Memorial Service honors 6 Marines killed in Sangin

Six Marines killed in Afghanistan remembered as 'noble warriors'
Los Angeles Times
November 3, 2012

Six Marines from the base at Twentynine Palms, Calif., were remembered at a memorial service Friday as "noble warriors" who showed "great courage and unwavering resolve when they were tested" in combat in Afghanistan.

The six, killed during combat operations, were:

Cpl. Taylor Baune, 21, of Coon Rapids, Minn.

Lance Cpl. Curtis Duarte, 22, of West Covina

Lance Cpl. Niall Coti-Sears, 23, of Washington, D.C.

Lance Cpl. Hunter Hogan, 21, of Seymour, Ind.

Lance Cpl. Eugene Mills III, 21, of Silver Springs, Md.

Lance Cpl. Steven Stevens II, 23, of Detroit.

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Boots on the Ground - America Remembers

7000 Boots

"Boots on the Ground - America Remembers"

Fernandina Beach, Florida
Saturday, October 27th 2012
Two years ago the Patriot Guard Riders stood for Fallen Hero (KIA) SPC Kelly Mixon.

Today, Kelly's Gold Star Mother Julie has requested the Patriot Guard Riders participation in the celebration of "Boots on the Ground." This is a 1.5 mile presentation of Fallen Heroes Boots symbolizing the sacrifice of America's Fallen Warriors. In conjunction with the "Boots on the Ground" presentation in Downtown Fernandina Beach, there will be the First Annual 5K, 10K Heroes Run where the PGR has been asked to stand a Flag Line honoring those runningand walking for those who have fallen.

The Heroes Run motto is - "They fought to keep us safe, we run for all they gave!"

Walk or drive along 1.5 miles of "Boots on the Ground" stretching from the corner of Historic Downtown Fernandina Beach to the Atlantic Ocean. A memorial of over 7,000 Boots, Pictures, and Flags honoring the brave Firefighters, Police Officers of 9-11 and Fallen OIF-OEF U.S. Service Members.

Army Col. David McKimmey, Bronze Star for Valor in Iraq

Wyoming soldier injured in Iraq earns Bronze Star for valor
JOAN BARRON
Casper Star-Tribune
October 13, 2012

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Army Col. David McKimmey didn't realize his leg had been broken until he tried to stand up.

He didn't find out until later that he had other fractures and burns to his face and hands.

He patted himself down, checking for bleeding. He found none.

McKimmey crawled to the burning Humvee and tried unsuccessfully to save another soldier inside.

He continued providing first aid to two other soldiers until the evacuation team arrived.

It was Sept. 5, 2007, on a road north of Balad, Iraq.

An improved explosive device buried in the road had exploded when McKimmey's Humvee, one of a three-vehicle convoy, drove over it.

Of the four men in the vehicle, only McKimmey and another soldier survived.

The crew was nearing the end of its 15-month deployment in Iraq.
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Our Longest and Least Talked About War?

Do you ever get tired of hearing how Afghanistan is the longest, least talked about war? I find it inexcusable. The troops were sent into Afghanistan in October of 2001 and as of October 2012, they are still there but even if you use 2014 to calculate how long this war is, Vietnam is still the longest war.

Just to give you some perspective, the first casualty names on the Wall happened the day after I was born. The end names came two years before I graduated high school.

But take a good look at the following.

The Wall

"THE FIRST KNOWN CASUALTY
Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956.
His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who has a casualty date of September 7, 1965."

"WHAT ARE THE DATES ON THE WALL?
The first casualty names inscribed were Dale R. Buis and Chester R. Ovnard (this name was a misspelling, it should have read Ovnand)were killed July 8th, 1959."
"The end was 18 Casualties killed" "on May 15th, (1975) during the recapture of the Mayaguez."

Just because some reporter decided a year or so ago to say that Afghanistan is the longest war, does not make the loss these families endured less. It makes it worse.

We should all thank God that we are not seeing over 58,000 lives lost in the War on Terror (Iraq and Afghanistan) but reporters have a habit of not talking about what they don't want anyone reminded of.

