Report rips platoon boss behavior in fratricide
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 31, 2011 7:03:12 EDT
A new investigation into the 2008 friendly fire death of Pfc. David Sharrett II in Iraq blasts the platoon leader who shot Sharrett and abandoned him as he lay dying, saying the officer displayed “serious personal judgment errors.”
After a botched pre-dawn raid, then-1st. Lt. Timothy Hanson left the battlefield on a helicopter while Sharrett and two of his soldiers were still missing, the report stated. Sharrett was found clinging to life at least 10 minutes after Hanson left.
“[Hanson] failed to uphold the Soldier’s Creed to include the Warrior Ethos,” wrote the chief investigator, Brig. Gen. David Bishop, chief of staff of Third Army, U.S. Army Central, “and he displayed a lack of regard for completing his assigned mission and ensuring the welfare and safety of his Soldiers which calls into question his leadership.”
The new investigation, dated March 31, is the third since Sharrett was killed. It backtracks on the first investigation’s widely reported conclusion that Hanson “misidentified” Sharrett as an insurgent and shot him because Sharrett failed to switch on his infrared beacon.
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Showing posts with label Iraq casualties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iraq casualties. Show all posts
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Soldier from Kettering dies after surgery
Soldier from Kettering dies after surgery
By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer
Updated 10:52 PM Saturday, October 22, 2011
KETTERING — An outpouring of support is planned Monday for the homecoming of a 2007 Fairmont High School graduate who died of complications from surgery for back problems related to combat duty in Iraq.
Army Sgt. Cody Bryan, 22, died Oct. 14, a day after surgery in Colorado. He had sustained back injuries in two Humvee rollover incidents in Iraq. His second tour of duty ended in March.
An e-mail circulating locally encourages the community to line Far Hills Avenue between Stroop and Rahn roads with flags or signs of support at 6 p.m. Monday to greet Bryan’s family and their military escort. Parking is at the Apex church, 5200 Far Hills Ave.
Bryan is survived by wife Megan (Moore) and children, Kaydence, 4, and Ian, 2. A third child, Tanner, is due in January.
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By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer
Updated 10:52 PM Saturday, October 22, 2011
KETTERING — An outpouring of support is planned Monday for the homecoming of a 2007 Fairmont High School graduate who died of complications from surgery for back problems related to combat duty in Iraq.
Army Sgt. Cody Bryan, 22, died Oct. 14, a day after surgery in Colorado. He had sustained back injuries in two Humvee rollover incidents in Iraq. His second tour of duty ended in March.
An e-mail circulating locally encourages the community to line Far Hills Avenue between Stroop and Rahn roads with flags or signs of support at 6 p.m. Monday to greet Bryan’s family and their military escort. Parking is at the Apex church, 5200 Far Hills Ave.
Bryan is survived by wife Megan (Moore) and children, Kaydence, 4, and Ian, 2. A third child, Tanner, is due in January.
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Monday, October 17, 2011
19 Year Old Soldier's Love Lives On
At my age, being a student at Valencia College brings out the Mom in me. While I've seen many students always willing to help others and taking their education seriously, there are many more making me very sad. They have excuses for everything. They lack discipline, not turning in assignments and showing up late for classes. They can't manage to do much more than complain about all that is wrong with their lives never once thinking about anyone but themselves. When it comes to doing anything for anyone else, they wouldn't unless there was something in it for them.
When it comes to thinking about anyone the same age in the military, they are just not interested. It must be because they can't understand someone with the same problems they have in civilian life manage to take on risking their lives on top of it.
Pfc. Nicholas Madaras was only 19 but must have had an old soul. Not only was he willing to die for the sake of others in the military, he cared about the children he encountered in Iraq and homeless veterans so much so that his love is still changing lives long after his body was laid to rest.
When it comes to thinking about anyone the same age in the military, they are just not interested. It must be because they can't understand someone with the same problems they have in civilian life manage to take on risking their lives on top of it.
Pfc. Nicholas Madaras was only 19 but must have had an old soul. Not only was he willing to die for the sake of others in the military, he cared about the children he encountered in Iraq and homeless veterans so much so that his love is still changing lives long after his body was laid to rest.
Late soldier's mission lives on in help for homeless vets
By Jennifer McDermott
Publication: The Day
Published 10/16/2011
Photo courtesy of Madaras family
Nicholas Madaras of Wilton was killed in Iraq in 2006.
Thousands of soccer balls for kids in Iraq, vital housing for female veterans among his legacy
Bridgeport - Nicholas Madaras wanted to share his passion for soccer with the children in Iraq and restore a sense of normalcy, if only briefly, amid the chaos of war.
Madaras showed his family pictures of kids, smiling in front of buildings destroyed by bombs, while he was home on leave in 2006. He was amazed they could be so joyful, living with such uncertainty.
"He was just taken with that, that's why he wanted to connect with them, and soccer balls were his way of connecting," said his mother, Shalini Madaras.
Madaras asked his parents to send him soccer balls to hand out in Iraq. He never got the chance.
One month later, on Sept. 3, 2006, Army Pfc. Madaras, of Wilton, was on a foot patrol in Baqubah, Iraq, when he was killed by a bomb. He was 19 years old.
