Tampa soldier dies in Afghanistan attack that claimed 6

Tampa soldier dies in Afghanistan attack that claimed 6
By Marlene Sokol and Robbyn Mitchell
Times Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 11, 2012

TAMPA — It was 6:15 Monday morning and Ignacia Seija was getting ready for her job as an airport custodian.

Her two dogs started barking. Her husband saw two men in military uniforms approaching their West Tampa home.

"When I saw those two men, I knew it wasn't anything good," Ignacia Seija said in Spanish. "I knew my son had died."

Her son, Army Staff Sgt. Ricardo Seija, 31, was killed Sunday in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan.

It was the same attack, a family member said, that had killed Army Sgt. Clarence Williams III, 23, of Brooksville and four other Americans. They were riding in an armored vehicle in Wardak province, just south of Kabul, when an improvised explosive device went off.

The knock on the door of the West Tampa home was the second visit military officers had made early Monday to deliver grim news. At 5 a.m., officers told the Williams family that their son, a 2008 Hernando High grad who hoped to someday become a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, had died in the attack.

Williams and Seija became the 27th and 28th Tampa Bay area service members to have died in Afghanistan.
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Oviedo soldier dies in Afghanistan

UPDATE Jacksonville-based soldier who died in Afghanistan leaves wife, 2 children
Updated: July 10, 2012

Oviedo soldier dies in Afghanistan
July 8, 2012
By Leslie Postal and David Breen
Orlando Sentinel

A U.S. Army captain from Oviedo died in Afghanistan on Friday about three months after his Army Reserve unit was mobilized.

Bruce A. MacFarlane, 46, died in Kandahar, according to the Department of Defense, which did not provide information on how he died.

He was assigned to the 1186th Transportation Company, 831st Transportation Battalion, which is based in Jacksonville.

"He was a great guy, good family guy," said Keith Marang, who lives next door and said he met MacFarlane when both families moved into their new homes in 2008. "I was just floored when I heard the news."

He said MacFarlane, befitting his military career, was clean-cut and fit and looked younger than his age. He and his wife have two children, a son and a daughter, Marang said, adding that he thought they were in their early teens. He said the family moved to Oviedo from DeLand.

A person who answered the door at the family's large, modern home Sunday afternoon said they were not available, and she was not authorized to release any information. She said she was a friend of the family, and they'd been devastated by the news.

MacFarlane, who spent 12 years on active duty, was very patriotic, with an American flag always flying from his home, his neighbor said. Several small flags and red, white and blue pinwheels decorated the flower pots at the front door Sunday, presumably from the Fourth of July holiday last week.
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A community mourns slain Guardsmen

A community mourns slain Guardsmen
Thousands pay their respects to 2 of the guardsmen killed in Afghanistan
By MINDY LUCAS and NOELLE PHILLIPS

Sgt. John David "J.D." Meador II 's mother, Sharon Meador and brothers, James Meador, center, and Michael Meador, comfort each other during the graveside service. Meador was buried at Fort Jackson National Cemetery on June 30, 2012, with full military honors. - Rob Thompson /RTHOMPSON@THESTATE.COM

First Lt. Ryan Rawl and Sgt. John David Meador II shared a lot in life and in death. Both graduated from Lexington High School. Both wrestled. Both worked in law enforcement. Both were married with children. Both volunteered for the S.C. National Guard. Both deployed to Afghanistan in November with the 133rd Military Police Company.

Both died June 20 when a suicide bomber attacked their unit while they were conducting a security checkpoint in Khost, Afghanistan.

Rawl’s and Meador’s funerals were held eight miles apart, both at 10 a.m. Saturday. The services drew thousands of mourners, who endured scorching heat to pay respects to the soldiers and their families.
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More troops attacked by "Afghan police officers"

Men in Afghan police uniforms kill U.S. troop
By Lolita C. Baldor
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jun 18, 2012 17:25:12 EDT

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials say that an American service member was killed and several others were injured when individuals dressed in Afghan police uniforms turned their guns on them in southern Afghanistan Monday.

Although they were wearing police uniforms, it was not yet clear if they were actually Afghan forces or just had the clothing.

Other U.S. officials said that as many as eight U.S. troops were injured, mostly with fairly minor wounds. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an investigation.
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Florida soldier killed in Afghanistan returns to somber Homestead

Florida soldier killed in Afghanistan returns to somber Homestead

Army Spc. Gerardo Campos, 23, came home to Homestead in a flag-draped coffin Tuesday, 10 days after he was killed by enemy gunfire in Afghanistan just weeks into his first overseas assignment.

