Recognition for Civilians in Afghanistan

 

However, the first recipient was Nic Crouch, a private security contractor who was killed whilst working in Iraq.

His parents received the medal posthumously on his behalf last month.

The medal means the world to Nic’s parents. Awarded to their son after his death, it is official recognition for his work supporting the mission in Afghanistan. But they have had to fight for that recognition.

The Civilian Service Medal is now awarded to many outside the military who have supported the Afghan campaign. At a lavish ceremony, 110 civilians received their medal, presented by the Foreign Secretary.

 

Colin Erwin, National Guard, Civilian Contractor, injured in Afghanistan

Colin Erwin was wounded by mortar fire in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Erwin was working overseas as a contractor. Even though the war veteran left his uniform behind this time, he wasn’t out of harm’s way.

Hundreds Welcome Injured Soldier/Contractor Home

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) -  May 10, 2012

A wounded Huntsville solider is on his way home from Afghanistan and you can show your support for him this week.

Sgt. Colin Erwin is with the 203rd MP Alabama Army National Guard. He was working as a contractor supporting the Army when the gym he was in took a direct hit from mortar fire.

Sgt. Erwin’s mother said her son suffered injuries to the torso and right leg.

Sgt. Erwin will arrive at Huntsville Airport Thursday at 10:30 a.m. He will be escorted home by friends, family and patriot guard riders.

Anyone interested in welcoming home this wounded warrior is asked to be at the Huntsville Airport by 10 a.m. Madison Fire, Monrovia Fire and Heritage Elementary will line the streets along the route on County Line Road to Old Railroad Bed Road. The family invites supporters to also line the route.

6 Degrees from Kabul

by Susie Dow at The Missing Man  May 1, 2012

Shortly after President Barack Obama left Afghanistan earlier today, blasts were reported in and around Kabul. According to multiple breaking news stories, the ‘Green Village’ was one of the intended targets of the suicide bombers.

Car bomb shakes Kabul after Barack Obama visit to Afghanistan
May 1, 2012, Guardian

The Green Village is owned and operated by Stratex Freedom Services whose two Uzbeki principals were once former partners with John Dawkins, one of the original founders of Ultra Services of Istanbul, Turkey.

Ultra Services was the logistics firm which employed Kirk von Ackermann and Ryan Manelick in Iraq.

You can learn more about the history of John Dawkins, Ultra Services and Stratex Freedom Services in an article at ePluribus Media, just shy of 6 years to the day since it was first published.

One Missing, One Dead: an Iraq Contractor in the Fog of War
By Susie Dow, May 12, 2006, ePluribus Media

Reprint here at this blog:

One Missing One Dead: An Iraq Contractor in the Fog of War (full article reprint)
By Susie Dow, ePluribus Media, May 12, 2006

 

Nicholas Dickhut, featured Friday by Rueters, killed Sunday in Afghanistan

U.S. soldier Nicholas Dickhut from 5-20 infantry Regiment attached to 82nd Airborne points his rifle at a doorway after coming under fire by the Taliban while on patrol in Zharay district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan

Rochester Soldier Killed in Afghanistan

ROCHESTER, Minn. (FOX 47) — A Rochester family got the worst kind of news this morning — their son has been killed fighting in Afghanistan.

Jacqueline Carson said Monday morning that her son, Nicholas Dickhut, was killed Sunday in action in Afghanistan.

Nicholas had just been featured Friday by Reuters News Service, and was pictured in a battle with Taliban fighters.

When Jacqueline called to tell us what had happened this morning, she was still waiting for a visit from an officer with the official word of what had happened.

Nicholas was with the 520th Infantry Regiment, attached to the 82nd Airborne

The 82nd in Afghanistan

Battleland CNN

Billy Ross Blankenship, Army Reserve Captain, Civilian Contractor dies in Afghanistan

NewsOK April 25, 2012

Capt. Billy Ross Blankenship, 43, formerly of Norman, was working in Kabul as a contractor for Intelligence Software Solutions Inc. when he died April 18. His cause of death is still under investigation.

