma’s outskirts. He remains under treatment and evaluation for injuries to his skull and brain.
Petty Officer Kirby was wounded when a sniper fired one shot on an otherwise quiet Christmas afternoon, Colonel DeTreux said. He was near one of several rooftop bunkers the company staffs to defend Outpost Omar, which has been attacked by insurgents several times, including once by a truck bomb.
He was the second member of his family to be grievously wounded in Iraq. A cousin, Petty Officer Joseph D. Worley, lost his left leg and suffered gunshot wounds to his right leg in 2004. He also was a corpsman in a Marine Corps unit.
The National Envelope Corporation, of Austell, Ga., where Petty Officer Kirby’s father is a janitor, is taking donations to help his family.
Kathleen Childs, an executive assistant at the company who was helping to manage the donations, said collections began when it was uncertain whether the family could afford to visit Petty Officer Kirby from the moment he arrived in the United States.
Even before Gail Kirby arranged a plane ticket, Ms. Childs said, it was clear she was headed to his bedside, whether she had the money or not.
“His mother said there was no way she was going to stay at home while her boy was that close,” Ms. Childs said. “She was going to start out on foot and walk.”
http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt12_29_6_1.htm
By C. J. CHIVERS
Petty Officer Third Class Dustin E. Kirby, a Navy corpsman whose efforts to save a wounded marine in Iraq were covered in an article published Nov. 2 in The New York Times, was severely wounded by an Iraqi sniper on Christmas afternoon, his family and the Marine Corps said yesterday.
The bullet struck the left side of his face while he was on the roof of Outpost Omar, the position his unit occupies in Karma, a city near Falluja in Anbar Province.
His jaw and upper palate were damaged extensively, but after several operations he was conscious and on a ventilator in a military hospital in Germany, his battalion commander, Lt. Col. Kenneth M. DeTreux, said by telephone.
Petty Officer Kirby, 22, of Hiram, Ga., was assigned to Weapons Company, Second Battalion, Eighth Marines, serving as the trauma medic for the company’s Second Mobile Assault Platoon. It was his second tour in Iraq. He had married weeks before leaving the United States in July.
He was expected to arrive today at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, where his wife, Lauren Kirby, and his parents, Gail and Jack Kirby, planned to meet him.
Although Petty Officer Kirby cannot speak because of his injuries, his mother said she had communicated with him through his brother-in-law, a serviceman who is stationed in Germany and has been at his bedside, holding a phone to Petty Officer Kirby’s ear.
Petty Officer Kirby listened to his mother and replied by writing notes, which his brother-in-law read aloud.
“He told me, ‘Don’t cry, Mama,’ ” Ms. Kirby said by telephone. “I said, ‘I have to. I’m a mom. That’s what moms do.’ ”
She added, “He wrote, ‘Be strong for me and Lauren.’ ”
In another note, she said, he wrote, simply, “Milkshake.”
Colonel DeTreux said Petty Officer Kirby began writing within minutes of being shot, when he jotted a note to his platoon before being evacuated by helicopter.
In the first note he apologized to the company’s senior enlisted man for being wounded, the colonel said. He then refused a stretcher and insisted on walking to the helicopter.
“He’s tough,” Colonel DeTreux said. “He showed his character, walking onto the aircraft himself.”
The article last month was about the battlefield treatment Petty Officer Kirby provided, and the prayers he said, for a marine who had been shot through the head by an Iraqi sniper.
The marine, Lance Cpl. Colin Smith, had been his roommate in North Carolina before their unit returned to Iraq. Lance Corporal Smith was shot at the end of a raid both men participated in on Karma’s outskirts. He remains under treatment and evaluation for injuries to his skull and brain.
Petty Officer Kirby was wounded when a sniper fired one shot on an otherwise quiet Christmas afternoon, Colonel DeTreux said. He was near one of several rooftop bunkers the company staffs to defend Outpost Omar, which has been attacked by insurgents several times, including once by a truck bomb.
He was the second member of his family to be grievously wounded in Iraq. A cousin, Petty Officer Joseph D. Worley, lost his left leg and suffered gunshot wounds to his right leg in 2004. He also was a corpsman in a Marine Corps unit.
The National Envelope Corporation, of Austell, Ga., where Petty Officer Kirby’s father is a janitor, is taking donations to help his family.
