DOD NEWS
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a
soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Jason M. Evey, 29, of Stockton, Calif., died on
July 16 of injuries sustained when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device during combat operations in Baghdad, Iraq.
Evey was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 10th Calvary Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, Fort Hood, Texas.
Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. Andres J. Contreras, 23, of Huntington Park, Calif., died on July 15 of injuries sustained when his HMMWV encountered an improvised explosive device in Baghdad, Iraq during combat operations. Contreras was assigned to the 519th Military Police Battalion, 1st Combat Support Brigade, Fort Polk, La.
Two American soldiers died in Iraq
yesterday, military officials reported, and the Defense Department has
identified two earlier casualties.
A soldier assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, died in Anbar
province. A Multinational Division Baghdad soldier died in a bomb
explosion south of Baghdad. Their names are being withheld until their
families are notified.
The Defense Department released the identities of two other
servicemembers killed recently supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
- Army Sgt. Andres J. Contreras, 23, of Huntington Park, Calif., died
July 15 of injuries suffered when his Humvee encountered an improvised
explosive device in Baghdad. Contreras was assigned to the 519th
Military Police Battalion, 1st Combat Support Brigade, Fort Polk, La.
- Army Sgt. Thomas B. Turner Jr., 31, of Cottonwood, Calif., died July
14 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, in Germany, of injuries
suffered July 13 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his
Bradley fighting vehicle in Muqdadiyah, Iraq. Turner was assigned to the 1st
Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st
Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.
One coalition soldier was killed and 11
others were wounded yesterday during a battle with Taliban extremists in
the Tarin Kowt district of Afghanistan's Oruzgan province, military
officials reported.
Coalition forces had attacked and destroyed a truck that extremists
were loading with mortar equipment. Afterward, coalition and Taliban
forces engaged in a pitched battle. Enemy casualties have yet to be
reported, U.S. officials said.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our brave soldiers
today," U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, commander of Combined Joint
Task Force 76, said in a statement. "The men killed and wounded today
fought an intense battle against extremists who oppress the rights of
women, murder the innocent and harbor terrorists as they did during the
Taliban regime.
"Our soldier, who sacrificed his life today to prevent such tyranny
from returning to Afghanistan, will not be forgotten," Freakley said.
Elsewhere, Afghan National Army and coalition forces detained a
terrorist leader and seized a large weapons cache south of Kunduz near the
village of Baghlan July 16. Elements of the 2nd Kandak, 1st Brigade, 209th
ANA Corps, and coalition forces detained Amir Gul Hassanyar, an area
terrorist leader, during a search operation.
The terrorist leader is believed to be responsible for numerous attacks
using improvised explosive devices, trafficking in illegal weapons and
drugs, and engaging in other anti-coalition and anti-Afghan government
activities. A detailed search of the compound in which Hassanyar was
found resulted in the discovery of 500 17 mm high-explosive rounds, 80
kilograms of ammonium nitrate, 153 rounds of 82 mm mortar rounds, 42
rocket-propelled grenade rounds, 600 rounds of small-arms ammunition, six
anti-personnel mines, one 50-pound plastic-explosive bomb, one white
Toyota Corolla vehicle, and six Afghan National Police uniforms.
"Gul is a threat to the people and the government of Afghanistan," U.S.
Army Col. Thomas Collins, a coalition spokesman, said. "Receiving and
disposing of these weapons reduces the danger posed by extremists who
would use them to harm innocent civilians and Afghan and coalition
forces."
In other news from Afghanistan, U.S. officials announced today that
Afghan and coalition forces have seriously disrupted Taliban leadership,
facilitators and rank and file fighters throughout southern Afghanistan,
but particularly in the Sangin, Musa Qala and Baghran districts of
Helmand province.
"Afghan and coalition forces have killed numerous low and mid-level
commanders that the senior Taliban leadership rely on to intimidate
villages, threaten elders and lead small bands of extremists to conduct
attacks on Afghan and Coalition forces," Army Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, a
spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force 76, said.