Blankenship joined the Air Force Reserve as a senior at Bethany High School. He enlisted in active duty with the Army in 1989, during which he served in Desert Storm. After four years of active duty, Blankenship served in the Oklahoma National Guard and became a commissioned officer in 2001. He was mobilized for Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003 and served until 2010.

A database analyst for the U.S. Post Office, Blankenship retained his role in the Army Reserve. He left the Postal Service last fall to undertake contract work in Afghanistan, where he continued to perform his Reserve duties.

Blankenship is survived by his wife, Melissa, and four children, as well as his parents and two siblings.

Services are 10 a.m. Saturday at Havenbrook Funeral Home in Norman.

Jason Matthew Hamilton, Civilian Contractor Boeing, dies in Afghanistan

Hamilton had previously served as a helicopter crew chief for the Marines for five years. Hamilton worked for Boeing on the V-22 Osprey and H-46 Sea Knight out of New River.

Havelock contractor dies in Afghanistan  April 18, 2012

A Havelock resident working for a private contractor in Afghanistan died on Saturday.

Jason Matthew Hamilton, 40, was working as a Boeing field representative supporting the Army 1st Cavalry as a helicopter expert in Afghanistan. He died of natural causes, according to a Boeing source.

Hamilton was working on CH-47 Chinook helicopters at the time.

After serving as a helicopter crew chief for the Marines for five years, Hamilton worked for Boeing on the V-22 Osprey and H-46 Sea Knight out of New River.

A native of Statesville, he will be buried in Mooresville on Saturday

Jason Matthew Hamilton
HAVELOCK — Mr. Hamilton, 40, of Havelock, NC passed away on Saturday, April 14, 2012 in Afghanistan while serving as the Boeing Field Service Representative supporting the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry as an expert in CH-47 Chinook systems.
He was born on April 1, 1972 in Statesville, to Violet Wright Knox of Mooresville and the late Johnnie Eugene Hamilton.
Jason was an Eagle Scout, a 1990 graduate of Mooresville High School and a US veteran serving in the Marine Corps with 5 years of service as a helicopter crew chief. He was a member of Mooresville ARP Church.
He was preceded in death by grandparents, Job and Ruth Hamilton; grandmother, Carolyn Glass; and grandfather, Joe V. Knox. He is survived by his parents Violet and Van Knox; his children Jacob Hamilton, Paige Hamilton, and their mother, Lorie Hamilton; brother, Jeff Knox and fiancee, Jenn Shea; grandmother, Elizabeth Knox; and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 22, 2012 at Mooresville ARP Church with Rev. Andy Ward and Rev. Gerald R. Hallman officiating. Burial will follow the service at Glenwood Memorial Park. The family will receive friends on Saturday from 5:00-8:00 p.m. at Cavin-Cook Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Welcome Home Veterans, 128 S. Main Street, Mooresville, NC 28115 and/or Mooresville ARP Church, 659 Carpenter Ave, Mooresville, NC 28115.
Cavin-Cook Funeral Home, Mooresville, is serving the family of Mr. Hamilton. Condolences may be made to the family at www.cavin-cook.com.

John J Keys and Jacob A West receive Defense of Freedom Medal

Fairbanks civilian contractor who survived blast in Afghanistan honored

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Kendall P. Cox, left, presents the Defense of Freedom Medal to John Keys, 52, of Fairbanks, who was injured when a bomb exploded while Keys was conducting a road survey near Paktika Province, Afghnistan, injuring Keys and killing U.S. service members Navy Chief Petty Officer Raymond J. Border, 31, of West Lafayette, Ohio, and Army Staff Sgt. Jorge M. Oliveria, 33, of Newark, N.J. The medal also was presented to Jacob West, 30, of Fayetteville, N.C., who was injured with Keys. / Photo by Mark Rankin, AED North Public Affairs Office
Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

FAIRBANKS — A Fairbanks engineer saw first hand last fall how Afghanistan is a dangerous assignment whether for a soldier or a civilian. While working on a new road in an Afghan village John J. Keys was hit by an 80-pound roadside bomb. Keys, another Army civilian and a translator survived, but two military men they had been working with for months were killed instantly.

