Heroes...Alive and Dead

[American Patriot]

He died for a good cause
National Post ^ | 2008-07-22 | (editorial page)

On Friday, another Canadian was killed in Afghanistan. Corporal James Arnal, 25, was the 89th brave Canadian -- 88 soldiers and one diplomat -- to have died there since our mission began six years ago. He was killed by a roadside bomb while out on foot patrol in southern Afghanistan.

It was only natural that, over time, the shock of Canadian combat deaths would wear off, and so news of Canadian fatalities would begin to slip from the front pages. Yet each death of a young soldier killed in the line of duty is tragic, and none more so than Cpl. Arnal's. His death should serve as a reminder of the high quality of men and women we have sent to secure peace in Afghanistan, and just what a remarkable sacrifice each of them is making, including those who return home safe and sound.

By all accounts, Cpl. Arnal was an exceptional person and soldier. He was nearing the end of his second tour in Kandahar province, and had already signed up for a third so, as he

told The Canadian Press in 2006, Afghans "can have the same opportunities we have back home ... and not have dictatorships such as the Taliban telling them what to do." He was neither deluded nor bloodthirsty, but rather a passionately concerned Canadian looking to make a difference in a far-off land. He risked his life and civilian career (he gave up a promising job in information technology to join the Forces) for our national ideals and gained a reputation among his fellow soldiers as a calm, thoughtful, skilled professional.

To honour Cpl. Arnal's life and death, we Canadians need to remind ourselves of why we are in Afghanistan, and why the mission remains important to Canada, too. At the same time, our military and civilian leaders must avoid sugar-coating the situation on the ground. If nothing else, those who have served in Afghanistan, and especially those who have died there, have earned for all Canadians an honest accounting of the dangers our troops face and the prospects for stability in that long-troubled country.

On Saturday, Brigadier-General Denis Thompson, Canada's commander in Afghanistan, admitted national reconstruction was a long-term project: "Let there be no doubt -- we do have our work cut out for us … This insurgency is not going to be defeated in the short term, which is why our focus is on winning the trust of the Afghan people, and building up local government and security institutions." Such candour is refreshing.

Last week, by contrast, General Walter Natynczyk, the new Chief of the Defence Staff, concluded that the rise in violence in Afghanistan this year was "insignificant," and that "significant progress" had been made toward Afghan prosperity. Many analysts felt his assessments were naively optimistic.

Things may not be bleak in Afghanistan at the moment -- but they are tough. Insurgent violence is running 75% ahead of last year in some parts of Afghanistan, and at least 40% ahead in those provinces guarded by Canadians. Both British and American casualties are well ahead of 2007. Indeed, June was the first month in more than four years in which American combat deaths in Afghanistan exceeded those in Iraq.

Since the U. S. troop surge in Iraq began making it more difficult for jihadis to incite mayhem there, many Muslim extremists have fled to Afghanistan. In the Afghan outback, their cause has been aided by political turmoil in neighbouring Pakistan. Long a source of recruits, intelligence and supplies to the Taliban, Islamist elements within the Pakistani government now feel they have a free hand because of the chaotic state of their country since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto last December.

Fortunately, Afghanistan is starting to get more attention in Washington. John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate for president, has pledged an additional 15,000 soldiers. Even Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, recognizes the value of continuing to fight. Speaking last week in Afghanistan, he committed his administration to "finishing the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban" if elected. He promised to redeploy troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, though he did not specify a number.

Mr. Obama's non-specific promise may just be a symbolic counterweight to appease voters who are opposed to his cut-and-run policy on Iraq. But sop or not, it is the right policy.

Afghanistan remains a potential terror threat to Canada and the West. Its people and government still require considerable help. So that men and women such as Cpl. Arnal did not die in vain, Western militaries -- including ours -- need to commit themselves to victory in Afghanistan, no matter how long it takes.

[American Patriot]

Grenade hero awarded George Cross
bbc news ^ | Wednesday, 23 July 2008 | bbc

A Royal Marine who threw himself on a grenade to save his comrades' lives is to receive the George Cross.

Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher, 24, from Solihull, in the West Midlands triggered a trip wire in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in February.

He immediately dropped to the ground and lay across the grenade, being blown into the air as it went off.

The George Cross is one of the highest decorations that can be awarded for acts of gallantry.

L/Cpl Croucher said: "All I could do in the moment was shout out 'grenade' before diving on top of it."

His bag was crammed with equipment which cushioned the explosion. His three comrades suffered just cuts and bruises while L/Cpl Croucher was thrown in the air.

He added: "It was incredible. I escaped with only a nose bleed and a headache."

L/Cpl Croucher, a reservist, is one of 20 living recipients of the award.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...


With his shredded backpack.

[American Patriot]

FOX News Cameraman Helps Rescue Injured Marine From Insurgent Blast in Afghanistan


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,397062,00.html

Monday, August 04, 2008
FNC

FOX News cameraman Chris Jackson was injured Sunday when an IED struck an armored Humvee convoy in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Jackson helped rescue an injured Marine from the burning vehicle.


FOX News cameraman Chris Jackson was injured Sunday when an IED struck an armored Humvee convoy in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Jackson helped rescue an injured Marine from the burning vehicle.

• 
• 
• 

A FOX News cameraman helped save the life of an injured Marine in Afghanistan — and was injured himself — when the armored Humvee convoy he was traveling in was struck by a roadside bomb Sunday night in the Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.

Two U.S. Marines were badly injured when the improvised explosive device detonated near their convoy. Though FOX News cameraman Chris Jackson was injured in the blast, he went back to the burning vehicle to rescue one of the Marines.


"The cabin was on fire and I jumped out," said Jackson in a report filed immediately following the attack. "I went, grabbed the sergeant out of the shotgun seat, pulled him out."


• Click here to see Chris Jackson's report from the scene of the IED attack.

