Fallen Heroes

Air Force Lt. Col. Mark E. Stratton II

2009-05-26T11:01:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Air Force Lt. Col. Mark E. Stratton II, 39, of Houston; assigned to the Joint Staff, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.; died May 26, 2009 near Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. Also killed was Senior Airman Ashton L. M. Goodman.

Houston Chronicle -- An Air Force officer with Houston ties who led a reconstruction team in Afghanistan was killed this week in an explosion, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.

Lt. Col. Mark E. Stratton II, 39, was assigned to the Joint Staff at the Pentagon in Washington as an executive assistant for the deputy director for politico-military affairs for Asia.

Stratton died Tuesday near Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, of wounds he sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated, according to Pentagon officials.

Also killed in the incident was Senior Airman Ashton L.M. Goodman, 21, of Indianapolis, Ind. She was assigned to the 43rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, Pope Air Force Base, N.C.

Stratton, a Texas A&M graduate, had deployed to Afghanistan in November as commander of the Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team, said Air Force Capt. Tom Wenz.

The team worked on civil affairs initiatives with the Afghan population, including a $28 million road construction project. As commander, Stratton would have interacted closely with local leaders and village elders, Wenz said.

Stratton was a superb but humble leader, said his friend, Lt. Col. Clark Risner. “He wouldn’t have wanted any media spotlight on him,” Risner said. “He would want it on his team.”

“It sounds cliché but Mark was the most patriotic person I’ve ever met, just a model airman in every way,” he said. “He put the airmen that he was supervising or leading first, every step of the way.”

Risner met Stratton five years ago when both men were students at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., and later served with him at the Pentagon. After Stratton deployed to Afghanistan, he emailed Risner about his pride in his team’s efforts to help Afghanis rebuild their country.

“He told me that was the best job he’s ever had. He felt like he was making a difference in people’s lives on a daily basis,” Risner said. “The work that they’re doing there is nothing short of heroic, and it’s truly tragic that his efforts would end this way.

A senior navigator for the RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft, Stratton had previously served on the staff at U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

He had received his commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1992, a year after his graduation from Texas A&M University. His commendations include a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

“He’s a wonderful person, just a fine man as could be,” said Stratton’s grandmother, Dolly Little, in a telephone interview from Foley, Ala., where Stratton spent much of his childhood. “He loved his service.”

Stratton was very close to his late father and namesake, Mark Stratton, an Air Force captain and Vietnam veteran, said his stepmother Debby Young, who lives in southwest Houston. Stratton’s brother, Michael, and stepbrother, Steven, also live in the Houston area. His wife, Jennifer, and their three children live near Washington, D.C.

Young said Stratton’s family is devastated. “We’re pretty much basket cases,” she said. “You always know this is a possibility, but you always think it’s going to happen to somebody else, not to you.”

She takes solace in her memory of Stratton’s passion for his work in Afghanistan.

“This is what he wanted to do,” Young said. “He wanted to make a difference. And he did.”

Stratton will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Air Force Lt. Col. Mark E. Stratton II was killed in action on 5/26/09.

Air Force Senior Airman Ashton L. M. Goodman

2009-05-26T10:58:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Air Force Senior Airman Ashton L. M. Goodman, 21, of Indianapolis

SAr Goodman was assigned to the 43rd Logistics Readiness Squadron, Pope Air Force Base, N.C.; died May 26, 2009 near Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. Also killed was Lt. Col. Mark E. Stratton II.

Indianapolis Star -- A young Indianapolis woman who enjoyed serving her country as a member of the Air Force has been killed in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan.

Senior Airman Ashton L. M. Goodman, 21, died Tuesday near Bagram Air Field after being wounded by an improvised explosive device. Killed in the same explosion was Lt. Col. Mark E. Stratton II, 39, Houston, a member of the Pentagon Joint Staff.

Friends of Goodman, who would have finished her tour of duty in Afghanistan in a couple of months and had served in Iraq, said she took pride in her job as a driver for the Air Force's 43rd Airlift Wing.

"She did like the military," said longtime neighbor Jerry Sweeney, who knew the senior airman since she was a toddler. "When she was in Iraq, she really liked driving supplies around. She said the people were always happy to see her."

Goodman's family could not be reached for comment. Parked in front of Goodman's house on the Far Eastside was a Toyota pickup truck she had purchased on one of her trips back home between stints in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Goodman is the third Indiana woman to die in military action during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the only one to have died from direct combat; 134 servicemen and servicewomen with Indiana ties have died in those conflicts since 2002.

Goodman graduated from Warren Central High School in 2006. School district officials said she had been a member of the school's Japan Club and participated in the Zoo Teen Club, in which she volunteered at the Indianapolis Zoo.

After joining the Air Force in July 2006, Goodman was assigned to the 43rd Airlift Wing, which is based at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina. She was a driver for that wing, becoming certified to drive tractor-trailers and volunteering to serve in Iraq.

Goodman, who had worked at PetSmart while in high school, was fond of animals, according to a statement on the Pope Air Force Base Web site.

"She knew all kinds of animal facts and was working toward becoming a veterinarian," wrote Master Sgt. Jason Neisen. "She was always lively and friendly."

The Air Force said Stratton and Goodman were working with the Panshir Provincial Reconstruction Team, a unit that rebuilds roads and schools in Afghanistan.

"Ashton made the ultimate sacrifice in her service to our great nation," Col. John McDonald, 43rd Airlift Wing commander, said in a statement released by the wing. "We will all feel sorrow as a result of her death, but should celebrate in how she chose to live her life, her commitment and dedication."

While her assignment in Afghanistan would have ended this summer, Goodman was ready to return to that country or to seek a deployment to Africa, Neisen wrote.

"She was the kind of person you'd like to have as a daughter or a granddaughter, that's for sure," Sweeney recalled. "She was a nice girl."

Air Force Senior Airman Ashton L. M. Goodman was killed in action on 5/26/09.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Brian Naseman

2009-05-22T11:03:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt. 1st Class Brian Naseman, 36, of New Bremen, Ohio

SFC Naseman was assigned to the 108th Forward Support Company, attached to 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry, 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Sussex, Wis.; died May 22, 2009 in Taji, Iraq of a noncombat-related incident.

Wife remembers fallen husband
The Associated Press

CALEDONIA, Wis. — A Racine soldier who was killed in Iraq last week was always a comic, the life of the party whose two young sons adored and idolized him, his wife said.

Sgt. 1st Class Brian K. Naseman died May 22 of injuries described as noncombat-related, according to the Department of Defense.

Peggy Naseman said their boys, ages 9 and 7, wanted to be just like their father.

“They wanted to be career military just like their dad,” Naseman said Monday. “They knew that what he was doing was a good cause.”

Now they don’t understand why he won’t be coming home, she said.

Brian Naseman, 36, was assigned to the 108th Forward Support Company, attached to 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry, 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team out of Sussex.

He died in a rural region 20 miles north of Baghdad, where he was stationed with the Wisconsin Army National Guard. Military officials are still investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.

He was born to serve, Peggy Naseman said, always ready to give. He would help a friend or neighbor at any time, day or night.

“I can’t even tell you how many lives Brian has changed,” she said. “If you needed something, he was there.”

Friends and neighbors spent Memorial Day with Peggy Naseman, helping around the house and tying yellow ribbons around the trees in their yard.

Brian Naseman grew up in Ohio and met his future wife at a barn dance, where he taught her to line dance. Sparks didn’t immediately fly, but Peggy Naseman soon realized how funny he was.

When he moved from Ohio to Wisconsin, he transferred from the Ohio National Guard to the Wisconsin National Guard, with which he served one tour of duty in Kuwait before his stint in Iraq.

Peggy Naseman said she still doesn’t know when she can plan a funeral for her husband of 10 years. She was told his body might be returned to the U.S. as soon as this week.

The last time the Naseman family was together was in April when Peggy Naseman and the boys traveled to New Mexico to see Brian Naseman before he shipped off to Iraq.

They spent one of their final days together on a hot-air balloon.

“We got as close to heaven as we wanted to be at the time,” Peggy Naseman said.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Brian Naseman died in a non-combat related incident on 5/22/09.

Army Sgt. Paul F. Brooks

2009-05-21T10:55:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt. Paul F. Brooks 34, of Joplin, Mo.

Sgt. Brooks was assigned to the 935th Aviation Support Battalion, Springfield, Mo.; died May 21, 2009 near Baghdad of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. Also killed were Maj. Jason E. George and 1st Lt. Leevi K. Barnard.

Jonesboro soldier dies in Baghdad bombing
The Associated Press

JONESBORO, Ark. — An Army medic from Jonesboro serving in Baghdad was among three American soldiers killed Thursday when a bomb was set off in a vehicle at an outdoor market, his family said.

Paul Faris Brooks, 35, was on his second tour in Iraq, according to his mother, Barbara Brooks.

She said a military chaplain and sergeant arrived at her home around 4 p.m. Thursday to notify the family of the death.

The blast occurred in Baghdad’s southern Dora district, where a bomb exploded near an American foot patrol, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

The U.S. military initially reported nine U.S. personnel were wounded in the attack. Later, the military said it could not confirm that number because the injured were still being evaluated and treated.

The attack occurred about 10:38 a.m. as the soldiers patrolled near an outdoor market, according to Army Maj. David Shoupe.

Iraqi police said a suicide bomber was responsible, but Shoupe said the U.S. could not confirm that. He said four civilians died in the blast, but Iraqi police and hospital officials put the civilian toll at 12 killed and 25 wounded.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Mrs. Brooks said her son was a good father to his seven children, and a good husband.

“Daddy was their idol,” she said, holding a photo of four of Paul Brooks’ children. “He had good kids. He was a typical teen-ager who grew into a family man.”

Mrs. Brooks said her son attended Jonesboro High School and obtained a GED while in the military.

In addition to his mother and father, Paul David Brooks, the slain soldier is survived by his wife, Nicole, and their children — Hayley, 14; Harmony, 11; Seth, 7; Logan, 6; Aiden, 5; Samara, 3; and Denver, 2.

Mrs. Brooks said she and her husband last spoke with their son on Wednesday.

“We talked about the mission and how they had to have a medic with them,” she said.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Army Sgt. Paul F. Brooks was killed in action on 5/21/09.

Army 1st Lt. Leevi K. Barnard

2009-05-21T10:49:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army 1st Lt. Leevi K. Barnard 28, of Mount Airy, N.C.

1st Lt. Barnard was assigned to the 252nd Combined Arms Battalion, Fayetteville, N.C.; died May 21, 2009 near Baghdad of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. Also killed were Maj. Jason E. George and Sgt. Paul F. Brooks.

Lt. Barnard Returns to his home in Ararat, VA

5/29/09 - May 29-Public is encouraged to line the streets to honor 1st Lt. Leevi Barnard as his body is returned home today. Planned processional route is approximately 10:30am. Folowing U. S. Route 51 North from Winston-Salem onto Rockford Street (U. S. 601) and

The public has been invited to line the streets along the procession route to honor fallen Ararat, Va., soldier, 1st Lt. Leevi Khole Barnard, as his body is returned home.

North Carolina National Guard soldier Barnard was killed in Baghdad, Iraq, May 21. His body will arrive in North Carolina this morning and a procession will escort Barnard to Moody Funeral Home this morning.

Those wishing to honor Barnard should plan to be along the planned processional route by 10:30 a.m. in order to pay respects as the hearse makes its way to the funeral home. The route will bring Barnard to Surry County from Winston-Salem on U.S. 52 North, turn right onto Rockford Street/U.S. 601, and then left onto Grave Street to the funeral home.

Escorting the procession from the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro to Mount Airy today will be the Patriot Guard Riders motorcycle association. The riders will also escort Barnard’s casket from Moody Funeral Home around 2 p.m. Saturday to Blue Ridge Elementary School in Ararat, Va., where the public memorial service and visitation will be held that evening, as well as the funeral service on Sunday.

Visitation for 1st Lt. Leevi Barnard is scheduled at Blue Ridge Elementary School, 5135 Ararat Highway, Ararat, Va., from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, and his funeral will be Sunday at 2 p.m. at the school.

Barnard joined the North Carolina Army National Guard in August 2004 as a Multiple Launch Rocket System Crew member. He graduated as a Distinguished Military graduate with a GPA of 99 percent from his Advanced Individual Training Class at Fort Sill, Okla., and took his first assignment at B Battery, 5th Battalion 113th Field Artillery Regiment. He later transferred to Detachment 1, A Battery 113th Field Artillery Regiment 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team.

A 1998 graduate of Patrick County High School, Barnard earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and then received his commission as an officer in the Field Artillery through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) at the university. After serving in A Battery 1st Battalion 113th Field Artillery Regiment, he transferred to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company 252nd Combined Arms Battalion in Fayetteville of the 30th HBCT where he was assigned at the time of his deployment. This was his first deployment.
Source: Mt. Airy News May 29,2009.

Martinsville Bulletin -- First Lt. Leevi Khole Barnard, 28, of Ararat in Patrick County, has been killed in action while serving on his third tour of duty in Iraq, according to his grandfather, Thomas L. Barnard of Ararat.

Barnard said the family was notified of the death at midnight Thursday. He said they have few details of the incident, except that there were eight servicemen involved and three were killed. He was not sure when or where the incident occurred.

Barnard was the son of Pamela Jane Barnard Payne of Patrick County, the daughter of Thomas Barnard and his wife, Daisy Barnard.

First Lt. Barnard went to Blue Ridge Elementary School and graduated from Patrick County High School in 1998, according to a release from Patrick County School Superintendent Roger Morris.

Thomas Barnard said his grandson was in JROTC in high school and then worked and also went to school after he graduated. He had been in the military for several years, Barnard said.

He added that he did not know when his grandson’s remains would be returned to the United States.

“It is difficult to imagine the loss to our community, particularly at a time of remembering our fallen soldiers,” Morris wrote Friday.