Since their son's death, Bill and Shalini Madaras have sent 35,000 soccer balls overseas. For the past four years Shalini Madaras also has raised money for a new transitional home in Bridgeport for female veterans who are homeless. She said Nick always has been a part of the project.
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Thursday, September 29, 2011
Vietnam Veteran Pays Respects at Soldier’s Funeral
Vietnam Veteran Pays Respects at Soldier’s Funeral
Reported by: Melissa Correa
September 28, 2011
MISSION - Victor Romo never met Staff Sgt. Estevan Altamirano, who was killed in Iraq. That didn't stop him from grieving.
He quietly crept into an Edinburg church. He witnessed true devotion to a son, father, husband and soldier.
“This morning I was thinking we were in the same steps because when I went to Vietnam, I was married. I had a wife,” says Romo.
Romo put himself in the shoes of Altamirano. He felt the grief and pain. With a simple gesture, Romo became connected.
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Reported by: Melissa Correa
September 28, 2011
MISSION - Victor Romo never met Staff Sgt. Estevan Altamirano, who was killed in Iraq. That didn't stop him from grieving.
He quietly crept into an Edinburg church. He witnessed true devotion to a son, father, husband and soldier.
“This morning I was thinking we were in the same steps because when I went to Vietnam, I was married. I had a wife,” says Romo.
Romo put himself in the shoes of Altamirano. He felt the grief and pain. With a simple gesture, Romo became connected.
read more here
Monday, September 26, 2011
Soldier from Longwood dies in Iraq
Soldier from Longwood dies in Iraq
9:09 p.m. EDT, September 25, 2011
The 32-year-old soldier, who was killed Thursday in Baghdad, was assigned to the 143rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) of Orlando, the Department of Defense announced today, and was serving in Operation Enduring Freedom.
When Army officials delivered the news to his wife, Mariela Caraballo-Morales, she could hardly believe it, said sister-in-law Mercian Lesser said from her Sarasota home.
Just five months before, the best friends were married in a celebration that brought together a family that had seen its share of hardships. The young soldier spent just nine days with his newborn, Naiara Morales, before he was deployed, his wife said.
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Andy Caraballo Morales is pictured in a 2009 photo: "Training in Japan." (Photo courtesy of Facebook / September 25, 2011)By Arelis R. Hernández, Orlando Sentinel
9:09 p.m. EDT, September 25, 2011
"The family drifted apart as they lived their lives separately in other states, but Sgt. Morales' near-fatal car accident in North Carolina in 2009 helped draw them back together, family said."On the 2-month-anniversary of the birth of his daughter, Sgt. Andy Caraballo Morales of Longwood died in Iraq.
The 32-year-old soldier, who was killed Thursday in Baghdad, was assigned to the 143rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) of Orlando, the Department of Defense announced today, and was serving in Operation Enduring Freedom.
When Army officials delivered the news to his wife, Mariela Caraballo-Morales, she could hardly believe it, said sister-in-law Mercian Lesser said from her Sarasota home.
Just five months before, the best friends were married in a celebration that brought together a family that had seen its share of hardships. The young soldier spent just nine days with his newborn, Naiara Morales, before he was deployed, his wife said.
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Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Burn Pits of Iraq and Afghanistan Killing Soldiers
Toxic Trash: The Burn Pits of Iraq and Afghanistan
Published on August 24 2011
Billy McKenna and Kevin Wilkins survived Iraq—and died at home. The Oxford American sent filmmaker Dave Anderson and journalist J. Malcolm Garcia to Florida to investigate this deadly threat to American soldiers.
"Smoke Signals," by J. Malcolm Garcia
Published in the Fall 2011 Issue of The Oxford American.
Strange to think about it, the black smoke.
As it turns out, the eventual killer of Billy McKenna was lurking in the photographs he snapped in Iraq. Billy wrote captions beneath some of his photographs: typical day on patrol reads one. The photo is partially obscured by the blurred image of a soldier’s upraised hand. Brown desert unfurls away from a vehicle toward an empty horizon, and a wavering sky scorched white hovers above. Off to one side: Balad Air Base and the spreading umbrella of rising dank smoke from a burn pit.
Billy told his wife, Dina, in e-mails from Iraq that the stench was killing him. The air so dirty it rained mud. He didn’t call them burn pits. She can’t recall what he called them. He didn’t mean killing him literally. Just that the overwhelming odor was god-awful and tearing up his sinuses. He didn’t wear a mask. It would not have been practical. In heat that soared above a hundred degrees, what soldier would wear one?
Dina doesn’t know when she first heard the words “burn pit.” A Veterans Affairs doctor may have said it. The doctors were telling her a lot of things when Billy was on a ventilator. All she could think was, How can he have cancer? He’s indestructible. He’s been to hell and back. He can build houses, race cars, fish, camp. He was an Eagle Scout as a kid. He doesn’t smoke cigarettes.
But Billy had been exposed to something much more harmful than cigarettes. Since 2003, defense contractors have used burn pits at a majority of U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan as a method of destroying military waste. The pits incinerate discarded human body parts, plastics, hazardous medical material, lithium batteries, tires, hydraulic fluids, and vehicles. Jet fuel keeps pits burning twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
read more here
Published on August 24 2011
Billy McKenna and Kevin Wilkins survived Iraq—and died at home. The Oxford American sent filmmaker Dave Anderson and journalist J. Malcolm Garcia to Florida to investigate this deadly threat to American soldiers.
