A Word for Petty Officer Darrel L. Enos

Hospital Corpsman First Class Darrel L. Enos, 36, of Colorado Springs, CO, died August 17, 2012, while supporting combat operations in Farah Province, Afghanistan. According to KKTV in Colorado Springs, he was murdered by an Afghan police recruit his unit was training.

Doc Enos was assigned to 3rd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Camp Lejeune, NC.

Semper Fi

A Word for Petty Officer Clayton R. Beauchamp

Hospital Corpsman Third Class Clayton R. Beauchamp, of Weatherford, Texas, died August 7, 2012, when his unit was attacked with an IED while conducting a dismounted patrol in the Shaban District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Beauchamp was assigned to 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, 1st Marine Division (Forward), I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), out of Camp Pendleton, CA.

Semper Fi.

A Word for Hospitalman Eric D. Warren

Hospitalman Eric D. Warren of Shawnee, OK, died May 26, 2012, of wounds received in an IED blast in Sangin District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.


Doc Warren was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 6, 1st MARDIV (Forward), I MEF (Forward), Camp Lejeune, NC.


Semper Fi

A Word for Hospitalman Riley Gallinger-Long

Hospitalman Riley Gallinger-Long, 19, of Cornelius, OR, died August 11, 2011, while conducting a dismounted patrol in the Marjah District in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Gallinger-Long was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 1, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune.

Semper Fi

A Word for Hospitalman Aaron D. Ullom

Hospitalman Aaron D. Ullom, 20, of Midland, Mich., died while conducting a dismounted patrol in the Now Zad district, Helmand province, Afghanistan, on July 12, 2011.
Doc Ullom was assigned as a corpsman with 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Semper Fi.

A Word for Hospitalman Benjamin Rast

Hospital Corpsman Benjamin D. Rast, 23, of Niles, Michigan, died April 6, 2011, while conducting a dismounted patrol near Patrol Base Alcatraz in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Rast was stationed at Naval Medical Center, San Diego, but assigned to 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division, in Afghanistan.

Evidence seems to point to this being a "friendly-fire" missile strike from a Predator drone. I don't know what to say to that other than "shit happens."

Semper Fi

10/4/2016 Someone (Anonymous) recently pointed out that my summation "shit happens" was insensitive, and I can't deny that. This was reportedly the first "friendly-fire" Predator strike of the war. No one meant for Doc Rast and SSGT Jeremy Smith to die, and drone strikes were meant to save American lives, not to take them, but it happened. SSGT Smith's father said he forgave the operator and I'm okay with that. I hope he can forgive himself. It happens.

A Word for Hospitalman Edwin Gonzalez

Hospital Corpsman Edwin Gonzalez, 22, of North Miami Beach, Florida, died October 8, 2010, of wounds from an improvised explosive device while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Gonzalez was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, FMF Atlantic.

Semper Fi

A Word for HM3 James M. Swink

Hospital Corpsman Third Class James M. Swink, 20, of Yucca Valley, California, died Aug. 27, 2010, while conducting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Doc Swink was assigned to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Forces.
Semper Fi.

A Word for Hospitalman William Ortega

Hospitalman William Ortega, 23, of Miami, Florida, died June 18, 2010, of wounds sustained from an IED blast while conducting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Ortega was assigned to Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment, First Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.

Semper Fi

A Word for HM3 Zarian Wood

Petty Officer Zarian Wood, 29, of Houston, Texas, died May 16, 2010, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device blast while on dismounted patrol.

Doc Wood was assigned as a hospital corpsman to Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment, First Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.

Semper Fi

A Word for HM3 James R. Layton

Petty Officer 3rd Class James R. Layton, 22, of Riverbank, CA, was killed September 8, 2009, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Doc Layton was assigned to an embedded training team with Combined Security Transition Command in Afghanistan.

Doc Crone at corpsman.com first made me aware of this casualty, and he linked to this story of Doc Layton's passing in the Modesto Bee.

Semper Fi

A Word for HM3 Benjamin P. Castiglione

Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin P. Castiglione, 21, of Howell, MI, died September 3, 2009, supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Castiglione was assigned to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaisance Battalion, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.

Semper Fi

A Word for HM3 Anthony C. Garcia

Hospital Corpsman Third Class Anthony C. Garcia, 21, of Tyndall, Florida, died August 5, 2009, during combat operations in Farah Province, Afghanistan.

Doc Garcia was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Third Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Marine Corps Base, Hawaii, at Kaneohe.

Semper Fi

Thoughts on Karma

I just saw a blurb that on this date in 1989 the Soviet Union completed its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan after nine years and 15,000 Soviet troops killed. That got me to thinking...
Who inflicted most of those casualties on the Soviet forces?
Who armed and trained most of those fighters?
Who were the U.S. Presidents during those years?
What did Forrest Gump say? Stupid is as stupid does?
Sadly, these games are played with real people and live ammunition.

Spreading Democracy

I need to not post on here when my head isn't in it. Yesterday I had a feel for what I wanted to get out but I was distracted. It's not so much my consciousness that I might not be the only one reading this... but that it didn't meet my need to articulate what I wanted to say... and that's just frustrating.
It bugs me that this Administration is pushing this election in Iraq as a huge step forward... and it almost certainly isn't. All other considerations aside, significant numbers of Iraqis won't be able to vote... in this country as well as in Iraq. In Iraq this appears to impact mostly the Sunni population which isn't going to win a popular election anyway, but still...
Here in the United States there are five... five... registration and polling places. Throughout the Southwestern U.S. there are 70,000 ethnic Iraqis who must travel to the old MCAS El Toro site to register and then again to vote at the end of the month.
The White House has pointed to the alleged democratization of Afghanistan as a victory for us. Didn't Karzai campaign primarily in the capital and in Kandahar because he couldn't be protected elsewhere in the country? Oh, I know that there were a kazillion ballots cast and Karzai won by a huge margin. It happens. Wasn't there a precinct in Ohio that polled 117% of its registered voters?
Is it just me or are some cultures maybe not ready for democracy... or whatever we're trying to impose? Even with the tradition of the Magna Carta and British parliamentary process, wasn't the Massachusetts Colony pretty much a religious oligarchy that banished or burned people at the stake? Didn't it take us several decades to start to get things together?
How democratic is the assumption that we have everything so together ourselves now that we have the right and the duty to impose our will and our institutions on other cultures? How right is that?