Showing posts with label Fort Riley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fort Riley. Show all posts

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Fort Carson soldier charged with murder of soldier girlfriend

Carson soldier charged in girlfriend’s death
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 15, 2013

FORT CARSON, Colo. (AP) — The Army has filed murder charges against a Fort Carson soldier accused of killing his soldier-girlfriend during a Valentine's Day quarrel in a Colorado motel.

Sgt. Montrell Lamar Anderson Mayo was charged with premeditated murder and murder in the death of Cpl. Kimberly Walker.

Walker, 28, of Cincinnati was stationed at Fort Riley, Kan. Friends of Mayo said the woman was visiting Mayo at the time she was killed.
read more here

Fort Carson soldier arrested in connection with death

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Soldier Surprises Kids With Reunion at Hockey Game

Soldier Surprises Kids With Reunion at Hockey Game
Mar 12, 2013
Karisma and Phillip Gallardo of Covington, Ky., are sister and brother, ages 12 and 11. They knew they were in for a treat when they got to attend a local hockey game with their whole family Saturday night.
What they did not know is that the one member of their family missing — their father, Army Sgt. First Class Phillip Gallardo — would be there too.
read more here

Monday, February 25, 2013

Fort Riley soldier died of gunshot wound

Ft. Riley Soldier Dies From Single Gunshot
WIBW News

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (WIBW) - A Ft. Riley soldier is dead after suffering a single gun shot in Junction City early Saturday morning.

Junction City Police were called to 311 W. 8th Apt. #2 just after 1:30 a.m. in reference to a subject suffering from a gunshot wound.

Upon arrival, officers located a 22-year-old Ft. Riley soldier suffering from a single gunshot.

He was transported to Geary Community Hospital and was later pronounced dead.

An autopsy has be scheduled. His identity is not being released at this time, pending notification of next of kin.

The investigation is ongoing but police say the incident does not appear to be criminal in nature.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Fort Hood soldier's body found Valentines Day

Dead woman found near Carson was a soldier
By Dan Elliott
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Feb 19, 2013

DENVER — A 28-year-old Army corporal from Fort Riley, Kan., was found dead amid blood and flower petals in a Colorado motel room, apparently after a Valentine’s Day quarrel with her soldier boyfriend, according to a court document released Tuesday.

The body of Cpl. Kimberly Walker was found Sunday in Colorado Springs, police said. Army Sgt. Montrell Lamar Anderson Mayo, who is stationed at Fort Carson outside Colorado Springs, surrendered later that day to police in Greenville, N.C.

An acquaintance of Mayo’s told police Mayo was with his grandmother in Greenville.

Mayo, 24, was being held on a Colorado warrant alleging first-degree murder after deliberation. Greenville jail records did not indicate whether he had an attorney.

Mayo’s supervisor at Fort Carson, Reginald Cullers, told police that Walker was Mayo’s girlfriend and that she had come from Fort Riley to see Mayo, according to an arrest warrant affidavit released Tuesday.

Fort Riley officials confirmed Walker was stationed there.
read more here

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Accidental overdose killed Fort Riley Sgt

Police: Accidental overdose killed Riley sgt.
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Oct 25, 2012

OGDEN, Kan. — Riley County police say a Fort Riley soldier found dead at his off-post home accidentally overdosed on medication he was taking after surgery.

Officers were called to the Ogden home of 33-year-old Army Sgt. Duriel Powell the morning of Sept. 28 after a relative found him not breathing. Emergency responders said Powell was deceased by the time they arrived.
read more here

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Kansas Soldier's Family Seeks Answers In Unsolved Murder

Soldier's Family Seeks Answers In Unsolved Murder
WIBW.com
Oct 12, 2012

OGDEN, Kan. (WIBW) -- The family of Sgt. Ronald Evans Taylor is still trying to come to terms with his death.