Mountain Thrust was intended to significantly impact the Taliban
network, and Fitzpatrick said the operation has yielded progress. "We went to
Sangin, left and returned, each move calculated one step ahead of our
common enemy," he said. "We're confident that we're inside their
decision cycle and have seen indications of confusion on their part."
Afghan and coalition forces are not revealing their next move for
security reasons, but are confident they can keep Taliban extremists off
balance, Fitzpatrick said.
"By breaking up Taliban cells and bands, Afghan national security
forces will continue to build upon coalition successes by employing forces
to extend good governance throughout the south," he said. "These actions
will improve the security and stability in the southern provinces,
which opens the door for the construction of more infrastructure, more
employment, economic development and a better life for the Afghan people."
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier
who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. Alkaila T. Floyd, 23, of Grand Rapids, Mich., died on July 13
in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries
sustained on July 8 when an improvised explosive device detonated near
his Mine Protected Vehicle in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. Floyd was assigned to the
54th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, Bamberg, Germany.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a
soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Robert P. Kassin, 29, of Las Vegas, Nev., died on July
16 at Larzab Base, Afghanistan, when his platoon encountered enemy forces
small arms fire during combat operations. Kassin was assigned to the 2nd
Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division,
Fort Polk, La.
Missing WWII Airmen Identified
The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced
today that nine servicemen missing in action from World War II have been
identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military
honors.
They are 1st Lt. William M. Hafner, Norfolk, Va.; 2nd Lt.
Arthur C. Armacost, III, Cincinnati, Ohio; 2nd Lt. David R. Eppright,
Warrensburg, Mo.; 2nd Lt. Charles F. Feucht, Reynoldsburg, Ohio; Technical Sgt.
Raymond S. Cisneros, San Antonio, Texas; Technical Sgt. Alfred W. Hill, Temple,
Okla.; Technical Sgt. James G. Lascelles, New York, N.Y.; Staff Sgt. William
C. Cameron, Los Angeles, Calif.; and Staff Sgt. Wilburn W. Rozzell,
Duncan, Okla. All were members of the 63rd Bombardment Squadron, 43 Bombardment
Group.
The individually-identified remains of Armacost, Cameron,
Hafner and Lascelles will be buried July 19 at Arlington National Cemetery
near Washington, D.C. as are the group remains representing all nine
crewmen. Cisneros, Rozzell, Feucht, Eppright and Hill were buried elsewhere.
On November 4, 1943 Hafner and his crew took off in a B-24 Liberator
from Dobodura, Territory of New Guinea. The men were on an armed
reconnaissance mission over the Bismark Sea. A few hours into the flight Hafner
sighted a convoy of Japanese ships and was told to shadow the convoy and report
back.Four hours later the crew radioed from the B-24 that they had made
three direct hits on the convoy and destroyed the target. That was the last
radio contact with the crew.
In March 2002 a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting
Command (JPAC) was contacted by a local government official through the U.S.
Embassy. The team was exploring unrelated WW II aircraft crash sites in Papua
New Guinea. The official turned over aircraft data plates, human remains
and three ID tags which had been found at a crash site in Morobe Province.
During the excavation of the site in Aug.-Sept. 2003, the
team recovered additional remains and personal effects including
identification tags and bracelets. The remains were submitted to the Armed Forces DNA
Identification Laboratory (AFDIL). Specialists at JPAC and AFDIL used
mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to help identify the
remains of these servicemen. Laboratory analysis of dental remains also confirmed
their identification.
Sea, Air Evacuations Proceed from Lebanon
A contracted ship has docked in Lebanon to
evacuate U.S. citizens caught in the fighting there, and U.S. officials
have ordered the expeditionary strike group based around the USS Iwo
Jima to assist in the effort, DoD officials said here today.
DoD contracted a Greek ocean liner, the Orient Queen, to evacuate
American citizens from Beirut, and that vessel has docked, a senior DoD
official told reporters.