BY CAROL ROSENBERG
A fallen Florida soldier came home in a flag-draped coffin Tuesday to a somber hero’s welcome at Homestead Air Reserve Base from 200 U.S. forces and weeping family members.

Army Spc. Gerardo Campos, 23, of Homestead was killed in Afghanistan on June 2.

An infantryman, he was on his first overseas deployment from his U.S. Army base in Washington state and left behind a wife and 10-month-old daughter. The soldier had just deployed to Afghanistan in April, according to the military, meaning he had been serving abroad for just weeks.
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Army Sgt. Steve Flaherty's letters home from Vietnam finally going to family

Servicemember's letters from Vietnam to be returned to families
By JENNIFER HLAD
Stars and Stripes
Published: June 4, 2012

HANOI, Vietnam — On the day that he died more than 40 years ago, Army Sgt. Steve Flaherty carried with him a stack of letters he’d written but not yet sent to loved ones back home.

In one, addressed to “Betty,” he thanked her for the “sweet card” she’d sent.

“It made my miserable day a much better one but I don’t think I will ever forget the bloody fight we are having,” he wrote.

After he was killed on March 25, 1969, the letters were taken from him and used as propaganda by Vietnamese forces during the war. Now, Flaherty’s family will finally receive his last written words.

Vietnamese Minister of National Defense Gen. Phung Quang Thanh gave the letters — along with two other sets of letters that may have belonged to other American servicemembers — to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday. In return, Panetta presented the diary of a Vietnamese soldier, which had been taken after a firefight in March 1966 by an American Marine.
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June 4th, 2012

Decades after war, US and Vietnam swap slain troops' papers By the CNN Wire Staff

Nearly four decades after the end of the Vietnam War, the United States and Vietnam exchanged personal papers taken from the dead bodies of each others' troops for the first time, the Pentagon announced Monday.

On a historic visit to Hanoi, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta handed over a diary taken by a U.S. Marine from the body of Vietnamese soldier Vu Dinh Doan in 1966.

In exchange, Vietnamese Defense Minister Phuong Quang Thanh gave Panetta letters taken from the body of U.S. Army Sgt. Steve Flaherty in 1969 and later used in Vietnamese propaganda broadcasts.
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UPDATE

Vietnam soldier's letters make it home
Jun. 4, 2012 - Four decades ago, a U.S. soldier wrote home, telling of the horrors he saw in Vietnam. He was killed before he could mail the letters that were later stolen by the North Vietnamese. The letters were finally released by the Vietnamese military as part of a symbolic exchange with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. (CBS News)

Brendan Haas gives Disney to fallen soldier's family

Boy Who Donated Disney Trip to Soldier’s Family Wins Vacation of His Own
By ABC News
May 31, 2012
ABC News’ Linsey Davis and Lauren Sher

Nine-year-old Brendan Haas, who spent three months trading things so he could win a vacation to Disney World and then gave it away to a girl whose father was killed in Afghanistan, was surprised with his own Walt Disney World trip today on “Good Morning America.”

To reward Brendan for his generosity, the Disney Company, the parent company of ABC, awarded Brendan’s family with an all-expense paid trip of their own, and made Brendan an “honorary citizen of Walt Disney World.”

But instead of accepting the trip, Brendan said he wanted to pay it forward yet again and that he’d be able to find another family of a fallen soldier who deserves it.

“We can’t accept a trip to Disney but we have many more people who would like to have an all-expenses paid [trip] …so we can do another raffle,” he said today from his home in Kingston, Mass.
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Trained Afghans Turn Enemy of US forces

As Trained Afghans Turn Enemy, a U.S.-Led Imperative Is in Peril
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Published: May 15, 2012

COMBAT OUTPOST SANGESAR, Afghanistan — A burst of gunfire snapped First Sgt. Joseph Hissong awake. Then came another, and another, all with the familiar three-round bursts of an American assault rifle — and the unfamiliar sound of its rounds being fired in his direction.

The shooters were close. His first thought: “Are Taliban inside the wire?”

But it was not the Taliban. Over the next 52 minutes, as his company of paratroopers braved bullets and rocket-propelled grenades in the predawn darkness to retake one of their own guard towers in southern Afghanistan, they found themselves facing what has become a more pernicious threat: the Afghan soldiers who live and fight alongside the Americans.