Kathleen Childs, an executive assistant at the company who was helping to manage the donations, said collections began when it was uncertain whether the family could afford to visit Petty Officer Kirby from the moment he arrived in the United States.
Even before Gail Kirby arranged a plane ticket, Ms. Childs said, it was clear she was headed to his bedside, whether she had the money or not.
“His mother said there was no way she was going to stay at home while her boy was that close,” Ms. Childs said. “She was going to start out on foot and walk.”
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 29 2006, 01:49 PM
What a shock to be told by a military representative that your son is dead when you didn't even know he was in Iraq. This is a cruel twist of fate and will weight heavily on his 11 brothers and sisters. May the Lord accept him into his protection and bestow peace and healing on the family he has left behind.
QUOTE
Tragic way to learn son is in Iraq
By ANTHONY LANE THE GAZETTE
The death of a Fort Carson soldier in Iraq earlier this month came as a surprise to his relatives.
They thought he was still in Colorado.
“I didn’t even know he was in Iraq,” said Jean Feggins of Philadelphia, the mother of Pfc. Albert M. Nelson.
The 31-year-old Nelson was killed Dec. 4 with Pfc. Roger A. Suarez-Gonzalez, 21, when their infantry unit came under small-arms fire in Ramadi, the Army said Friday. The men were with a 2nd Brigade Combat Team battalion sent to Anbar province, southwest of Baghdad.
Feggins said her son enlisted in the Army about a year ago.
“He was only in there about a year,” Feggins said.
Before joining the Army, Nelson worked as a security guard and at other jobs. Feggins said her son was a “regular guy” and a “people person.”
Nelson was the oldest of Feggins’ six children. The youngest is 12. Feggins said she raised them all to look up to their older brother.
“They’re devastated,” Feggins said.
Feggins declined to talk in detail about Nelson’s personal life.
“He’s a grown man,” Feggins said. “He was a grown man.”
Feggins said her relationship with her son went through some cool times.
“Me and him, we didn’t always see eye to eye, but we were best friends,” Feggins said.
Feggins said her son never married or had children.
Nelson and Suarez-Gonzalez died while conducting security and observation operations, the Army said.
Suarez-Gonzalez was from Miami.
Since the start of the Iraq invasion in 2003, 177 Fort Carson soldiers have been killed, including 55 deaths from enemy fire. Seventy-two soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team have been killed.
http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1327763&secid=1
By ANTHONY LANE THE GAZETTE
The death of a Fort Carson soldier in Iraq earlier this month came as a surprise to his relatives.
They thought he was still in Colorado.
“I didn’t even know he was in Iraq,” said Jean Feggins of Philadelphia, the mother of Pfc. Albert M. Nelson.
The 31-year-old Nelson was killed Dec. 4 with Pfc. Roger A. Suarez-Gonzalez, 21, when their infantry unit came under small-arms fire in Ramadi, the Army said Friday. The men were with a 2nd Brigade Combat Team battalion sent to Anbar province, southwest of Baghdad.
Feggins said her son enlisted in the Army about a year ago.
“He was only in there about a year,” Feggins said.
Before joining the Army, Nelson worked as a security guard and at other jobs. Feggins said her son was a “regular guy” and a “people person.”
Nelson was the oldest of Feggins’ six children. The youngest is 12. Feggins said she raised them all to look up to their older brother.
“They’re devastated,” Feggins said.
Feggins declined to talk in detail about Nelson’s personal life.
“He’s a grown man,” Feggins said. “He was a grown man.”
Feggins said her relationship with her son went through some cool times.
“Me and him, we didn’t always see eye to eye, but we were best friends,” Feggins said.
Feggins said her son never married or had children.
Nelson and Suarez-Gonzalez died while conducting security and observation operations, the Army said.
Suarez-Gonzalez was from Miami.
Since the start of the Iraq invasion in 2003, 177 Fort Carson soldiers have been killed, including 55 deaths from enemy fire. Seventy-two soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team have been killed.
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 30 2006, 01:42 AM
Getting over one's losses is not an easily accompllished task, as this family from a small city in central Oregon can tell you. I have been through Madras numerous times on my way to Bend, an area that my wife and I love to visit, and it is a very tightly-knit community (as I am sure Mac and other Oregonians who have been there can attest). I am sure I can speak for all on this board in saying that we are all pulling for these families to continue to live their lives and make the necessary adjustments to make their lives productive and satisfying in the absence of their loved ones.
