My friend was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday.

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Flyin' Lion

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A friend of mine who works EOD (bomb squad) in the Air Force was killed by an IED on Saturday. My wife is friends with his wife (how we met) and talks to her daily. He has two children, a five year old daughter and a three year old son, which now makes me feel guilty every time I play with mine. His wife and kids are stuck in England until everything is "sorted" out.

He also has the dubious distinction of being the first person killed in the military to have the media present upon his arrival from overseas. Dover, De has the mortuary for the military and every soldier killed overseas comes through here. I am immensely sad for his wife and children, he was three weeks away from the end of his nine month deployment. Luckily she got to see him last month for three days when the Air Force flew them both to D.C. so he could recieve an award.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090406/ap_on_re_us/pentagon_war_deadhttp://www.jdoqocy.com/click-341710...ews.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090406/...tagon_war_dead

EDIT: Yahoo links don't appear to work on this site...although the story isn't hard to find.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/06/war.dead.media.coverage/index.html
 
Man I am so sorry to hear this. Prayers for the family coming their way.

Please post any info regarding a fund setup for the family.
 
That's a sad thing for sure. My BIL is in Iraq now and my best friend goes over there for rotation every once in a while. It's scary during those times, but he is a mechanic and not likely to be near the violence. Don't know about the BIL. He works in CBs in the navy.
 
I did a tour in Iraq in '05. My unit came home intact, but I have had several other guys I know from other units not be so fortunate. It is a great honor to die in the service of ones country. Still, that is little comfort to a spouse or child or parent.

My condolences to you and his family. My utmost respect to him for paying the price for my freedom and to his family for having the courage to let him go. The courage of a soldier is nothing compared to the courage of a spouse left behind.
 
I am sorrowful and respectful of the sacrifice your friend and his family have made for our nation. The same goes for all who serve.
 
I would like to offer my condolences to you and his family.

I to have lost a few friends to this war.

Please express to his children that he is a Hero. As are all of those who gave their lives for our country.


SGT Hoadley, J
United States Army
 
+1 here. My buddy went in Iraq last year via an IED. Another one came back just fine though so I have that to be thankful for.

It was an IED that got Phillip, he was EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) so his job was disarming the IED's. I wasn't that shocked initially to learn that he lost his life, but now the reality sets in that he gets no more time to spend with his children, or vice versa.

Sorry to hear about your loss as well, Belmont.
 
Very sorry to hear about your loss. Our son did two tours in iraq (route clearance) and we worried every day that something like this might happen.
 
Thoughts and condolences to you and his family. I'm choking back the tears reading this at work. As a new father I can't imagine not coming home to my son and not being around for him and with him growing up.
 
I am so sorry for your friend and for his family. I wish to God that wars could be settled without losses on either side. For what little consolation it's worth, your friend died a death that is envied by thousands, if not millions, of people who weren't fit to serve for one reason or another.
 
I'm so sorry to hear that. Thoughts and prayers for you, his family, and his friends.

On a somewhat personal note, I saw the live newscast when it aired. I was quite disturbed at the media presence with a headline that read something like "honor and respect." The media's mere presence ruined any shred of honor and respect. I'm sorry that you had to endure that.
 
I'm so sorry to hear that. Thoughts and prayers for you, his family, and his friends.

On a somewhat personal note, I saw the live newscast when it aired. I was quite disturbed at the media presence with a headline that read something like "honor and respect." The media's mere presence ruined any shred of honor and respect. I'm sorry that you had to endure that.

But Yuri- Nothing says respect like a million camera flashes and people being there just to make $ filming it!
 
I'm sorry that you had to endure that.

It is at the option of the family members whether or not to have the media present. That being said, Amy had so many people in and out of her home mere hours after learning of Phillip's death that she was probably likely to sign anything.


I wasn't present for his arrival, but I was stationed at Dover and remember full well those nights when remains were brought in. Everything is turned of on the flightline out of respect. Its an eerie feeling walking a mile of flightline with no noise at all.
 
My heart goes out to that brave man's family and friends.
I also echo EdWorts request regarding any info about any fund set up for them.

I'm not aware of any fund at the moment. I've been researching survivor benefits and it looks like the military takes relatively good care of the surviving spouse/children. We actually haven't heard from her since getting the bad news, we did find out today the date of the funeral, though.
 
I'm so sorry to hear that. Thoughts and prayers for you, his family, and his friends.

On a somewhat personal note, I saw the live newscast when it aired. I was quite disturbed at the media presence with a headline that read something like "honor and respect." The media's mere presence ruined any shred of honor and respect. I'm sorry that you had to endure that.

It is at the option of the family members whether or not to have the media present. That being said, Amy had so many people in and out of her home mere hours after learning of Phillip's death that she was probably likely to sign anything.

Hopefully this is not the case for her and given the chance again she would make the same decision.
I was telling my wife about this last night at dinner and how he was the first to be covered. We both agreed it was a good thing (although we didn't see it and how it was carried out) so that people can see the reality of what's going on. It's different to here of casualties listed as numbers of strangers than it is seeing the families of widowed wives and the children effected by this.

I definitely see your side Yuri and mean no disrespect. I believe you are in the service as well and have a much more personal view and understanding of the realities of this situation. I'm just offering up and non-military outsiders view point.
 
Hopefully this is not the case for her and given the chance again she would make the same decision.
I was telling my wife about this last night at dinner and how he was the first to be covered. We both agreed it was a good thing (although we didn't see it and how it was carried out) so that people can see the reality of what's going on. It's different to here of casualties listed as numbers of strangers than it is seeing the families of widowed wives and the children effected by this.

I definitely see your side Yuri and mean no disrespect. I believe you are in the service as well and have a much more personal view and understanding of the realities of this situation. I'm just offering up and non-military outsiders view point.

Those of us in the military dont want the media gloating over our fallen. It sucks. But considering the media is only out to profit off of it they have no good intentions and it really devalues the entire process.

When the media says they need to cover it because it shows the "human" cost of the war- I call BS. We all know war sucks and people die. Using that as a shield for ratings is about as low as you can humanly go.
 
Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, along with his as well. My little brother (20 y.o.) is prepping for an 18 month (minimum) tour. He's a gunner on top of a Humvee with the 173rd Airborne. Not looking forward to his deployment as they lost over 20 guys from his company the last time they were in K-Bad. Needless to say, Mom's a wreck, but what are you gonna do? We're in a bad situation that won't be fixed anytime soon...

By the way... if you guys ever want to see a good movie about this check out "Taking Chance". It's an HBO special movie with Kevin Bacon. Really shows you how much of an impact every single soldier has on people when they're coming back home after being killed in the war.
 
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