Morris has ordered that the flags at all Patrick County schools be lowered to half-staff until Barnard’s burial. He also requested that a moment of silence in the schools on Tuesday be dedicated in Barnard’s memory.

Army 1st Lt. Leevi K. Barnard was killed in action on 5/21/09.

Army Maj. Jason E. George

2009-05-21T10:42:00.001-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Maj. Jason E. George, 38, of Tehachapi, Calif.

Major George was assigned to 252nd Combined Arms Battalion, Fayetteville, N.C.; died May 21, 2009 near Baghdad of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. Also killed were 1st Lt. Leevi K. Barnard and Sgt. Paul F. Brooks.

When he was close, he’d honk the horn twice. Then his parents would smile, look at each other and move toward the door. Jason was home. All was well again.

Last Thursday, Hugh and Candy Mason had a different kind of visitor at their beautiful home in Golden Hills, a part of Tehachapi that gets a cooling afternoon breeze from the Tehachapi Mountains.

They had just returned from Bakersfield and a visit with Candy’s father, who is dying of cancer. They had been home for half an hour sitting on their comfortable leather chairs sorting out the day when the doorbell rang. It was 9 p.m.

Standing at the door were two servicemen — one was a major and the other an Army chaplain. The men stood very still.

“We have some news ...”

Last Thursday, Maj. Jason E. George was killed in Baghdad while on foot patrol in the Dora district. A suicide bomber exploded an improvised explosive device and killed three American soldiers along with at least 25 Iraqi civilians.

Jason George was 38. He was a proud Tehachapi son. George had a room full of trophies. If there was a prize — academic or sporting — and George didn’t win it, his hot breath would be on your neck.

“Jason was balanced,” Hugh said. “He could do almost anything.”

Like mother, like son. That’s always been the case in the Mason household. Candy is a vocational instructor at the California Correctional Institution. She teaches inmates at Tehachapi how to use a computer, a calculator and do other sorts of office work.

“I Iove my job,” she said. “I don’t know for sure, but I’d like to think I make a difference. That’s the way Jason looked at his time in Iraq.”

George’s time in Iraq was short. He had flown into Kuwait on April 22. He had only been in Baghdad since May 5.

“It looks like I will be leading our civil/military operations as well as helping to bolster the local government and trying to stimulate the local economy,” George wrote on May 7 in his last e-mail to his parents. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to leverage some of my past experience as well as my MBA.”

He had something to leverage. His resume was thicker than one of his beloved Double-Doubles at In-N-Out. It was deeper than the Dodgers, his favorite baseball team — a team he was able to watch with his parents in early April when they played the Angels.

Growing up, George did what a lot of us only dreamed about — he won the Pinewood Derby. In high school, he had an internship with NASA at Edwards Air Force Base. George played tennis, baseball, soccer and basketball. As a senior at Tehachapi High, No. 22 kicked the winning field goal in the finals of the Desert Inyo League Championships. George was an Eagle Scout, and after a year at Cal State Bakersfield, he was appointed to West Point by then-U.S. Rep. Bill Thomas.

George was an undefeated boxer at West Point. After graduating, he served eight years. George left the service in 2002 and earned an MBA at the University of Michigan. Before being called up, George was working for a consulting firm in Chicago that specialized in health care, helping hospitals and clinics save money by becoming more efficient.

It is too early for either Hugh or Candy Mason to be philosophical. They still expect their son to walk through the door. Although they do not want to criticize the military, they are struggling with the idea that a major was on foot patrol. They just do not understand.

George sent both his mother and grandmother flowers on Mother’s Day. He worried about his terminally ill grandfather. In his last e-mail, he asked if he could help and make a call to the doctors who were in charge of his grandfather’s care. He finished every call with, “I love you Mom, I love you Dad.”

Thursday, Maj. Jason George will come home for good. When the Bakersfield National Cemetery opens later this summer, George will be buried there and it is possible that he will be the first. Until then, he must trust those he has left behind to honk twice when they find their way home.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement regarding the death of Maj. Jason E. George of Tehachapi:

“Major Jason George was a courageous soldier who dedicated his life to serving his fellow Americans. His loyalty and dedication to our country is an inspiration to all of us and we are forever indebted to his service. Maria and I send our thoughts and prayers to Jason’s family, friends and fellow soldiers during this difficult time.”

Army Maj. Jason E. George was killed in action on 5/21/09.

Air Force 1st Lt. Roslyn L. Schulte

2009-05-20T15:57:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Air Force 1st Lt. Roslyn L. Schulte, 25, of St. Louis

1st Lt. Schulte was assigned to the Headquarters, Pacific Air Forces Command, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii; died May 20, 2009 near Kabul, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device.

Honolulu Advertiser -- A Hickam Air Force Base officer has been killed in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said today.

1st Lt. Roslyn L. Schulte, 25, of St. Louis, Mo., died yesterday near Kabul of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device. She was assigned to Headquarters, Pacific Air Forces Command, Hickam Air Force Base.

Schulte is the believed to be the first female graduate of the Air Force Academy ever to be killed by an enemy combatant, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

Another female graduate, 1st Lt. Laura Piper, died in the mid-90s from a friendly-fire incident.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported today that Schulte, who grew up in Ladue, Mo., was a born leader.

Her father, Robert Schulte, told the paper he remembers asking his 2-year-old daughter what she wanted to be when she grew up.

"Chairman of the board," she replied.

"Even at that age, she didn't say she wanted to be president, she wanted to be the leader," Schulte said of his daughter, whom most knew as Roz. "She wanted to be in charge. And she was."

She was an avid and accomplished lacrosse player in high school. Her parents said that while on the field, any time a jet flew overhead, she would pause in admiration and say how one day she would be a fighter pilot.

She went to the Air Force Academy after graduating from high school in 2002.

At the academy, she majored in political science, interned for former Sen. Alan Allard, R-Colo., and became a group commander — one of the academy's highest positions — said her mother, Suzie Schulte.

Robert Schulte said: "She would call me and say, 'Dad, all these guys might fly the planes, but they follow me.' She was a leader."

She graduated from the academy in 2006 and went into military intelligence instead of aviation.

In February she was deployed to Afghanistan, where her parents said she taught Afghan military leaders how to gather and interpret intelligence.

She was to return to the United States in August.

Schulte's brother and only sibling, Todd Schulte, is chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-N.Y.

The Schultes said funeral arrangements were pending.

Air Force 1st Lt. Roslyn L. Schulte was killed in action on 5/20/09.

Army Spc. David A. Schaefer Jr.

2009-05-16T15:54:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Spc. David A. Schaefer Jr., 27, of Belleville, Ill.

Spc. Schaefer was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Schweinfurt, Germany; died May 16, 2009 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit.

Belleville News Democrat -- A Belleville soldier died doing what he loved, family and friends said Tuesday.

Army Spc. David A. Schaefer Jr., 27, died Saturday in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit .

"He was born to serve his country," his wife, Shelly, said. "He wanted to be a soldier -- that's all he talked about when he was younger -- and that's what he did."

The Schaefers last talked on Thursday, and David Schaefer told his wife everything was fine. They discussed their plans to move their family -- Jason Phillips 13, Logan Schaefer, 7, and Savanna Schaefer, 6 -- to Germany as soon as what was his second tour in Iraq ended in November.

Shelly said her husband took good care of his family, and loved his children. They often watched motorcross together.

"He loved being in the Army,"Army Sgt. Joshua Wood said of his friend. "He loved being an infantry soldier."

Wood got to know Schaefer in 2006, when Schaefer decided to make the leap to active duty after serving in the National Guard.

"Davey had a heck of personality; he's just a magnetic person," Wood said. "You really couldn't meet the person and not like him."

Schaefer was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Schweinfurt, Germany.

"He died doing what he loved," said Wood, of Fort Bragg, N.C.

Schaefer's father, David A. Schaefer Sr., said: "His memory will always be in my soul."

Schaefer's aunt and uncle, Karen and Danny Schaefer, of Belleville, said their nephew visited them before he enlisted, and his excitement about joining the military was tangible.

"Like all young men, he got himself all ripped up and excited about going into the Army," Karen Schaefer said. "I answered the door and didn't recognize him. He said, 'Aunt Karen, it's Little Davey!' and I gave him a big 'ol hug. He did good for himself."

Schaefer attended Freeburg High School, but left before he graduated, they said, but got his life in order -- he got his GED and quit smoking, drinking and cursing -- because he wanted to join the Army.

Karen Schaefer said her fond memories of "Little Davey" and his three siblings include family trips that involved camping, fishing and swimming.

"I want them to remember him as a hero," Danny Schaefer said. "I think his goal in life was to go to the service, and he fulfilled that. He went over there to fight for his country. He'll always be tops in my books."

Schaefer's remains were returned Monday to the United States; his casket was brought to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

George Renner & Sons Funeral Homes, in Belleville, is handling services, which are pending.

Army Spc. David A. Schaefer Jr. was killed in action on 5/16/09.

Army Staff Sgt. Esau I. De la Pena-Hernandez

2009-05-15T16:15:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Staff Sgt. Esau I. De la Pena-Hernandez, 25, of La Puente, Calif.

SSgt. Pena-Hernandez was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.; died May 15, 2009 at Forward Operating Base Shank, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his patrol was attacked by enemy forces using small-arms fire in Chak, Afghanistan. Also killed was Sgt. Carlie M. Lee III.

San Gabriel Valley Tribune -- LA PUENTE - For Army Staff Sgt. Esau Ivan De La Pena-Hernandez, dying for his country was more than just a possibility, it was his own professed destiny.

De La Pena-Hernandez was killed while on patrol during a battle in Chak, Afghanistan alongside a friend on Friday. He would have been 26 next Monday.

"It's a big loss to us," said his mother Leticia De La Pena. "But in some way, I know he's glad the way he died."

Family members said the military was top priority for the La Puente High School graduate, who enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 18 and served in Iraq before enlisting in the Army and going to Afghanistan. He told his family he was willing to die at war.

De La Pena-Rodriguez poured his whole heart into his military service, family members said.

He was a fan of military-themed video games and movies and knew the film Full Metal Jacket word-for-word, family said. His love for soccer was a close second.

The oldest of three children, De La Pena-Hernandez was born in Mexico and moved to the United States with his family when he was 11, family members said. Previously a legal resident, he had recently earned his citizenship.

His father Mario J. De La Pena said his son was a man of dedication and determination who knew what he wanted to do with his life and went for it.

"He used to always call me and ask `Are you proud of me?'," Mario De La Pena said. "I told him `You are my hero."'

De La Pena-Hernandez was humble about his military service, and did not complain to his family about anything.

Family members were shocked to discover after his death that he had earned nearly 20 decorations during his service.

"He wasn't a flashy person," said sister Denise De La Pena. "We never knew he had all these medals."

When he called home, it was to check up on the family and let them know he was OK. His last call was on Mother's Day.

"Whenever I talked to him, he always said, `Do whatever you want to do that makes you happy'," said brother Bryan De La Pena. "I'm glad he died doing something he wanted to do."

While the De La Pena family continues to mourn their loss, they take some solace in the fact that Esau lived his dream.

"I'm proud of what my son did for our country," Mario De La Pena said. "I always will be."

De La Pena-Hernandez was a member of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment.

Army Staff Sgt. Esau I. De la Pena-Hernandez was killed in action on 5/15/09.

Army Sgt. Carlie M. Lee III

2009-05-15T16:11:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt. Carlie M. Lee III, 23, of Birmingham, Ala.

Sgt. Lee was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.; died May 15, 2009 at Forward Operating Base Shank, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his patrol was attacked by enemy forces using small-arms fire in Chak, Afghanistan. Also killed was Staff Sgt. Esau I. De la Pena-Hernandez.

AL.com -- Sgt. Carlie M. Lee III, known to his family as Nicky, had two loves in his life, according to his mother, Norma Lee.

Low-riding trucks and his mama.

"He loved me more than anything," she said Monday.

Sgt. Lee, a 23-year-old native of Sandusky, a community on the west edge of Birmingham, was killed Friday in Afghanistan, she said.

According to a news release from the Department of Defense, Lee and Staff Sgt. Esau I. Delapena Hernandez, 25, of La Puente, Calif., were killed Friday in Chak, Afghanistan.

Norma Lee said her son was shot multiple times. The military did not provide an account of the circumstances of the two men's deaths other than to say "their patrol was attacked by enemy forces using small-arms fire."

Norma Lee questioned whether her son should have been in combat that day. Sgt. Lee had only recently undergone surgery on his appendix and had not been out of the hospital for more than two weeks when he went back into combat, she said.

Sgt. Lee and Staff Sgt. Hernandez were members of the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment and deployed earlier this year with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

After completing training at Fort Benning, Lee was assigned to Fort Drum in New York in August 2006.

Sgt. Lee's awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Combat Service, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon and the NATO Medal.

He was a graduate of the Combat Life Savers Course and had previously deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from October 2006 to May 2007.

Sgt. Lee had re-enlisted in the Army in December and was scheduled to return home in July.

Lee said her son joined the Army two weeks after graduating from home-schooling. She said her son was a mother's best friend.

"He was just full of life," she said. "He loved everybody. He didn't judge nobody."

"He was my heart," Lee said.

Army Sgt. Carlie M. Lee III was killed in action on 5/15/09.

Army Cpl. Ryan C. McGhee

2009-05-13T16:19:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Cpl. Ryan C. McGhee, 21, of Fredericksburg, Va.

Cpl. McGhee was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Ga.; died May 13, 2009 from wounds sustained when his unit came in contact with enemy forces while conducting combat operations in central Iraq.

Richmond Times Dispatch -- A Fredericksburg man who was an Army Ranger died yesterday of wounds received by small-arms fire in central Iraq.