[Ryan Ruck]

I saw that article... Contrast that to that reporter that sat there idly while "embedded" with a bunch of terrorists and watched them ambush a group of troops not warning them or alerting them to the ambush (sorry, can't find an article on that...).

I'd buy Chris Jackson a beer!

[American Patriot]

I remember the article. I don't remember who the slime was, and I think it is posted here actually.

[American Patriot]

Three strangers bring drowned girl back to life

Jenna Buzzacco, Naples Daily News
Originally published 07:30 a.m., August 5, 2008
Updated 07:30 a.m., August 5, 2008

NAPLES, Fla. — Kathlene Durocher is searching for her heroes.

They’re not exactly her heroes but she’ll be forever in debt to them just the same.

The three people, all strangers at the time, brought her daughter back from the dead.

And though she’s personally thanked one person responsible for saving her daughter’s life, she still wants to thank, and meet, the other two who worked to bring her daughter back from death.

“They were complete strangers to me,” she said Monday. “I don’t know who it was. (But) I want to meet them because they saved the life of my beautiful, almost two-year-old baby.”

Meagan Durocher, 1, fell into a pool at Bristol Pines on Saturday evening. The family was attending a birthday party for Durocher’s brother, Naples Police Officer Steve Walden, when Meagan fell in. One witness thought Meagan was under water for at least a minute.

Durocher’s sister pulled Meagan out of the pool and brought her to a table, where party-goers began doing CPR, said Mark Walden, Meagan’s grandfather.

“I saw it within a foot of me, that child was dead,” Walden said. “The child was purple (with) swelled eyes and swelled black lips.”

Meagan wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse, according to Naples Police Officer Benjamin Vasquez.

Vasquez was attending the birthday party, and was off duty when the accident occurred.

He rushed to the family’s aid, even though he had never performed CPR on a child before.

“She was purple as a grape,” he said. “It was amazing.”

Once Meagan’s family laid her on a table, Vasquez began chest compressions. But there were so many people surrounding the table, he couldn’t get close enough to breathe for her. So he yelled for help, and that’s when Durocher’s angels stepped in.

She doesn’t know their names, or even where they live.

All Durocher knows is that a man and a woman who were by the pool that day, and not part of the party, ran over to help. The man breathed for Meagan while the woman, whom Walden thought was a nurse, took her pulse.

The threesome worked on Meagan while Walden went to flag down emergency workers. It took three minutes — maybe more, maybe less, no one seems to know exactly how long they performed CPR — before they felt a pulse.

Soon she was breathing on her own, spitting up water and screaming for her parents.

“I was hysterical, and someone came up to me and said ‘Look at her, she’s up,’” Durocher said.

Meagan was transported to NCH North Naples Hospital on Saturday night and was released Sunday. Vasquez said he met with the family on Sunday, and was surprised how well Meagan was doing.

Durocher said Monday that everything is back to normal with Meagan.

“She’s perfect,” Durocher said. “I couldn’t believe it ... Most of the time this kind of stuff doesn’t happen. It’s a miracle.”

Now Durocher is hoping for another miracle of sorts. Before she could thank the two strangers for saving her daughter’s life, they were gone. Durocher is now hoping the couple will reappear in time to celebrate Meagan’s second birthday later this month.

“I want to meet these people for her birthday,” she said. “I want these people to be there. I want to meet them and (thank them).”

[American Patriot]

Argentine dog saves abandoned baby

By Daniel Schweimler BBC News, Buenos Aires

La China has become a celebrity in her shanty town (Photo courtesy of Clarin)

An eight-year-old dog has touched the hearts of Argentines by saving the life of an abandoned baby, placing him safely alongside her own new puppies.

The country's media are calling him "the miracle baby".


He was born prematurely to a 14-year-old girl in a shanty town outside the capital, Buenos Aires.


She is said to have panicked and abandoned the boy in a field, surrounded by wooden boxes and rubbish.


Then along came La China, the dog which somehow picked up the baby and carried him 50m to place him alongside her own puppies.


The dog's owner heard the child crying and found him covered with a rag.
The baby, weighing 4kg (8lb 13oz), had some slight injuries, but no bite marks. The owner called the police and the child is now being looked after by the authorities, while a decision is taken about his future.


The frightened mother appeared shortly after her baby was found.
The Argentine media has descended on the shanty town, talking of "the Argentine Romulus and Remus", the founders of Rome, abandoned as babies and rescued by a wolf, nearly 3,000 years ago.


La China, worried about her own puppies, is reported to be petrified by her new found fame, and her owner says he is worried that she is not eating.

[Ryan Ruck]

60-Year-Old Is Oldest Army Soldier Killed In Iraq

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.

He was part of the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan.

[Ryan Ruck]

Bomb Disposal Hero Killed in Afghanistan Just Days Before Leave

Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid

A British Army explosives specialist who became a legend by risking his life to defuse more than 60 Taliban roadside bombs was killed in Afghanistan during his final mission before he took leave, the Times of London reported Tuesday.

Staff Sergeant Olaf "Oz" Schmid, 30, died instantly Saturday when an improvised explosives device he was trying to disarm blew up.

It was his last job before a planned two-week break, his widow Christina Schmid told the newspaper.

"Oz was a phenomenal husband and loving father who was cruelly murdered on his last day before two weeks off after a relentless five-month tour," she said.

The bomb disposal expert's exploits were described as "legendary." He defused one in every 19 IEDs found by British troops since his tour in Afghanistan began last June, senior officers told the Daily Mail.

In one 24-hour operation, military officials said Schmid found and disarmed 31 roadside bombs. He deployed to Afghanistan in June, and had since then rendered 64 IEDs safe.

Shortly before his death, he had been promoted to the position of "high-threat operator" and was described by the British Ministry of Defense as having a "natural aptitude" for bomb disposal work.

Another veteran bomb specialist, Capt. Daniel Shepard, was killed in Afghanistan's Helmand Province in July, according to the Times of London.

In addition to his wife, Schmid leaves behind a 5-year-old stepson Laird, the paper reported.