The attack on Sergeant Hissong’s company, on March 1 at Combat Outpost Sangesar, left two Americans dead along with two Afghan assailants, but it was not the first time that Afghan solders had attacked forces from the American-led coalition, nor would it be the last of what the military calls “green on blue” attacks. Already this year, 22 coalition service members have been killed by men in Afghan uniform, compared with 35 for all of last year, according to coalition officials.
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“The first shot of a war hits the heart of a mother.”

Fallen soldier honored with plaque dedication
By JOHN GUTEKUNST
Today's News-Herald
Published Monday, May 14, 2012

Former Parker resident Ara Tyler Deysie was honored May 12 with the unveiling of a plaque in his honor at Western Park. Pfc. Deysie was killed in action May 9, 2008, in Paktia Province, Afghanistan.

Yava quoted a Chinese proverb:
“The first shot of a war hits the heart of a mother.”

The plaque honoring Deysie was placed in Western Park because he often played there while growing up in Parker.

The plaque was purchased by members of the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division and sent to his mother, Lori Deysie. The regiment has purchased plaques for all its fallen members.

Lori Deysie asked the Parker Town Council to have the plaque installed at Western Park. The council agreed, and the town purchased a decorative boulder to mount it on. The plaque was installed earlier this year.

Lori Deysie was the guest of honor at the dedication. She now lives in Lake Havasu City. She was given an escort to Parker by the Blue Star Mothers and the Patriot Guard motorcycle riders.
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Wearing Afghan Uniform, Gunman Kills U.S. Soldier

UPDATE
Men in Afghan police uniforms kill 2 NATO troops

Wearing Afghan Uniform, Gunman Kills U.S. Soldier
By GRAHAM BOWLEY
Published: May 11, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan — An attacker wearing an Afghan Army uniform opened fire on American soldiers in remote eastern Afghanistan on Friday, killing one before escaping, in what appeared to be another in a recent string of assaults on coalition soldiers by their Afghan partners.

The shooting took place early Friday in a camp run by the Afghan National Army where the American troops had gone to train Afghan soldiers, said Attaullah, the police chief of the Ghaziabad district in Kunar Province near the Pakistan border.
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Community comes together to give last gift from fallen soldier

This country is full of people trying to make a point and dedicating their lives to their own glory. We see them everyday on TV. What we don't see is what most of us live with. We see neighbors helping each other but the news shows everything bad. We see strangers standing in the rain, holding a flag so they can honor the body of a fallen soldier coming home. The news reports on what is bad so often we end up thinking it isn't safe to go outside our comfort zone of home, work or church. Once in a while though a news crew shows up to bring us a story like this. If you want your heart warmed this Sunday morning, here it is.

After I watched it I felt sure this is not the "last gift" but the beginning of the gifts Captain Hays left behind for everyone.

Volunteers, Students And Donors Help Deliver Fallen Soldier, Capt. Bruce Hays's Last Gift To Wife Terry Hays
Posted: 05/05/2012

Thanks to the time and money of hundreds of volunteers and well-wishers, a fallen soldier's last wish -- a gift to his beloved wife -- has been fulfilled, 9News reports.

Several years ago, Bruce Hays purchased a battered 1959 Chevrolet Apache pickup truck for his wife, Terry, as an anniversary gift.

“I used to tell Bruce about how, when we were kids, we would go to the drive-in in my dad’s Chevy Apache," Terry told Fox News. "He remembered that. He knew how much it meant to me."

Though the truck was an old wreck when he bought it, Hays had hoped that he and his wife would be able to restore it together.

But before they got the chance, Hays -- a captain in the Wyoming Army National Guard -- was deployed to Afghanistan.

Less than a month later, in September 2008, Captain Hays was killed by a roadside bomb, leaving behind his wife and their family.

He also left behind a final, uncompleted gift for his family -- that old Chevy Apache.
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Wife learns husband killed in action from Facebook?

Gold Star wife learns of husband’s death through Facebook
APRIL 13TH, 2012
OUTSIDE THE WIRE
POSTED BY JOE GOULD

The wife of a Fort Carson, Colo., staff sergeant killed in Afghanistan said she learned of his death when soldier from his unit posted on her Facebook page that there was an emergency.

“I was told via Facebook,” said Ariell Taylor-Brown told a local NBC affiliate. “It was a girl in his platoon. She wrote to me and told me to call her immediately.”

The move short circuited the military’s solemn and sacrosanct casualty notification process and broke a staunchly defended taboo. Taylor-Brown called her, and the soldier told her of the death. Taylor-Brown, who has two children and is pregnant with the couple’s third was at home alone with the kids.

“She told me over the phone, right in front of my kids and I completely had a meltdown. She wasn’t supposed to but I guess she took it on her own power to do it,” she said.