"Smoke Signals," by J. Malcolm Garcia
Published in the Fall 2011 Issue of The Oxford American.
Strange to think about it, the black smoke.
As it turns out, the eventual killer of Billy McKenna was lurking in the photographs he snapped in Iraq. Billy wrote captions beneath some of his photographs: typical day on patrol reads one. The photo is partially obscured by the blurred image of a soldier’s upraised hand. Brown desert unfurls away from a vehicle toward an empty horizon, and a wavering sky scorched white hovers above. Off to one side: Balad Air Base and the spreading umbrella of rising dank smoke from a burn pit.
Billy told his wife, Dina, in e-mails from Iraq that the stench was killing him. The air so dirty it rained mud. He didn’t call them burn pits. She can’t recall what he called them. He didn’t mean killing him literally. Just that the overwhelming odor was god-awful and tearing up his sinuses. He didn’t wear a mask. It would not have been practical. In heat that soared above a hundred degrees, what soldier would wear one?
Dina doesn’t know when she first heard the words “burn pit.” A Veterans Affairs doctor may have said it. The doctors were telling her a lot of things when Billy was on a ventilator. All she could think was, How can he have cancer? He’s indestructible. He’s been to hell and back. He can build houses, race cars, fish, camp. He was an Eagle Scout as a kid. He doesn’t smoke cigarettes.
But Billy had been exposed to something much more harmful than cigarettes. Since 2003, defense contractors have used burn pits at a majority of U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan as a method of destroying military waste. The pits incinerate discarded human body parts, plastics, hazardous medical material, lithium batteries, tires, hydraulic fluids, and vehicles. Jet fuel keeps pits burning twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
read more here
Saturday, August 20, 2011
In Iraq, youngest US troops bore the heaviest toll
In Iraq, youngest US troops bore the heaviest toll
By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer
SILVANA, Wash. (AP) — In a hilltop graveyard overlooking this Stillaguamish River village lies a young soldier killed in the infancy of the Iraq war.
Army Spc. Justin W. Hebert's story is sad and sadly unremarkable, a tragedy bound up in the tale of a grinding war that took young lives with grievous regularity. Nearly one-third of U.S. troops killed in Iraq were age 18 to 21. Well over half were in the lowest enlisted ranks.
For Hebert, the Army was an adventure. But it didn't last long.
Barely two years after he finished high school, exactly three months after President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq and just four days after his 20th birthday, Hebert was mortally wounded in an insurgent ambush that may have been a setup by an Iraqi "informant."
It was Aug. 1, 2003. The war, according to the Pentagon's plan, was supposed to be over. Baghdad had fallen swiftly. But a new, more menacing phase of conflict was just beginning. An insurgency was in the making, and in its formative months it perplexed U.S. commanders and cost Hebert his life.
In the years since, the U.S. effort in Iraq has veered from the brink of calamity to the threshold of surprising success. With the remaining U.S. troops now packing to leave, possibly for good, casualties and costs will be tallied one last time.
More elusive is a firm judgment on the net benefit of the American sacrifice, the more than 4,400 dead, the tens of thousands injured and the untold numbers suffering unseen psychological wounds for years to come.
read more here
By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer
SILVANA, Wash. (AP) — In a hilltop graveyard overlooking this Stillaguamish River village lies a young soldier killed in the infancy of the Iraq war.
Army Spc. Justin W. Hebert's story is sad and sadly unremarkable, a tragedy bound up in the tale of a grinding war that took young lives with grievous regularity. Nearly one-third of U.S. troops killed in Iraq were age 18 to 21. Well over half were in the lowest enlisted ranks.
For Hebert, the Army was an adventure. But it didn't last long.
Barely two years after he finished high school, exactly three months after President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat in Iraq and just four days after his 20th birthday, Hebert was mortally wounded in an insurgent ambush that may have been a setup by an Iraqi "informant."
It was Aug. 1, 2003. The war, according to the Pentagon's plan, was supposed to be over. Baghdad had fallen swiftly. But a new, more menacing phase of conflict was just beginning. An insurgency was in the making, and in its formative months it perplexed U.S. commanders and cost Hebert his life.
In the years since, the U.S. effort in Iraq has veered from the brink of calamity to the threshold of surprising success. With the remaining U.S. troops now packing to leave, possibly for good, casualties and costs will be tallied one last time.
More elusive is a firm judgment on the net benefit of the American sacrifice, the more than 4,400 dead, the tens of thousands injured and the untold numbers suffering unseen psychological wounds for years to come.
read more here
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Benefits reinstated for Iowa veteran
Benefits reinstated for Iowa veteran
Written by
TONY LEYS
Klobnak, 24, lost his left leg in Iraq in 2006. He spent six months in an Army hospital, then returned to Iowa with full disability pay. In April 2009, the VA notified him that because he had missed a doctor's appointment, the department was cutting his pay in half, to $1,557 per month. His appeal was snarled in a national paperwork backlog that has forced many disabled veterans to wait years for their benefits. While he waited, he struggled to support a family of four on half pay.