Taylor, an Army X-ray technician and medic, was shot a year ago on the night of October 14, 2011 as he was driving just a few blocks away from where he lived off post in Ogden.

Wounded behind the wheel, Taylor’s ended up crashing his car into a nearby home on Walnut Street. When officers arrived, they found neighbors trying to help Taylor and giving him CPR. He was rushed to Irwin Army Community Hospital on Fort Riley where he was pronounced dead. Taylor's family believes he was trying to get away from his killer after he'd been shot and ended up losing control of his car due to his injuries.

Several days after the murder, detectives released a profile of the man they believe shot Sergeant Taylor. He's described as a black man, 5'8"-6', 180 lbs., 25-35 years old with a completely bald head, mustache and beard. Witnesses in the area helped them come up with the description of the suspect. Taylor's family even had the sketch posted on a billboard along Fort Riley Boulevard in Manhattan in an effort to help move the case forward and offered a hefty reward but a year later, an arrest has not been made in the case.
Read more about Sgt. Ronald Evans Taylor here

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Empty chair reserved for Capt. Erik Anthes' fallen friend

Soldier keeps alive the memory of old friend killed in Baghdad
Tampa Bay Times
By Bill Stevens
Times Columnist
Sunday, September 23, 2012

Two-hundred soldiers stood in formation, ready to meet their new commanding officer. Friends and family filled the chairs for the ceremony.

All but one.
Army Capt. Erik Anthes mourns his former classmate, Spc. Patrick Miller, at the Florida National Cemetery near Bushnell.
Capt. Erik Anthes reserved it for a fellow soldier, a man he hadn't seen since high school back in New Port Richey, but promised he would never forget.

As Anthes snapped salutes and accepted the responsibility for Company E, 1st Battalion of the storied 16th Infantry Regiment which dates back to the Civil War, he felt awash with emotion. How coincidental — no, how fitting — he thought as he glanced toward the empty chair and the sign taped on it: Spc. Patrick "P.J.'' Miller, March 29, 2008.

That was the day a roadside bomb exploded next to the young soldier's vehicle in Baghdad, one week before he was scheduled to return home. His outfit: the 16th Infantry Regiment.

Anthes, 26, assumed his new role on Aug. 30 at the regiment's headquarters in Fort Riley, Kan. At night, when he went home to be with his wife, Kelli, and their 5-month-old daughter, Reagan, he changed from his uniform. He didn't remove the bracelet that bears P.J. Miller's name.

"I never take it off,'' Anthes said. "I never forget.''
read more here

Friday, September 21, 2012

Hostage-taker surrenders in Pittsburgh

Police: Hostage-taker surrenders in Pittsburgh
The Associated Press and staff reports
Posted : Friday Sep 21, 2012 14:11:23 EDT

PITTSBURGH — An armed suicidal man who held a businessman hostage inside a downtown Pittsburgh office building for more than five hours Friday, posting Facebook updates during the standoff, surrendered to authorities without incident, police said.

Klein Michael Thaxton, 22, surrendered just before 2 p.m., and the man he took hostage was unhurt, Police Chief Nathan Harper said.

The hostage-taking on the 16th floor of Three Gateway Center prompted an evacuation while Thaxton wrote on Facebook that he had "lost everything" and that people didn't have to worry about him anymore.

His friends responded by urging him to end the situation peacefully, including one who asked him to think of his mother.

An Army spokesman said Thaxton enlisted in the Army in December 2008 and separated from the service in June 2010. The spokesman said Thaxton, who was never deployed, was a private with the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.

He was a combat engineer.
read more here

Monday, May 21, 2012

Another non-combat death for Fort Riley

Riley soldier’s death ruled accidental
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday May 21, 2012
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Riley County police say a Fort Riley soldier’s death at his Manhattan home apparently was caused by an accidental drug overdose.

Twenty-four-year-old Derek H. Holgersen was found dead at his apartment on Friday.