"He was my best friend and soulmate," the grieving widow told the Times of London. "The pain of losing him is overwhelming. I take comfort knowing he saved countless lives with his hard work. I am so proud of him."

Lt.-Col. Robert Thomson, the commanding officer overseeing the 2 Rifles Battle Group Schmid served with, said his bravery put him above the "best of the best."

"Under relentless IED and small arms attacks he stood taller than the tallest. I adored working with him," Thomson told the Times of London. "No matter how difficult or lethal the task which lay in front of us, he was the man who only saw solutions."

[American Patriot]

On Nov 13, 2010, Lt General John Kelly, USMC gave a speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis , MO. This was 4 days after his son, Lt Robert Kelly, USMC was killed by an IED while on his 3rd Combat tour. During his speech, General Kelly spoke about the dedication and valor of our young men and women who step forward each and every day to protect us.

During the speech, he never mentioned the loss of his own son. He closed the speech with the moving account of the last 6 seconds in the lives of 2 young Marines who died with rifles blazing to protect their brother Marines.

"I will leave you with a story about the kind of people they are, about the quality of the steel in their backs, about the kind of dedication they bring to our country while they serve in uniform and forever after as veterans. Two years ago when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 "The Walking Dead," and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion in the closing days of their deployment going home very soon, the other just starting its seven-month combat tour. Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines. The same broken down ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police, also my men and our allies in the fight against the terrorists in Ramadi, a city until recently the most dangerous city on earth and owned by Al Qaeda.

Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a mother and sister who lived with him and whom he supported as well. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle class white kid from Long Island . They were from two completely different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines they would never have met each other, or understood that multiple America's exist simultaneously depending on one's race, education level, economic status, and where you might have been born. But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and because of this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman.

The mission orders they received from the sergeant squad leader I am sure went something like: "Okay you two clowns, stand this post and let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass." "You clear?" I am also sure Yale and Haerter then rolled their eyes and said in unison something like: "Yes Sergeant," with just enough attitude that made the point without saying the words, "No kidding ‘sweetheart’, we know what we're doing." They then relieved two other Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry control point of Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of Ramadi, Al Anbar, Iraq .

A few minutes later a large blue truck turned down the alley way - perhaps 60-70 yards in length, and sped its way through the serpentine of concrete jersey walls. The truck stopped just short of where the two were posted and detonated, killing them both catastrophically. Twenty-four brick masonry houses were damaged or destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The truck's engine came to rest two hundred yards away knocking most of a house down before it stopped. Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was made of 2,000 pounds of explosives. Two died, and because these two young infantrymen didn't have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150 of their Iraqi and American brothers-in-arms.

When I read the situation report about the incident a few hours after it happened I called the regimental commander for details as something about this struck me as different. Marines dying or being seriously wounded is commonplace in combat. We expect Marines regardless of rank or MOS to stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if that is what the mission takes. But this just seemed different. The regimental commander had just returned from the site and he agreed, but reported that there were no American witnesses to the event - just Iraqi police. I figured if there was any chance of finding out what actually happened and then to decorate the two Marines to acknowledge their bravery, I'd have to do it as a combat award that requires two eye-witnesses and we figured the bureaucrats back in Washington would never buy Iraqi statements.

If it had any chance at all, it had to come under the signature of a general officer.

I traveled to Ramadi the next day and spoke individually to a half-dozen Iraqi police all of whom told the same story. The blue truck turned down into the alley and immediately sped up as it made its way through the serpentine. They all said, "We knew immediately what was going on as soon as the two Marines began firing." The Iraqi police then related that some of them also fired, and then to a man, ran for safety just prior to the explosion. All survived. Many were injured, some seriously. One of the Iraqis elaborated and with tears welling up said, "They'd run like any normal man would to save his life." "What he didn't know until then," he said, "and what he learned that very instant, was that Marines are not normal." Choking past the emotion he said, "Sir, in the name of God no sane man would have stood there and done what they did." "No sane man." "They saved us all."

What we didn't know at the time, and only learned a couple of days later after I wrote a summary and submitted both Yale and Haerter for posthumous Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras, damaged initially in the blast, recorded some of the suicide attack. It happened exactly as the Iraqis had described it. It took exactly six seconds from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated.

You can watch the last six seconds of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads I supposed it took about a second for the two Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them to do only a few minutes before: "Let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass." The two Marines had about five seconds left to live.

It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up. By this time the truck was half-way through the barriers and gaining speed the whole time. Here, the recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the normal and rational men they were - some running right past the Marines. They had three seconds left to live.

For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines' weapons firing non-stop the truck's windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tore in to the body of the son-of-a-bitch who is trying to get past them to kill their brothers - American and Iraqi-bedded down in the barracks totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground.

If they had been aware, they would have known they were safe because two Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber. The recording shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the two Marines. In all of the instantaneous violence Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back. They never even started to step aside. They never even shifted their weight. With their feet spread shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons. They had only one second left to live.

The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their God. Six seconds.

Not enough time to think about their families, their country, their flag, or about their lives or their deaths, but more than enough time for two very brave young men to do their duty into eternity. That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight - for you.

We Marines believe that God gave America the greatest gift he could bestow to man while he lived on this earth - freedom. We also believe he gave us another gift nearly as precious - our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines - to safeguard that gift and guarantee no force on this earth can every steal it away.

It has been my distinct honor to have been with you here today. Rest assured our America , this experiment in democracy started over two centuries ago, will forever remain the "land of the free and home of the brave" so long as we never run out of tough young Americans who are willing to look beyond their own self-interest and comfortable lives, and go into the darkest and most dangerous places on earth to hunt down, and kill, those who would do us harm.

God Bless America , and SEMPER FIDELIS!"

[American Patriot]

This might be better in the brewing or survival section... but I thought it some how appropriate to go here.