QUOTE
6 months later, Ore. parents reflect on killing of son in Iraq
10:33 AM PST on Friday, December 29, 2006
Associated Press
MADRAS, Ore. -- The news that the man responsible for their son's death had been captured was welcome -- but not comforting, say the parents of Army Pfc. Thomas Tucker.
Pfc. Thomas Tucker shown in a photo while serving in Iraq.
"It's bittersweet, because it doesn't bring him back," Meg Tucker told The Bulletin newspaper of Bend. "If they did capture this guy and he's the one who did it, at least he'll be not out there to do these things to someone else."
The U.S. military said Thursday that Iraqi and U.S. forces arrested the al-Qaida in Iraq cell leader alleged to be responsible for the torture and deaths of Tucker and Pfc. Kristian Menchaca of Houston. The arrest came in a raid Tuesday south of Baghdad.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the deaths. The bodies were recovered after a search by 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers.
Wes and Meg Tucker said they are still trying to come to terms with their son's death at age 25.
"I think the hardest part this year was going through Christmas and Thanksgiving without him," said Wes Tucker.
They said Thomas' Army experience had given their son a purpose and confidence he lacked after he graduated from high school.
"Before he left he was in debt, he was kind of a mess, probably the biggest mess he'd been," Meg Tucker said.
But when Tom returned from boot camp, "he was so proud," Wes said. "That was something he hadn't been able to do for quite a few years, was puff his chest out."
"Tom had no idea what the big picture of this war is, just like I don't either, but what the Army did for him to make him such a proud person -- there is no way we can bash any of them," Wes said.
Wes and Meg are both back to work, at BrightWood and Madras High School, respectively, but they've changed parts of their lives.
"Every time an unfamiliar car drives up to my work, I think that it's going to be Tom, or it's going to be the Army saying it's all been a mistake," Meg Tucker said.
Wes took a month off work and then moved to a job in a new building at the BrightWood mill, to make it easier to go back to work.
"I could still see him walking into the shop back there," Wes said. "He'd always come by the mill and say, 'Dad, you got 20 bucks?' "
Meg stopped attending her clogging classes, because she was on a trip in Burns with that group when her family learned that her son was missing.
"She can't do that anymore because that's something that she associates with finding out about Tommy, and that was something she completely enjoyed," said Tayva Tucker, 29, Tom's older sister.
They've kept all of Tom's things - his guitar, sandblasted sunglasses, a name tag, the last packages they sent him in Iraq, two packs of Army rations and the truck he was fixing up. Meg Tucker said she can't even think about throwing out anything that was Tom's.
"You wake up every morning and you pray that you've been in a coma and this really hasn't happened, but you get up every morning and it's the same as the day before," Meg Tucker said. "They say it gets easier, but I don't know, I don't know when."
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_122906_news_tucker_family.59166fe7.html
10:33 AM PST on Friday, December 29, 2006
Associated Press
MADRAS, Ore. -- The news that the man responsible for their son's death had been captured was welcome -- but not comforting, say the parents of Army Pfc. Thomas Tucker.
Pfc. Thomas Tucker shown in a photo while serving in Iraq.
"It's bittersweet, because it doesn't bring him back," Meg Tucker told The Bulletin newspaper of Bend. "If they did capture this guy and he's the one who did it, at least he'll be not out there to do these things to someone else."
The U.S. military said Thursday that Iraqi and U.S. forces arrested the al-Qaida in Iraq cell leader alleged to be responsible for the torture and deaths of Tucker and Pfc. Kristian Menchaca of Houston. The arrest came in a raid Tuesday south of Baghdad.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the deaths. The bodies were recovered after a search by 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers.
Wes and Meg Tucker said they are still trying to come to terms with their son's death at age 25.
"I think the hardest part this year was going through Christmas and Thanksgiving without him," said Wes Tucker.
They said Thomas' Army experience had given their son a purpose and confidence he lacked after he graduated from high school.
"Before he left he was in debt, he was kind of a mess, probably the biggest mess he'd been," Meg Tucker said.
But when Tom returned from boot camp, "he was so proud," Wes said. "That was something he hadn't been able to do for quite a few years, was puff his chest out."
"Tom had no idea what the big picture of this war is, just like I don't either, but what the Army did for him to make him such a proud person -- there is no way we can bash any of them," Wes said.