Riley County police Capt. Kurt Moldrup announced Monday that preliminary autopsy reports indicate Holgersen died from an accidental drug overdose.

Moldrup says another tenant found Holgersen’s body.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Fort Riley: Fourth recent non-combat death reported

Fourth recent non-combat death reported
Staff reports
May 17, 2012

A 21-year-old soldier is the fourth from Fort Riley to die under non-combat circumstances since mid-March. Post officials said Wednesday that Pvt. Thomas Lavrey, 21, was pronounced dead at Irwin Army Community Hospital after being found unresponsive in his living quarters on post Monday. They said the cause of death is under investigation.
read more here

Monday, May 7, 2012

Vietnam Veterans reunited after Google search

Vietnam veterans reunited in Wood County
May 7, 2012
By JEFFREY SAULTON
Parkersburg News and Sentinel

LUBECK - Charles Beagle and John Wikle, who served together in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, recently reunited after not seeing each other for about 40 years.

From 1970 to 1971, the two were members of 1st Battalion, 5th Division, Co. E, 1st Cavalry in a mortar platoon, but when they returned to the U.S. they were sent to Fort Riley, Kan., and then went their separate ways.

Wikle said they had about three months left in their tours with the military at that time. At Fort Riley they were in the 1st Division.

Beagle moved to Parkersburg where he worked for Ormet Corp., where he had worked before he was drafted, as a mechanic and later at Tri-State Roofing and Sheet Metal as a HVAC technician. Wikle went back to Clarksville, Ga., where he worked at a number of jobs, finally retiring from the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Wikle said the first time they had any contact after their discharge was about eight years ago.

"My oldest son is in the military and he was asking me questions about my service in Vietnam," he said. "One thing led to another and we started doing some searches on Google and we came up with Charles and others. We located two or three friends through Google."
read more here

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Soldier found dead in Afghan living quarters

Soldier found dead in Afghan living quarters
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday May 5, 2012

FORT RILEY, Kan. — The Army says it’s investigating the death of a Fort Riley soldier who was found unresponsive in his living quarters in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Zachary Hargrove, 32, of Wichita, died Thursday at a medical facility at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. Fort Riley officials said Friday the cause of death was under investigation.
read more here

Monday, March 5, 2012

Army spouse of the year proves PTSD doesn't have to end anything

Real People: Woman named Army Spouse of the Year
March 04, 2012
Molly McGowan/Times-News

Military deployment doesn’t just impact the troops who leave home to serve.

Not by a long shot.

It’s also a tumultuous time for the families left behind. Alamance County native Crystal Cavalier knows all about it.

Cavalier, now living in Fort Bragg, has raised her children, worked with several organizations for military families, seen her oldest daughter diagnosed with juvenile arthritis, started a nonprofit and earned her master’s degree while her husband, Sgt. Dany Cavalier, was deployed in the Middle East.

That’s why the sergeant nominated his wife for the 2011 Military Spouse of the Year Award, sponsored by Military Spouse Magazine and Armed Forces Insurance. Though the overall winner was Bianca Strzalkowski, representing the Marine Corps, Cavalier is the 2011 Army branch award-winner, the 2011 Army Spouse of the Year.

Born in Burlington, Cavalier grew up in Mebane and graduated from Eastern High School before attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Cavalier’s been a military spouse for more than a decade, and has lived at Fort Bragg for the past six years, where her husband — an E5 mechanic — is stationed during his current tour of duty to South Korea.

Cavalier said her husband has been deployed four times. He’s served three tours in Iraq and once in Kosovo. Each deployment ranged from seven to 14 months and during those times, Cavalier kept busy.

All the work she’s done — both volunteer and paid — has been to help families of military personnel stay informed, become acclimated and gain as much peace as possible while their loved ones are overseas. As soon as she got married, Cavalier volunteered in her husband’s “family readiness group,” then became a leader of the FRG at Fort Stewart and Fort Riley.