Cpl. Ryan C. McGhee, 21, and his unit were conducting operations to rid Iraq of a weapons facilitator and suicide-bomber cell known to be operating in the area when they came under attack, the Army said in a statement.

McGhee was an automatic rifleman assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Ga.

"Cpl. Ryan McGhee's actions are in the finest traditions of this great regiment," Col. Richard D. Clarke, 75th Ranger Regiment commander, said in a statement.

"He continuously answered his nation's call, fighting the most tenacious, fanatical and resolute enemies of our country during multiple deployments to places where most would or could not go. His memory will not be forgotten by our Rangers."

McGhee was on his fourth deployment. The other deployments had been to Afghanistan, the statement said.

McGhee enlisted in the Army on Aug. 1, 2006, after graduating from high school in Fredericksburg.

McGhee is survived by his father, Steven McGhee of Myrtle Beach, S.C., his mother, Sherrie L. McGhee of Knoxville, Tenn., and his brother, Zachary, the statement said.

The Free Lance-Star -- Under a blustery gray sky and in a transfer case draped with an American flag, Cpl. Ryan Casey McGhee, 21, an Army Ranger killed in Iraq on Wednesday, began his final journey home.

In a solemn scene yesterday on the tarmac, McGhee's remains were transferred by fellow soldiers from a 747 cargo plane bearing the Stars and Stripes on its flank, to the ground where relatives and a large white van were waiting.

McGhee, a 2006 Massaponax High school graduate, is the son of Steven and Kristie McGhee of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Sherrie Battle-McGhee of Knoxville, Tenn. He was engaged to be married to a fellow Massaponax High School graduate next year.

On Wednesday, the flag-draped remains of five soldiers killed over the weekend by a troubled fellow soldier in Iraq were were received by relatives at the same spot.

McGhee, who served four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, was killed by small arms fire while conducting combat operations in central Iraq, when his unit came under fire. A combat operator with the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Ga., McGhee was part of a team hunting down a weapons provider and a suicide-bombing cell.

"He was an all-around great person and he loved what he did," McGhee's brother Zachary, 24, said yesterday. "I talked to him two weeks ago. He called to wish me a happy birthday. He said he loved me and he missed me."

Zachary McGhee, who lives in Stafford County and is a sergeant in the Army National Guard in Fredericksburg, said his brother was interested in the military early on and decided in his senior year in high school to become a Ranger. "He pretty much wanted to serve his country and give something back."

"Ryan McGhee's actions are in the finest traditions of this great regiment," said Col. Richard D. Clarke, 75th Ranger Regiment commander. "He continuously answered his nation's call fighting the most tenacious, fanatical and resolute enemies of our country during multiple deployments to places where most would or could not go. His memory will not be forgotten by our Rangers."

High school Principal Joe Rodkey said he learned about McGhee's death Wednesday while attending a Massaponax soccer game.

"This is just devastating to us," Rodkey said of the impact on the Massaponax High School community.

"We all just thought the world of him."

McGhee also had been a member of the Key Club and served on the class executive board his junior and senior years.

He was chosen by his classmates for two senior superlatives--friendliest and most charming.

Rodkey said he met in his office yesterday with students who had learned of McGhee's death.

"Kids have a hard time with this because they never expect it to be anyone they know," Rodkey said.

He said the school is prepared to assist students if any need help dealing with the death.

Deb Aragon, who helps coordinate the "dignified transfers" at the Air Force Base, said it's an emotional time for all involved.

"My heart goes out to the families every time," said Aragon, a retired Air Force master sergeant. "I have two sons, 19 and 21."

Army Cpl. Ryan C. McGhee was killed in action on 5/13/09.

Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle

2009-05-11T15:37:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle, 52, of Wilmington, N.C.

Cmdr. Springle was assigned as an Individual Augmentee to the Army's 55th Medical Company; died May 11, 2009 from injuries sustained in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq. Also killed were Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton, Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal and Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr.

Star News Online -- A Wilmington man killed Monday in Iraq once served as the director of a program at Camp Lejeune that counseled military members and their families, officials said.

Cmdr. Charles K. Springle, 52, was one of five people killed when a soldier opened fire at a clinic at a base in Baghdad, according to the U.S. Department of Defense and The Associated Press.

A soldier was charged with multiple counts of murder in connection with the shooting, and military officials have pledged to look into the mental health treatment provided for troops, according to The Associated Press.

1st Lt. Craig Thomas of Camp Lejeune said a Navy officer is assisting Springle’s family and answering any questions they may have.

Springle was a licensed clinical social worker who joined the Navy in 1988, according to a statement from Camp Lejeune. He was recently deployed to Iraq with a medical company.

Springle’s friend, Bob Goodale, told The Associated Press that Springle had dedicated his life to helping soldiers cope with emotional problems caused by combat stress. Goodale works with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program in Chapel Hill, an organization Springle dealt with when he directed Camp Lejeune’s Community Counseling Center.

The center provides counseling for problems including substance abuse, anger management and sexual abuse, as well as pre- and post-deployment issues and classes on post-traumatic or combat stress, according to Camp Lejeune’s Web site.

Springle was promoted to the rank of commander in 2002. He had received numerous decorations including multiple overseas service ribbons, according to the statement from Camp Lejeune.

Army IDs soldiers shot at Camp Liberty
By Michelle Tan
Staff writer

The Defense Department has identified the four soldiers killed Monday when a fellow soldier fired into a combat stress clinic on Camp Liberty, Iraq.

They are Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md.

Houseal was assigned to the 55th Medical Company of Indianapolis, Ind.

Bueno-Galdos and Yates were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of Grafenwoehr, Germany. Barton belonged to the 277th Engineer Company, 420th Engineer Brigade of Waco, Texas. Bueno-Galdos was posthumously promoted Wednesday to staff sergeant.

The fifth service member killed Monday was identified Tuesday. He was Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle, 52, of Wilmington, N.C. He also was assigned to the 55th Medical Company.

As part of the medical company, Springle and Houseal both worked at the Liberty Combat Stress Control Center.

A sergeant from the Bamberg, Germany-based 370th Engineer Company, 54th Engineer Battalion, has been charged in the shootings.

Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, first joined the Army National Guard in 1988; he went into the active Army in 1994. He is charged with five counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault.

Russell, who was on his third Iraq deployment, remains in custody in Iraq.

Special agents from Army Criminal Investigation Command continue to investigate the shootings.

The Army also has initiated an AR 15-6 investigation to determine if there are adequate mental health facilities in Iraq, said Lt. Col. David Patterson, a spokesman for Multi-National Corps-Iraq.

The suspect was referred to counseling the week before the shootings and his commander determined that it was best for him not to have a weapon, said Maj. Gen. David Perkins, a spokesman for Multi-National Force-Iraq.

According to an Army official who spoke on condition of anonymity, preliminary reports show the suspected shooter was unarmed when he was escorted to the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty, a sprawling U.S. base near Baghdad’s international airport. Once inside, he got into a verbal altercation with the staff and was asked to leave. The soldier and his escort got back into their vehicle and began to drive away, according to the Army official.

At some point during the drive, the soldier got control of his escort’s weapon and ordered the escort out of the vehicle, the Army official said. The soldier then drove back to the clinic, walked in and began shooting, the official said.

Soldiers from the 55th Medical Company provided immediate counseling for those who witnessed the shooting and were at the center at the time of the incident, Perkins said.

“Anytime we lose one of our own, it affects us all,” MNC-I spokesman Col. John Robinson said. “Our hearts go out to the families and friends of all the service members involved in this terrible tragedy.”

According to Army records, Russell, of Sherman, Texas, first deployed to Iraq in April 2003. He returned for a second tour in May 2005. Before that, he deployed for six months in 1996 to Serbia and for seven months in 1998 to Bosnia.

During a press briefing Monday afternoon at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed his “horror and deep regret” over the shooting, adding that officials are still in the process of gathering information on exactly what happened.

“Such a tragic loss of life at the hands of our own forces is a cause of great and urgent concern,” he said.

When asked if the suspected gunman had been deployed multiple times, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday he did not have that information. However, he said, the tragedy occurred while service members were seeking help at the clinic.

“It does speak to me for the need for us to redouble our efforts in terms of dealing with the stress [of combat],” Mullen said. “It also speaks to the issues of multiple deployments [and] increasing dwell time.”

The death toll from the Monday shooting was the highest for U.S. personnel in a single attack since April 10, when a suicide truck driver killed five American soldiers with a blast near a police headquarters in Mosul, in northern Iraq.

Liberty shooting victims united by circumstance

By Allen G. Breed
The Associated Press

The paths that brought six men together in a Baghdad military clinic traced across the globe, from South America to rural Missouri, from the islands of Alaska to deepest Antarctica, before intersecting in a tragic shooting spree.

Authorities say Sgt. John M. Russell, who was nearing the end of his third tour in Iraq, was deeply angry at the military when he walked into the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty on Monday and opened fire.

Two of the men who died devoted their careers to helping men like Russell: soldiers suffering from the stress of combat and repeated deployments to dangerous overseas war zones.

Keith Springle, a Navy commander who grew up swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast, was in Iraq because it was his duty as a military psychologist. Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist and major in the Army Reserve, was there because he felt he needed to be.

The three other victims were Russell’s comrades. Soldiers like the Maryland rebel who liked tinkering with guns and despised “pencil pushers.” A Peru native who, whether walking the streets of New Jersey or the dirt roads of Iraq, was a magnet for candy-seeking kids. And the shy video gamer from Missouri whose refusal to back down probably cost him his life.

Killed were Springle, 52, from Beaufort, N.C.; Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., who had met Russell shortly before the shootings.

The remains of Houseal, Yates and Bueno-Galdos were brought to Dover Air Force Base Wednesday night with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, attending. The three transfer containers were lowered down on a lift from a 747 commercial airplane, and six military personnel carried them onto a white truck. The families chose not to give interviews.

Family and teachers said Jacob Barton was a quiet student who loved graphic novels and science fiction. Growing up with his grandmother in the house, he sometimes had trouble relating to kids his own age.

“His grandmother was foremost on his mind at all times,” said Rod Waldrip, Barton’s high school English teacher at Rolla High School, where Barton graduated last year. “He sometimes wouldn’t do after-school activities because he had to see if she was OK.”

Barton’s older sister had been in the Army, and by graduation he’d already made up his mind to follow her. The grandmother he rushed home to see, Rose Coleman, said he was adjusting to life in the Army and that he “seemed to like it.”

Although he was reserved, he wasn’t afraid. Waldrip remembers seeing Barton come to the rescue of somebody who was getting bullied.

“He wouldn’t say much unless there was some injustice being done, and then he would speak up.”

Coleman said the Army told the family that Barton died trying to shield another man from the shooting.

“And he tried to talk the guy with the gun to put his gun down,” she said.

Springle, whose first assignment with the Navy was in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, wanted to be make sure mental health issues faced by soldiers and their families were treated properly, said Staff Sgt. Robert Mullis from the 1451st Transportation Company of the N.C. National Guard, who was part of a civilian outreach program with Springle.

“He saw it as preventive maintenance,” Mullis said. “They’ve just been through some tough experiences. He was reaching out trying to try and stop a big beast before it got started.”

Springle grew up in the little fishing village of Lewiston, N.C., just east of Beaufort. Cousin Alton Dudley said the pair were a kind of saltwater Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

“It was a carefree life,” said Dudley, a fishing boat captain who was nine years older than Springle. “I am sure that he joined the Navy so that he could be at sea or close to it.”

All who knew him talked about Springle’s sense of humor and upbeat attitude. But Springle — whose son and son-in-law have each done a tour in Iraq — took the issue of combat stress very seriously. His work on the homefront with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program was a labor of love.

“This was volunteer work,” said Bob Goodale, director of behavioral mental health for the program. “He was doing this because it was the right thing to do — training civilian providers so they were better equipped to serve the families and the service members.”

Houseal was under no obligation to go to Iraq, but he was already something of an adventurer.

In 1991, the University of Michigan graduate was a physician at the Amundsen-Scott Station near the South Pole in a climate research project, said Mike O’Neill, the group’s electronics technician.

“He came in at the last minute not knowing anybody,” O’Neill said. “That’s one of the reasons I really respected him.”

Houseal was inquisitive, always checking on people at the station, even if it meant braving temperatures that dropped to minus-107 degrees that year.

The Amarillo man had worked for a dozen years at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation clinic, said executive director Bud Schertler. He left Texas for Iraq in late January and was assigned to the 55th Medical Company in Indianapolis, which ran the clinic where the shootings occurred.

Bueno-Galdos couldn’t wait to serve his adopted country and did so exceptionally, earning three Army Commendation Medals.

He was 7 when his family emigrated from Mollendo, Peru. The youngest of four children, he became a U.S. citizen in high school and joined the Army as soon as he graduated.

Back home in Paterson, he never made a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing him, knowing he would buy them candy or soda, his family recalled. It was the same in Iraq, where he was on his second tour.

On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a small shrine to her recently deceased mother, placing her photograph on a small glass table surrounded by silk roses, a rosary necklace, votives and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros — patron saint of Peru. The next day, she added a photo of her son Christian to the memorial.

“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” said his father, Carlos Bueno. “But not to die in this manner.”

Yates displayed zeal for serving in the Army, but perhaps not his locale, as evidenced by his MySpace page.

His profile lists his location as “(expletive), Iraq.” For his education, he listed his major as “KILLING F...ERS” and his minor as “SHOOTING THEM IN THE FACE.” Under clubs, he declared himself a member of “THE US ARMY THE BEST ORGINIZATION.”

Yates’ mother, Shawna Machlinski, said her son joined the Army not out of a sense of duty, but because he didn’t see many other options. Besides, his stepfather and two stepbrothers were military men.

“Michael was a hands-on person who didn’t like book work,” she said. “He liked putting guns together ... He just wanted to do something that he thought he would be good at, and he always liked guns and that kind of stuff.”