Afghanistan: Our Longest and Least Talked About War
Arianna Huffington
Huffington Post
Posted: 10/11/2012

In the last month, the United States hit three milestones in the war in Afghanistan. In late September, the 33,000 additional soldiers that President Obama ordered to Afghanistan in late 2009 came home, leaving 68,000 troops in the country as part of the 108,000-person NATO force. Also last month, the number of U.S. soldiers killed reached 2,000. And this past Sunday marked the 11th anniversary of the longest war in American history. Unfortunately, one milestone the U.S. has not yet hit is the answer to the question: Why on earth are we still there?

Maybe it's because, in addition to being America's longest war, Afghanistan is a contender for being America's least-talked-about war. In President Obama's weekly radio address, delivered the day before the 11th anniversary of the war, the word "Afghanistan" wasn't spoken a single time. Nor did we hear it once during Mitt Romney's acceptance speech at the Republican convention. Even though our presence in Afghanistan is a big drain on America's budget, in the first presidential debate last week the word came up exactly once, in the context of President Obama boasting about how he's willing to "take ideas from anybody," which is "how we're going to wind down the war in Afghanistan."

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In case Huffington forgot, politicians stopped talking about Afghanistan as soon as troops were sent into Iraq and reporters let them get away with it.

NC, Florida soldiers die in Afghanistan

NC, Florida soldiers die in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Published: Monday, Oct. 8, 2012

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- The Pentagon says soldiers from North Carolina and Florida have been killed in combat in Afghanistan.

The Department of Defense says 25-year-old Staff Sgt. Justin C. Marquez of Aberdeen and 27-year-old Warrant Officer Joseph L. Schiro of Coral Springs, Fla., were killed Saturday.
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Soldier's Words Have Some Questioning War in Afghanistan

Dead Soldier's Words Have Some Questioning War in Afghanistan
Matthew Sitton, who once attended Southeastern University, wrote to Rep. Bill Young
By John Woodrow Cox
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Sunday, September 30, 2012

The sun had just crept above the tree line over the Arghandab Valley in Afghanistan when Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Sitton reached the far side of the dirt road.

The sun had just crept above the tree line over the Arghandab Valley in Afghanistan when Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Sitton reached the far side of the dirt road.

The day before, engineers had been clearing a path when one of them stepped on a buried explosive. One had died, four others had been injured. Staff Sgt. Michael Herne and his men had guarded the scene overnight.

At 6 a.m. the next day, Aug. 2, Sitton took over.

"All right," Herne told his platoon mate, "I'm going to sleep."

Sitton, who almost always wore a smile across his freckled face, stopped him. He looked serious. He gripped Herne's hand and squeezed. Herne promised to be back in six hours, then left.

He had just returned to their outpost, about 1,000 feet away, when the air cracked and the earth shivered. A cloud of dust the size of a football field ballooned over the horizon.

Sitton and another sergeant had tripped an explosive. A big one. Both died instantly.

On June 4, Sitton had written a letter to U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young. In it, he explained to the Republican legislator that for weeks his platoon had been mandated to patrol empty fields and compounds strewn with explosives. The missions, he wrote, served no purpose. Soldiers were losing arms and legs every day. He had objected, but no one had listened.

Someone would die, he wrote, if nothing changed.
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Four fallen Marines mourned at Pendleton ceremony

MILITARY: Four fallen Marines mourned at Pendleton ceremony
September 28, 2012
North County Times
By MARK WALKER
Fallen Marines mourned

Marine Lance Cpl. Juan Servin will don his camouflage uniform, pack his bags, pick up a rifle and sidearm and head to Afghanistan's frozen battlefields early next year.

But on Friday, Servin was in his dress blue uniform, escorting and comforting his mother and other relatives at a ceremony for his older brother, Cpl. Anthony Servin, who died in combat in Afghanistan on June 8.

"Anything he did, I did ---- or wanted to do," Servin said of his late brother, one of four troops from Camp Pendleton's 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment whose service was saluted in a hilltop memorial Friday morning.

The other Marines killed during the battalion's recent seven-month deployment were Sgt. Wade Wilson, Cpl. Alex Martinez and Lance Cpl. Joshua Witsman.
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Sailor turned soldier killed by suicide bomber in Afghanistan

Suicide bomber kills Fredonia soldier
WIVB.com
Updated: Thursday, 27 Sep 2012
Jacquie Walker
Posted by: Eli George

FREDONIA, N.Y. (WIVB) - A Fredonia man who served his country first in the Navy for six years, and then returned to duty in the U.S. Army, has been killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

Family members tell News 4 28-year-old Army Sergeant Jonathan Gollnitz was devoted to his 4-year-old son and service to his country.