Wes and Meg are both back to work, at BrightWood and Madras High School, respectively, but they've changed parts of their lives.
"Every time an unfamiliar car drives up to my work, I think that it's going to be Tom, or it's going to be the Army saying it's all been a mistake," Meg Tucker said.
Wes took a month off work and then moved to a job in a new building at the BrightWood mill, to make it easier to go back to work.
"I could still see him walking into the shop back there," Wes said. "He'd always come by the mill and say, 'Dad, you got 20 bucks?' "
Meg stopped attending her clogging classes, because she was on a trip in Burns with that group when her family learned that her son was missing.
"She can't do that anymore because that's something that she associates with finding out about Tommy, and that was something she completely enjoyed," said Tayva Tucker, 29, Tom's older sister.
They've kept all of Tom's things - his guitar, sandblasted sunglasses, a name tag, the last packages they sent him in Iraq, two packs of Army rations and the truck he was fixing up. Meg Tucker said she can't even think about throwing out anything that was Tom's.
"You wake up every morning and you pray that you've been in a coma and this really hasn't happened, but you get up every morning and it's the same as the day before," Meg Tucker said. "They say it gets easier, but I don't know, I don't know when."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 30 2006, 02:25 PM
Here is a Hawaiian who gave 20 years for his country, including 4 tours in Iraq and was set to retire next year. Now his family will have to face a new year without him and the prospect of enjoying his continued presence for the first time in many years.
QUOTE
Hilo soldier dies on 4th tour in Iraq
Advertiser Staff
HILO, Hawai'i — A Big Island man who was on his fourth tour in Iraq died Friday of injuries he suffered two weeks ago when a roadside bomb exploded near an armored Stryker vehicle he was riding in as part of a convoy, a family member said.
Henry Kahalewai, 44, was a senior enlisted man who planned to retire next year after 20 years in the Army to build a home on land he owned in Upper Puna, said Joseph Aguiar, Kahalewai's cousin.
Kahalewai had a grown son who lives in Honolulu, and two younger daughters who lived with him and his wife in Tacoma, Wash., Aguiar said.
"He's our hero. Four tours of Iraq is enough for one person," Aguiar said.
Kahalewai was born and raised in Hilo, and enlisted in the Army because job and career opportunities in Hilo were limited at the time, Aguiar said. "He wasn't comfortable, and he decided, well, he liked the military life," he said.
Aguiar, who lives in Kea'au, said his cousin had expertise in armored vehicles, including tanks and the Stryker.
Kahalewai came from a family with a long history of military service, including Kahalewai's father, grandfather, and his uncle. Kahalewai's father left the Big Island to be with his son before he died, Aguiar said.
"God knows how he's hurting right now," Aguiar said of Kahalewai's father
Aguiar said Kahalewai was outgoing, and called him "a true Hawaiian spirit."
"He was a very good man," Aguiar said. "He was just a bundle of life, in the cold he was warmth, the warmth of our life.
"He was in there trying to take care of good old Uncle George Bush's problem, and four times he went back."
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Dec/17/br/br9703261458.html
Advertiser Staff
HILO, Hawai'i — A Big Island man who was on his fourth tour in Iraq died Friday of injuries he suffered two weeks ago when a roadside bomb exploded near an armored Stryker vehicle he was riding in as part of a convoy, a family member said.
Henry Kahalewai, 44, was a senior enlisted man who planned to retire next year after 20 years in the Army to build a home on land he owned in Upper Puna, said Joseph Aguiar, Kahalewai's cousin.
Kahalewai had a grown son who lives in Honolulu, and two younger daughters who lived with him and his wife in Tacoma, Wash., Aguiar said.
"He's our hero. Four tours of Iraq is enough for one person," Aguiar said.
Kahalewai was born and raised in Hilo, and enlisted in the Army because job and career opportunities in Hilo were limited at the time, Aguiar said. "He wasn't comfortable, and he decided, well, he liked the military life," he said.
Aguiar, who lives in Kea'au, said his cousin had expertise in armored vehicles, including tanks and the Stryker.
Kahalewai came from a family with a long history of military service, including Kahalewai's father, grandfather, and his uncle. Kahalewai's father left the Big Island to be with his son before he died, Aguiar said.