So two years ago, he got his GED and signed up.

Alexis Mister, 18, of Seaford, Del., and the mother of Michael Yates’ son Kamren, said he was an extremely caring father. “He was always was concerned with Kamren so much,” she said. “He loved him.”

Mister said Yates came home in April for the boy’s first birthday party and doted on his son by buying him a four-wheeler. “It’s absolutely devastating,” Mister said, choking up during a telephone interview discussing Yates’ death. “My son doesn’t have a father anymore.”

Yates’ mother said that April trip left him anxious. He wasn’t home long enough, but he’d still been away from “my military family” too long. Once back in Iraq, his mother said he began to think about things he wished he’d done while visiting Maryland.

When the strong emotions began surfacing, she said, he was transferred to headquarters company “so he could stay out of combat.”

“He didn’t like headquarters at all,” said Machlinski. “He said they’re stupid pencil pushers.”

Despite the stigma, Yates volunteered to go to the stress clinic.

“I need help dealing with this,” he told his mom.

Yates had been at the clinic nearly a week when he told his mother he bumped into Russell. Yates told her Russell seemed like a nice enough guy. But after three tours, he clearly hated the Army.

“Man, this guy’s got issues,” she remembers him telling her.

Russell, 44, who just shy of finishing his third tour, told his family that the clinic was hurting more than helping. Now, he is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault.

As angry as Machlinski is at Russell for taking her boy, she’s angrier at the military.

“My heart goes out to him, too,” she said of Russell. “Someone should have helped this sergeant way before he got this bad. I would rather have my son doing his job in combat, I would rather him have been blown up by a bomb ... than be shot by friendly fire.”

———

Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Maria Sudekum Fisher in Kansas City, Mo.; Samantha Henry in Paterson, N.J.; Kevin Maurer in Wilmington, N.C.; Brian Witte in Seaford, Del.; Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; and Linda Franklin and Regina L. Burns in Dallas.

Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle was killed in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq on 5/11/09.

Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal

2009-05-11T15:31:00.001-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas

Maj. Houseal was assigned to the 55th Medical Company, based in Indianapolis; died May 11, 2009 from injuries sustained in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq. Also killed were Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton, Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle and Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr.

WSBT-TV -- ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — One of the victims fatally wounded in Monday's friendly-fire incident in Iraq has local ties.

Dr. Matthew Houseal proudly served his country as a reservist in Iraq. But it's tragedy crossing the great Pacific, coming to the shores of Lake Michigan, that overshadows his years of service.

Major Houseal was a member of the U.S. Army Reserve 55th Medical company. He was fatally wounded Monday in Iraq by friendly fire.

One of his own — Sgt. John Russell — faces murder charges for his death and four others.

News of his death began spreading across St. Joseph, Michigan.

"I couldn't believe it happened," said Van Taylor.

Friends tell WSBT News the St. Joseph High School alum grew up in the city. They say his parents and many of his family members still call St. Joseph home.

But it's not just one local community dealing with the loss; family and co-workers in Amarillo, Texas also grieve.

Houseal lived there with his wife and children and he worked alongside other doctors at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation clinic for more than a decade.

A memorial in his honor was created to celebrate his life.

"I think that it was a sad tragedy," Taylor said.

Family members, still coping with news, didn't want to talk on camera at this time, but said:

"We're deeply saddened over our loss. As we mourn the loss of our son, we ask that you keep his wife and family in your prayers."

Liberty shooting victims united by circumstance
By Allen G. Breed
The Associated Press

The paths that brought six men together in a Baghdad military clinic traced across the globe, from South America to rural Missouri, from the islands of Alaska to deepest Antarctica, before intersecting in a tragic shooting spree.

Authorities say Sgt. John M. Russell, who was nearing the end of his third tour in Iraq, was deeply angry at the military when he walked into the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty on Monday and opened fire.

Two of the men who died devoted their careers to helping men like Russell: soldiers suffering from the stress of combat and repeated deployments to dangerous overseas war zones.

Keith Springle, a Navy commander who grew up swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast, was in Iraq because it was his duty as a military psychologist. Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist and major in the Army Reserve, was there because he felt he needed to be.

The three other victims were Russell’s comrades. Soldiers like the Maryland rebel who liked tinkering with guns and despised “pencil pushers.” A Peru native who, whether walking the streets of New Jersey or the dirt roads of Iraq, was a magnet for candy-seeking kids. And the shy video gamer from Missouri whose refusal to back down probably cost him his life.

Killed were Springle, 52, from Beaufort, N.C.; Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., who had met Russell shortly before the shootings.

The remains of Houseal, Yates and Bueno-Galdos were brought to Dover Air Force Base Wednesday night with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, attending. The three transfer containers were lowered down on a lift from a 747 commercial airplane, and six military personnel carried them onto a white truck. The families chose not to give interviews.

Family and teachers said Jacob Barton was a quiet student who loved graphic novels and science fiction. Growing up with his grandmother in the house, he sometimes had trouble relating to kids his own age.

“His grandmother was foremost on his mind at all times,” said Rod Waldrip, Barton’s high school English teacher at Rolla High School, where Barton graduated last year. “He sometimes wouldn’t do after-school activities because he had to see if she was OK.”

Barton’s older sister had been in the Army, and by graduation he’d already made up his mind to follow her. The grandmother he rushed home to see, Rose Coleman, said he was adjusting to life in the Army and that he “seemed to like it.”

Although he was reserved, he wasn’t afraid. Waldrip remembers seeing Barton come to the rescue of somebody who was getting bullied.

“He wouldn’t say much unless there was some injustice being done, and then he would speak up.”

Coleman said the Army told the family that Barton died trying to shield another man from the shooting.

“And he tried to talk the guy with the gun to put his gun down,” she said.

Springle, whose first assignment with the Navy was in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, wanted to be make sure mental health issues faced by soldiers and their families were treated properly, said Staff Sgt. Robert Mullis from the 1451st Transportation Company of the N.C. National Guard, who was part of a civilian outreach program with Springle.

“He saw it as preventive maintenance,” Mullis said. “They’ve just been through some tough experiences. He was reaching out trying to try and stop a big beast before it got started.”

Springle grew up in the little fishing village of Lewiston, N.C., just east of Beaufort. Cousin Alton Dudley said the pair were a kind of saltwater Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

“It was a carefree life,” said Dudley, a fishing boat captain who was nine years older than Springle. “I am sure that he joined the Navy so that he could be at sea or close to it.”

All who knew him talked about Springle’s sense of humor and upbeat attitude. But Springle — whose son and son-in-law have each done a tour in Iraq — took the issue of combat stress very seriously. His work on the homefront with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program was a labor of love.

“This was volunteer work,” said Bob Goodale, director of behavioral mental health for the program. “He was doing this because it was the right thing to do — training civilian providers so they were better equipped to serve the families and the service members.”

Houseal was under no obligation to go to Iraq, but he was already something of an adventurer.

In 1991, the University of Michigan graduate was a physician at the Amundsen-Scott Station near the South Pole in a climate research project, said Mike O’Neill, the group’s electronics technician.

“He came in at the last minute not knowing anybody,” O’Neill said. “That’s one of the reasons I really respected him.”

Houseal was inquisitive, always checking on people at the station, even if it meant braving temperatures that dropped to minus-107 degrees that year.

The Amarillo man had worked for a dozen years at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation clinic, said executive director Bud Schertler. He left Texas for Iraq in late January and was assigned to the 55th Medical Company in Indianapolis, which ran the clinic where the shootings occurred.

Bueno-Galdos couldn’t wait to serve his adopted country and did so exceptionally, earning three Army Commendation Medals.

He was 7 when his family emigrated from Mollendo, Peru. The youngest of four children, he became a U.S. citizen in high school and joined the Army as soon as he graduated.

Back home in Paterson, he never made a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing him, knowing he would buy them candy or soda, his family recalled. It was the same in Iraq, where he was on his second tour.

On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a small shrine to her recently deceased mother, placing her photograph on a small glass table surrounded by silk roses, a rosary necklace, votives and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros — patron saint of Peru. The next day, she added a photo of her son Christian to the memorial.

“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” said his father, Carlos Bueno. “But not to die in this manner.”

Yates displayed zeal for serving in the Army, but perhaps not his locale, as evidenced by his MySpace page.

His profile lists his location as “(expletive), Iraq.” For his education, he listed his major as “KILLING F...ERS” and his minor as “SHOOTING THEM IN THE FACE.” Under clubs, he declared himself a member of “THE US ARMY THE BEST ORGINIZATION.”

Yates’ mother, Shawna Machlinski, said her son joined the Army not out of a sense of duty, but because he didn’t see many other options. Besides, his stepfather and two stepbrothers were military men.

“Michael was a hands-on person who didn’t like book work,” she said. “He liked putting guns together ... He just wanted to do something that he thought he would be good at, and he always liked guns and that kind of stuff.”

So two years ago, he got his GED and signed up.

Alexis Mister, 18, of Seaford, Del., and the mother of Michael Yates’ son Kamren, said he was an extremely caring father. “He was always was concerned with Kamren so much,” she said. “He loved him.”

Mister said Yates came home in April for the boy’s first birthday party and doted on his son by buying him a four-wheeler. “It’s absolutely devastating,” Mister said, choking up during a telephone interview discussing Yates’ death. “My son doesn’t have a father anymore.”

Yates’ mother said that April trip left him anxious. He wasn’t home long enough, but he’d still been away from “my military family” too long. Once back in Iraq, his mother said he began to think about things he wished he’d done while visiting Maryland.

When the strong emotions began surfacing, she said, he was transferred to headquarters company “so he could stay out of combat.”

“He didn’t like headquarters at all,” said Machlinski. “He said they’re stupid pencil pushers.”

Despite the stigma, Yates volunteered to go to the stress clinic.

“I need help dealing with this,” he told his mom.

Yates had been at the clinic nearly a week when he told his mother he bumped into Russell. Yates told her Russell seemed like a nice enough guy. But after three tours, he clearly hated the Army.

“Man, this guy’s got issues,” she remembers him telling her.

Russell, 44, who just shy of finishing his third tour, told his family that the clinic was hurting more than helping. Now, he is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault.

As angry as Machlinski is at Russell for taking her boy, she’s angrier at the military.

“My heart goes out to him, too,” she said of Russell. “Someone should have helped this sergeant way before he got this bad. I would rather have my son doing his job in combat, I would rather him have been blown up by a bomb ... than be shot by friendly fire.”

———

Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Maria Sudekum Fisher in Kansas City, Mo.; Samantha Henry in Paterson, N.J.; Kevin Maurer in Wilmington, N.C.; Brian Witte in Seaford, Del.; Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; and Linda Franklin and Regina L. Burns in Dallas.

Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal was killed in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq on 5/11/09.

Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton

2009-05-11T15:26:00.001-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.

Spc. Barton was assigned to the 277th Engineer Company, 420th Engineer Brigade, Waco, Texas; died May 11, 2009 from injuries sustained in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq. Also killed were Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle and Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr.

Ozarks First -- (Rolla, MO) -- We're learning more about the five soldiers who died in iraq earlier this week.

One of the victims is Jacob Barton of Lenox, Missouri. That's just south of Rolla.

 The 20-year old was shot at Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

There's been some grieving, reflection, even anger.

 Mostly though it's been heavy hearts, as people learn about the soldier.

 People who knew him best say he was devoted not only to his family but his country.

Rolla High School English teacher Rod Waldrip still remembers the favorite seat of one of his students and dear friends.

 "He was like a son to me," Waldrip said.

 In less than a year's time, Barton graduated from the Ozarks to the front lines in Iraq.

 "He always wanted to be a soldier," Waldrip said.

That lifelong dream ended up costing Barton his life. Not from enemy fire, but a fellow soldier.

 "We were stunned. We were shocked," Barton's counselor Kimberly Maskrey said.

 She says the loss has been especially difficult for Barton's family and the school faculty.

 "He was a family man who was very authentic," Maskrey said.

 One of Barton's favorite hangouts was the library. Teachers say he was a big sci-fi reader.

 "He saw things the other kids couldn't put into words."

 The one word Waldrip says he'll always use when describing the hardworker, is hero. That's because he took the bullet for one of his fellow soldiers and friends.

"I hope that man knows what Barker means to us here," Waldrip said

 Barker's heroics will soon be honored at the high school. Waldrip says he may never let another student sit in this seat after this year.

 Teachers and counselors say the news of Barton's death has been slow to reach the students.

 They say they've seen some tears shed this week, as well as a couple of lowered heads.

 Faculty also says what makes this worse for them is the fact that summer is so close.

 They will have a long three months to think about the tragedy.

The Associated Press

The paths that brought six men together in a Baghdad military clinic traced across the globe, from South America to rural Missouri, from the islands of Alaska to deepest Antarctica, before intersecting in a tragic shooting spree.

Authorities say Sgt. John M. Russell, who was nearing the end of his third tour in Iraq, was deeply angry at the military when he walked into the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty on Monday and opened fire.

Two of the men who died devoted their careers to helping men like Russell: soldiers suffering from the stress of combat and repeated deployments to dangerous overseas war zones.

Keith Springle, a Navy commander who grew up swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast, was in Iraq because it was his duty as a military psychologist. Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist and major in the Army Reserve, was there because he felt he needed to be.

The three other victims were Russell’s comrades. Soldiers like the Maryland rebel who liked tinkering with guns and despised “pencil pushers.” A Peru native who, whether walking the streets of New Jersey or the dirt roads of Iraq, was a magnet for candy-seeking kids. And the shy video gamer from Missouri whose refusal to back down probably cost him his life.

Killed were Springle, 52, from Beaufort, N.C.; Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., who had met Russell shortly before the shootings.