The Greenfield veteran's plight captured attention in June, when The Des Moines Register explained it in a front-page story. He believes the media spotlight, plus pressure from the staff of his congressman, Steve King, helped persuade VA officials to retrieve his case from the pile and to decide late last month to reverse their earlier decision.
read more here
Written by
TONY LEYS
"Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful," Klobnak said this week. "But I didn't want them to fix just mine. I want the system fixed."The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has reinstated Joel Klobnak's disability benefits after a two-year fight and a burst of publicity, but the former Marine knows that hundreds of thousands of veterans are still stuck in disability-claims purgatory.
Klobnak, 24, lost his left leg in Iraq in 2006. He spent six months in an Army hospital, then returned to Iowa with full disability pay. In April 2009, the VA notified him that because he had missed a doctor's appointment, the department was cutting his pay in half, to $1,557 per month. His appeal was snarled in a national paperwork backlog that has forced many disabled veterans to wait years for their benefits. While he waited, he struggled to support a family of four on half pay.
The Greenfield veteran's plight captured attention in June, when The Des Moines Register explained it in a front-page story. He believes the media spotlight, plus pressure from the staff of his congressman, Steve King, helped persuade VA officials to retrieve his case from the pile and to decide late last month to reverse their earlier decision.
read more here
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Colorado Springs Soldier Dies In Non-Combat Incident
Colorado Springs Soldier Dies In Non-Combat Incident
Sgt. Mark A. Cofield, 25, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died July 17 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
Posted: 10:35 PM Jul 19, 2011
Reporter: Alyssa Chin
Email Address: achin@kktv.com
The Department of Defense has confirmed the death of a local soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn.
Unanswered questions linger for a family who lost their soldier in Iraq. Sergeant Mark Cofield died July 17, 2011 from non-combat related injuries in Baghdad.
According to his family, this was a man who was promoted to Sergeant just 18 months after basic training. Coming from a military background, Sgt. Cofield’s father was in the Air Force for many years and recently re-enlisted into the military, this time into the Army. His brother is also a soldier who served two tours overseas. With almost her entire family a part of the military, his sister Sara Cofield had trouble believing the news of her brother’s death.
"Never thought it'd be (us), (we) always thought (we) were the lucky ones to have all three of them come back. So that was hard," Sara said.
Friends and family are left wondering what happened overseas to Sgt. Cofield, a man they watched grow up.
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Colorado Springs Soldier Dies In Non-Combat Incident
Sgt. Mark A. Cofield, 25, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died July 17 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
Posted: 10:35 PM Jul 19, 2011
Reporter: Alyssa Chin
Email Address: achin@kktv.com
The Department of Defense has confirmed the death of a local soldier who was supporting Operation New Dawn.
Unanswered questions linger for a family who lost their soldier in Iraq. Sergeant Mark Cofield died July 17, 2011 from non-combat related injuries in Baghdad.
According to his family, this was a man who was promoted to Sergeant just 18 months after basic training. Coming from a military background, Sgt. Cofield’s father was in the Air Force for many years and recently re-enlisted into the military, this time into the Army. His brother is also a soldier who served two tours overseas. With almost her entire family a part of the military, his sister Sara Cofield had trouble believing the news of her brother’s death.
"Never thought it'd be (us), (we) always thought (we) were the lucky ones to have all three of them come back. So that was hard," Sara said.
Friends and family are left wondering what happened overseas to Sgt. Cofield, a man they watched grow up.
read more here
Colorado Springs Soldier Dies In Non-Combat Incident
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
More military women in harm's way than ever before
For Soldiers, Death Sees No Gender Lines
By ROD NORDLAND
Published: June 21, 2011
MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan — When Specialist Devin Snyder, a 20-year-old from the Southern Tier of New York State, was killed by a bomb planted on a highway near this town in eastern Laghman Province on June 4, she became the 28th female American soldier to die in Afghanistan.
Servicewomen have died in all of America’s wars, but usually they were support personnel such as nurses and clerks. In Afghanistan, most women who have died were killed in combat situations, as Specialist Snyder was, despite the military’s official prohibition on women in combat jobs.
The same has been true in Iraq, where 111 female soldiers have died, according to data compiled by icasualties.org, an independent organization that tracks military fatalities. In both wars, 60 percent of those deaths are classified by the military as due to hostile acts.
Wars with no clear front lines have put women in harm’s way more than ever before, blurring the boundaries between combat jobs that are outlawed for women, and support jobs that are often as dangerous and in some cases even more so.
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For Soldiers, Death Sees No Gender Lines
linked from Stars and Stripes
By ROD NORDLAND
Published: June 21, 2011
MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan — When Specialist Devin Snyder, a 20-year-old from the Southern Tier of New York State, was killed by a bomb planted on a highway near this town in eastern Laghman Province on June 4, she became the 28th female American soldier to die in Afghanistan.
Servicewomen have died in all of America’s wars, but usually they were support personnel such as nurses and clerks. In Afghanistan, most women who have died were killed in combat situations, as Specialist Snyder was, despite the military’s official prohibition on women in combat jobs.
The same has been true in Iraq, where 111 female soldiers have died, according to data compiled by icasualties.org, an independent organization that tracks military fatalities. In both wars, 60 percent of those deaths are classified by the military as due to hostile acts.