The first time her husband came back, he was only home for a short time and didn’t have enough down time to “forget about what happened,” said Cavalier. His second deployment was tougher.

“He was actually blown up on his Humvee … (and) he was stabbed in the back by an insurgent,” she said. “When he came home, he started showing signs of PTSD.”

Cavalier said many soldiers originally thought it a sign of weakness to ask for help or therapy following deployment, but she said it’s important for them to feel at ease asking for medical help. That’s why Cavalier spoke at this year’s Boots on the Ground Conference in Fayetteville, where she emphasized to non-military medical professionals the importance of making resources available to soldiers who no longer live on a base.
read more here

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Fort Riley Suicidal Soldier Surrenders To Riley County Police

Suicidal Soldier Surrenders To RCPD Officers
Police are not releasing the name of a Fort Riley soldier they say stole a friend's handgun and tried to shoot himself before surrendering to officers.
Posted: 5:53 PM Jan 27, 2012
Reporter: Lindsey Rogers

MANHATTAN, Kan. (WIBW) -- Police are not releasing the name of a Fort Riley soldier they say stole a friend's handgun and tried to shoot himself before surrendering to officers.

Lieutenant Josh Kyle, the Riley County Police Department's Public Information Officer, released the following statement Friday:


"On 01-26-2012 at about 1636 hours the RCPD received a report of a past burglary on Crestwood Dr. in Manhattan, KS. Further investigation revealed that a suicidal Fort Riley soldier had taken a handgun from an acquaintance without their knowledge. The RCPD’s investigation quickly transitioned from that of a past crime to a search for an armed suicidal male.
read more here

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Fort Riley Big Red One back from Afghanistan

Fort Riley Cavalry Soldiers Honored After Return From Afghanistan
Jan 25, 2012
"Big Red One" soldiers were honored for their service and bravery at Fort Riley Wednesday after returning from Afghanistan.
Reporter: Lindsey Rogers

FORT RILEY, Kan. (WIBW) -- "Big Red One" soldiers were honored for their service and bravery at Fort Riley Wednesday after returning from Afghanistan.

Commanders say they faced off against the enemy nearly every day for a year during a dangerous and deadly deployment.

Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, held a ceremony to award Soldiers for valorous actions at Fort Riley's Marshall Army Airfield Wednesday afternoon.

The soldiers are just back from Afghanistan and during the ceremony, commanders gave out eight Army Commendation Medals for Valor, 25 Bronze Stars for Service and 48 Purple Hearts.

"Because of individual actions of soldiers in this squadron, 4-4 Cav defeated the Taliban in central Zhari, freed the people in that area from oppression and in the process, made history.

The warriors in this room destroyed thousands of pounds of homemade explosives, military vests and military grade explosives," said Lieutenant Colonel Michael Katona, Squadron Commander.

"There’s 144 total purple hearts earned across the squadron of just a little over 500 soldiers.
read more here

Friday, November 25, 2011

Fort Riley Soldier found dead on post

Soldier found dead on post
Staff reports
Military police at Fort Riley said Wednesday they are investigating the discovery of a body found on post Sunday.
The soldier was identified as Spc. James Joseph Pizzo, 30, of the Warrior Transition Battalion.
No other details regarding the body's discovery were made available.
read more here

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Army Sgt. Ronald Evans Taylor, killed on U.S. soil leaves his family in shock

Soldier killed on U.S. soil leaves his family in shock
By Carrie Napoleon
Post-Tribune correspondent
October 18, 2011

Army Sgt. Ronald Evans Taylor, 28, was supposed to be coming home to his native Wheatfield soon.

Taylor, who was stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., had served two tours of duty in Iraq as a combat medic and X-ray technician since he enlisted in January 2007, and he was in the process of a medical discharge that his family said would have brought him home to Wheatfield in about a month.

That all changed when the soldier was murdered Friday night, about two blocks from his off-base home in Ogden, Kan.