The liner can hold up to 750 people for the five-hour voyage to Cyprus,
an island nation in the western Mediterranean. In addition, six CH-53
helicopters -- three from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and three
from U.S. forces based in the United Kingdom -- are evacuating Americans
citizens from the American embassy compound in Beirut. The air
evacuation is aimed at citizens with special needs. The helicopters deliver the
refugees to Cyprus. DoD is building to a capacity of 300 people
evacuated by air per day. "We will increase that number if needed," the
official said.
The destroyer USS Gonzalez is providing security for the Orient Queen,
officials said.
The official said DoD is finalizing contracts with up to four other
vessels with capacities ranging from 200 to 300 people to over 1,000.
State and defense officials did not specify the number of Americans
that U.S. forces would evacuate from Lebanon, saying they will evacuate
however many Americans want to leave the country. There are around 25,000
American citizens in Lebanon, but not all will want to leave the
country, an official said. "It could be 5,000 (who want to leave); it could
be 10,000," a State Department spokesman said. If fighting intensifies
between Israel and Hezbollah, more Americans may wish to escape the
battle, officials said.
The headquarters of Task Force 59, commanded by Marine Brig. Gen. Carl
Jensen, is directing the evacuation operation from Cyprus. The Iwo Jima
group, which includes the Iwo Jima, the USS Nashville, the USS Whidbey
Island, the USS Trenton, and the High Speed Vessel Swift, will arrive
off Lebanon later this week.
The contracted carriers and the U.S. Navy ships will have more than
enough capacity to evacuate anyone who wishes to leave, the senior Defense
official said.
National Guard Ahead of Schedule for Operation Jump Start
National Guard troops flowing to the
Southwest border are highly visible to drivers at an Interstate 35
inspection station north of this Texas border town as soldiers assist U.S.
Border Patrol agents scrutinizing every northbound vehicle.
In other places -- such as a maintenance shop at the Border Patrol's
Laredo North Station, the stables at the Del Rio Station or the
communications center in Yuma, Ariz. -- the soldiers and airmen are not visible
to the public.
But the National Guard is here. Up to 6,000 troops participating in
Operation Jump Start are expected to be performing duty along the
1,300-mile border in four states from Texas to California by Aug. 1.
The National Guard has exceeded its own operational goals, Army Lt.
Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said July 14 at
the Pentagon.
Some 800 troops were promised by June 15; more than 1,000 were
delivered. And about 300 more troops than the 2,500 promised were in the border
states by the end of June. "We are on the glide slope to deliver up to
6,000 by the first of August," Blum said.
The $770-million operation in support of U.S. Customs and the Border
Patrol, which could continue for up to two years, followed President
Bush's mid-May request for the Guard to help strengthen the border.
"This is truly a civilian law enforcement operation that we happen to
be in support of," Blum said.
Border Patrol agents being helped by Operation Jump Start, residents in
border communities and Guard members themselves seem pleased. "I'm
really glad that they're helping us," said Senior Patrol Agent Antonio
Parra, who in mid-July was training a soldier to operate border cameras
from a room in the Laredo North Station in the Laredo Sector. "It helps
get more agents in the field so we can apprehend more undocumented
immigrants."
A man at an Interstate 35 rest area called out to a Guard member
wearing an Army combat uniform. "Thank you!" he said. "I'm glad the Guard is
on the border."
Army Pfc. Michael Perry. of the Texas National Guard's 249th
Maintenance Support Battalion, 36th Infantry Division, said he'll work as a
welder for the Border Patrol at the Laredo North Station "as long as they
let me."
"We're freeing up agents to go do their job," he said.
Guard members are maintaining Border Patrol vehicles, easing a
maintenance backlog at some stations. They are working as wranglers for Border
Patrol horses. They are the eyes in the Border Patrol's communications
centers, scrutinizing dozens of screens that relay images from border
cameras.