Hours later, two soldiers arrived at her home in Mobile, Ala., but she knew about it already. Protocol dictates the Army is the first to notify the family through messengers who come to the house.
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Wife Learns Of Soldier's Death Via Text, Facebook; Outrage Or The Future?
By Colin Clark
Published: April 17, 2012

We're all about social media here at AOL Defense so we would usually applaud the use of Facebook or similar to make the lives of the military better or easier.

But the respected Spouse Buzz website reports that a military spouse was notified of her husband's death via a text message and Facebook by people in her husband's unit, before the Army could reach her.

Megan Born, 22, learned Thursday first from a text message and then from a Facebook post that her husband, Sgt. Joshua Born had been killed in action earlier that day. Although her husband was stationed at Fort Stewart, Ga., Megan had moved home to Olive Branch, Ill. for the deployment.

For those of us who talk with, eat with and sometimes live with members of the military, this would seem to violate everything the military tries to achieve through use of its highly ritualized and carefully designed means of notifying next of kin of the death or serious wounding of a loved one. On top of handling the notification with as much care and dignity as possible, there can be operational security reasons for keeping the information quiet. It doesn't seem to have been the case here, but you never know.
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Mom and Dad walk 1,000 to honor fallen son

1,000 miles of footsteps to remember fallen GI
April 13, 2012
JAKOB RODGERS
The Gazette

Step by step, their hands clasped together, Michelle and Dan Benavidez walked down the street her son never had the chance to travel.

Ft. Carson soldiers line Nelson Blvd. to pay their respects to Michelle and Dan Benavidez as they head out on their 1000 mile trek to honor their son. The Benavidez family is marching from Ft. Carson to Illinois to honor the memory of their son, Army Sgt. Kenneth Mayne, who was killed in Iraq. They are going to see the Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial (The Gazette/Jerilee Bennett)

Four horses, one with a uniformed rider carrying the American flag, led the way.

More than 1,000 Fort Carson soldiers stood on either side of Nelson Boulevard to see the procession pass Soldiers Memorial Chapel where countless families have mourned fallen soldiers.

To cheers, the couple walked out Fort Carson’s main gate.

Only 1,087 miles to go.

They embarked on the ambitious journey Friday to walk from Fort Carson to Marseilles, Ill., where their son’s name is engraved in marble at the Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial.

“This is our way or keeping his memory alive,” said Dan Benavidez, after finishing the ceremonial first mile.

An insurgent bomb killed Staff Sgt. Kennith Mayne, 29, as he rode in a truck on Sept. 4, 2008 in Baghdad, Iraq. He went to war from Fort Hood, but would have been stationed at Fort Carson shortly after returning.

His parents recently learned of the granite memorial on the banks of the Illinois River. On a whim, Dan Benavidez asked his wife if she’d like to go see it.

“I wanted to go the wall — I didn’t know he’d make me walk to the wall,” said Michelle Benavidez, breaking into laughter.

On Friday, they were ready to start walking.
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‘Hero’ Rhode Island National Guardsman Gives Life to Save Afghan Girl

‘Hero’ U.S. Soldier Gives Life to Save Afghan Girl

By Luis Martinez
Mar 29, 2012

It is a compelling war-zone story of heroism of a U.S. soldier who gave his own life to save an Afghan girl from certain injury.

Sgt. Dennis Weichel, 29, died in Afghanistan last week as he lifted an Afghan girl who was in the path of a large military vehicle barreling down a road.

Weichel, a Rhode Island National Guardsman, was riding along in a convoy in Laghman Province in eastern Afghanistan when some children were spotted on the road ahead.
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2 Dating Websites Sued Over Fallen Soldier’s Photo In Ads

2 Dating Websites Sued Over Soldier’s Photo In Ads
February 27, 2012
DALLAS (AP/CBSDFW.COM) - Two dating websites are being sued for allegedly using a fallen soldier’s photo in their ads “Military Men Searching for Love.”

The parents of Army Lt. Peter Burks, who grew up in Collin County, have sued PlentyofFish.com and TRUE.com. They say his photo was used in ads without their permission.

“I went through there and saw it with my own eyes, there is my sons picture military man looking for love. And I clicked through and was invited to sign up at true.com,” said Burks’ father Allen Burks.
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Sgt. Joshua Born, one of two soldiers killed over Quran burning

Soldier with Southern Illinois Family Killed in Afghanistan
By Stephanie Tyrpak
By Jared Roberts
Story Created: Feb 24, 2012
OLIVE BRANCH -- Joshua Born was one of two American soldiers killed amidst angry riots, sparked by the burning of Korans at a U.S. base in Afghanistan. The Florida native leaves behind a 22-year-old widow in Olive Branch.