"God knows how he's hurting right now," Aguiar said of Kahalewai's father
Aguiar said Kahalewai was outgoing, and called him "a true Hawaiian spirit."
"He was a very good man," Aguiar said. "He was just a bundle of life, in the cold he was warmth, the warmth of our life.
"He was in there trying to take care of good old Uncle George Bush's problem, and four times he went back."
Posted by: aleman1948 Dec 31 2006, 12:49 AM
Here is yet another American soldier involved in a long-term rehabilitation process who has gotten the runaround from almost everybody he has come in contact with. When will our severely injured forces begin to get the respect and treatment that they truly deserve, to say nothing of those who are their support systems; doing much more than is required just for the love they have for them?
QUOTE
Injured Iraq War veteran learns to come home again Injured veteran comes home
Wounded soldier adjusted to life outside Palo Alto's VA hospital
By Mark Emmons, MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Last Updated: 12/29/2006 02:42:57 AM PST
YUMA, Ariz. — Lunch diners at the bustling Mexican restaurant occasionally would steal quick glances. They looked at his helmet, or watched him repeatedly wipe saliva from his mouth.
If Sgt. Frank Sandoval noticed, he didn't say anything.
"It is a little weird when we go someplace and people will stare, but I don't pay any attention," his wife, Michelle, said. "He's a hero. He served in the war. But they don't need to know that. The only thing that matters is that we know."
Truth was, many people in their hometown knew all about Frank. His September return, after months of recovery from a severe brain injury suffered in Iraq, was well-publicized. People might have been curious, but they also were respectful.
One day, a woman came up and insisted on paying for their meal. When they went shopping for a mattress, the store owner told them it would be an honor to give them one for free. During those first weeks, people would approach Frank just to shake his hand.
"I can tell that Frankie feels good when that happens," Michelle said. "It makes him feel important."
Frank shrugged his shoulders when asked if he felt a little like a celebrity. He seemed more content to be out of Palo Alto's Veterans Affairs hospital and back home. Most of all, Frank said, he enjoyed just being around family.
"Especially Joelena," he said.
Although at this moment, their 4-year-old daughter Joey — as Frank liked to call her — was antsy. Frank
said something indecipherable in a stern voice.
"What are you saying, Dad?" she asked.
"Listen closely so you can understand him," Michelle said.
Frank repeated himself, this time more slowly and with a rhythmic cadence: "Behave, Joey."
After paying the bill, Michelle helped Frank maneuver out of his chair and slowly head toward the door with his cane. Some in the restaurant silently watched them leave.
Dream house
In early October, the temperature still approached 100 degrees in Yuma, located just across the California state line. But Frank said the hot, desert climate did not remind him of Iraq — even though helicopters from nearby Marine Corps Air Station Yuma sometimes passed overhead.
For now, they were living with Frank's parents, who had just moved into a new house. Frank liked staying with them because he was close to his father, Ricky, a Homeland Security official along the California-Mexico border.
Michelle, though, was nervous about moving in with her in-laws. There had been some past friction between Michelle and Frank's mom, Bea. And when Frank was wounded, it had been difficult for Bea to let Michelle take the lead in the recovery of her youngest son.
But while there still was a little tension, the women had an unspoken agreement: They would focus on Frank.
"We've never been that close," Bea said. "But I really admire how she has been there for Frank."
She also knew how tight their bond had become. One day after their return to Yuma, Frank wondered aloud to Bea whether it would be better for Michelle to leave him — if that's what would make her happy.
Frank, his mother had told him, I think she's happy being with you.
Where Frank and Michelle eventually wanted to be was in a place of their own. For months, Frank had been asking Michelle what he could get her to show his appreciation for everything she had done.
"What kind of jewelry?" Frank had asked once, when they were still in Palo Alto. "A ring? Bracelet? Necklace?"
"You know what I want," Michelle said.
"Earrings?"
"A house, Frankie."
The dream of a home had helped sustain Michelle during the low points of Frank's excruciatingly slow recovery. But they faced some hurdles. Michelle's full-time job was taking care of Frank and Joey. It wasn't clear what exactly Frank's monthly benefits would be because he hadn't yet been medically retired by the Army.
Frank had received $100,000 from the military's traumatic injury insurance program — the maximum amount. Ricky also had done some fundraising.
Michelle had been pre-approved for a loan big enough to buy a nice tract home. But before she could go house-hunting, the loan officer called back. Frank's name was still on the title of a house he had once shared with his brother, who now was behind on payments. They couldn't get the loan until that was resolved.