Military. Beer. Brewer... well, you will see;

From Soldier to Brewer: Iraq Vet Crafts 'Cavalry' Beer

By Richard Goldsmith
Published August 12, 2011
| FoxNews.com


The Great Recession was, and still is, the cause of plenty of pain. People have lost homes, jobs, cars and worse. But it has also provided the inspiration for some to find a better way. For Mike McCreary, the founder of Connecticut-based Cavalry Brewing, that better way involved beer.
English beer, to be exact.


In 2008, McCreary was laid off from his job in sales and marketing. But the Army veteran wasn't exactly your typical unemployed executive with five years of active duty and 18 as a reservist under his belt. In 2003 he was in Iraq as a member of the civil affairs team attached to the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was responsible for a lot of the infrastructure projects meant to restore power, water, sewer service and all the other niceties of civil society to the Iraqi right in the thick of the conflict. After that kind of experience, it was only natural for him to want to build something of his own – Cavalry Brewing.


“We got back from Iraq after far too many close calls and luckily, the entire team made it back,” said McCreary. “I wasn't quite so lucky in 2008 and was running a division of a company and was let go along with many of my people,” said McCreary. “I drove my wife nuts for about six months and then decided to head for England to learn how to brew beer.”


McCreary jokes that his relationship with beer is his longest standing one, dating back to when his was 13 years old. But despite this long-lasting affair, he had no background in home brewing. So when he hopped on the plane to England he was essentially starting from scratch, with only his master's degree in biochemistry, a background in sales and marketing and 14 years in Army civil affairs to back him up. And unlike in Iraq, where there were bundles of cash in palaces to provide the funds for projects, he had to use his own resources to get the venture off the ground.


“I was originally going to start up a brewpub,” says McCreary. “But after a whole lot of research I realized a brewery was a better place to start – fewer workers, less licensing, just more simple overall. It was a way to talk about my experiences in the military and tell my friends' stories through a product I love.”


While many would-be brewers head straight to Germany or Belgium for their crash course in beer making, McCreary went to England to learn the traditional styles of that country because of their sessionable and easy-drinking nature. After six months spent learning from the best brewmasters the country had to offer, McCreary was ready to set up his own shop.


“I like balanced, drinkable beers – English style beers,” says McCreary. “I like beers with a malty backbone and subtle hop flavor. The kinds of beers that you sit down with and want to have another one when you’re done. I really just want to see people reaching for more than one of my beers.”
This year is Cavalry Brewing's first full year of production and the company is brewing up five different English-style beers, all named for members of his team in Iraq. The brewery is on pace to roll out between 1,000 and 1,200 barrels of these highly drinkable brews. Here are the ones to keep a look out for:


Dog Soldier Golden Ale – The civil affairs team attached to the 2nd ACR was split into five six-man teams, one of which was called Team Dog Soldier. Named after the friend who ran that team, Dog Soldier is an English Session Ale, with a mildly sweet malty overtone and a gentle hoppy bitterness that makes it a wonderful summer ale. It's light, crisp and clean, with a little palate-cleansing citrus that makes it that much more refreshing on a hot day. Plus, the 4 percent ABV rating means going back for more after sweaty out a few pints doing yard work isn't anything to feel guilty about.


Hatch Plug Ale – Just prior to leaving for Iraq, McCreary's unit traded a 1st LT to another unit for six M-16s. It was a win-win, since the other unit needed a lieutenant and the 2nd ACR was short on the guns they needed. That lieutenant was an engineer and ended up running the Baghdad airport in the early days of the rebuilding process, even setting up the telecommunications system in the area that allowed for cell phones. And despite trading him for firearms, the man this bottle is named for is still a friend. Apparently he's a good one, since the English Bitter is one of McCreary's favorite styles. Unlike more modern American-style bitters, this one is easy drinking, without the over-the-top hops so many associate with IPAs and bitters. It pours a bright amber, with clear floral and bready aromas and a muted orange tang to go with the well-balanced hops. According to McCreary, it “...goes down like it has wheels on it.” And since it's his sales leader, it seems others agree with him.


Marauder IPA – This one is a testament to the 75th Ranger Regiment. McCreary makes a point to make Cavalry Brewing a veteran owned and run business, so he hired a young man who spent four years with the Rangers as his assistant brewer. The beer they've developed as the banner bearer for the regiment is a classic English IPA – somewhat controversial with the hopheads given how these traditional India Pale Ales only have a slightly more pronounced bite from the hops than a typical beer does. It's surprisingly dark – a deep copper color with an odd musty aroma giving way to a lemony spark as it hits the tongue. Slightly peppery, Marauder offers up a light body and some nice bready malts and an almost caramel-like sweetness, but probably not quite enough hops for the typical IPA drinker. That said, it matches up to large chunks of grilled meat like a champ.


Big Wally Porter – The Civil Affairs Command CO was a Major who was, according to McCreary, ...”absolutely the right guy to lead the group.” Big Wally was knowledgeable and a bit loud – matching up nicely with the English porter Cavalry named for him. Adding a little coffee and chocolate malt, the porter is a great traditional beer. It's nearly coal black, with a thick head and just sweet enough to give the bitter backbone a run for its money. For a big beer, it's surprisingly light, making it that much more disappointing the brewery took it off the menu for the summer. But like Big Wally himself, it's hard to keep a good beer down and it'll be back on tap this Fall.


Nomad Stout – Named for a close friend who ran Team Nomad was in southeast Baghdad and its CO, one of McCreary's friends, who got wounded – without any help from insurgents. His team moved to Camp Mule Skinner, which used to be the Iraqi war college, after their original base was blown up. He ended up bunking in a building with ceiling fans and caught his hand on one while doing laundry. Sadly, no Purple Heart for him. The dry Irish stout that was named in his honor offers up a lighter texture than a typical stout. Oddly enough, it features some German hops despite McCreary's near obsessive dedication to English ingredients – even recreating the water hardness from England. There's an almost chocolaty charcoal flavor in the mix, with a smoothly bitter hop punch and nice overarching lemon pucker that brings the brew together into something more than the sum of its parts. Team Nomad should be proud, though it may be wise to stay far away from ceiling fans while drinking one (or more) of these.
Click here for more from Fox BYO

[Ryan Ruck]

Those sound like some really good beers!