Joshua and Megan Born first connected online on a site for sports cars.

"They were both Mazda RX8 fanatics," said Megan's mother Cindy Parker. "They just got to be really good friends."

Once they met in person, the young couple's love of cars quickly grew into a love for eachother.

"When she went down to meet his parents in Florida...she went to visit and I told her 'don't come back talking about getting married,'" siad Parker. "And she did."

In June 2010, just a few months after meeting, Josh and Megan were married at a beach wedding in Georgia.
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Cpl. Timothy "T.J." John Conrad Jr. one of two soldiers killed over Quran burning

Soldier with ties to Newport News is killed in Afghanistan

By Hugh Lessig
February 24, 2012

Cpl. Timothy John Conrad Jr., better known as "T.J.," would have celebrated his 23rd birthday on March 6. He was killed by an Afghan soldier or a man dressed in Afghan military fatigues, who then fled the scene.

A soldier with ties to Newport News was one of two American service members killed Thursday in Afghanistan during protests over the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base, family members confirmed.

Cpl. Timothy John Conrad Jr., better known as "T.J.," would have celebrated his 23rd birthday on March 6. He was killed by an Afghan soldier or a man dressed in Afghan military fatigues, who then fled the scene.

Conrad's wife, Holly, and their 7-month-old son, Bentley, live in Georgia where T.J. was stationed.

"He was a dedicated dad and husband," said Meland. "He joked a lot – a really funny guy. He had a lot of energy."

Conrad was looking forward to a promotion to sergeant and planned on re-enlisting for a move to Fort Eustis so he could be closer to his family, Meland said. He had deployed in January – his first to Afghanistan — with the 549th MP Company out of Fort Stewart, Ga.
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Man in Afghan army uniform kills 2 U.S. troops

Man in Afghan army uniform kills 2 U.S. troops
By Amir Shah and Patrick Quinn - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 23, 2012 11:10:34 EST
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Obama apologized Thursday for the burning of copies of the Muslim holy book at a U.S. military base this week, as violent protests raging nationwide led a man dressed in an Afghan army uniform to kill two U.S. troops.

The two NATO service members were shot and killed in eastern Afghanistan by a man dressed in an Afghan army uniform. Both troops were Americans, according to a U.S. official, who confirmed their nationalities on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information.

Mohammad Hassan, an official in Nangarhar province where the shooting took place, said the two Americans were shot by an Afghan soldier after soldiers fired in the air to disperse protesters outside a U.S. base in the Khogyani district. Two protesters were also killed in the ensuing gunfire, Afghan officials said.
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Dad of soldier killed in Iraq burns flag to protest lowering for Whitney Houston

Dad of soldier killed in Iraq burns flag to protest lowering for Whitney Houston
By: Corey Williams, The Associated Press
Posted: 02/20/2012

DETROIT - John Burri lost a son in Iraq and believes lowering flags to half-staff should be done to commemorate those who gave their lives in service to the United States, not celebrities like Whitney Houston.

On Saturday, the 60-year-old spent $12.95 on a 3-by-5-foot replica of New Jersey's state flag and burned it on his outdoor grill in protest of Gov. Chris Christie's decision to mark Houston's death by lowering flags in her native state.

"This was a person who was a great entertainer and a great voice," said Burri, who lives in the city of Wyoming in western Michigan. "But this was not someone who gave their life and shed their blood for our country."

Army Specialist Eric Burri was a gunner on a Humvee when he was killed in 2005 after an explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad. Then-Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm ordered flags lowered in his memory.
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Mother heartbroken after robbers break into home, steal fallen solider's medals

Mother heartbroken after robbers break into home, steal Iraq vet's medals

By Craig Lucie
Jan. 20, 2012

VILLA RICA, Ga. — Burglars ransacked a Villa Rica home belonging to the family of a soldier who was killed in Iraq.

The burglars stole Army Sgt. Mike Hardegree's medals and the Gold Star that was given to his family by the Department of Defense after his funeral.

His mother, Cindy Hardegree, walked Channel 2's Craig Lucie through her home, pointing out where the burglars stole $10,000 worth of items, including her television and other electronics.

"I went into my bedroom and saw my jewelry box was gone," Hardegree said.

The box was packed with Sgt. Hardegree's belongings. He and six other soldiers died Sept. 10, 2007, in Iraq after the vehicle they were in flipped over.
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