Citizen soldiers and airmen are drilling desert wells that will bring
water closer to Border Patrol agents. They are fueling Border Patrol
vehicles. Though deliberately separated from suspected illegal immigrants
and drug runners, they are monitoring those apprehended in booking
facility control rooms.
The Guard is backing up Border Patrol agents who stop traffic to check
for illegal entrants to the United States and run detection dogs around
vehicles. It is building patrol roads and fences; adding lighting,
cameras and sensors; conducting aerial reconnaissance; and providing
transport, medical assistance and communications support.
About 2,500 troops will be on entry identification teams. "They
basically observe illegals or people coming across the border day and night
with night-vision goggles and GPS (Global Positioning Systems)," Blum
said. "They radio that information to the Border Patrol so that the Border
Patrol can intersect or intercept those people, determine whether it's
criminal or it's legitimate, and then take the law enforcement action
necessary."
And Guard members are reaching out to the communities where they are
serving, reassuring residents that the National Guard is not militarizing
the border and demonstrating through their actions the wide variety of
skills possessed by soldiers and airmen.
In Laredo, Guard leaders have attended community luncheons, talked to
community groups, met with elected and appointed leaders, and
volunteered for a blood drive, a charity fundraiser and a July 4 celebration.
"We're not putting (up to) 6,000 armed National Guardsmen on the border
as a show of force," Blum said. "We are in support of a homeland
security operation or a Customs and border protection operation."
"It's a great mission. It's something that's important. So far it's
working great -- Border Patrol agents and Guard members working
side-by-side with each other," said Army Spc. Benito Garza, of the Texas National
Guard's 436th Chemical Company.
Garza and fellow unit member Spc. Fernando Santa Cruz are maintaining
Border Patrol vehicles at the Laredo North Station. "They need a hand,"
Santa Cruz said. "We're helping out a lot."
Senior Patrol Agent Ron Graves said Sgt. Hector Rodriguez, from Texas's
111th Aerial Support Group, will free up an agent who had been working
in a Laredo North Station communications center for law enforcement
duties when he is fully trained to operate cameras and monitoring sensors
and other border surveillance equipment.
"He's a good man to work with, and I'm glad he's here," Graves said.
"It's great because we're shorthanded. We need more agents."
The Guard expects to be on the border for up to two years as the Border
Patrol -- already the nation's largest law enforcement agency -- beefs
up from about 11,000 to more than 17,000 agents.
Many of the more than 3,300 citizen soldiers and more than 270 citizen
airmen who were in the border states July 16 have volunteered to serve
in a duration force, often for periods as long as a year. And many of
them are working in their own states.
"It's good -- Texas taking care of Texas," said Army Spc. Erika
Hinojosa, of the 436th Chemical Company, as she directed tractor-trailer
trucks through a Border Patrol checkpoint north of Laredo July 14. But the
soldier also said she volunteered for one reason: "My country."
And the country is supporting her. More than 30 states so far have
signed memorandums of agreement to support Operation Jump Start, and no
governor has declined to help, Blum said.
Guard members helped out when a detection dog found 11 illegal
immigrants sweating under pallets and boxes on a rental trailer at the
Interstate 35 checkpoint. The trailer had no ventilation and little water.
Their destination was San Antonio, about two hours north. The temperature?
105 degrees.
"They wouldn't have made it," said Army Sgt. Julio Pacheco, of the 3rd
Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment. He was the noncommissioned officer
in charge of troops serving at the inspection station. "We're here to
support the Border Patrol agents. We felt like we did our job because
we're saving people's lives."
Although Guardsmen and Border Patrol agents say they have had to learn
each others' "languages," they have much in common. The two groups have
worked together for many years on operations that have included
building roads and fences and conducting counterdrug operations. "We have been
operating on the Southwest border now for 20 years," Blum said.
Some Border Patrol agents are Guard members, and it's not uncommon to
see framed pictures of agents serving overseas in military uniforms or
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve certificates honoring the
Border Patrol on their stations' walls.