Hopefully they get some distribution outside of CT and RI. Definitely would pick up at least one of each.

[American Patriot]

yes, I am hoping so as well, but in my travels along the coast... I'll be stopping

[Ryan Ruck]

Fallen Soldier Lost Life Attempting To Save Dog

August 10, 2011

Funeral services were held Tuesday at Christ Lutheran Church on West Main Street in Dallastown, PA for Sgt. Christopher M. Wrinkle of York County.

The 29-year old Marine and two fellow soldiers were killed on July 31st in a fire that swept through their living quarters in western Afghanistan.

A member of Wrinkle’s unit struggled to find words to describe the bond shared by Sgt. Wrinkle and his beloved canine partner, Tosca. They were inseparable.

A fellow Sergeant said that when the fire broke out in their Herat province barracks, Wrinkle called out for him. When he answered and Wrinkle knew he was safe, his colleague watched as Wrinkle turned back, disappearing into the fire in a search for his partner. It was the last time he was seen alive – both he and Tosca perished in the blaze.

The pews at Christ Lutheran Church in Dallastown were full Tuesday, with many of Wrinkle’s brothers from the Corps in attendance. To the right of Wrinkle’s casket sat a smaller vessel – containing the remains of Tosca.

Wrinkle will be buried today with full military honors, and his family asks that contributions be made (in lieu of flowers) to the Sgt. Christopher M. Wrinkle and Tosca Memorial Fund care of Metro Bank. The funds will benefit the Courtyard of Honor at Dallastown High School and the U.S. War Dog Association.

Wrinkle’s colleague says he knew exactly what Wrinkle was doing when he ran back into that burning building – he was trying to save Tosca. “He took a chance on his own life to get her. Chris died a hero.”

[Ryan Ruck]

US Marine Saves Woman From Would-Be Rapist in NYC

September 28, 2011

A Marine veteran who served five years in Iraq and Afghanistan stopped a would-be rapist in New York City Wednesday.

Brian Teichman, 31, was dropping off his two-year-old daughter at a babysitter's house in the Queens neighborhood of Whitestone when he spotted a man forcing a woman over a guard rail, across the street and into a deserted, wooded area.

"It didn't seem right. Once I saw him launch her over the guard rail, I knew something was wrong," Teichman said of the incident, which took place at 9 a.m. local time.

"I am an ex-Marine, so I'm not scared of conflict. I looked down and I saw him straddling her and he had his hand over her mouth and he was trying to rip her shirt off," he recalled.

"My thought was, 'Scream first, if he runs you don't need to worry if he has a gun or a knife.'"

"In the deepest scream I could, I said, 'Hey get the [expletive] off of her!' He looked up at me and then ran down the hill, toward the west-bound shoulder of the [Cross Island] Parkway," Teichman said.

Teichman said he ran over to the hysterical woman and picked her up.

"She was in tears. She was a small, frail Korean woman. She was crying and distraught, she couldn't walk and I had to pick her up and get her back over the guardrail," Teichman said.

He and babysitter Dawn Ottaviano, 45, then called the police.

The suspect -- who appeared to be in his 50s, clean cut, 5'11" and 200 pounds and was wearing a tan baseball cap -- was being sought by police.

"In hindsight, I feel like I didn't do my job until they catch him," said Teichman, who is now a student at Nassau Community College and was supposed to take a physics test Wednesday morning.

[Ryan Ruck]

Army Ranger Dies On 14th Deployment

October 25, 2011

An Army Ranger who was on his 14th deployment to a combat zone has been killed in Afghanistan.

Sgt. First Class Kristoffer B. Domeij, 29, was killed Saturday when the assault force he was with triggered a hidden roadside bomb in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province.

Domeij served four deployments in Iraq and another nine stints in Afghanistan. During that time he was awarded two Bronze Stars. His third Bronze Star, earned during his final tour in Afghanistan, will be awarded posthumously, according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

Also killed in Saturday's blast were First Lieutenant Ashley White, 24, a Cultural Support Team member, and fellow Ranger Private First Class Christopher A. Horns, 20, who was on his first combat deployment.

His battalion commander, Lt. Col. David Hodne, described Domeij as "one of those men who was known by all as much for his humor, enthusiasm, and loyal friendship, as he was for his unparalleled skill and bravery under fire."

"This was a Ranger you wanted at your side when the chips were down... He is irreplaceable … in our formation … and in our hearts," Hodne said.

Domeij, who grew up in San Diego, Calif. and Colorado Springs, Colo., and lived in Lacey, Wash., was married and had two young daughters.

Rangers are some of the Army's most elite special operations forces and have seen almost continual combat in Afghanistan since October 2001 when they were part of the original airborne assault into the country.

Rangers serve three to four month tours of duty that are significantly shorter than the year-long deployments served by soldiers in conventional units. But during those short deployments they see a constant churn of intense combat missions. On average, a Ranger battalion will conduct between 400 to 500 missions during a combat deployment.

Tracy Bailey, a spokesperson for the 75th Ranger Regiment, says Domeij had a combined total of 48 months deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Higher ranking enlisted Rangers, like Domeij, typically have between nine and 12 deployments if they were with the 75th Ranger Regiment prior to or shortly after Sept. 11, 2001. Domeij had enlisted in the Army in July 2001 and joined the 2nd battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment in April 2002.

With his 14 deployments, Domeij becomes the Ranger with the most deployments to date killed in action. Just a year ago this month, fellow Ranger SFC Lance Vogeler was killed in Afghanistan during his 12th deployment, becoming at that time the Ranger with the most deployments killed in action.