“You don’t expect these things to happen. When he’s been overseas, to know he got killed here at home it’s real hard on my family,” said his younger brother Alex Taylor, of Farmington Hills, Mich., Monday.

Taylor said Riley County police are tracking down leads in the murder. Witnesses in the area reported hearing two shots before the soldier crashed his vehicle into a home at 7th and Walnut streets in Odgen. He was taken to Irwin Army Community Hospital on Fort Riley where he was pronounced dead.

“It looks like he was trying to get away from whoever was trying to hurt him and passed out in his car from his wounds,” Alex Taylor said.

Taylor said his brother, who graduated from Kankakee Valley High School in 2001, was a combat medic just outside of Baghdad.
read more here

Friday, August 26, 2011

Army Pilot Program Allows Soldiers to Confidentially Enroll in Alcohol Treatment

Army Pilot Program Allows Soldiers to Confidentially Enroll in Alcohol Treatment

August 23rd, 2011
A pilot Army program allows soldiers at high risk for developing alcohol problems to enroll in a confidential treatment program that will not adversely impact their careers. The program, which started at three Army installations, is now at six posts.

The Confidential Alcohol Treatment and Education Project (CATEP) is aimed at helping soldiers who abuse alcohol, before more serious substance abuse problems develop that could harmfully impact their finances, health, relationships and military career.

Soldiers are overwhelmingly young males, who have higher rates of drinking than the general population, according to Colonel Charles S. Milliken, MD, of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. In addition to drawing from this demographic, soldiers have specific reasons for abusing alcohol, including “self-medicating” sleep problems and irritability. These reasons are common in not just those with post-traumatic stress disorder, but in many soldiers first returning from war.


One study found that an estimated 27 percent of soldiers reported alcohol misuse three months after redeploying from Iraq, Col. Milliken says. “Soldiers who drink too much are at high risk of behaviors that put themselves and others at risk, including drinking and driving or riding with a drunk driver.”

Traditionally, when a soldier enrolls in the Army’s substance abuse treatment program, known as ASAP, his or her Commanding Officer is automatically notified. Soldiers who fail to comply with or respond successfully to treatment are processed for administrative separation from military service.

The project initially started in 2009 at three sites: Schofield Barracks Army Health Clinic in Hawaii, Fort Lewis in Washington and Fort Richardson in Alaska. In April 2010, the program was expanded to include Fort Riley in Kansas, Fort Carson in Colorado and Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Col. Milliken estimates that the program now covers about 25 percent of those on active duty in the Army.
read more here

Fort Riley private. not robbed, shot himself

Police: Riley pvt. not robbed, shot himself
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Aug 26, 2011 8:29:15 EDT
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Fort Riley soldier who said he was shot and robbed while jogging in Kansas City has been charged with making a false report.
read more here

Thursday, August 25, 2011

"For those I love I will sacrifice"

UPDATE
Wounded Big Red One Soldier continues to serve Army family
Army
By Mollie Miller, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs
January 9, 2012
FORT RILEY, Kan. (Jan. 9, 2012) -- Love can make people do some crazy, unusual, heroic things.

A dance outside in a rain storm, a midnight flight across the country, a dash into a burning home, none of these are outside the realm of what people will do for those they love.

For one 1st Infantry Division Soldier, his love for his family and his country led him into an Army recruiter's office, onto basic training, up the road to Fort Riley, Kan., and around the world to Afghanistan.

And then that love led him right to death's front door.

Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry, 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, joined the Army in the fall of 2010 after a summer full of friends, dirt bikes and post high school graduation parties. Joining the Army was the realization of a dream for the young man from Marietta, Ohio.

"I always wanted to serve my country, protect our freedom, to keep the life that all the ones I love live safe," the 19-year-old said recently.

Hockenberry's enlistment wasn't much of a surprise for his parents, Chet and Kathy Hockenberry.