The remains of Houseal, Yates and Bueno-Galdos were brought to Dover Air Force Base Wednesday night with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, attending. The three transfer containers were lowered down on a lift from a 747 commercial airplane, and six military personnel carried them onto a white truck. The families chose not to give interviews.

Family and teachers said Jacob Barton was a quiet student who loved graphic novels and science fiction. Growing up with his grandmother in the house, he sometimes had trouble relating to kids his own age.

“His grandmother was foremost on his mind at all times,” said Rod Waldrip, Barton’s high school English teacher at Rolla High School, where Barton graduated last year. “He sometimes wouldn’t do after-school activities because he had to see if she was OK.”

Barton’s older sister had been in the Army, and by graduation he’d already made up his mind to follow her. The grandmother he rushed home to see, Rose Coleman, said he was adjusting to life in the Army and that he “seemed to like it.”

Although he was reserved, he wasn’t afraid. Waldrip remembers seeing Barton come to the rescue of somebody who was getting bullied.

“He wouldn’t say much unless there was some injustice being done, and then he would speak up.”

Coleman said the Army told the family that Barton died trying to shield another man from the shooting.

“And he tried to talk the guy with the gun to put his gun down,” she said.

Springle, whose first assignment with the Navy was in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, wanted to be make sure mental health issues faced by soldiers and their families were treated properly, said Staff Sgt. Robert Mullis from the 1451st Transportation Company of the N.C. National Guard, who was part of a civilian outreach program with Springle.

“He saw it as preventive maintenance,” Mullis said. “They’ve just been through some tough experiences. He was reaching out trying to try and stop a big beast before it got started.”

Springle grew up in the little fishing village of Lewiston, N.C., just east of Beaufort. Cousin Alton Dudley said the pair were a kind of sal*censored*er Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

“It was a carefree life,” said Dudley, a fishing boat captain who was nine years older than Springle. “I am sure that he joined the Navy so that he could be at sea or close to it.”

All who knew him talked about Springle’s sense of humor and upbeat attitude. But Springle — whose son and son-in-law have each done a tour in Iraq — took the issue of combat stress very seriously. His work on the homefront with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program was a labor of love.

“This was volunteer work,” said Bob Goodale, director of behavioral mental health for the program. “He was doing this because it was the right thing to do — training civilian providers so they were better equipped to serve the families and the service members.”

Houseal was under no obligation to go to Iraq, but he was already something of an adventurer.

In 1991, the University of Michigan graduate was a physician at the Amundsen-Scott Station near the South Pole in a climate research project, said Mike O’Neill, the group’s electronics technician.

“He came in at the last minute not knowing anybody,” O’Neill said. “That’s one of the reasons I really respected him.”

Houseal was inquisitive, always checking on people at the station, even if it meant braving temperatures that dropped to minus-107 degrees that year.

The Amarillo man had worked for a dozen years at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation clinic, said executive director Bud Schertler. He left Texas for Iraq in late January and was assigned to the 55th Medical Company in Indianapolis, which ran the clinic where the shootings occurred.

Bueno-Galdos couldn’t wait to serve his adopted country and did so exceptionally, earning three Army Commendation Medals.

He was 7 when his family emigrated from Mollendo, Peru. The youngest of four children, he became a U.S. citizen in high school and joined the Army as soon as he graduated.

Back home in Paterson, he never made a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing him, knowing he would buy them candy or soda, his family recalled. It was the same in Iraq, where he was on his second tour.

On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a small shrine to her recently deceased mother, placing her photograph on a small glass table surrounded by silk roses, a rosary necklace, votives and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros — patron saint of Peru. The next day, she added a photo of her son Christian to the memorial.

“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” said his father, Carlos Bueno. “But not to die in this manner.”

Yates displayed zeal for serving in the Army, but perhaps not his locale, as evidenced by his MySpace page.

His profile lists his location as “(expletive), Iraq.” For his education, he listed his major as “KILLING F...ERS” and his minor as “SHOOTING THEM IN THE FACE.” Under clubs, he declared himself a member of “THE US ARMY THE BEST ORGINIZATION.”

Yates’ mother, Shawna Machlinski, said her son joined the Army not out of a sense of duty, but because he didn’t see many other options. Besides, his stepfather and two stepbrothers were military men.

“Michael was a hands-on person who didn’t like book work,” she said. “He liked putting guns together ... He just wanted to do something that he thought he would be good at, and he always liked guns and that kind of stuff.”

So two years ago, he got his GED and signed up.

Alexis Mister, 18, of Seaford, Del., and the mother of Michael Yates’ son Kamren, said he was an extremely caring father. “He was always was concerned with Kamren so much,” she said. “He loved him.”

Mister said Yates came home in April for the boy’s first birthday party and doted on his son by buying him a four-wheeler. “It’s absolutely devastating,” Mister said, choking up during a telephone interview discussing Yates’ death. “My son doesn’t have a father anymore.”

Yates’ mother said that April trip left him anxious. He wasn’t home long enough, but he’d still been away from “my military family” too long. Once back in Iraq, his mother said he began to think about things he wished he’d done while visiting Maryland.

When the strong emotions began surfacing, she said, he was transferred to headquarters company “so he could stay out of combat.”

“He didn’t like headquarters at all,” said Machlinski. “He said they’re stupid pencil pushers.”

Despite the stigma, Yates volunteered to go to the stress clinic.

“I need help dealing with this,” he told his mom.

Yates had been at the clinic nearly a week when he told his mother he bumped into Russell. Yates told her Russell seemed like a nice enough guy. But after three tours, he clearly hated the Army.

“Man, this guy’s got issues,” she remembers him telling her.

Russell, 44, who just shy of finishing his third tour, told his family that the clinic was hurting more than helping. Now, he is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault.

As angry as Machlinski is at Russell for taking her boy, she’s angrier at the military.

“My heart goes out to him, too,” she said of Russell. “Someone should have helped this sergeant way before he got this bad. I would rather have my son doing his job in combat, I would rather him have been blown up by a bomb ... than be shot by friendly fire.”

Liberty shooting victims united by circumstance
By Allen G. Breed
The Associated Press

The paths that brought six men together in a Baghdad military clinic traced across the globe, from South America to rural Missouri, from the islands of Alaska to deepest Antarctica, before intersecting in a tragic shooting spree.

Authorities say Sgt. John M. Russell, who was nearing the end of his third tour in Iraq, was deeply angry at the military when he walked into the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty on Monday and opened fire.

Two of the men who died devoted their careers to helping men like Russell: soldiers suffering from the stress of combat and repeated deployments to dangerous overseas war zones.

Keith Springle, a Navy commander who grew up swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast, was in Iraq because it was his duty as a military psychologist. Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist and major in the Army Reserve, was there because he felt he needed to be.

The three other victims were Russell’s comrades. Soldiers like the Maryland rebel who liked tinkering with guns and despised “pencil pushers.” A Peru native who, whether walking the streets of New Jersey or the dirt roads of Iraq, was a magnet for candy-seeking kids. And the shy video gamer from Missouri whose refusal to back down probably cost him his life.

Killed were Springle, 52, from Beaufort, N.C.; Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., who had met Russell shortly before the shootings.

The remains of Houseal, Yates and Bueno-Galdos were brought to Dover Air Force Base Wednesday night with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, attending. The three transfer containers were lowered down on a lift from a 747 commercial airplane, and six military personnel carried them onto a white truck. The families chose not to give interviews.

Family and teachers said Jacob Barton was a quiet student who loved graphic novels and science fiction. Growing up with his grandmother in the house, he sometimes had trouble relating to kids his own age.

“His grandmother was foremost on his mind at all times,” said Rod Waldrip, Barton’s high school English teacher at Rolla High School, where Barton graduated last year. “He sometimes wouldn’t do after-school activities because he had to see if she was OK.”

Barton’s older sister had been in the Army, and by graduation he’d already made up his mind to follow her. The grandmother he rushed home to see, Rose Coleman, said he was adjusting to life in the Army and that he “seemed to like it.”

Although he was reserved, he wasn’t afraid. Waldrip remembers seeing Barton come to the rescue of somebody who was getting bullied.

“He wouldn’t say much unless there was some injustice being done, and then he would speak up.”

Coleman said the Army told the family that Barton died trying to shield another man from the shooting.

“And he tried to talk the guy with the gun to put his gun down,” she said.

Springle, whose first assignment with the Navy was in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, wanted to be make sure mental health issues faced by soldiers and their families were treated properly, said Staff Sgt. Robert Mullis from the 1451st Transportation Company of the N.C. National Guard, who was part of a civilian outreach program with Springle.

“He saw it as preventive maintenance,” Mullis said. “They’ve just been through some tough experiences. He was reaching out trying to try and stop a big beast before it got started.”

Springle grew up in the little fishing village of Lewiston, N.C., just east of Beaufort. Cousin Alton Dudley said the pair were a kind of saltwater Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

“It was a carefree life,” said Dudley, a fishing boat captain who was nine years older than Springle. “I am sure that he joined the Navy so that he could be at sea or close to it.”

All who knew him talked about Springle’s sense of humor and upbeat attitude. But Springle — whose son and son-in-law have each done a tour in Iraq — took the issue of combat stress very seriously. His work on the homefront with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program was a labor of love.

“This was volunteer work,” said Bob Goodale, director of behavioral mental health for the program. “He was doing this because it was the right thing to do — training civilian providers so they were better equipped to serve the families and the service members.”

Houseal was under no obligation to go to Iraq, but he was already something of an adventurer.

In 1991, the University of Michigan graduate was a physician at the Amundsen-Scott Station near the South Pole in a climate research project, said Mike O’Neill, the group’s electronics technician.

“He came in at the last minute not knowing anybody,” O’Neill said. “That’s one of the reasons I really respected him.”

Houseal was inquisitive, always checking on people at the station, even if it meant braving temperatures that dropped to minus-107 degrees that year.

The Amarillo man had worked for a dozen years at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation clinic, said executive director Bud Schertler. He left Texas for Iraq in late January and was assigned to the 55th Medical Company in Indianapolis, which ran the clinic where the shootings occurred.

Bueno-Galdos couldn’t wait to serve his adopted country and did so exceptionally, earning three Army Commendation Medals.

He was 7 when his family emigrated from Mollendo, Peru. The youngest of four children, he became a U.S. citizen in high school and joined the Army as soon as he graduated.

Back home in Paterson, he never made a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing him, knowing he would buy them candy or soda, his family recalled. It was the same in Iraq, where he was on his second tour.

On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a small shrine to her recently deceased mother, placing her photograph on a small glass table surrounded by silk roses, a rosary necklace, votives and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros — patron saint of Peru. The next day, she added a photo of her son Christian to the memorial.

“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” said his father, Carlos Bueno. “But not to die in this manner.”

Yates displayed zeal for serving in the Army, but perhaps not his locale, as evidenced by his MySpace page.

His profile lists his location as “(expletive), Iraq.” For his education, he listed his major as “KILLING F...ERS” and his minor as “SHOOTING THEM IN THE FACE.” Under clubs, he declared himself a member of “THE US ARMY THE BEST ORGINIZATION.”

Yates’ mother, Shawna Machlinski, said her son joined the Army not out of a sense of duty, but because he didn’t see many other options. Besides, his stepfather and two stepbrothers were military men.

“Michael was a hands-on person who didn’t like book work,” she said. “He liked putting guns together ... He just wanted to do something that he thought he would be good at, and he always liked guns and that kind of stuff.”

So two years ago, he got his GED and signed up.

Alexis Mister, 18, of Seaford, Del., and the mother of Michael Yates’ son Kamren, said he was an extremely caring father. “He was always was concerned with Kamren so much,” she said. “He loved him.”

Mister said Yates came home in April for the boy’s first birthday party and doted on his son by buying him a four-wheeler. “It’s absolutely devastating,” Mister said, choking up during a telephone interview discussing Yates’ death. “My son doesn’t have a father anymore.”

Yates’ mother said that April trip left him anxious. He wasn’t home long enough, but he’d still been away from “my military family” too long. Once back in Iraq, his mother said he began to think about things he wished he’d done while visiting Maryland.

When the strong emotions began surfacing, she said, he was transferred to headquarters company “so he could stay out of combat.”

“He didn’t like headquarters at all,” said Machlinski. “He said they’re stupid pencil pushers.”

Despite the stigma, Yates volunteered to go to the stress clinic.

“I need help dealing with this,” he told his mom.

Yates had been at the clinic nearly a week when he told his mother he bumped into Russell. Yates told her Russell seemed like a nice enough guy. But after three tours, he clearly hated the Army.

“Man, this guy’s got issues,” she remembers him telling her.

Russell, 44, who just shy of finishing his third tour, told his family that the clinic was hurting more than helping. Now, he is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault.

As angry as Machlinski is at Russell for taking her boy, she’s angrier at the military.

“My heart goes out to him, too,” she said of Russell. “Someone should have helped this sergeant way before he got this bad. I would rather have my son doing his job in combat, I would rather him have been blown up by a bomb ... than be shot by friendly fire.”

———

Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Maria Sudekum Fisher in Kansas City, Mo.; Samantha Henry in Paterson, N.J.; Kevin Maurer in Wilmington, N.C.; Brian Witte in Seaford, Del.; Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; and Linda Franklin and Regina L. Burns in Dallas.

Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton was killed in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq on 5/11/09.

Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos

2009-05-11T15:24:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.

Sgt. Bueno-Galdos was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany; died May 11, 2009 from injuries sustained in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq. Also killed were Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton, Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle and Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr.

Family stunned at son’s tragic loss
By Samantha Henry
The Associated Press

PATERSON, N.J. — On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a tabletop shrine to her recently deceased mother — surrounding her photograph with silk roses, a small white rosary cross, two votive candles and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros, the patron saint of Peru.

The next day, May 11, she added her son’s picture to the shrine for the dead.

Sgt. Christian Bueno-Gardos, 25, was killed at an Iraq clinic Monday, among five soldiers allegedly gunned down by a distraught comrade.