Perhaps thankless is the best word for the engineering assignment. Keys found out later that the villagers for whom they were building the road likely saw the bomb-layers digging for several days to install the bomb.

Yet no one bothered to warn them.

Keys, 52, is no stranger to war zones. In his recent career he was been a a civil engineer at Fort Wainwright, where he helped design some the post’s barracks. But before coming to Fairbanks in 1994 he served in the Air National Guard during Operation Desert Storm and later on drug interdiction assignments in Central and South America.

As a civilian engineer, Keys said he has good protection from the military with a close aerial presence and an escort of soldiers. But he never forgot he was in a war. “You’re always careful,” he said. “You’re looking for signs of (improved explosive devices), hand trails where they bury the wires … You’re always aware that anything could happen at any time.”

On Oct. 19, Keys was inspecting a two-lane gravel road through the village of Yahya Khel in Eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. He was on (and now directs) a provisional reconstruction team, a combined military and civilian crew that was going to convert a gravel road to cobblestones at the request of the village. As a member of the team, Keys wore full combat gear minus the weapons and was traveling with a convoy of heavy mine-resistant vehicles. Instead of an assault rifle he carried a camera to document the road conditions.

A photograph he took a few minutes before the blast shows a relatively innocuous scene: a dusty road flanked by earthen walls. A group of men in white robes sit and stand in a doorway talking to soldiers.

The blast went off about 100 meters from where the photograph was taken. The explosion killed Navy Chief Petty Officer Raymond J. Border, 31, of West Lafayette, Ohio, and Army Staff Sgt. Jorge M. Oliveira, 33, of Newark, N.J. Keys was blown of his feet and knocked 20 feet into a gully, according to an account of the explosion recorded in a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers news release.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” Keys said. “I was in full-body pain and I wasn’t where I started.”

The other Army civilian, Jacob A. West, 30, of Fayetteville, N.C., remembered only a smell of burning dirt, chemical and plastic from the moments after the blast, according to the Army news release. His first clear memory was sitting in the armored vehicle where he saw Keys return to the site of the blast to look for the two military men.

“He (Keys) did all that without being asked,” West said according to the release. “He did all that on his own without any regard for his personal safety. He was part of that team. I think that was significant. People should know that.”

This week, Keys and West were both presented the Defense of Freedom Metal, the equivalent of the military Purple Heart for Department of Defense civilians

Please see the original and read more here

Jim St Pierre, Former Pasco County Deputy, dies in Afghanistan

My Fox Tampa Bay  March 26, 2012

Two years ago Jim St. Pierre told his girlfriend Nancy Kleinfelder he wanted to go to work in Afghanistan.

As you can imagine, she was concerned.

“I was just worried to death that he would be in harms way,” Kleinfelder said of where St. Pierre would be spending a majority of his time.

But she also understood.

St. Pierre, a retired Pasco County sheriff’s deputy and father of three, had dedicated his life to service and training K-9s.

In Afghanistan he would be doing both.

“He wanted to help people and those were the best times,” said Kleinfelder.

Friday Kleinfelder’s fears were confirmed, St. Pierre died in Afghanistan of a heart attack at the age of 51.

“I’ll miss him,” she said. “His family will miss him terribly.”

St. Pierre worked as a contractor in Afghanistan for American K-9 Detection Services as a narcotics detection dog handler.

The company says he and his partner Jowi had found drugs on numerous occasions during their two years in the country.

St. Pierre also worked with K-9′s with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, but his love for dogs started long before his work as an officer.

“When we were children, going to Sunshine Elementary School he had a shepherd here,” said David McConnell.

McConnell had known St. Pierre since childhood. They grew up together.

“He was more like a brother to me, basically all my life,” McConnell said Sunday.