Domeij had the distinction of being one of the first Rangers to be qualified as a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC), a position usually reserved for Air Force airmen who serve with ground combat units and call in airstrikes from fighters or bombers flying overhead.

Col. Mark W. Odom, commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment, called Domeij "the prototypical special operations NCO" whose abilities as a JTAC "made him a game changer on the battlefield—an operator who in real terms had the value of an entire strike force on the battlefield."

[American Patriot]

About time someone started doing their job..... this happened down the road from me.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/cop-...job-thing.html
NOREEN: Doing the right thing: Cop arrests cop.


November 19, 2011 12:00 PM

BARRY NOREEN
THE GAZETTE
The way he tells it, Fountain police officer Tim Johnson was merely doing his job Oct. 13, and on one level that’s the plain truth.
On another level, it’s notable that when Johnson stopped an off-duty El Paso County sheriff’s deputy and cited him for drunken driving and prohibited use of a weapon. The deputy, Nikolas Gianes, was doing 69 mph in a 50 mph zone at 2:30 a.m., according to Fountain police.
A breath test reportedly revealed that Gianes had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood at the time of the stop.
Then Johnson noticed a sheriff’s department I.D. badge dangling from a lanyard. A few minutes later a gun was discovered in the console.
Alcohol and guns are never supposed to mix. The gun charge tacked onto the DUI allegation is serious for a law enforcement officer — the kind of thing that could end a career.
Isn’t it true that police officers cut slack to other officers and their family members when it comes to traffic tickets? There’s evidence that arrangement exists, at least to some degree.
Johnson acknowledged that “We had a female officer a few years ago give a ticket to a CSPD officer’s wife and that didn’t go over well.”
In the 1980s a controversy lasted for weeks in Colorado Springs when a CSPD traffic cop issued a ticket to a police detective’s wife.
But Johnson said he didn’t back off when he learned Gianes is in law enforcement.
“DUIs are the one thing, even though I have some discretion on, I wouldn’t let anyone off on,” he said.
Johnson has been with the Fountain force more than five years and soon will be promoted to sergeant. He was an El Paso County sheriff’s deputy before that.
Johnson knows the consequences for Gianes may be severe and he takes no joy in that.
“It very well could end his career. It was something I thought about,” Johnson recalled.
But he credited Gianes for not trying to use his employment with the sheriff’s office to get out of the ticket.
“He took it like a man,” Johnson said.
Although there may be some who think he could have handled it differently, Johnson said he has not experienced any blowback.
“I remember back in the (police) academy, they said, ‘Wait ‘til you have to issue a ticket to a policeman,’ ” Johnson said, with a little shake of the head.
Gianes’ case is pending.
His duties at the county jail have been changed and for now his powers of arrest have been suspended. Regardless of what the case may do to his career, here’s hoping he has better days ahead.
As for Officer Tim Johnson: Congratulations for making the harder choice and doing the right thing.


Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/cop-...#ixzz1eAkXhNLU

[American Patriot]

Glenwood Springs man wins Carnegie Hero medal


Jones subdued criminal during 2010 armed bank robbery in California


Heather McGregor
Post Independent Editor
Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO




ENLARGE
David R. Jones, who moved to Glenwood Springs last summer, was named a recipient of the Carnegie Hero medal, awarded by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, for bravery in subduing an armed bank robber during a 2010 robbery in California.
Kelley Cox Post Independent
Carnegie Hero honorees


PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission awards Carnegie hero medals four times a year. The most recent round, which included Glenwood Springs resident David R. Jones, was announced Dec. 14. These are the honorees:
— Ronald D. Curry, of Pacific Grove, Calif., and Harold T. Leach, of Danville, Calif., saved Margarito Garcia from drowning, Pacific Grove, Calif., Nov. 8, 2009.
— Dennis Fleming of Mechanicsville, Md., and Grady Terry Warhurst, of Upper Marlboro, Md., saved Kevin L. Gladhill, Michael G. Krall, and Russell U. Neff III from drowning, Lusby, Md., Feb. 10, 2011.
— Richard Joseph Camp, of Long Beach, Calif., and David Richmond Jones, of Glenwood Springs, Colo., saved an indeterminate number of people from assault, Long Beach, Calif., March 5, 2010.
— Michael Austin Dudley, of Chester, Va., attempted to save Cindy M. Parker from assault, Chester, Va., June 23, 2010.
— Frank Shane Ward, of Amarillo, Texas, rescued Judy W. Jett, Sylvia L. Highers and Barbara J. Fail from burning, Hydro, Okla., July 11, 2010.
— Peter Boterenbrood, of Norton Shores, Mich., rescued Christopher F. Porter from burning, Norton Shores, Mich., July 24, 2010.
— John Conley, of Barrington, R.I., helped to save a woman from drowning, New Bedford, Mass., Aug. 7, 2010.
— William E. Longmore IV, of Adairsville, Ga., rescued Robert M. Jones from burning, Rome, Ga., Aug. 16, 2010.
— Travis James Mauldin, Cody Alan Beasley, and Brandon M. Smith, of Okeechobee, Fla., saved a woman from drowning, Fort Pierce, Fla., Aug. 17, 2010.
— Gerald A. LaMonica, of Dearborn Heights, Mich., rescued Madison P. Boljesic from an attacking dog, Dearborn Heights, Mich., Sept. 25, 2010.
— Matthew Jason McCune, of Denver, Colo., rescued Erin Lucero from assault, Denver, Colo., Oct. 13, 2010.
— Darryl F. Starnes and Curtis W. Combs. Sr., of Mechanicsville, Va., rescued Kelley B. Peele from burning, Mechanicsville, Va., Feb. 15, 2011.


GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — A building contractor who moved here earlier this year is one of 18 recipients of the Carnegie Hero Award for his action in helping to capture a bank robber during a violent robbery in Long Beach, Calif.

“I don't think of myself as a hero,” said David R. Jones, 50. “To me, a hero is any law enforcement person who charges in to a situation like that knowing there's a gun.