Eugenia Gardos sat in her living room in Paterson on May 13, surrounded by weeping family members as she struggled to make sense of the fact that her youngest child would not be coming home.

“The first time he left for Iraq, when they would read the lists of the dead on the news, we used to hold our breath, praying he wasn’t on it,” she said in Spanish. “I don’t understand how he could have died this way. I just don’t understand it.”

Bueno was on his second tour in Iraq. He had joined the Army out of high school and was most recently based in Germany. He was married with no children.

He had emigrated with his family from Mollendo, Peru, as a child and had been a U.S. citizen since high school. His mother, two older brothers and older sister recalled how he used to hand out candy to children in Iraq the same way he always did in Paterson — never making a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing behind, knowing he would buy them candy or a soda.

Paterson is one of the largest Peruvian immigrant communities in the United States, estimated at about 42,000 Peruvians, and has its own Peruvian consulate in a city of about 145,000 people.

Bueno’s father, Carlos Bueno, said the family arrived 20 years ago at the height of the Peruvian migration to Paterson, drawn by plentiful work in factories like the one he has worked in for decades, making wire hangers.

Bueno said the news of his son’s death has hit the family hard, both here and in Peru.

About 10:30 p.m. May 11, Army officials showed up at the door of the place Christian shared with his wife a few blocks away.

“We were all here at home,” Carlos Bueno said. “I was getting ready to go to bed when I heard screaming downstairs. I ran downstairs and everyone had thrown themselves to the floor, thrashing around, screaming.”

Bueno said he does not feel bitterness toward the man accused in the shootings, whom he described as “mentally ill.”

“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” he said. “But not to die in this manner.”

His wife, Eugenia Gardos, began weeping at his side.

“I don’t know what to think,” she said. “I’m only waiting for him to come home. I see my son as a hero. If he hadn’t died in Iraq, he would have gone very far.”

Christian Bueno’s body was scheduled to be flown back to the United States on May 13.

Liberty shooting victims united by circumstance
By Allen G. Breed
The Associated Press

The paths that brought six men together in a Baghdad military clinic traced across the globe, from South America to rural Missouri, from the islands of Alaska to deepest Antarctica, before intersecting in a tragic shooting spree.

Authorities say Sgt. John M. Russell, who was nearing the end of his third tour in Iraq, was deeply angry at the military when he walked into the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty on Monday and opened fire.

Two of the men who died devoted their careers to helping men like Russell: soldiers suffering from the stress of combat and repeated deployments to dangerous overseas war zones.

Keith Springle, a Navy commander who grew up swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast, was in Iraq because it was his duty as a military psychologist. Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist and major in the Army Reserve, was there because he felt he needed to be.

The three other victims were Russell’s comrades. Soldiers like the Maryland rebel who liked tinkering with guns and despised “pencil pushers.” A Peru native who, whether walking the streets of New Jersey or the dirt roads of Iraq, was a magnet for candy-seeking kids. And the shy video gamer from Missouri whose refusal to back down probably cost him his life.

Killed were Springle, 52, from Beaufort, N.C.; Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., who had met Russell shortly before the shootings.

The remains of Houseal, Yates and Bueno-Galdos were brought to Dover Air Force Base Wednesday night with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, attending. The three transfer containers were lowered down on a lift from a 747 commercial airplane, and six military personnel carried them onto a white truck. The families chose not to give interviews.

Family and teachers said Jacob Barton was a quiet student who loved graphic novels and science fiction. Growing up with his grandmother in the house, he sometimes had trouble relating to kids his own age.

“His grandmother was foremost on his mind at all times,” said Rod Waldrip, Barton’s high school English teacher at Rolla High School, where Barton graduated last year. “He sometimes wouldn’t do after-school activities because he had to see if she was OK.”

Barton’s older sister had been in the Army, and by graduation he’d already made up his mind to follow her. The grandmother he rushed home to see, Rose Coleman, said he was adjusting to life in the Army and that he “seemed to like it.”

Although he was reserved, he wasn’t afraid. Waldrip remembers seeing Barton come to the rescue of somebody who was getting bullied.

“He wouldn’t say much unless there was some injustice being done, and then he would speak up.”

Coleman said the Army told the family that Barton died trying to shield another man from the shooting.

“And he tried to talk the guy with the gun to put his gun down,” she said.

Springle, whose first assignment with the Navy was in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, wanted to be make sure mental health issues faced by soldiers and their families were treated properly, said Staff Sgt. Robert Mullis from the 1451st Transportation Company of the N.C. National Guard, who was part of a civilian outreach program with Springle.

“He saw it as preventive maintenance,” Mullis said. “They’ve just been through some tough experiences. He was reaching out trying to try and stop a big beast before it got started.”

Springle grew up in the little fishing village of Lewiston, N.C., just east of Beaufort. Cousin Alton Dudley said the pair were a kind of saltwater Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

“It was a carefree life,” said Dudley, a fishing boat captain who was nine years older than Springle. “I am sure that he joined the Navy so that he could be at sea or close to it.”

All who knew him talked about Springle’s sense of humor and upbeat attitude. But Springle — whose son and son-in-law have each done a tour in Iraq — took the issue of combat stress very seriously. His work on the homefront with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program was a labor of love.

“This was volunteer work,” said Bob Goodale, director of behavioral mental health for the program. “He was doing this because it was the right thing to do — training civilian providers so they were better equipped to serve the families and the service members.”

Houseal was under no obligation to go to Iraq, but he was already something of an adventurer.

In 1991, the University of Michigan graduate was a physician at the Amundsen-Scott Station near the South Pole in a climate research project, said Mike O’Neill, the group’s electronics technician.

“He came in at the last minute not knowing anybody,” O’Neill said. “That’s one of the reasons I really respected him.”

Houseal was inquisitive, always checking on people at the station, even if it meant braving temperatures that dropped to minus-107 degrees that year.

The Amarillo man had worked for a dozen years at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation clinic, said executive director Bud Schertler. He left Texas for Iraq in late January and was assigned to the 55th Medical Company in Indianapolis, which ran the clinic where the shootings occurred.

Bueno-Galdos couldn’t wait to serve his adopted country and did so exceptionally, earning three Army Commendation Medals.

He was 7 when his family emigrated from Mollendo, Peru. The youngest of four children, he became a U.S. citizen in high school and joined the Army as soon as he graduated.

Back home in Paterson, he never made a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing him, knowing he would buy them candy or soda, his family recalled. It was the same in Iraq, where he was on his second tour.

On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a small shrine to her recently deceased mother, placing her photograph on a small glass table surrounded by silk roses, a rosary necklace, votives and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros — patron saint of Peru. The next day, she added a photo of her son Christian to the memorial.

“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” said his father, Carlos Bueno. “But not to die in this manner.”

Yates displayed zeal for serving in the Army, but perhaps not his locale, as evidenced by his MySpace page.

His profile lists his location as “(expletive), Iraq.” For his education, he listed his major as “KILLING F...ERS” and his minor as “SHOOTING THEM IN THE FACE.” Under clubs, he declared himself a member of “THE US ARMY THE BEST ORGINIZATION.”

Yates’ mother, Shawna Machlinski, said her son joined the Army not out of a sense of duty, but because he didn’t see many other options. Besides, his stepfather and two stepbrothers were military men.

“Michael was a hands-on person who didn’t like book work,” she said. “He liked putting guns together ... He just wanted to do something that he thought he would be good at, and he always liked guns and that kind of stuff.”

So two years ago, he got his GED and signed up.

Alexis Mister, 18, of Seaford, Del., and the mother of Michael Yates’ son Kamren, said he was an extremely caring father. “He was always was concerned with Kamren so much,” she said. “He loved him.”

Mister said Yates came home in April for the boy’s first birthday party and doted on his son by buying him a four-wheeler. “It’s absolutely devastating,” Mister said, choking up during a telephone interview discussing Yates’ death. “My son doesn’t have a father anymore.”

Yates’ mother said that April trip left him anxious. He wasn’t home long enough, but he’d still been away from “my military family” too long. Once back in Iraq, his mother said he began to think about things he wished he’d done while visiting Maryland.

When the strong emotions began surfacing, she said, he was transferred to headquarters company “so he could stay out of combat.”

“He didn’t like headquarters at all,” said Machlinski. “He said they’re stupid pencil pushers.”

Despite the stigma, Yates volunteered to go to the stress clinic.

“I need help dealing with this,” he told his mom.

Yates had been at the clinic nearly a week when he told his mother he bumped into Russell. Yates told her Russell seemed like a nice enough guy. But after three tours, he clearly hated the Army.

“Man, this guy’s got issues,” she remembers him telling her.

Russell, 44, who just shy of finishing his third tour, told his family that the clinic was hurting more than helping. Now, he is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault.

As angry as Machlinski is at Russell for taking her boy, she’s angrier at the military.

“My heart goes out to him, too,” she said of Russell. “Someone should have helped this sergeant way before he got this bad. I would rather have my son doing his job in combat, I would rather him have been blown up by a bomb ... than be shot by friendly fire.”

———

Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Maria Sudekum Fisher in Kansas City, Mo.; Samantha Henry in Paterson, N.J.; Kevin Maurer in Wilmington, N.C.; Brian Witte in Seaford, Del.; Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; and Linda Franklin and Regina L. Burns in Dallas.

Flags to fly at half-staff for fallen soldier
The Associated Press

PATERSON, N.J. — Memorial Day will have a deeper meaning for the family of a New Jersey soldier killed in Iraq.

A wake will be held for Army Sgt. Christian Bueno-Galdos at the Scillieri Funeral Home in Paterson on Friday evening.

Officials say the 25-year-old was among five soldiers gunned down by a distraught comrade at a stress clinic on May 11.

Gov. Jon Corzine has ordered flags to fly at half-staff on Friday in Bueno-Galdos’ honor.

A Mass will be celebrated Saturday at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, followed by burial with full military honors in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa.

Bueno-Galdos was born in Peru, but immigrated with his family to Paterson as a 7-year-old. He joined the Army out of high school.

Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos was killed in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq on 5/11/09.

Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr.

2009-05-11T15:15:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md.

Pfc. Yates was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, Grafenwoehr, Germany; died May 11, 2009 from injuries sustained in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq. Also killed were Army Spc. Jacob D. Barton, Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal and Navy Cmdr. Charles K. Springle.

Liberty shooting victims united by circumstance
By Allen G. Breed
The Associated Press

The paths that brought six men together in a Baghdad military clinic traced across the globe, from South America to rural Missouri, from the islands of Alaska to deepest Antarctica, before intersecting in a tragic shooting spree.

Authorities say Sgt. John M. Russell, who was nearing the end of his third tour in Iraq, was deeply angry at the military when he walked into the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty on Monday and opened fire.

Two of the men who died devoted their careers to helping men like Russell: soldiers suffering from the stress of combat and repeated deployments to dangerous overseas war zones.

Keith Springle, a Navy commander who grew up swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast, was in Iraq because it was his duty as a military psychologist. Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist and major in the Army Reserve, was there because he felt he needed to be.

The three other victims were Russell’s comrades. Soldiers like the Maryland rebel who liked tinkering with guns and despised “pencil pushers.” A Peru native who, whether walking the streets of New Jersey or the dirt roads of Iraq, was a magnet for candy-seeking kids. And the shy video gamer from Missouri whose refusal to back down probably cost him his life.

Killed were Springle, 52, from Beaufort, N.C.; Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., who had met Russell shortly before the shootings.

The remains of Houseal, Yates and Bueno-Galdos were brought to Dover Air Force Base Wednesday night with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, attending. The three transfer containers were lowered down on a lift from a 747 commercial airplane, and six military personnel carried them onto a white truck. The families chose not to give interviews.

Family and teachers said Jacob Barton was a quiet student who loved graphic novels and science fiction. Growing up with his grandmother in the house, he sometimes had trouble relating to kids his own age.

“His grandmother was foremost on his mind at all times,” said Rod Waldrip, Barton’s high school English teacher at Rolla High School, where Barton graduated last year. “He sometimes wouldn’t do after-school activities because he had to see if she was OK.”

Barton’s older sister had been in the Army, and by graduation he’d already made up his mind to follow her. The grandmother he rushed home to see, Rose Coleman, said he was adjusting to life in the Army and that he “seemed to like it.”

Although he was reserved, he wasn’t afraid. Waldrip remembers seeing Barton come to the rescue of somebody who was getting bullied.

“He wouldn’t say much unless there was some injustice being done, and then he would speak up.”

Coleman said the Army told the family that Barton died trying to shield another man from the shooting.

“And he tried to talk the guy with the gun to put his gun down,” she said.

Springle, whose first assignment with the Navy was in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, wanted to be make sure mental health issues faced by soldiers and their families were treated properly, said Staff Sgt. Robert Mullis from the 1451st Transportation Company of the N.C. National Guard, who was part of a civilian outreach program with Springle.

“He saw it as preventive maintenance,” Mullis said. “They’ve just been through some tough experiences. He was reaching out trying to try and stop a big beast before it got started.”

Springle grew up in the little fishing village of Lewiston, N.C., just east of Beaufort. Cousin Alton Dudley said the pair were a kind of saltwater Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.

“It was a carefree life,” said Dudley, a fishing boat captain who was nine years older than Springle. “I am sure that he joined the Navy so that he could be at sea or close to it.”

All who knew him talked about Springle’s sense of humor and upbeat attitude. But Springle — whose son and son-in-law have each done a tour in Iraq — took the issue of combat stress very seriously. His work on the homefront with the Citizen-Soldier Support Program was a labor of love.

“This was volunteer work,” said Bob Goodale, director of behavioral mental health for the program. “He was doing this because it was the right thing to do — training civilian providers so they were better equipped to serve the families and the service members.”

Houseal was under no obligation to go to Iraq, but he was already something of an adventurer.