Wars with no clear front lines have put women in harm’s way more than ever before, blurring the boundaries between combat jobs that are outlawed for women, and support jobs that are often as dangerous and in some cases even more so.
read more here
For Soldiers, Death Sees No Gender Lines
linked from Stars and Stripes
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Fellow soldiers grieve for friend
One of my favorite jobs was working for a small company back in Massachusetts. No one had any secrets there. It was an extended family with all the same problems any "family" had but all of us cared about our co-workers. When one of the employees suffered a loss of a family member, everyone showed up at the wake but the support didn't stop there. The worst loss was when one of the co-owners passed away due to cancer. He was not just a boss, he was part of our family.
We can all understand what it is like when someone in a "family" dies if we compare it to our own lives.
So far in Iraq it has happened 4,460 times and in Afghanistan 1,615 times according to Icasualties.org and even more when you consider deaths back home because of these wars.
If you have been unable to understand the depth of pain every member of a unit feels, this article may help you but it will help you more when you read it and connect it to your own lives.
We can all understand what it is like when someone in a "family" dies if we compare it to our own lives.
So far in Iraq it has happened 4,460 times and in Afghanistan 1,615 times according to Icasualties.org and even more when you consider deaths back home because of these wars.
If you have been unable to understand the depth of pain every member of a unit feels, this article may help you but it will help you more when you read it and connect it to your own lives.
"When he put his massive hand on your shoulder, you knew everything would be alright."EMAIL FROM BAGHDAD
Fellow soldiers grieve for friend
Saturday, June 11, 2011
BY RANDY LUDLOW
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Spc. Bobby Hartwick was killed in a rocket attack on Monday in Baghdad.
Spc. Bobby Hartwick was killed in a rocket attack on Monday in Baghdad.
The band of brothers sat around the barracks in Baghdad yesterday, tossing out tales about a fallen friend.
Army Spc. Douglas Snow, a combat medic from Fairfield in Butler County, sat at the computer, condensing the conversation into an email.
You could almost see the wistful smiles and sense the loss underlying the words from Iraq as the platoon mates talked about Spc. Bobby Hartwick.
The 20-year-old medic from Hocking County had just finished a workout with his roommate. They were heading to the showers when the insurgents' rockets hit the base on Monday.
Hartwick; his roommate Spc. Emilio J. Campo Jr., 20, of Madelia, Minn.; Spc. Michael B. Cook, 27, of Middletown, Ohio; and two other soldiers were killed in the attack. It was the deadliest assault on American troops in Iraq in two years.
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Fellow soldiers grieve for friend
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sentencing of Fort Stewart soldier to resume in late June
Sentencing of Ga. soldier to resume in late JuneReminder of what this story is all about.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT STEWART, Ga. -- An Army sergeant convicted of murder is scheduled to return to a Fort Stewart courtroom in late June for the sentencing phase of his trial to resume.
Sentencing of Ga. soldier to resume in late June
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sgt. said ‘kill me’ as leaders lay dying
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 13, 2009 16:29:46 EDT
FORT STEWART, Ga. — The sergeant accused of killing his squad leader and his fellow team leader in Iraq shouted “just kill me” as the other men lay bleeding, according to testimony at his Article 32 hearing on Monday.
Several fellow soldiers testified Monday morning they heard Sgt. Joseph C. Bozicevich saying “kill me” after the shootings in the early hours of Sept. 14, 2008, at Patrol Base Jurf as Sahkr, south of Baghdad. Bozicevich is charged with premeditated murder in the deaths of Staff Sgt. Darris J. Dawson, 24, of Pensacola, Fla., and Sgt. Wesley R. Durbin, 26, of Hurst, Texas, who were each shot multiple times.
The soldiers were with A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. Bozicevich and Durbin were team leaders, and Dawson was their squad leader. Durbin and Dawson were counseling Bozicevich when he opened fire with his M4, Army officials have said.
go here for the rest
Sgt. said ‘kill me’ as leaders lay dying
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich faces trail for slaying two soldiers
Sgt. accused of killing NCOs to face trial
By Russ Bynum - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 8, 2009 7:05:43 EDT
SAVANNAH, Georgia — An Army sergeant accused of slaying his superior and another U.S. soldier in Iraq will face a court-martial and could be sentenced to death if convicted, the military said Tuesday.
Army prosecutors say Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich, 39, shot his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson, and Sgt. Wesley Durbin on Sept. 14 at a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol base south of Baghdad. Witnesses have said Bozicevich opened fire on the soldiers when they tried to counsel him for poor performance.
Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division based at Georgia's Fort Stewart, ordered a general court-martial for Bozicevich on charges of murder. His decision Tuesday was based on preliminary evidence heard in April at the accused soldier's Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian grand jury.
If Bozicevich is convicted but not sentenced to death, he would face life in prison without parole, said Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson. No trial date has been set.
Bozicevich's attorney, Charles Gittins, said Tuesday evening he had no comment.
Dawson's stepmother, Maxine Mathis, said she was thankful the military was moving forward with the case. But she said she couldn't support the death penalty for Bozicevich.
"If they could just send him to prison, that wouldn't bother me one bit," Mathis said by phone from Pensacola, Fla. "I just feel in my heart something snapped in that man. I don't know what those young men go through over there."