His grandma, Minnie Gollnitz, said, "Guarding the Army headquarters and a suicide bomber comes by and I guess he got blown up."

Gollnitz had previously served in Iraq and had only been in Afghanistan for the past two to three months.
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Indiana National Guards return after 6 members killed

Guard unit that lost 6 back from Afghanistan: 'It's been a long year'
Chicago Tribune
Associated Press
September 27, 2012

An Indiana National Guard unit that lost six of its members during an almost yearlong deployment in Afghanistan returned to Indiana Wednesday in a tearful, hug-filled reunion with friends and family.

More than 80 members of the Valparaiso-based 713th Engineer Company were greeted by about 300 relatives and friends when they arrived at the Gary Army Aviation Support Facility.

The hangar erupted in cheers as the door rose to reveal the returning soldiers.

"It's overwhelming, it's great," said Capt. Cecil Pendleton III. "It's been a long year.''

"It didn't feel real until I had him in my arms," said his wife, Rachel Pendleton. "I'm so happy for all the families. They went through a lot in Afghanistan, and we went through a lot at home."

The six deaths made the deployment the most deadly for a unit in the history of the Indiana National Guard.
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Slain Marine commander’s actions called heroic

Slain Marine commander’s actions called heroic
By ERNESTO LONDOÑO
The Washington Post
Published: September 23, 2012

Lt. Col. Christopher K. Raible was heading home to video chat with his wife after dinner when the first blasts rang out. The pops in the distance on Sept. 14 at Camp Bastion in southern Afghanistan were harbingers of the most audacious Taliban attack on a major NATO base in the decade-long war.

Like most folks in the sprawling remote desert camp, Raible, 40, a Marine fighter pilot, faced two choices: seek cover or run toward the sound of gunfire.

“The difference between me and some people is that when they hear gunfire, they run. When I hear gunfire, I run to it,” the squadron commander had often told his Marines half in jest, recalled Maj. Greer Chambless, who was with Raible on the night of the attack.

That evening Raible did just that. Armed only with a handgun, he embarked on a course that cost him his life and probably averted even more devastating losses, witnesses and comrades said.
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Staff Sgt. Matthew Sitton wrote letter to save others before he was killed

Letter from doomed soldier helped change congressman's mind on Afghan withdrawal date
By HOWARD ALTMAN
Tampa Tribune
Published: September 20, 2012

TAMPA — Sarah Sitton knew her husband Matt, an Army staff sergeant, was upset he and his men were forced to trudge through fields laden with improvised explosive devices.

She knew he was so concerned he wrote a letter essentially predicting his own death to U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, who attended the same Largo church as the Sittons.

What surprised her was how much impact the letter would have.

Young this week reversed his position on Afghanistan, a change of heart he says came in part because of Sitton's letter. In a position opposite that held by most leaders of his party, the influential Republican is now calling for U.S. troops to leave the country ahead of the 2014 deadline called for by President Barack Obama.

He also has called a hearing for 10 a.m. Thursday to ask the agency in charge of protecting troops against IEDs to explain why so many are still dying and suffering horrific injuries despite an annual budget of nearly $3 billion.

Sitton was killed Aug. 2 by an IED in the same field he had complained about in his letter. He was 26.

"I don't feel Matt's service was in vain," said Sarah Sitton, who now is raising the couple's 10-month-old son, Brodey, on her own. "Because with him leaving that letter behind to the Congressman, I hope that it saves others that may come in the future."
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Afghan war often forgotten ’til death hits home

Afghan war often forgotten ’til death hits home
By Adam Geller
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Sep 14, 2012

Staring out the window of his pickup, slowly trailing the hearse bearing his brother’s body, Will Copes’ eyes blurred with tears. In a few minutes he and his brother would be home, back to a town preoccupied with the first week of school and plans for weekend barbecues. A place far removed from an unrelenting, but all too easily forgotten war.

Until now.