Meanwhile, Michelle found herself trapped in the military's health care bureaucracy.
Waning support
Frank might not have missed the hospital food in Palo Alto, but there was a downside to being out of the VA. They no longer were receiving VIP treatment.
Wounded soldier adjusted to life outside Palo Alto's VA hospital
By Mark Emmons, MEDIANEWS STAFF
Article Last Updated: 12/29/2006 02:42:57 AM PST
YUMA, Ariz. — Lunch diners at the bustling Mexican restaurant occasionally would steal quick glances. They looked at his helmet, or watched him repeatedly wipe saliva from his mouth.
If Sgt. Frank Sandoval noticed, he didn't say anything.
"It is a little weird when we go someplace and people will stare, but I don't pay any attention," his wife, Michelle, said. "He's a hero. He served in the war. But they don't need to know that. The only thing that matters is that we know."
Truth was, many people in their hometown knew all about Frank. His September return, after months of recovery from a severe brain injury suffered in Iraq, was well-publicized. People might have been curious, but they also were respectful.
One day, a woman came up and insisted on paying for their meal. When they went shopping for a mattress, the store owner told them it would be an honor to give them one for free. During those first weeks, people would approach Frank just to shake his hand.
"I can tell that Frankie feels good when that happens," Michelle said. "It makes him feel important."
Frank shrugged his shoulders when asked if he felt a little like a celebrity. He seemed more content to be out of Palo Alto's Veterans Affairs hospital and back home. Most of all, Frank said, he enjoyed just being around family.
"Especially Joelena," he said.
Although at this moment, their 4-year-old daughter Joey — as Frank liked to call her — was antsy. Frank
said something indecipherable in a stern voice.
"What are you saying, Dad?" she asked.
"Listen closely so you can understand him," Michelle said.
Frank repeated himself, this time more slowly and with a rhythmic cadence: "Behave, Joey."
After paying the bill, Michelle helped Frank maneuver out of his chair and slowly head toward the door with his cane. Some in the restaurant silently watched them leave.
Dream house
In early October, the temperature still approached 100 degrees in Yuma, located just across the California state line. But Frank said the hot, desert climate did not remind him of Iraq — even though helicopters from nearby Marine Corps Air Station Yuma sometimes passed overhead.
For now, they were living with Frank's parents, who had just moved into a new house. Frank liked staying with them because he was close to his father, Ricky, a Homeland Security official along the California-Mexico border.
Michelle, though, was nervous about moving in with her in-laws. There had been some past friction between Michelle and Frank's mom, Bea. And when Frank was wounded, it had been difficult for Bea to let Michelle take the lead in the recovery of her youngest son.
But while there still was a little tension, the women had an unspoken agreement: They would focus on Frank.
"We've never been that close," Bea said. "But I really admire how she has been there for Frank."
She also knew how tight their bond had become. One day after their return to Yuma, Frank wondered aloud to Bea whether it would be better for Michelle to leave him — if that's what would make her happy.
Frank, his mother had told him, I think she's happy being with you.
Where Frank and Michelle eventually wanted to be was in a place of their own. For months, Frank had been asking Michelle what he could get her to show his appreciation for everything she had done.
"What kind of jewelry?" Frank had asked once, when they were still in Palo Alto. "A ring? Bracelet? Necklace?"
"You know what I want," Michelle said.
"Earrings?"
"A house, Frankie."
The dream of a home had helped sustain Michelle during the low points of Frank's excruciatingly slow recovery. But they faced some hurdles. Michelle's full-time job was taking care of Frank and Joey. It wasn't clear what exactly Frank's monthly benefits would be because he hadn't yet been medically retired by the Army.
Frank had received $100,000 from the military's traumatic injury insurance program — the maximum amount. Ricky also had done some fundraising.
Michelle had been pre-approved for a loan big enough to buy a nice tract home. But before she could go house-hunting, the loan officer called back. Frank's name was still on the title of a house he had once shared with his brother, who now was behind on payments. They couldn't get the loan until that was resolved.
Meanwhile, Michelle found herself trapped in the military's health care bureaucracy.
Waning support
Frank might not have missed the hospital food in Palo Alto, but there was a downside to being out of the VA. They no longer were receiving VIP treatment.