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Sgt. accused of killing NCOs to face trial
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Fallen airman's daughter send cookies and love to the troops
Her Girl Scout cookie project wins praise from top general
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
Waukesha - Mackenzie Frost's dad loved Girl Scout cookies, especially peanut butter sandwiches.
When U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Frost was deployed to Iraq, he received Girl Scout cookies in the mail and even sent a photo of himself holding up a cookie. So when 8-year-old Mackenzie sold Girl Scout cookies this year for the first time as a Brownie, she asked her customers if they would be willing to donate boxes of cookies to send to troops in Iraq.
The second-grader wrote a note for each package introducing herself, explaining which Brownie troop she belonged to and how she came up with the idea. She also told the U.S. service members in Iraq that the cookies were a great way to remember her dad.
Christopher Frost was killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq in March 2008 when Mackenzie was 5.
Touched by her heartfelt letter, as well as the 600 boxes of Girl Scout cookies sent by Mackenzie and the rest of the girls in Waukesha Brownie Troop 2653, the U.S. service members decided to say thank you the best way they knew how.
They sent her a care package.
And on Tuesday afternoon, in front of her classmates at Hawthorne Elementary School in Waukesha, Mackenzie was presented with gifts sent from troops in Iraq - a U.S. flag flown over Iraq in Christopher Frost's memory, a large framed photo collage and a video greeting from a three-star Army general who is deputy commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.
read more here
Girl Scout cookie project wins praise from top general
By Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel
Waukesha - Mackenzie Frost's dad loved Girl Scout cookies, especially peanut butter sandwiches.
When U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Frost was deployed to Iraq, he received Girl Scout cookies in the mail and even sent a photo of himself holding up a cookie. So when 8-year-old Mackenzie sold Girl Scout cookies this year for the first time as a Brownie, she asked her customers if they would be willing to donate boxes of cookies to send to troops in Iraq.
The second-grader wrote a note for each package introducing herself, explaining which Brownie troop she belonged to and how she came up with the idea. She also told the U.S. service members in Iraq that the cookies were a great way to remember her dad.
Christopher Frost was killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq in March 2008 when Mackenzie was 5.
Touched by her heartfelt letter, as well as the 600 boxes of Girl Scout cookies sent by Mackenzie and the rest of the girls in Waukesha Brownie Troop 2653, the U.S. service members decided to say thank you the best way they knew how.
They sent her a care package.
And on Tuesday afternoon, in front of her classmates at Hawthorne Elementary School in Waukesha, Mackenzie was presented with gifts sent from troops in Iraq - a U.S. flag flown over Iraq in Christopher Frost's memory, a large framed photo collage and a video greeting from a three-star Army general who is deputy commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.
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Girl Scout cookie project wins praise from top general
Friday, April 8, 2011
Two more non-combat deaths in Iraq, both from Fort Stewart
Military probes Shippensburg University graduate's death in Baghdad
Staff report
The recent death of a Shippensburg University graduate in Iraq is under investigation.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced this week that Capt. Wesley J. Hinkley, 36, Carlisle, died Monday in Baghdad as a result of a non-combat incident.
He was assigned to the 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, Fort Stewart, Ga.
A "non-combat related incident" may include an accident or suicide, according to Kevin Larson, military spokesman for the public affairs office in Fort Stewart, Ga.
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Military probes
Woodstock soldier dies from non-combat injuries
by Barbara P. Jacoby
bjacoby@cherokeetribune.com
April 07, 2011 10:36 PM
Family and friends are remembering a Woodstock man who died while serving in Iraq.
U.S. Army Spec. Gary Lee Nelson III, 20, died on Tuesday from injuries suffered in a non-combat incident in Mosul, Iraq.
Further details have not yet been released by the Department of Defense, as his death is being investigated, which is routine for all military deaths.
A department spokesman said a casualty assistance officer will stay in contact with the family to give them updates about the process and the return of his remains.
Nelson's family traveled to to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., on Wednesday to bring him home.
Read more:
Woodstock soldier
Staff report
The recent death of a Shippensburg University graduate in Iraq is under investigation.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced this week that Capt. Wesley J. Hinkley, 36, Carlisle, died Monday in Baghdad as a result of a non-combat incident.
He was assigned to the 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, Fort Stewart, Ga.
A "non-combat related incident" may include an accident or suicide, according to Kevin Larson, military spokesman for the public affairs office in Fort Stewart, Ga.
read more here
Military probes
Woodstock soldier dies from non-combat injuries
by Barbara P. Jacoby
bjacoby@cherokeetribune.com
April 07, 2011 10:36 PM
Family and friends are remembering a Woodstock man who died while serving in Iraq.
U.S. Army Spec. Gary Lee Nelson III, 20, died on Tuesday from injuries suffered in a non-combat incident in Mosul, Iraq.
Further details have not yet been released by the Department of Defense, as his death is being investigated, which is routine for all military deaths.
A department spokesman said a casualty assistance officer will stay in contact with the family to give them updates about the process and the return of his remains.
Nelson's family traveled to to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., on Wednesday to bring him home.
Read more:
Woodstock soldier
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Army Captain's dead in Iraq under investigation
Army captain from Carlisle killed in Iraq
By staff reports, April 6, 2011
A 1993 graduate of Boiling Springs High School and a member of the Shippensburg University Class of 2001 died in Iraq on Monday.