Agents and Guard members share demanding training requirements, and
both groups are familiar with the military-style culture. The Guard
members receive additional cultural sensitivity training, education in the
rules of force and other training for Operation Jump Start. They also
undergo background checks.
Some of the Guard members who have volunteered to serve for a year say
they are interested in Border Patrol jobs. "It's an opportunity to find
out what the Border Patrol does," Garza said.
Although the Guard is operating along the entire border, two Arizona
areas -- Tucson and Yuma -- and El Paso, Texas, have special focus
because they are viewed as problem areas.
"It is a very, very difficult, frontier-like border in many places,"
Blum said. "In other places, it is very mountainous and very restrictive.
And then in other parts of the border, it is clearly almost like an
Marine Mother Speaks of Missing Son Killed in Iraq
Sharon Serio said her son, Matt,
was a lot like her. Both middle children, they liked to go out and have a
good time.
"We got along great together, him and I," the Rhode Island woman said.
"(I'll miss) his phone calls."
Assigned to 3rd Platoon, Company C, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Division,
Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Kenneth Serio's last contact with his mother
was April 4, 2004. He was killed the next day while on patrol in
Fallujah. His Humvee hit a roadside bomb, and insurgents ambushed the Marines
inside. "There were four of them killed," Serio said. "(Matt) got off
half his rounds. Two (Marines) didn't get any rounds off."
Sharon Serio is an American Gold Star Mother, part of a group of
mothers who have lost a child in service to the United States.
Sharon said she takes comfort in knowing Matt was doing what he wanted
to do. He enlisted in the Marine Corps as a high school senior and was
sworn in right after graduation. Boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., was
delayed a few days by the events of Sept. 11, 2001. But 13 weeks after
checking in, he emerged a newly minted Marine "grunt."
"He always wanted to be a Marine," Serio said. "If you were going to be
a serviceman, there was nothing else but a Marine, and it had to be a
grunt."
Shortly after boot camp he found himself on his first tour in Iraq and
part of the force that took Baghdad in March 2003. While news about
servicemembers was scarce for loved ones back home, Serio was able to keep
some tabs on Matt's whereabouts. "I have a son, my oldest, who's in the
Navy, and he was actually stationed on the (USS) Kitty Hawk and was in
the Gulf," she said. "He knew where his brother was because they were
flying support ... for (Matt's unit) off the Kitty Hawk."
Though his mother had a vague idea of where Matt was, she couldn't
protect him from a close call. "(Matt) had just given up his seat (in his
vehicle) ... and right where his seating area was, is where they got hit
by an (improvised explosive device) or whatever it was," Serio said.
When he returned to his home base of Camp Pendleton, Calif., in June
2003, his mother was thrilled. Though she knew he was heading home to
Rhode Island eventually, she had to see him sooner. Matt's girlfriend
heard from him as his unit passed through Germany on its way home.
"I flew out two days later to California," Serio said. "Even though I
knew he was coming home after that, I had to make sure there were no
holes in him."
Serio said she wasn't as concerned for his safety when his unit was
called up for a second tour in March 2004. It was supposed to be safer,
she said. But, "it was worse," she added quietly.
Matt's funeral included full military honors with burial in a private
Catholic cemetery rather than a veterans cemetery. For his mother, that
was one thing that was not open for discussion. "I know people say,
'Well, there's other veterans in the cemetery,' and to me that wasn't the
same," Serio said. "He wasn't being buried alone."
The days that surrounded the funeral were filled with Matt's tight-knit
group of friends from high school rallying to support the Serio family,
she said.
They told stories of the teenager who ate macaroni and cheese after
school and played high school football as one of the "Fat Boys."
"They were linemen I guess, and they were just big and they became the
Fat Boys," Serio said. "They weren't fat, (but) he was 'Fat Matt.'"
She only remembers bits and pieces of the funeral and the days after,
she said. Things like the Mass being held in a Providence cathedral
because the local church couldn't accommodate everyone wanting to honor the
fallen hero, stick out in her mind. So do the construction workers
along the funeral procession; many wearing Marine Corps shirts saluted the
hearse carrying Matt's remains as it passed.
