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 HM2 Xin Qi

Petty Officer Second Class Xin Qi, 25, of Cordova, TN, died January 23, 2010, while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. His dismounted patrol was reportedly attacked by a suicide bomber.

Doc Qi (Chee) was assigned to Fourth Light Armored Recon Battalion, Marine Expeditionary Brigade - Afghanistan.

He was a reservist and volunteered for the deployment. A commenter in the Memphis paper, responding to the report of Qi's death, wondered what the country was coming to allowing this son of Chinese immigrants to serve under our flag. I saw that and wondered why Qi would want to. We can be such assholes.

Semper Fi, my brother.

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

A Word for Hospitalman Lucas Emch

Hospitalman Lucas W.A. Emch, 21, of Kent, Ohio, died March 2, 2007, when an Improvised Explosive Device detonated in his vicinity while conducting combat operations in Al-Anbar Province, Iraq.

Doc Emch was a hospital corpsman assigned to 1st Marine Logistics Group, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Semper Fi

A Few Words for HM2 Jaime Jaenke

I missed the announcement of the death of Jaime Jaenke when it was posted. I know that there are Seabees in Iraq, and I know that they, too, have Corpsmen assigned to them. We just hadn't lost one yet.

Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Jaime S. Jaenke, 29, of Bay City, Wis., died June 5 as a result of enemy action when her HMMWV was struck by an improvised explosive device in Al Anbar province, Iraq. She was assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25, Fort McCoy, Wis. She had actually moved back home to Iowa Falls last July before deploying.
I'm not very highly evolved. I come from a time before women were getting blown up in their jeeps in forward areas, and seeing the pictures of Petty Officer Jaenke's funeral with her 9 year old daughter following the coffin and receiving the flag... well, I'm not used to it.
Now I read that as a matter of policy her death benefits are to be held in trust for her daughter instead of being used for her rearing as Petty Officer Jaenke had intended. One reads this piece, and hopes that an admiral did not really tell the child's grandmother that in the meantime the child "may have to learn to do without."
It all comes with the territory. People get blown up or beat down or burned out, and some of them now are mothers. You just hope that They know what They're doing this time... against all evidence to the contrary.

A Word About Hospitalman Christopher Anderson

Hospitalman Christopher A. Anderson, 24, of Longmont, Colo., died Dec. 4 as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Doc Anderson was a Navy Corpsman assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Semper Fi

A Word About HM3 Lee Hamilton Deal

Petty Officer Third Class Lee Hamilton Deal, 23, of West Monroe, La., died May 17, as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was operationally assigned to Regimental Combat Team-5, I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), and permanently assigned to 2nd Marine Division Fleet Marine Force Atlantic, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
HM3 Deal had a life... and he might have had a good life.

Semper Fi

Thoughts on Place

This could turn out to be an introductory post, but I don't know that yet... I never know what I'm going to write about next. Ronni Bennett over at Time Goes By has been forced into the realization that she has to change her venue from her beloved New York to... where?
Appalachian Intellectual posted regarding some of hatefulness that has been vented toward the people of East Waynesville, N.C. (It was the pastor at the Baptist Church and he's resigned!) There are conservative Republicans in California and there are liberal Democrats in North Carolina. We may need to work on our tolerance.
Finally, I have been thinking about posting on my reflections about some of differences between red states and blue states... an issue with me as my intention is to move from the ultimate blue state smack into the middle of a bunch of red states. It came to me that my roots are in red states and that with a little reflection I can still see where they're coming from... for the most part.
I had an epiphany of sorts early last year... that I was never going to be able to retire in California, that I was working full time at a job that I do not relish in order to be able to live in California, and that I really don't care to live in California. I've lived in California since 1970 when I got back to the States. My last fifteen years in the Navy were in and out of San Diego. My kids were born in San Diego and I went to college in San Diego and after college I finally found a job in Southern California... not in San Diego, of course! I was already 42!
I grew up in the rural midwest... central Illinois and Iowa... a million years ago but I have never had a desire to return to the bitter winters or the hot, humid summers there.
My father's family was from Henry County, Georgia, and my only memories of it were of the summer. I got a chance to go back there last May, but it's become so... metropolitan Atlanta that it's just not an option.
During my drive through America last May I looked around, stopped by coffee shops, smelled the air... Tennessee sang to me... the Smoky Mountains sang to me... when I met my wife she said the Smoky Mountains sang to her (but her preference is for the Georgia side of them... she's from Clayton County, Georgia and had vacationed up around Rabun Gap). Today I'll be dipped if the MSNBC Travel Section didn't have a piece on 25 Things to Love About Asheville.
I know guys who are making it on their military retirement... but not in California. Worse, California has never really sung to me. This is where I got off the ship in 1985 and I stayed here, but I'm not a Californian. It remains to be seen whether or not I'll become at home in the Smokies, but they are calling me... and it's time.
In eighteen months I'll be 59 and a half, and I promised my wife's family that I'd have her back home in time for her birthday in 2006. I just need to hold off on breaking stuff for awhile.

I want to mention HM3 Jeffery Wiener. Petty Officer Third Class Jeffery L. Wiener, 32, of Louisville, Ky., died May 7, in a combat related incident. Weiner was a Navy hospital corpsman assigned to II Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF). Here is the piece they wrote up on him in the Lexington, KY paper.

Priorities

This post has taken me awhile to write... I've started it a few times over a few days, but I go off on tangents.
It bugs me that people who have never served challenge the patriotism of veterans who oppose this war. By not supporting the war I'm not supporting the troops? I can't support one without the other? I would argue that the Administration is supporting the war but not the troops.
Troops aren't stupid! Do you think it's a secret and that Joe will never guess that this whole thing is a crock? Being sent halfway around the world to fight wars that may or may not need to be fought is nothing new. It wasn't even new when I went! Joe's concern is doing the 13 months... a year now?... and getting back home in one piece.
I said earlier that the troops don't pick the wars; you and I do that. I believe that, having committed those souls to combat, we incur an obligation to them... perhaps particularly where our purposes are questionable in the first place.
If Joe can't get home in one piece then he's got to worry about what happens to him and his family now that he's damaged goods... a $12,000 death benefit?... and when the nominee for Secretary of Veteran Affairs is candid about sustaining even the current benefit levels then Joe's got a reason to worry! I don't support the troops? A "success" story like this one gets reported because it's a "man bites dog" story, and Mr. Armour still has to worry about getting rehab and putting food on the table for him and his family. We're closing VA Hospitals? Good grief.
America... or a good part of it... weeps for the 1350+ troops killed in this war. If we abandon the 12,000+ who have been wounded then we should weep for ourselves because we are soulless.

I just want to mention Petty Officer 3rd Class John D. House, 28, of Ventura, Calif., died Jan. 26, in a helicopter crash near Ar Rutbah, Iraq. House was assigned to Naval Medical Clinic Hawaii, Marine Corps Units Detachment, Pearl Harbor.
Rest in peace, Doc.
Semper Fi