Capt. Wesley J. Hinkley, 36, of Carlisle, died as a result of a non-combat related incident, the Department of Defense announced on Tuesday.
Hinkley was assigned to the 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade from Fort Stewart, Ga.
During his high school years, Hinkley was a member of the chess club, Boiling Springs High School Principal Joe Mancuso said.
He served in the Army, returned to Shippensburg University, where he was a history major and a member of the university's Army ROTC program, and then returned to the Army as an officer, Gene Mizdail, recruiting operations officer with the Shippensburg University Army ROTC, said.
read more here
Army captain from Carlisle killed in Iraq
By staff reports, April 6, 2011
A 1993 graduate of Boiling Springs High School and a member of the Shippensburg University Class of 2001 died in Iraq on Monday.
Capt. Wesley J. Hinkley, 36, of Carlisle, died as a result of a non-combat related incident, the Department of Defense announced on Tuesday.
Hinkley was assigned to the 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade from Fort Stewart, Ga.
During his high school years, Hinkley was a member of the chess club, Boiling Springs High School Principal Joe Mancuso said.
He served in the Army, returned to Shippensburg University, where he was a history major and a member of the university's Army ROTC program, and then returned to the Army as an officer, Gene Mizdail, recruiting operations officer with the Shippensburg University Army ROTC, said.
read more here
Army captain from Carlisle killed in Iraq
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Christmas light display honors a fallen soldier
Christmas light display honors a fallen soldier
December 26, 2010 | 2:00 pm
These lights flicker for a fallen son.
Altogether they number nearly 30,000 — tiny bulbs of red, green, white and blue that flash in sync with a melody from two speakers. Stretched around a home, a garage and the lawn ornaments in between, they make this Rancho Cucamonga residence sparkle from two streets away.
But the heart of the display is a more understated affair. Up in the small second-floor bedroom window, a projector shows hundreds of photos of military personnel. Among the young faces is Cpl. Matthew Wallace Creed, a 23-year-old with smiling brown eyes who was killed four years ago by a sniper in Baghdad.
read more here
Christmas light display honors a fallen soldier
December 26, 2010 | 2:00 pm
These lights flicker for a fallen son.
Altogether they number nearly 30,000 — tiny bulbs of red, green, white and blue that flash in sync with a melody from two speakers. Stretched around a home, a garage and the lawn ornaments in between, they make this Rancho Cucamonga residence sparkle from two streets away.
But the heart of the display is a more understated affair. Up in the small second-floor bedroom window, a projector shows hundreds of photos of military personnel. Among the young faces is Cpl. Matthew Wallace Creed, a 23-year-old with smiling brown eyes who was killed four years ago by a sniper in Baghdad.
read more here
Christmas light display honors a fallen soldier
Friday, October 29, 2010
Fort Hood soldier died in shooting spree in Iraq, kin say
GI died in shooting spree, kin say
By DENNIS YUSKO Staff Writer
Published: 02:38 p.m., Wednesday, October 27, 2010
ST. JOHNSVILLE -- The family of a Montgomery County soldier killed in Iraq said Wednesday that they have received information from Baghdad saying that he and others were murdered during a one-person shooting spree.
The Department of Defense confirmed Wednesday that Army Pfc. David Jones of St. Johnsville, Montgomery County, died Sunday from injuries sustained in a "non-combat incident" in Baghdad.
But Theresa Bennett, an aunt who helped raised Jones, received a copy of a text message from a soldier who worked with him in Iraq that stated Jones was one of five people killed or wounded Sunday in a shooting "rampage" on a U.S. military base in the Iraqi capital, Jones' cousin George Bennett said Wednesday.
The text came Tuesday afternoon to the family of Jones' girlfriend, Brittany Winton, George Bennett said. Brittany Winton declined comment on Wednesday, but a member of her family who asked not to be identified confirmed receiving the text and its contents.
"Someone went on a rampage and killed David," George Bennett said, though he said he didn't know who.
As of late Wednesday, the Pentagon's casualty notification website made no mention of additional soldiers dying in Iraq on Sunday.
Asked Wednesday about the message received by Jones' family, a spokesman at Fort Hood in Texas, where Jones was assigned, said, "the circumstances surrounding the incident are currently under investigation by the military."
read more here
GI died in shooting spree, kin say
linked from ICasualties.org
By DENNIS YUSKO Staff Writer
Published: 02:38 p.m., Wednesday, October 27, 2010
By Wednesday. nearly 600 Facebook users had joined the site's page called "Justice for Dead Army Pfc. David R. Jones." A user named Chris Wheeler of Canajoharie wrote: "It's coming. The truth is (going) to come out. Victim of another soldier gone nuts."
ST. JOHNSVILLE -- The family of a Montgomery County soldier killed in Iraq said Wednesday that they have received information from Baghdad saying that he and others were murdered during a one-person shooting spree.
The Department of Defense confirmed Wednesday that Army Pfc. David Jones of St. Johnsville, Montgomery County, died Sunday from injuries sustained in a "non-combat incident" in Baghdad.