In 1991, the University of Michigan graduate was a physician at the Amundsen-Scott Station near the South Pole in a climate research project, said Mike O’Neill, the group’s electronics technician.

“He came in at the last minute not knowing anybody,” O’Neill said. “That’s one of the reasons I really respected him.”

Houseal was inquisitive, always checking on people at the station, even if it meant braving temperatures that dropped to minus-107 degrees that year.

The Amarillo man had worked for a dozen years at the Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation clinic, said executive director Bud Schertler. He left Texas for Iraq in late January and was assigned to the 55th Medical Company in Indianapolis, which ran the clinic where the shootings occurred.

Bueno-Galdos couldn’t wait to serve his adopted country and did so exceptionally, earning three Army Commendation Medals.

He was 7 when his family emigrated from Mollendo, Peru. The youngest of four children, he became a U.S. citizen in high school and joined the Army as soon as he graduated.

Back home in Paterson, he never made a trip to the corner bodega without a group of neighborhood children tailing him, knowing he would buy them candy or soda, his family recalled. It was the same in Iraq, where he was on his second tour.

On Mother’s Day, Eugenia Gardos made a small shrine to her recently deceased mother, placing her photograph on a small glass table surrounded by silk roses, a rosary necklace, votives and a prayer card of Senor de los Milagros — patron saint of Peru. The next day, she added a photo of her son Christian to the memorial.

“We want people to know we’re proud of our son’s Army, but if my son had died in war we would be able to handle that,” said his father, Carlos Bueno. “But not to die in this manner.”

Yates displayed zeal for serving in the Army, but perhaps not his locale, as evidenced by his MySpace page.

His profile lists his location as “(expletive), Iraq.” For his education, he listed his major as “KILLING F...ERS” and his minor as “SHOOTING THEM IN THE FACE.” Under clubs, he declared himself a member of “THE US ARMY THE BEST ORGINIZATION.”

Yates’ mother, Shawna Machlinski, said her son joined the Army not out of a sense of duty, but because he didn’t see many other options. Besides, his stepfather and two stepbrothers were military men.

“Michael was a hands-on person who didn’t like book work,” she said. “He liked putting guns together ... He just wanted to do something that he thought he would be good at, and he always liked guns and that kind of stuff.”

So two years ago, he got his GED and signed up.

Alexis Mister, 18, of Seaford, Del., and the mother of Michael Yates’ son Kamren, said he was an extremely caring father. “He was always was concerned with Kamren so much,” she said. “He loved him.”

Mister said Yates came home in April for the boy’s first birthday party and doted on his son by buying him a four-wheeler. “It’s absolutely devastating,” Mister said, choking up during a telephone interview discussing Yates’ death. “My son doesn’t have a father anymore.”

Yates’ mother said that April trip left him anxious. He wasn’t home long enough, but he’d still been away from “my military family” too long. Once back in Iraq, his mother said he began to think about things he wished he’d done while visiting Maryland.

When the strong emotions began surfacing, she said, he was transferred to headquarters company “so he could stay out of combat.”

“He didn’t like headquarters at all,” said Machlinski. “He said they’re stupid pencil pushers.”

Despite the stigma, Yates volunteered to go to the stress clinic.

“I need help dealing with this,” he told his mom.

Yates had been at the clinic nearly a week when he told his mother he bumped into Russell. Yates told her Russell seemed like a nice enough guy. But after three tours, he clearly hated the Army.

“Man, this guy’s got issues,” she remembers him telling her.

Russell, 44, who just shy of finishing his third tour, told his family that the clinic was hurting more than helping. Now, he is facing charges of murder and aggravated assault.

As angry as Machlinski is at Russell for taking her boy, she’s angrier at the military.

“My heart goes out to him, too,” she said of Russell. “Someone should have helped this sergeant way before he got this bad. I would rather have my son doing his job in combat, I would rather him have been blown up by a bomb ... than be shot by friendly fire.”

———

Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Maria Sudekum Fisher in Kansas City, Mo.; Samantha Henry in Paterson, N.J.; Kevin Maurer in Wilmington, N.C.; Brian Witte in Seaford, Del.; Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; and Linda Franklin and Regina L. Burns in Dallas.

Mourners pay tribute to Md. soldier killed in Iraq
By Brian Witte
The Associated Press

FEDERALSBURG, Md. — A 19-year-old Maryland soldier who was one of five killed in Iraq by an Army sergeant at a mental health clinic was remembered Thursday as a strongly loyal family member who excelled at making people laugh and enjoyed hunting and fishing.

Michael Yates Jr.’s love of the outdoors was underscored during the solemn ceremony as a long funeral procession went by vast farm fields on the mostly rural Eastern Shore. It also passed by one of Yates’ favorite fishing spots, where anglers were taking advantage of sunny skies to cast lures.

Residents of Federalsburg, where Yates lived, watched the funeral procession from their homes. Along the route, many businesses expressed condolences on signs. Residents waved flags, held their hands over their hearts and watched respectfully as the procession headed toward the Maryland Veterans Cemetery Eastern Shore, where a sign reads: “The price of freedom is visible here.”

Friends and family grieved during a short ceremony surrounded by graves adorned with small flags.

Yates’ father, Michael Yates Sr., said love for his son and anger at the continuing war were his chief emotions of the day.

“They need to bring them boys home ... it should have been over,” Yates, of Glen Burnie said at the cemetery.

Earlier, mourners filled the Framptom Funeral Home in Federalsburg. The Army awarded Yates a Bronze Star and promoted him from private first class to the rank of specialist.

Yates was serving as a cavalry scout and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade. He was one of five soldiers shot to death May 11 at a mental health clinic on a Baghdad base. Sgt. John Russell has been charged with the slayings.

U.S. Rep. Frank Kratovil, D-Md., introduced a resolution on Thursday “expressing sympathy to the victims, families, and friends of the tragic act of violence at the combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty.”

“The Eastern Shore lost a native son this month in a senseless act of violence that reminds us all just how horrible war can be,” Kratovil said in a statement.

Army Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr. was killed in a shooting by a U.S. soldier at Camp Liberty, Iraq on 5/11/09.

Army Maj. Steven Hutchison

2009-05-10T16:26:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Maj. Steven Hutchison, 60, of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Maj. Hutchison was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; died May 10, 2009 in Basra, Iraq, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Al Farr, Iraq.

Riley major, 60, is oldest soldier to die in Iraq
By Amanda Lee Myers
The Associated Press

PHOENIX — A 60-year-old Vietnam War veteran killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has become the oldest Army soldier to die in that conflict, the military said Thursday.

Maj. Steven Hutchison, of Scottsdale, Ariz., served in Vietnam and wanted to re-enlist immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks, but his wife was against it, his brother said.

Richard Hutchison told The Associated Press on Thursday that when she died, “a part of him died” so he signed up in July 2007 at age 59.

“He was very devoted to the service and to his country,” Richard Hutchison said.

He described him as a great big brother and friend. “I didn’t want him to go,” he said through tears, adding that he loved his brother “so much.”

The Pentagon said Steven Hutchison was killed in Iraq on Sunday. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nathan Banks said Thursday that Hutchison was the oldest Army soldier killed in Iraq.

An Associated Press database of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan shows that Hutchison is the oldest member of any service branch killed since the wars broke out.

Hutchison served in Afghanistan for a year before deploying to Iraq in October, heading a 12-soldier team that trained the Iraqi military, his brother said. Later, he was assigned to help secure Iraq’s southern border.

Hutchinson, who grew up in California, taught psychology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on and off between 1988 and 1996, and lectured and taught at two other colleges, according to school records. He then worked at a health care corporation in Arizona before retiring and re-entering the service, his brother said.

Army Maj. Steven Hutchison was killed in action on 5/10/09.

Army Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek

2009-05-10T15:41:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek, 23, of Lake in the Hills, Ill.

Spc. Saczek was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment, Illinois Army National Guard, Woodstock, Ill.; died May 10, 2009 in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained from a noncombat-related incident.

Northwest Herald -- A Lake in the Hills soldier serving in Afghanistan died Sunday, the U.S. military reported Monday.  Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek, 23, was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry based in Woodstock.

He died as a result of a non-combat-related injury that remains under investigation, said Maj. Brad Leighton, public affairs director of the Illinois National Guard.   Saczek had a 6-week-old child and was married to Kathryn Saczek, Leighton said.

He also is survived by his mother and father, Ewa and Dariusz Saczek.  Saczek graduated from Steinmetz Academic Centre in Chicago in 2005 and enlisted in the Illinois Army National Guard in July 2006.

It was his first deployment, and he served in Operation Enduring Freedom.   He was one of 55 soldiers who left Woodstock on Aug. 24 for two months of training before a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan.

He died in the Nangarhar province, Leighton said.  "As we continue through this difficult deployment, each and every soldier is a vital family member to this National Guard force," said Maj. Gen. William Enyart, adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard.

"Spc. Saczek, like all our soldiers, made the decision to volunteer to serve his country in a time of war and will be remembered."   

The soldiers from Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry comprise one of about 30 units with the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. The unit provides security for reconstruction teams that help the Afghan government build roads, hospitals, government buildings and other infrastructure.  

Army Spc. Lukasz D. Saczek was killed in a non-combat related incident on 5/10/09.

Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak

2009-05-09T16:23:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak, 21, of Chicago

Spc. Albrak was an Individual Ready Reserve soldier assigned to the Headquarters, Multi-National Forces Iraq; died May 9, 2009 in Baghdad of injuries sustained during a motor vehicle accident.

Family meets soldier’s remains at Dover
The Associated Press

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Twenty-one years after Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak’s birth, his mother, aunt and uncle traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Tuesday to meet a flag-draped transfer case containing his body.

Albrak’s mother, Susan Atooli of Escondido, Calif., said she attended the ceremony Tuesday to be close to her son.

“It was a lot harder than I thought just to see somebody come back,” Atooli said. “You think you can handle it, but it hits you a lot harder than you think.

She was sorry that she was not able to see her son’s body during the trip to Dover, but officials told her his body would be released within 72 hours.

Atooli said she last talked to her son on Friday about a credit card problem.

“We were at Disneyland, and he didn’t want to keep us,” she said. “He said he’d call tomorrow, and that didn’t happen.”

Instead, she was met at her home Saturday by an officer who told her of her son’s death.

Atooli said military officials told her that Albrak was killed earlier that day in a crash at Camp Victory in Iraq and an investigation will take about six months. A spokeswoman at the Dover base said Tuesday that details of Albrak’s death had not be released, pending notification of some of his next of kin.

Albrak’s father, Omar Albrak, lives in New York.

Albrak, who is of Yemeni ancestry, worked as a translator, she said. Some Iraqis gave him a tough time because he was of Middle Eastern descent and fighting for the United States, she said. But Atooli said he but didn’t want to be an enemy to anyone despite his Yemeni ancestry.

Atooli’s sister Helen, of Maui, Hawaii, brought a sign wishing Albrak a happy birthday. She said she wanted to show it to the media covering the ceremony.

“We wanted people to know that he came home in a casket on his birthday,” Susan Atooli said.

For 18 years, media was not allowed to cover the return of overseas casualties to Dover Air Force Base. The mortuary there is the entry point for service personnel killed overseas.

Some critics saw the ban, imposed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, as an attempt to hide the human cost of war, but officials cast it as a way to protect grieving families’ privacy.

Since the ban was lifted last month, many families, like Albrak’s, have agreed to media coverage of their loved ones’ returns.

The remains of Spc. Lukasz Saczek of Lake in the Hills, Ill., who died in Afghanistan on Sunday, arrived during the same Tuesday morning ceremony as Albrak’s.

Army Spc. Omar M. Albrak was killed in a motor vehicle accident on 5/9/09.

Army Pvt. Justin P. Hartford

2009-05-08T16:04:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Pvt. Justin P. Hartford, 21, of Elmira, N.Y.

Pvt. Hartford was assigned to the 699th Maintenance Company, Corps Support Battalion, 916th Support Brigade, Fort Irwin, Calif.; died May 8, 2009 at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a noncombat-related incident.

Soldier inspired family members, loved being in the Army
By Salle E. Richards
Binghamton) Press & Sun-Bullein

The hurt to Justin P. Hartford’s family was evident in their voices and on their faces Tuesday afternoon as his mother, Alice Hartford, talked to news media about her son and his unexpected death in Iraq.

“This is for him,” she said of her reason for talking to media at such a painful personal time. “Our Justin is worth remembering.”

Pvt. Hartford, of Elmira, died Friday at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. His death is under investigation, according to the Army.

The family memories of the soldier were of a young man full of life and looking for adventure.

Inspired by an older brother who served in the Marine Corps, he first thought the Army Reserve would satisfy his desire for new experiences.

“But it was too boring,” his mother said. “He just got to play on weekends. You don’t get much action if you only play on weekends.”

Justin itched for the real thing, his mother said. He requested to be transferred to active duty.

“He’d played video games his whole life. Why play video games when you can do the real thing and actually make a difference?” she said. “That’s all he wanted to do, make a difference. He might of been a jokester, but he helped whenever and however he could.”

His path from high school cut-up to soldier wasn’t an easy one, his mother said.

“You don’t go to the STARS program for nothing. He went twice,” she said of an alternative program for young offenders.

“It helps kids who make bad choices and do stupid things,” she said. “Later on they regret it, but by then, they have their butts in so much trouble there’s no way up without help.”

STARS gave Justin that help, Alice Hartford said.

The last time she talked to him he was full of ideas and plans for the future.

“He was a good kid from the get-go,” she said. “He wanted to go every place and do everything. He loved life to the fullest and never ever meant to leave us.”

His younger sister, Chelsey Hartford, 17, had mixed feelings about his decision to go regular Army. She thought he was safer in the reserves.

“But it was cool. I was proud of him,” she said.