He adds that St. Pierre’s parents are distraught over their son’s death.

Friend and family say he’ll be sorely missed.

“A terrific guy, great sense of humor but also a great sense of duty and honor,” said McConnell. “He was serious about his work but he didn’t take himself too seriously so that made him fun to be around.”

They also hope his death reminds folks of the many contractors who have died in the war-torn country.

“I just don’t want people to forget that there are thousands of men and women just like him who are serving and we need to remember them and honor them as well,” said Kleinfelder

Please see the original and read more here

Former Navy First Class Petty Officer, Civilian Contractor Paul Terrell, Quietly Murdered in Afghanistan

Editors Note:  A murder would be covered under the DBA, a suicide would not ….

Vicki Terrell  Comment left on November 7, 2010

I know for a fact the the CID in Afghanistan do not investigate all of the cases!

My husband, Paul A. Terrell, was murdered on base at Camp Phoenix on June 17, 2010 and they are trying to say that it was a suicide. It was NOT suicide! He had only been back on base for a few hours after a 2 week vacation home.

He was retired from the US Navy and on his third tour as a civilian contractor.

His passport is still missing along with his cell phone he had just called me from.

They have given me at least 5 places where his passport is and every place they say claims to not have it.

He was hung in his shop in the early hours of June 17.

When they sent me the list of evidence from the scene, the top of the list was a cigarette butt. When I told them that my husband did NOT smoke, they said they would do DNA on the cigarette.

Now they claim that the DNA matched and when they sent his things home they DID NOT send his shaving kit (obviously where I could have gotten DNA).

They waited to send everything home until he was cremated so I could not get his DNA.

Thinking I could trust the military to due a proper investigation

I WILL eventually find out what happened and clear my husband’s name, but until then there will not be any closure for myself or our 2 granddaughters that we are raising. I have contacted 2 of his friends there only to be hung up on or ignored.

It makes me wonder if they are afraid or been ordered not to talk to me.

If anyone out there knows of someone that will investigate this, please let me know.

My husband was not depressed or unhappy. He was there to serve his country and make the money to send our girls to college. We were very happily married without problems. A few hours before he had even gone jogging and told these friends about us looking for a new home in Florida on his vacation!

I ask you…Is this a man that would have committed suicide? Absolutely not…He WAS murdered!!!

Chance Smith, Civilian Contractor Afghanistan, killed while home on RR

Charleston SC WCSC February 23, 2012

Smith, an outfielder for The Citadel baseball team from 2004-07, was killed early Saturday morning in a car accident that also left his wife, La-aia, in critical condition. Their infant daughter, Laina Madison, was not with them at the time of the accident.

Smith was returning home to McDonough, Ga., from Atlanta after celebrating his upcoming 27th birthday with his wife when the crash occurred. The 2003 graduate of Evans High School worked as an U.S. Army contractor and was scheduled to return to Afghanistan this week.

Many Citadel fans will remember his two home runs and four RBIs in an 11-10 victory over rival College of Charleston in 2006.

“He was a very inspirational player with tremendous enthusiasm for the game and for the Citadel,” said Citadel head coach Fred Jordan. “He was a hard-nosed and athletic centerfielder. The important thing was, he graduated from The Citadel and was defending his country in the military. He’s a very special person to me and to all of us.”

 

The Columbia County News Times February 22, 2012

Gordie Smith (right) watches his son Chance sign a letter of intent to attend The Citadel on a baseball scholarship

Chance Smith was killed in a single-car accident Sunday morning.

The 2003 graduate was on his way home to McDonough, Ga., after celebrating his upcoming 27th birthday in Atlanta with his wife La-aia when the crash occurred.

Smith worked as an U.S. Army contractor and was scheduled to return to Afghanistan this week.

While his wife suffered a cracked sternum and deflated lung, the couple’s 3-month-old daughter Laina Madison was not with them.

From high school onward, Smith affected those he knew in a positive way

Please see the original and read more about Chance Smith here