But Theresa Bennett, an aunt who helped raised Jones, received a copy of a text message from a soldier who worked with him in Iraq that stated Jones was one of five people killed or wounded Sunday in a shooting "rampage" on a U.S. military base in the Iraqi capital, Jones' cousin George Bennett said Wednesday.
The text came Tuesday afternoon to the family of Jones' girlfriend, Brittany Winton, George Bennett said. Brittany Winton declined comment on Wednesday, but a member of her family who asked not to be identified confirmed receiving the text and its contents.
"Someone went on a rampage and killed David," George Bennett said, though he said he didn't know who.
As of late Wednesday, the Pentagon's casualty notification website made no mention of additional soldiers dying in Iraq on Sunday.
Asked Wednesday about the message received by Jones' family, a spokesman at Fort Hood in Texas, where Jones was assigned, said, "the circumstances surrounding the incident are currently under investigation by the military."
read more here
GI died in shooting spree, kin say
linked from ICasualties.org
Thursday, September 23, 2010
More contractors killed than military personnel since January
More contractors killed than military personnel since January
By Nick Wakeman
Sep 23, 2010
Since the beginning of 2010, more U.S. contractors have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan than military personnel, according to a study by a law student and procurement expert.
After analyzing data from the Defense and Labor departments, Steven Schooner, co-director of the Government Procurement Law Program at George Washington University, and Collin Swan, a law student at George Washington, estimated that 232 contractors have been killed in Afghanistan since January, compared to 195 U.S. troops. In Iraq, 204 contractors have been killed since January 2009, compared to 188 troops.
read more here
More contractors killed than military personnel since January
By Nick Wakeman
Sep 23, 2010
Since the beginning of 2010, more U.S. contractors have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan than military personnel, according to a study by a law student and procurement expert.
After analyzing data from the Defense and Labor departments, Steven Schooner, co-director of the Government Procurement Law Program at George Washington University, and Collin Swan, a law student at George Washington, estimated that 232 contractors have been killed in Afghanistan since January, compared to 195 U.S. troops. In Iraq, 204 contractors have been killed since January 2009, compared to 188 troops.
read more here
More contractors killed than military personnel since January
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Marine's mother to get his Bronze Star three years later
Marine's mother to get his Bronze Star -- 3 years late
August 11, 2010
Things, even very important things, can get overlooked when the fog of war is combined with the bureaucratic glitches that can occur when two branches of the military service are involved.
On Thursday, the Marine Corps plans to do something that should have been done nearly two years ago: making sure the family of Sgt. Clinton W. Ahlquist receives the Bronze Star for bravery that he was awarded posthumously.
Ahlquist, 23, a squad leader with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, was cited for continued heroism and leadership during the fierce fighting in Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province. He was killed Feb. 20, 2007, while rescuing a wounded Marine.
"His example proved to be a combat multiplier to the Marines he led and contributed decisively to the destruction of enemy forces during these engagement," according to the Bronze Star citation.
Just days before his death, Ahlquist had reenlisted. He listed Creede, Colo, where he finished high school, as his hometown, but he had spent much of his youth in Arizona.
The award was made in November 2008 and the family was notified. But because the 2-4 was under the command of an Army unit, the paperwork that would have made sure the Bronze Star was presented to Ahlquist's family went awry.
go here for more
Marine mother to get his Bronze Star
August 11, 2010
Things, even very important things, can get overlooked when the fog of war is combined with the bureaucratic glitches that can occur when two branches of the military service are involved.
On Thursday, the Marine Corps plans to do something that should have been done nearly two years ago: making sure the family of Sgt. Clinton W. Ahlquist receives the Bronze Star for bravery that he was awarded posthumously.
Ahlquist, 23, a squad leader with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, was cited for continued heroism and leadership during the fierce fighting in Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province. He was killed Feb. 20, 2007, while rescuing a wounded Marine.
"His example proved to be a combat multiplier to the Marines he led and contributed decisively to the destruction of enemy forces during these engagement," according to the Bronze Star citation.
Just days before his death, Ahlquist had reenlisted. He listed Creede, Colo, where he finished high school, as his hometown, but he had spent much of his youth in Arizona.
The award was made in November 2008 and the family was notified. But because the 2-4 was under the command of an Army unit, the paperwork that would have made sure the Bronze Star was presented to Ahlquist's family went awry.
go here for more
Marine mother to get his Bronze Star
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Iraqi sentenced to death for soldier killings
Iraqi sentenced to death for soldier killings
By Sameer N. Yacoub - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Oct 28, 2008 7:50:24 EDT
BAGHDAD — An Iraqi court on Tuesday sentenced a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militant to death by hanging for the grisly 2006 killing of three U.S. soldiers south of Baghdad.
Ibrahim al-Qaraghuli was one of three suspected militants who have gone to trial for the killings.
By Sameer N. Yacoub - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Oct 28, 2008 7:50:24 EDT
BAGHDAD — An Iraqi court on Tuesday sentenced a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militant to death by hanging for the grisly 2006 killing of three U.S. soldiers south of Baghdad.
Ibrahim al-Qaraghuli was one of three suspected militants who have gone to trial for the killings.
David J. Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., was found dead at the site of the checkpoint. Two other 101st soldiers were kidnapped, sparking a massive search effort by the military.
The mutilated bodies of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., were found three days later near a power station, not far from the checkpoint.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/10/ap_iraqisentence_102808/
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