“It looked like people were lined up for the Christmas parade, but they were there for my brother — and for us,” Copes says, his voice breaking as he recounts the Aug. 24 procession down Main Street in Altavista, Va. A week after Staff Sgt. Greg Copes, 36, and a Navy corpsman were killed by an Afghan police officer they’d been training, his casket was met by firefighters flying the Stars and Stripes from atop a ladder truck. Hundreds in the town of 3,500 lined the curb to pay respects. At Altavista’s high school, students and teachers filed from their classrooms, framing the parking lot in a corridor of honor.

“I saw kids waving flags. I saw kids crying,” Will Copes says. “If they had forgotten, they had been woken up by a lightning bolt. ... And I think that happens around the country, every day.”

“People don’t understand. We’re not fighting it on our soil,” says Geraldine McClain of Rochester Hills, Mich., whose son, Army Spc. Kyle McClain, was killed Aug. 1 when an improvised explosive device detonated in Kandahar province. He’d been in Afghanistan just six weeks. “They’re enjoying their life, eating out, going to soccer. They fill up their car and gripe about gas. Unless they’ve been touched by a soldier’s life, they take it for granted.”

That is, until a community must welcome a dead soldier home.
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American troops are still dying in Afghanistan

Weary U.S. numb to drumbeat of troop deaths
By Robert Burns
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Sep 8, 2012

WASHINGTON — It was another week at war in Afghanistan, another string of American casualties, and another collective shrug by a nation weary of a faraway conflict whose hallmark is its grinding inconclusiveness.

After nearly 11 years, many by now have grown numb to the sting of losing soldiers like Pfc. Shane W. Cantu of Corunna, Mich. He died of shrapnel wounds in the remoteness of eastern Afghanistan, not far from the getaway route that Osama bin Laden took when U.S. forces invaded after Sept. 11, 2001, and began America's longest war.

Cantu was 10 back then.

Nearly every day the Pentagon posts another formulaic death notice, each one brief and unadorned, revealing the barest of facts — name, age and military unit — but no words that might capture the meaning of the loss.

Cantu, who joined the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade on Sept. 11 last year and went to Afghanistan last month, was among five U.S. deaths announced this past week, as the Democrats and Republicans wrapped up back-to-back presidential nominating conventions.

American troops are still dying in Afghanistan at a pace that doesn't often register beyond their hometowns. So far this year, it's 31 a month on average, or one per day. National attention is drawn, briefly, to grim and arbitrary milestones such as the 1,000th and 2,000th war deaths. But days, weeks and months pass with little focus by the general public or its political leaders on the individuals behind the statistics.
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St. Cloud soldier killed in 1950 is finally home

St. Cloud soldier killed in 1950 is finally home
The Associated Press
Published: Saturday, Sep. 8, 2012

ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- The remains of a soldier killed more than 60 years ago during the Korean War have finally been buried in his hometown of St. Cloud.

Francis John "Fuzzy" Reimer had just turned 18 when his unit was surrounded by Chinese soldiers in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in December 1950.
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2 US Soldiers Die in Alleged Accidental Shooting

2 US Soldiers Die in Alleged Accidental Shooting
Aug 27, 2012
Associated Press
by Heidi Vogt and Mirwais Khan

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Attackers hit international forces, the Afghan army and Afghan civilians in two days of violence that by Monday morning had left 29 people dead -- two of them Americans soldiers killed by an Afghan colleague.

In the deadliest attack, insurgents beheaded 17 Afghan civilian for taking part in a music event in a Taliban-controlled area of southern Afghanistan, officials said. The attack happened Sunday night in Helmand province's Musa Qala district, said provincial government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi. All of the bodies were decapitated but it was not clear if they had been shot first, Ahmadi said.Then on Monday morning, two American soldiers were shot and killed by one of their Afghan colleagues in the east, military officials said, bringing to 12 the number of international troops -- all Americans -- to die at the hands of their local allies this month.

But Afghan officials said Monday's attack in Laghman province was a separate case from the rash of recent insider attacks on international forces, because it appeared to have been an accidental shooting.