“I was just the right person in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Jones added.

Jones wasn't injured, but his fellow award recipient, Richard Camp of Long Beach, was shot in the thigh and another bank customer, a woman in her 70s, was shot in the leg.

The robber was shot in the arm during the short but intense struggle on the bank lobby's floor as Jones and Camp subdued him.

The Carnegie award comes nearly two years after the March 5, 2010, robbery of a Farmers and Merchants Bank on Bellflower Boulevard in Long Beach.

Jones, Camp and 16 others are the fourth round of 2011 recipients of the Carnegie Medal, awarded by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. The medal is given in the U.S. and Canada to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.

Carnegie Hero medals have been awarded to 9,495 people since 1904, when the fund for heroes was established by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

The medal also comes with a financial grant, although Jones hasn't yet filled out that part of the paperwork. He said he feels conflicted about whether to accept the money after reading the stories of dozens of previous medal recipients, many of whom lost their lives in the act of heroism. His wife, Abbey, suggested that they donate the money to their church.


An advance warning


Exactly two weeks before the robbery, Jones met a longtime friend, a Los Angeles Police Department robbery and homicide detective, for lunch. While they were eating, a man entered the restaurant wearing a motorcycle helmet, and the detective's mood changed abruptly.

“He went from calm and cool to telling me, ‘Get down!' and reaching for his gun,” Jones recalled. Then the man removed his helmet, sat down at a table and everything was normal again.

Over the rest of lunch, the detective told Jones all about an armed robber who was plaguing Los Angeles area banks. The robber always wore a motorcycle helmet, frequently fired a gun, and had recently taken a hostage in one robbery.

“I got the entire story on this guy's M.O.,” Jones said.

So when Jones was sitting in the Farmers and Merchants Bank on the morning of Friday, March 5, chatting with the bank manager at his desk in the far corner of the lobby, he immediately sensed danger when a man walked in the bank wearing a motorcycle helmet, leather pants and a riding jacket.

“I told him, ‘Push a button or something, because you are about to be robbed.' He said, ‘No, I'm just going to ask him to take the helmet off.'

“Right as he stood up, the guy pulls out a .38 pistol and tells everybody, ‘Get down, this is a real robbery, this is a real gun.' And there was lots of profanity,” Jones said.


Gunfire prompts action


Jones, who stands 6 feet 2 inches and weighs 250 pounds, said his first reaction was to jump out of his chair and tackle the man. But he quickly decided to sit tight and assess the situation. He thought the robber might just take some money and leave, and no one would get hurt.

“Then another customer walked in the bank carrying a money satchel. The robber turned away from the tellers and assaulted this person, pushing them down and grabbing the bag,” Jones said.

In that 10 seconds, the tellers and everyone working behind the counter vanished, Jones said. When the robber turned his attention back to the teller window, there was no one there to hand him money. So he lunged over the counter, a pistol in one hand, trying to reach a cash caddy.

That's when Camp, also a large man, jumped on the robber from behind, even as the bank manager was yelling out, “Don't do it, don't do it.”

The robber fired off three random shots, hitting the floor and ceiling. He then reached the pistol down between his own legs and fired, hitting Camp in the thigh, and kept firing the gun, hitting the older woman in the leg. Then he fumbled and dropped the gun.

At that point, Jones raced out from where he was crouched behind the manager's desk, grabbed the gun and sent it sliding across the tile floor.

Jones then piled on as Camp and the robber went down to the floor. With both men lying on him, the robber cried out for them to ease up, that he couldn't breathe. But Jones saw the man's right arm move, and could see that he had a second pistol and extra clips on a belt.

The gun went off underneath them, hitting the robber in his left elbow.

“I pulled that gun out of his hand, and I was thinking, ‘Maybe I should just shoot this guy.' But I knew I didn't want to end my life knowing I had killed another person, so I threw it way across the floor,” Jones said.

At that point, the bank's security guard raced in and helped Camp and Jones handcuff the robber. Moments later, just 2 minutes and 30 seconds after the robber first entered the bank and pulled the weapon, three squad cars of police stormed the building.

“It started at 10:24, and the police walked in at 10:26:30,” Jones said. “It happened in a nanosecond.”

It turned out the police were already in a parking lot nearby on another call.


‘It definitely rattled my cage'


Officers interviewed Jones and other bank customers and staff over the next several hours after taking the robber into custody.

The capture of Robert Lockwood, then 51, ended a string of armed bank robberies he had pulled off in the Los Angeles area over the previous three years. Lockwood was convicted of charges related to the earlier hostage-taking and for the March 5 robbery, and will spend the rest of his life in federal prison, Jones said.

It wasn't until his capture that police figured out how crafty Lockwood was. He used black electrical tape and red cellophane to cover the white parts of his motorcycle's body and helmet, making them appear red. He would then strip off the covering and escape, no longer fitting the description of the suspect.

It also turned out that the robber lived just a block away from the Jones family in Long Beach. For a few tense moments during the interviews, investigators suspected that Jones was actually an accomplice. But the bank manager, who had known Jones for more than 20 years, vouched for him.

The next day, he was quoted in front page news articles, one in the Long Beach Press-Telegram under the headline “Heroes foil bank heist,” and another in the Los Angeles Times, “Two Men Seize Bank Shooter.”

Still, the robbery was unsettling. Jones said it took a full year to be able to get a good night's sleep. It took months for him to be comfortable sitting in a restaurant or be in a crowded place, and to this day he cannot relax and be comfortable in a dark movie theater.

“It definitely rattled my cage,” he said.

Already, he and Abbey had been feeling that Long Beach and the Los Angeles area was becoming too dangerous a place to live. For years, Jones spent the summers building houses in northern California, and by the time of the robbery he had started working summers in Glenwood Springs with his friend and partner, the architect Brad Jordan.

“The bank robbery, for me, was like the final straw. We were already itching to get out, and the robbery became a motivating factor,” he said.