“He actually got through it ...,” Chelsey said and then paused thoughtfully. “I guess we can’t say that anymore.”

Alice Hartford said that after the death of husband, Paul Hartford, six months ago, Justin tried even harder to look out for his sisters.

“He gave me the ‘Big Brother speech,’” said Bill VonRapacki, a friend of Chelsey.

Chelsey said she was very close to her brother.

“I was his little amigo,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “He called me Baby Sis.”

Chelsey said Justin promised to help her with her plans to go to Ireland next summer.

“He said ‘Don’t worry, Baby Sis, I gotcha. No matter what,’” Chelsey said.

Her memories of her brother swirl between having fun and remembering him working on trucks with their father.

“He got on the ground and got greasy,” she said.

Alice Hartford said she supported the decision of both her sons to go into the military and still does. But she now has a different perspective.

“Now I know what other mothers and fathers go through while they’re waiting for their casket to come home. War is Hell. I want them all back home,” she said. “I’ve lost my son. Now I want to protest everything. But I will do the right thing because my son would expect that of me.

“I’m not crying over that,” she said quietly. “I’m crying over that I can’t enjoy any more years with him.”

Alice Hartford said she isn’t against the military. But she is also anxious to learn the circumstances of her son’s death.

“I just need to know,” she said. “But I understand it takes time.”

In the meantime, all she can do is remember and cherish what has been lost.

“Nobody could tell a story better than our Justin. If you met him once, you would never forget him,” she said and allowed a little smile as she fingered a metal around her neck. Justin Hartford had received it for saving another soldier’s life during training. “This means a lot to me.”

“But I’d rather have him.”

Army Pvt. Justin P. Hartford was killed in a non-combat related incident on 5/8/09.

Army Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno

2009-05-08T15:13:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno, 29, of Pearl City, Hawaii

SSgt. Agno was assigned to the 325th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; died May 8, 2009 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington of wounds sustained April 27 from a noncombat-related incident at Forward Operating Base Olsen, Samarra, Iraq.

Schofield soldier, hurt in Iraq, dies
By William Cole
Honolulu Advertiser

A Schofield Barracks soldier from Pearl City died Friday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington of a noncombat injury in Iraq, the Pentagon said yesterday.

Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno, 29, died from wounds received April 27 at Forward Operating Base Olsen in Samarra, Iraq, the Pentagon said.

Agno was assigned to the 325th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation, the military said. It was the 3rd Brigade’s fourth noncombat death, and seventh overall, since the unit was deployed last fall.

Agno, a 1997 graduate of Pearl City High School, joined the Army in 1998 and was assigned to Hawaii in 2001.

He was a food service specialist. In 2006, Agno was named Junior Army Chef of the Year at the Army’s 31st Annual Culinary Arts Competition.

Agno earned numerous awards during his career, including the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with Arrowhead, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Schofield’s 3rd Brigade, with 3,500 soldiers, has experienced a spate of noncombat deaths in Iraq since it deployed in October and November on a 12-month tour.

There have been four noncombat deaths compared to three deaths related to combat.

Noncombat deaths can be due to natural causes, a vehicle or other accident, friendly fire, homicide or suicide. Eight out of 11 deaths in a combat zone this year involving troops with Hawaii ties have been as a result of noncombat causes, which largely go unexplained.

A Schofield Barracks soldier was charged last month with involuntary man-slaughter in one of those deaths — the January shooting of a fellow Hawaii soldier in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

The death of Pfc. Sean P. McCune was the result of a “negligent discharge” of Sgt. Miguel A. Vegaquinones’ weapon, the military said.

McCune, 20, of Euless, Texas, died after allegedly being shot by Vegaquinones following the completion of their guard-shift duty in Samarra on Jan. 11, according to a Multi-National Corps-Iraq news release

Army Staff Sgt. Randy S. Agno died from non-combat related injuries on 5/8/09.

Army Spc. Shawn D. Sykes

2009-05-07T16:01:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Spc. Shawn D. Sykes, 28, of Portsmouth, Va.

Spc. Sykes was assigned to 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 7, 2009 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained from an accident that occurred May 5 at Combat Outpost Crazy Horse, Iraq.

The Virginian-Pilot -- A soldier from Portsmouth who died after an accident in Iraq returned to U.S. soil Friday.

Spc. Shawn Dante Sykes, a 28-year-old who was assigned to the 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, was injured Tuesday in an accident at Combat Outpost Crazy Horse in Iraq. He was sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where he died Thursday.

Sykes' remains were returned to Dover Air Force Base on Friday, authorities said.

He was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. He joined the military in August 2001 as a food services specialist.

Sykes deployed to Iraq in December.

His decorations and awards include the Navy Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon and Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, according to a news release from Fort Hood.

Marion Cotton, his mother, returned from Delaware late Friday night and told WVEC-TV that the news of her son's death tore her up.

“I cried almost the whole ride there,” she said in the interview. “That’s my only son, my first born.”

She said that she spoke with her son, the oldest of five children, while he was in the hospital in Germany.

Cotton told WVEC-TV, a propane tank exploded in her son’s face while he was on the job as a food services specialist, cooking as he had since he joined the military. Sykes was in the Marine Corps before becoming a soldier.

Sykes graduated from Churchland High School.

Army Spc. Shawn D. Sykes died as a result of a non-combat related accident on 5/7/09.

Army Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery

2009-05-02T15:06:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery, 24, of Portola, Calif.

Spc. McCleery was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 2, 2009 on Mosul, Iraq, after being shot by enemy forces. Also killed was Spc. Jake R. Velloza.

Plumas County News -- May 11, 2009: Services for slain Portola serviceman Jeremiah McCleery will be held this Saturday, May 16, at noon at the Elks Lodge in Portola.

A viewing is scheduled Friday, May 15, at Manni's Funeral Home in Portola from 2-7 p.m. McCleery will be laid to rest next to his mother, Colette, in Portola.

Tributes to McCleery can be left at myspace.com/rememberpfcmccleery.

The Department of Defense announced the death May 5, of Specialist McCleery, 24, from wounds sustained after he was shot May 2, by enemy forces in Mosul, Iraq.

He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

McCleery attended Portola High School and was on the wrestling team in 2003, graduating in 2004.

He is survived by his father, Joe, and sisters Chastity Sobrero and Lynette Flanagan; his mother, Colette, passed away in July 2005.

Memorial myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/rememberpfcmccleery

Army Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery was killed in action on 5/2/09.

Army Spc. Jake R. Velloza

2009-05-02T15:02:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Spc. Jake R. Velloza, 22, of Inverness, Calif.

Spc. Velloza was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 2, 2009 in Mosul, Iraq, after being shot by enemy forces. Also killed was Spc. Jeremiah P. McCleery.

Contra Costa Times -- To ready himself for his son's funeral, Bob Velloza on Sunday visited the cemetery where the body of 22-year-old Jake Velloza, a casualty of the war in Iraq, will be laid to rest Saturday in West Marin.

He found a weed patch. The Olema graveyard where Bob Velloza's grandfather once tended each headstone meticulously was so overgrown that many grave markers couldn't be seen. It was no place to bury a fallen soldier who will be buried there rather than a guaranteed plot at Arlington National Cemetery.

"It was a disgrace," said Bob's brother, Mike Velloza. "He knew he couldn't have people parking in grass that's 5 feet tall."

So Bob Velloza spent all day cutting the grass and straightening things up. He was planning on heading back Monday afternoon from his home in Inverness to continue the work.

"He's on a mission now. We have to honor Jake," Mike Velloza said.

Family, friends and complete strangers will pay respects over the next several days for Inverness resident Jake Velloza, a U.S. Army specialist who was killed May 2 in an ambush in Iraq. He is the second Marin County resident killed in the war.

The Velloza family announced Monday that a funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Olema, not far from the Velloza family's plot where his great-great-grandparents and great-grandparents are buried. The burial will be shortly after the Mass and feature an honor guard from the U.S. Army.

Visitation and viewing of the body is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory in Petaluma, followed by a vigil and reciting of the rosary at 7 p.m. at St. James Catholic Church in Petaluma.

On Wednesday, the casket is to be flown from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on a private jet to San Francisco International Airport where it will be met at noon by Bob and Susan Velloza, Jake's fiancŽe Danielle Erwin of Killeen, Texas and other family members.

From there, a procession led by the Patriot Guard, a group of motorcycle riders and military veterans, will ride through the city and up Highway 101 to the mortuary in Petaluma. Marin freeway overpasses are expected to be packed with well-wishers from law enforcement agencies, fire departments and the general public.

"We would love to see the public out there with their flags where they can be seen from the freeway," said Lynn Tross, a Patriot Guard organizer who lives in San Rafael. "It just means the world to these families to see that complete strangers are out there and they care, that this matters to them."

Overpasses were packed with flag-waving mourners in 2007 when the casket of Novato resident Nicholas Olson, also an Army specialist, was delivered home for burial. One of those paying respects that day was Susan Velloza, Jake's mother, who stopped on Manuel T. Freitas Parkway in Terra Linda.

"I just felt compelled to be there on my own," she said Monday. "I appreciated other people paying their respects. É (On Wednesday) I expect to see a lot of support from my friends who will be up there for Jake. A lot of my friends will be in the procession on their bikes."

Bob and Susan Velloza are members of the Rip City Riders, a social motorcycling club with a Marin chapter that raises funds for a number of charities.

Jake Velloza, a 2004 Tomales High School graduate and former College of Marin student, was killed along with his close friend, specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery of Portola (Plumas County), when a lone Iraqi gunman opened fire on a group of five Americans in the city of Mosul. American military officials have not released other details of the incident, but the family was told May 3 that Velloza was shot in the neck and died quickly.

Velloza, 22, and McCleery, 24, were both fire support specialists assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas. Both had been deployed to Iraq in December.

In his second tour of duty in Iraq, Velloza had been assigned to that unit since July 2006 when he first enlisted.

The Rev. Jack O'Neill is pastor at Sacred Heart in Olema, which can fit about 220 people in its pews. He visited the Velloza family the day the news was released as friends and neighbors congregated to support Jake's parents. That night, Bob and Susan Velloza departed for Dover Air Force Base to be present when the casket arrived from overseas.

"We are thankful that the Army now pays for families to fly back there for this kind of thing," Susan Velloza said. "The Obama administration made that policy change in early April, and I believe we were only the second family to benefit from it. It was amazing. We felt blessed to be able to do that."

O'Neill has presided over many military funerals. He is a veteran of the Navy and the Marines, serving 11 years with each, and served in such locations as Lebanon, Okinawa, Cuba, Antarctica and the Balkans. He said he understands why the Velloza family would turn down the opportunity to have Jake Velloza buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

"This is a West Marin kid and there is a West Marin spirit that makes them want to have it here," O'Neill said.

Army Spc. Jake R. Velloza was killed in action on 5/2/09.

Army Sgt. James D. Pirtle

2009-05-01T15:51:00.000-05:00

Remember Our Heroes

Army Sgt. James D. Pirtle, 21, of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Sgt. Pirtle was assigned to the Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 1, 2009 near the village of Nishagam, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit. Also killed were Spc. Ryan C. King and Staff Sgt. William D. Vile.

Colorado Springs Gazette -- When Dina Wood first saw James "Jimmy" Pirtle in middle school, his hair was dyed green and styled into spikes.

The Colorado Springs native wasn't the typical person who would grow up to join the Army, excel as a soldier and ultimately lose his life in combat.

"He was a good boy who turned into a really good man," Wood said.

Sgt. Pirtle was killed Friday in Afghanistan in an attack that also killed two other Americans and two allied troops. He was 21.

His mother, Patricia Pirtle, said her son was among the three American soldiers who died last week. An Army chaplain gave Patricia Pirtle the news on Friday.

"The storm door was open and it only took me a couple of seconds to notice she was a chaplain," Patricia Pirtle said. "She didn't even have to tell me. I knew."

Pirtle leaves behind his mother, father James Pirtle and sisters Jennifer Bergstrom and Jacqueline Pirtle.

Jimmy Pirtle graduated from Globe Charter School in 2006 and immediately enlisted in the Army, despite his mother's fears.

"Coming from a military family, I was very proud of him, but my first response was, ‘Why can't you wait until it's peace time?" Patricia Pirtle said.

She said he was very patriotic and an enthusiastic soldier who quickly worked his way up to sergeant. In Afghanistan, he often volunteered for missions that he knew would be dangerous, his mother said.

It worried her, but she took solace in knowing he was due home in June.

His friends and teachers at the small Globe Charter School said they still can't believe that he died. On Monday, a group of them gathered at the school to look at old photos and remember a friend who always had a smile on his face, was a constant joker and was also the butt of many jokes. Once, teachers and students duct-taped him to a tree because he said it couldn't be done.

"It took two full rolls," said teacher Jan Songer. "We left him out there for a while."

As he grew up, his hairstyle changed from green spikes to a mohawk to a more traditional short style. He also started contemplating joining the Army. When he enlisted, he was so excited that he tried to get all his friends to enlist as well. His friends said he knew the dangers, but that didn't deter him.

"He just wanted to be part of something bigger than himself," said Andrew Thurn, one of his best friends. "He was OK dying if he was serving his country."

After he joined, he changed for the better, Thurn said. He was still the same Jimmy with the same goofy grin, but he had also turned into a responsible man.

"It was as if the Army upgraded him. Like Jimmy 2.0," Thurn said.

Patricia Pirtle said her son will be buried at Fort Logan cemetery in Denver so he can be surrounded by other soldiers. The family is scheduling his funeral.

Wood, said that his death has opened her eyes to what is happening in the Middle East. She hopes other people understand that every soldier who dies there has a life and is an individual.

"Remember they are just not another soldier," Wood said. "They are a funny guy who used to have green hair who lived for others and his country."

Army Sgt. James D. Pirtle was killed in action on 5/1/09.