When the group of U.S. and Afghan soldiers came under attack, they returned fire and ran to take up fighting positions, said Noman Hatefi, a spokesman for the Afghan army corps in eastern Afghanistan. But an Afghan soldier fell and accidentally discharged his weapon, killing two American soldiers with the errant rounds, he said.
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MOD admits taking secret pictures of KIA soldiers

Ministry of Defence admits to taking secret pictures of every soldier's body killed in Afghanistan and Iraq
By ROB PREECE
26 August 2012

The Ministry of Defence has admitted secretly taking photographs of the bodies of all British servicemen killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Soldiers' families have not been informed of the practice, which involves military police photographers opening body bags and taking pictures to be stored on a database.

The remains of more than 600 servicemen are believed to have been photographed, with many pictures showing severed body parts.
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Korean War MIA laid to rest after Chosin Reservoir battle

Marine Cpl. Clarence Huff laid to rest 62 years after his combat death in Korean War
Published: Thursday, August 16, 2012
By Brian Albrecht
RITTMAN, Ohio

Clarence "Bud" Huff Jr.'s story didn't end when he was killed 62 years ago on a frozen hilltop in Korea.

The 20-year-old Marine corporal who grew up in Hinckley was laid to rest in his latest and last grave Wednesday at the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery in Rittman.

Huff was one of the 15,000 Marines suddenly surrounded by 120,000 Chinese troops at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.

For 17 days the Marines battled their way out of the mountains. Huff's company was sent to hold a hilltop to cover the retreat. By the time the company was relieved, only 20 were still able to fight.

Huff may have been among several Marines buried at the base of that hill. Fifty-seven other Ohio Marines died in a battle that cost more than 4,000 Marine casualties and 25,000-plus Chinese troops.
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Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford 2nd KIA in a week from Palm Bay

Marine killed in Afghanistan was due home in a month
Gifford is 2nd service member from Palm Bay to die in a week
Written by
R. Norman Moody
FLORIDA TODAY
12:48 AM, Aug 1, 2012

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Gifford of Palm Bay was one month from completing his deployment to Afghanistan when he and another Marine were killed while on patrol.

Gifford — a 1996 graduate of Melbourne Catholic High, where he played soccer and baseball — had been in the Marine Corps for about 15 years.

He is the second service member from Palm Bay killed within a week in the war in Afghanistan, and the third in the past year.

Army Spc. Justin Louis Horsley, 21, a 2009 graduate of Bayside High, died July 22 while on patrol in Pul-E Alam, Afghanistan. Jeremiah T. Sancho, 23, died Oct. 13, 2011 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Both their units were attacked with improvised explosive devices.
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Cape Fear Nam Knights returns Dog Tags to families

Veteran's family reunited with long-lost dogtags
Submitted by Cliff Pyron
07/05/2012

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) -- A piece of military and personal history is back in the hands of a veteran's family. Nearly half a century after he lost them in Vietnam, Richard Wiler's family now has their dad's dog tags back.

Nearly 20 years ago a man named Ray Milligan was on a medical aid mission in Vietnam when he bought about 400 dog tags being sold by a street vendor. One of them was Richard Wiler's.

The Cape Fear Chapter of the Nam Knights made the trip from North Carolina to New Jersey and back, giving families like the Wilers a special moment to honor their father.

"It's kind of surreal," Wiler's son Jeff said. "It's really cool, I'll probably wear them for a few days before I pull them off."
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Marines can wear KIA bracelets to honor fallen again!

Marines to allow troops to wear KIA bracelets
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press – 4 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Marines are being allowed to wear bracelets commemorating friends killed in action, a policy change that settles a debate that has roiled some in the force.

At issue are KIA bracelets, usually thin rubber or metal bands bearing the names of the fallen in Afghanistan, Iraq or other combat zone. Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos said Tuesday the matter had been discussed and settled when he met last week with other senior Marine generals.

"We are acknowledging the close personal nature of our 10 years at war and the strong bonds of fidelity that Marines have for one another, especially for those fellow Marines who we have lost," Amos said.

The bracelets were technically not allowed under Marine Corps uniform regulations. Nevertheless, some troops have been wearing them while in uniform, and some but not all commanders have been telling them to stop.

That put some Marines in a dilemma: On one side was the Corps' tradition of good discipline and following orders. On the other, the searing emotions of a force hit with rising casualties as it helped reverse insurgent momentum in Afghanistan's southern Taliban stronghold.

"I never take it off," said Timothy Kudo, a former Marine captain and now a community organizer for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He returned in March from duty in Afghanistan and served in 2009 in Iraq.
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