"Being a Soldier was all Kyle ever talked about, even when he was little," Kathy said of her youngest son. "I still have all his G.I. Joe guys that he always used to play with because he didn't want me to get rid of them."

Kyle graduated from basic training in January 2011 and was assigned to the Big Red One's 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment "Pale Riders." The Pale Rider team was already busy making final preparations for a deployment to Afghanistan when Kyle arrived and the new Soldier began his own preparations for this upcoming mission -- a mission that would have him leaving Kansas in less than six weeks.

First on Kyle's list of deployment preparations was a visit to a tattoo shop in Manhattan, Kan.

"I had wanted a tattoo for a long time and I wanted to finally get one before we left," he said.

One evening, shortly before the deployment, Kyle and a few fellow Soldiers "went under the needle." One of the Soldiers had his children's names or birth dates tattooed, some had a lucky number or special picture done but Kyle selected a seven word phrase that had been rolling around in his head ever since he decided he was going to be a Soldier.

That night, the tattoo artist etched, "For those I love, I will sacrifice" onto Kyle's right side.

"I thought since I was in the military that it would be a good one to get," he said. "'Those I love' is for everyone -- for my parents, my brother and all my family but it really for everyone in the country."
read more here
"For those I love I will sacrifice" pretty much sums up how they all feel. They are ready to face danger and ready to save a life even if it means they lose their own. If you want to see how much they care about each other, go to the link below and see the pictures going with this article. If you want to know why they are willing to do all of this, read it and know this isn't about killing. It is about caring.

Pfc. Kyle Hockenberry, of 4th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Infantry Regiment, 1st Heavy Combat Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, who was injured in an improvised explosive device attack near Haji Ramuddin, is treated by flight medic Cpl. Amanda Mosher while being transported by medevac helicopter to the Role 3 hospital at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan on June 15, 2011. Laura Rauch/Stars and Stripes


Calm in the midst of chaos is lifesaving protocol for medevac crew in southern Afghanistan
By LAURA RAUCH
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 25, 2011
FORWARD OPERATING BASE PASAB, Afghanistan — It was the worst of places, but the soldiers on the ground had few options when they marked the landing zone for the medevac helicopter. One of their buddy’s legs had been blown off by an Improvised Explosive Device near Pashmul South, and another had suffered a traumatic brain injury from the blast.

Grape rows, tree lines and mud walls surrounded the field. It was the perfect setting for an ambush.

Purple smoke billowed from the landing zone as the crew of Dustoff 59 sped toward a small band of 1st Infantry Division soldiers, waiting with their wounded. As pilot and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Marcus Chambers slowed for the landing, gunfire broke out and the all-too-familiar tat-tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat-tat pinged around them.

Chambers set the aircraft down and flight medic Staff Sgt. Garrick Morgenweck flung the door open to retrieve the wounded. As he stepped out, insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade from close range, striking a mud wall and narrowly missing the helicopter as it blasted through.
read more here

If you ask a Vietnam veteran why they did what they did, there are several reasons they may give to get you to stop asking them. The honest answer is "we did it for each other" and that is what they are all fighting for today in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Time had an update on this story

No Idle Boast: A Soldier's Tattoo Becomes Truth
Posted by Mark Thompson Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tattoos are as old as war. Lots of soldiers get them, with military motifs, girlfriend's names, or various guns, skulls or dragons adorning their skin. Some get something less ornate. Private First Class Kyle Hockenberry had For those I love I will sacrifice stitched into his flesh. He had no idea how prescient he was.

A member of the 1st Infantry Division, Hockenberry's world changed June 15. He was on a foot patrol just outside Haji Ramuddin, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated nearby. In this photograph, by Laura Rauch for the military's Stars and Stripes newspaper, flight medic Corporal Amanda Mosher is tending to Hockenberry's wounds aboard a medevac helicopter minutes after the explosion.

Kyle Hockenberry, 19, lost both legs and his left arm in the blast.
read more here