Most importantly, she remembers her son's giving nature.
Matt's last e-mail home, sent the day before his death, included a
request for more chewing tobacco, his mother's homemade cookies and candy
to hand out to Iraqi children, Serio said. "He always took care of
everybody else," she said.
Matt's town continues to recognize and honor that selflessness. His
high school renamed the football stadium in his honor. The local fire
department planted a tree and dedicated a plaque in his honor at a home
where the firefighters do charity work.
Serio's oldest son is currently on shore duty at Naval Air Station
Oceana, Va. Her youngest also has military aspirations that include the
Marine Corps, though not directly.
"He doesn't think he could go through the boot camp of the Marine
Corps, but he wants to be a (Navy medic) so he could basically take care of
Marines," she said. "It stems a lot from what happened to (Matt.)"
Guard Border Security Mission Progressing Well, On Schedule
With about 3,600 troops reporting on or
ahead of schedule so far for border security duty in the Southwest, the
National Guard is solidly on track to meet the requirement of up to 6,000
troops by Aug. 1, the chief of the National Guard Bureau told Pentagon
reporters today.
Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum said he's received nothing but positive
feedback about the National Guard response to the mission, both about its
speed and the capabilities it brings in support of the U.S. Border
Patrol. "We are delivering the capabilities and effects that they have
requested," Blum said.
As Operation Jump Start kicked off June 15, just a month after
President Bush announced it, the National Guard had already exceeded the
scheduled commitment of 800 troops by 237, Blum noted. By the month's end,
the Guard's commitment skyrocketed to 2,800 -- 300 above the expectation.
Most of the Guardsmen are coming from the four border states:
California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Arizona and New Mexico, both with
smaller National Guard forces than their neighbors to the immediate east
and west, will rely more heavily on augmentees from other states, Blum
said.
Arizona, with two of the biggest areas of focus -- Tucson and Yuma --
is likely to see the most out-of-state forces, he said. These troops
will generally rotate to the region for three-week rotations conducted as
their regularly scheduled annual training periods, Blum explained.
So far, 30 state governors have committed to support the mission, with
no governors refusing to participate, Blum said. "There is a great
cooperation (and) collaboration among the nation's governors, and they
understand the importance of having the National Guard be a reliable,
essential and ready force, because they are also commanders in chief of
their National Guards," Blum said.
"And since Sept. 11, 2001, they have seen how essential the Guard is
both overseas, for the global war on terrorism, and here at home, to deal
with natural or man-made disasters that may happen in our own nation."
Blum said he's abiding by his promise to governors that he will ensure
they always have at least 50 percent of their capability as they
support the terror war, border mission and other national-level requirements.
During Operation Jump Start, Guardsmen are providing communications,
transportation, logistics, training, medical and construction support to
the U.S. Border Patrol as it boosts its own ranks. They're building and
maintaining roads; installing fences, lighting, sensors and towers with
cameras; and providing aviation support over big expanses with no
roads, Blum explained.
The Defense Department hasn't yet authorized the Guard to provide
intelligence analysis support, but Blum said he expects that it will. "We
anticipate we will be doing that, because we do that in the
drug-enforcement mission," he said.
Guardsmen assigned to the mission are getting trained in everything
from the political and cultural sensitivities of the operation to the
practical aspects of operating in the desert heat and being exposed to
insects and reptiles, Blum said. Each Guard member receives a tri-fold card
that explains the rules of engagement. He emphasized that Guardsmen
aren't defending the border, but simply are supporting civilian
authorities who control it. but each has the "inherent right of self-protection,"
he added.
Blum said he expects the mission to last no more than two years, after
the Border Patrol trains more people and develops more infrastructure
so it's able to protect the border without support. "I expect to work
our way out of this mission," he said.
In the meantime, he said, Guardsmen are benefiting through the
opportunity to conduct an important real-life mission in their training