After settling up their business affairs in California, the family moved to Glenwood Springs last summer. The children, Stephen, 10, and Sophia, 6, are happily attending Sopris Elementary School.

“My family loves it here. The kids love their school, and I have been working for some kind, kind people. It's definitely driven home that we made the right decision to come here and leave ‘Hell's Haze.' That's what we called it,” Jones said.

He now calls the robbery “a life-changing experience,” something that added to his character, but not something he would have chosen to experience or would ever want to go through again.

Now that he has received the Carnegie Hero medal, Jones said he feels both humble and proud to be grouped together with heroes of the past century. But he is mostly happy to be settling in to Glenwood Springs with his family and moving on with his life.

[Ryan Ruck]

Seabees Help Save Family In Dramatic Rescue On Highway 101

January 13, 2012


A Navy forklift car steadies a vehicle teetering off a bridge on northbound Highway 101 as Santa Barbara County firefighters attach ropes and chains to pull the vehicle back onto the roadway near Buellton.

Six Seabees and a forklift helped rescue a woman and her two daughters trapped in a smashed BMW that was on the verge of plummeting about 75 feet off a bridge after a fatal accident south of Buellton on Thursday.

"It's very fortunate they came along when they did," said California Highway Patrol Officer Jeanne Malone. "They performed a wonderful service for us."

The accident occurred on Highway 101 around 2:40 p.m. when a northbound big rig hauling gravel hit the rear of the BMW, which also was headed north, the patrol reported. The big rig broke through bridge rails and plunged into the creek below, where it burst into flames. The 48-year-old driver, later identified as Charles Arthur Allison Jr. of Grover Beach, died at the scene.

The BMW, meanwhile, was stuck in the center railing of the Nojoqui Creek bridge, "precariously hanging over the edge," according to the patrol report. The 36-year-old driver, Kelli Lynne Groves of San Juan Capistrano, was in the car with her daughters, ages 10 and 10 weeks.

The Seabees — Petty Officers Michael McCracken, Frankie Cruz, Shawn Legg, Benjamin Mead and James Winters and Constructionman Clinton Roberts of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 and the 31st Seabee Readiness Group — were heading back to Port Hueneme when they came on the scene. They offered to help with controlling traffic or in any other way.

"As the fire department was cutting the car to get the family out, it kept slipping over the bridge," McCracken, a forklift operator, said in a Navy release. "I talked to the fire captain in charge and he was excited to hear that we had an extendable-boom forklift just 200 to 300 feet behind the wreck and he said to go get it."

The forklift extended across the gap between southbound and northbound lanes and cradled the crumpled wreckage hanging off the roadway, photos show.

The family was safely rescued and taken to area hospitals with minor to major injuries, the patrol reported. The accident, which is still under investigation, shut the freeway in both directions for hours and caused major damage to the bridge.

"The mom and two children are all alive and we had a hand in it," McCracken said in the release. "That is the biggest thing that I got out of it."

[Ryan Ruck]

In Honor Of Lt. Buck Compton, 1921-2012

February 26, 2012



In great sadness and tribute I write to tell of the passing late evening February 25 of Lt. Lynn “Buck” Davis Compton, one of the original Band of Brothers.

Buck was a true patriot, a valiant soldier in battle, a devoted public servant, and an honorable and caring family man.

He died peacefully and comfortably at his home in Burlington, Washington. He was 90.

Buck was born in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve, 1921. He was named after his grandfather, Lyndley, but gave himself the nickname “Buck” in grammar school, taking a cue from a star catcher for the Angels, “Truck” Hannah.

During the Depression, Buck worked in the movies as a child actor, appearing in several films as an extra. Actor Mickey Rooney was a childhood friend.

In college, Buck was a two-sport athlete for UCLA, playing both football and baseball and excelling in both. In football, he played in the 1943 Rosebowl. In baseball, the legendary Jackie Robinson was a teammate.



When World War II broke out, Buck became an officer with the famed Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, the elite group of paratroopers known as the Band of Brothers. He parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, fought valiantly in Operation-Market in Holland where he was wounded, and braved the snow and ice of the battle of Bastogne. He was awarded the Silver Star for his actions during the assault on Brecourt Manor.

After the war Buck became a detective, an attorney, and later a judge. While an attorney, he successfully prosecuted Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of Bobby Kennedy.

Actor Neal McDonough portrayed Buck Compton in the HBO production of Band of Brothers. Neal and Buck stayed close friends ever after.

Buck was active long after retirement. In later years he hosted a radio commentary show and volunteered for the Skagit County Republican Party Headquarters. Four mornings each week he met for breakfast with other veterans for coffee. Buck spoke and travelled extensively, and was a staunch supporter of today’s troops.

In later years, through the influence of attorney Vance Day, Buck professed a faith in Jesus Christ. Buck’s family is confident he is in heaven today.

Buck was preceded in death by his parents and by wife Donna. He is survived by his daughters, Tracy and Syndee, his grandchildren Samantha, Lyndsie, Shannon, and Hayley, and by his beloved dog, Ernie. Buck wrote in the dedication to his memoir that his family was "the greatest thing that ever happened to me."

Two memorial services are being planned—a smaller one for the immediate family, and a larger one for the public. Dates will be announced soon.



On a personal note, I was so greatly honored to have met this man, to speak with him on many occasions, to have participated in the writing of his book, and to travel with him to several shows and signings around the country.

I can't say enough good things about him.

It hasn't sunk in yet that his physical life is passed.

This picture of Buck and me was taken by George Luz Jr. just a few weeks back, early January, at Buck's 90th birthday party. It was at the end of the party, and Buck and I shared a few quiet moments in the lobby of the building. We didn't talk much. He was tired then. But we just sat together, and that spoke volumes to me.

I deeply miss this man who came to mean so much to me.

Buck Compton--simply put, you were the greatest.


Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

Psalm 23: 6

Buck was played by Neal McDonough in Band Of Brothers: