Baquba, Iraq

BAQUBA, Iraq, March 31 — In the last moments of his life, Sgt. First Class Benjamin L. Sebban saw the flatbed truck speed into the concertina wire guarding his small Army patrol base near Baquba.

“Everybody get down! Get down!” he screamed. Soldiers dropped to the ground.

A combination of the strong wire and muddy gravel stopped the bomber, who then detonated explosives packed into the truck bed. A 50-foot-wide fireball enveloped the base, an L-shaped school that weeks earlier had served as an insurgent hide-out. Soldiers were slammed into walls and windows, they later recalled, battered by pieces of brick and glass turned into shrapnel.

Unaware of a deep wound beneath his body armor, Sergeant Sebban, a 29-year-old medic, shook off the blast and staggered to his first-aid station to treat casualties, other soldiers recalled. “Let’s get ready!” he shouted, one soldier said. Then he collapsed. He bled to death even before the evacuation helicopter arrived to carry him away, 17 minutes after the 6 p.m. attack.

At almost precisely the same time another helicopter landed in Baquba. It carried Col. David Sutherland, commander of the American combat brigade in Diyala Province. He was returning from the large military base in Balad, where he had visited wounded soldiers and gone to the morgue, where he saluted and then prayed as he placed his hands on a long black body bag containing the body of a military policeman killed that day by a sniper in Baquba.

It had been a long day for Colonel Sutherland and his brigade chaplain, Maj. Charlie Fenton, who have taken it on themselves to visit every dead and badly wounded soldier in the 5,000-strong unit, the Third Brigade Combat Team of the First Cavalry Division.

But it was still not over. After arriving in Baquba, Major Fenton walked into the brigade headquarters and heard Colonel Sutherland on a loudspeaker informing officers that a soldier from another brigade had committed suicide in Muqdadiya. Then he was handed a list of nine new casualties, the dead and the wounded. At the top was Sergeant Sebban. Four hours later, he and Colonel Sutherland climbed into another helicopter, bound once again for Balad. “We’ve never had to see this many at once,” Major Fenton said as he walked in darkness in helmet and body armor to the landing pad just after 11 p.m., trailed by soldiers grasping stacks of Purple Hearts in navy blue leather cases.

The two officers have made the round trip to Balad more than 70 times since arriving in October. But on that day, March 17, the brigade suffered its highest daily toll, with two dead and 14 wounded.

Altogether, the unit has seen 39 soldiers die in five months, more in that brief span than the number killed in any brigade that preceded it in yearlong deployments here. Names of the dead are written on a piece of metal affixed to a tall concrete barrier on Forward Operating Base Warhorse, near Baquba. With the death of Sergeant Sebban, the barrier ran out of space. A new barrier was just erected next to it.

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MEDAL MOM'S CALL TO BACK THE TROOPS

By DEB DUNHAM
January 14, 2007 -- Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham, 22, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bush on Thursday for saving several men in his unit when he jumped on a grenade in Iraq. His mother, Deb Dunham, a teacher in upstate Scio, tells her memories of him.

I'll leave it to others to debate the politics of the war in Iraq. I'm a mother, not a politician. For me, discussing my son is personal, not political.

I want to remember Jason and to offer some thoughts to other parents whose sons and daughters are in combat serving this country.

There were so many facets to Jason's personality, you can't lock into any one thing.

He had a mischievous sparkle in his eye. You could play a joke on him and he would roll with it, but you could be pretty sure that he would come back with something when you weren't expecting it.

He was competitive and sports were often the way that he channeled that spirit. Jay played soccer, basketball and baseball - he still holds his high school's record in baseball.

Jason's teams often won. When he won, he wouldn't make the other team feel bad. He would congratulate his teammates and then go shake hands with the other team.

But it was his quiet sense of kindness that I remember most. He would always want to help out the little guy, the underdog, even when he was young.

Jason received the Medal of Honor for sacrificing himself to save others. What he did is great. But my son would have said, "Oo-rah! Let's go have a beer."

There was always one more challenge for him to find and meet in his life.

Like many families across America, my husband Dan and I would not have been able to afford college for our four children. Jason knew that and in the summer of his junior year in high school, we would sit in the living room and talk about what he wanted to do.

My husband was in the Air Force and he believes that everyone should serve a few years in the military, because it polishes you.

So Jay went into the Marine Corps - because it's the toughest training and something he could hold over his father's head. He'd say, "I work in the men's department of the military."

Jason joined the Corps before 9/11, but he believed in what he was doing in Iraq.

His sense of right and wrong was keen. He thought that when someone has a lot of power and a lot of strength, you have a responsibility to help the little brother.

I just miss him.

For those parents who still have children in Iraq, I say, support your child.

This is a volunteer military that we have - these men and women have more courage, more dignity and more patriotism than I have seen in years.

Take the phone calls, send the letters and the care packages. They know you are scared, but they don't need to go through two types of war.

It's not a political issue when it's your child. They are doing what they believe is right.

Jason may be gone, but we've gained thousands of new sons.

That has helped the healing for us.
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Capt. Nathanael Doring

Marine 'pursued a dream to fly'
Pilot, 31, dies in Iraq copter crash
BY FREDERICK MELO and DAVID HANNERS
Pioneer Press
After college, Nathanael Doring followed his dreams of flying and landed in the Marines, where the 31-year-old Apple Valley man met the second love of his life: his wife. The two served as captains in Iraq, and in April, he extended his second tour of duty so he could return to the U.S. this summer, shortly before she would.
Nathanael Doring, who flew attack helicopters with the Marines, died this past weekend when his AH-1 Cobra crashed into a deep lake about 45 miles west of Baghdad.
Searchers recovered his body from the cockpit Monday, along with that of a 25-year-old corporal, and their families were notified of their deaths. The accident happened during a routine maintenance test flight near an airbase and was not combat related, according to the military.
The cause of the crash is still undetermined, Doring's family said. He was the 32nd Minnesota military member to die in the Iraq war.
Cara Skoglund said her younger brother looked forward to returning to the United States in August and planned to spend time with Alexander, his 7-year-old son from a previous relationship. The boy, who lives in Maryland with his mother, learned Tuesday of Doring's death.
Skoglund and other family members remembered Doring as an independent spirit who loved the camaraderie of the military. Soccer and aviation were his greatest passions, which he took to early. While still a student at Apple Valley High School, he completed ground classes in aviation and played soccer or served as a referee.
He later attended the Milwaukee School of Engineering, graduating with honors in electrical engineering in the late 1990s before joining the U.S. Marine Corps.
"Everything he did was his own path," said Jim Doring, Nathanael Doring's father, standing with Doring's older sister and younger brother Wednesday outside the family's Apple Valley home.
Marine Capt. Lisa Christenson Doring will accompany her husband's casket back to the U.S. this week, where he will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. A memorial service has been tentatively scheduled for June 10 at the Berea Lutheran Church in Inver Grove Heights.
The two married three years ago in a ceremony at the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
During the opening salvos of the war, Doring's squadron launched operations from Kuwait into Iraq. He was among the 24 pilots of Helicopter Squadron-369 who received air medals in June 2004 for their extensive missions in combat zones.
The twin-engine AH-1W Super Cobra, the latest version of an aircraft that first saw service in Vietnam, is used by the Marines for attacking armor, armed escort and reconnaissance, among other duties.
Doring's uncle, Rich Gamble of Inver Grove Heights, said he recalled a young man who was quiet and devoted.
"He pursued a dream to fly and was able to accomplish that," said Gamble. "He was dedicated to that and dedicated to what he was doing."
Gamble said Doring believed the U.S. involvement in Iraq was a good thing.
"From his perspective, I know he believed they were helping the people in Iraq," he said.
Doring had already completed two tours of duty in Iraq and his unit had returned to Camp Pendleton in April, his uncle said. But because his wife still was serving in Iraq, he decided to stay in the Middle East.
Since his unit was stateside, Doring was assigned to act as a liaison between the military and defense contractors operating unmanned aerial vehicles, which are widely used in Iraq for surveillance and reconnaissance.
"He was flying these other missions for flight time, basically," Gamble said. "It wasn't part of his regular duties."
Doring's helicopter crashed Saturday into the deep water of a large lake near the Al Taqaddum airbase, the military said. Because special equipment had to be moved to the scene to search for and recover the helicopter, it wasn't until Monday — two days after the crash — that Doring's death was confirmed.
32: Minnesota military members killed in Iraq
53: Wisconsin military members killed in Iraq

stop and think for a minute

Capt. Nichola Goddard

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Canada suffered its first-ever death of female combat soldier during a lengthy firefight with Taliban insurgents Wednesday evening.
Capt. Nichola Goddard, of 1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery based in Shilo, Man., was killed in action at 6:55 p.m. local time, 24 kilometres west of Kandahar city, said Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, commander of the multinational brigade based in Kandahar.
Goddard's age and hometown were not immediately available. She was married, with no children.
"Our hearts, our prayers and our sympathies go out to the family of Nichola Goddard," said Fraser, standing in front of a Canadian flag at half-mast.
"It's a hard day but it's also a day of achievements here. The government of Afghanistan and the Afghan national security forces have had a good successful day. There was significant Taliban casualties both killed and captured."
"Unfortunately, the cost today was the life of Nichola."
Although Canadian women lost their lives in action in both the First and Second World Wars, Goddard was the first to do so in a combat role.
"I believe it's safe to say she was the first woman in a combat-arms military occupation (such as artillery, infantry, or armoured) killed in front-line combat," said Lieut. Morgan Bailey, a media liaison officer in Ottawa.
Goddard was serving as a forward artillery observer, helping to target the artillery guns by observing where the shells fell.
Combat roles were first opened to Canadian women in 1990.
Canadian forces were acting in support of the Afghan National Police and the Afghan National Army, who had received information a large number of Taliban fighters were massing in the Panjwai district, about 24 kilometres west of Kandahar, an area that has seen off-on fighting for weeks, said Fraser.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, to which Goddard had been attached, were supporting the Afghans by forming a ring around the battle area, Fraser said.
"We were there to back them up and support them, providing outer cordons. All the inner work was being done by the Afghan security forces."
Coalition air support was also involved.
Details were still sketchy around Goddard's death, said Fraser.
"There was a firefight out there and sometime during the firefight she was killed."
Fighting had stopped Wednesday night but Fraser said the operation was expected to continue Thursday.
As debate about Canada's mission raged on Parliament Hill, Fraser said the commitment of Goddard and all Canadian soldiers has never wavered.
"This is an important mission," he said.
"This a mission that the soldiers believe in. This is a mission that the soldiers continue to go out every day and prosecute with passion."
"Nichola was doing a job that she loved. Everyone around me said that she loved what she was doing."
"She's indicative of all the men and women serving over here in Afghanistan and Canadians should be proud of the work that their soldiers are doing in a very difficult environment."
"But the Afghan people deserve no less than our continued support to see through this fight to its end."
Five women were killed in action in the Second World War. The First World War saw 29 female combat deaths.
Goddard has become the 17th Canadian killed in Afghanistan since 2002: one diplomat and 16 soldiers, including four who died in the friendly-fire bombing by a U.S. plane.
Her death came on a day when Canadian troops tried to relax and enjoy themselves.
Earlier that afternoon, the military had relaxed its strict no-alcohol policy allowing soldiers two bottles of beer apiece to sip in the hot Afghan sun and the evening saw a four-hour musical performance by Canadian stars such as singer Michelle Wright.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed the regret of a mourning country.
"Captain Goddard died while helping to bring peace, stability and democracy to a troubled region of the world," Harper said in a statement.
"She and the other men and women who serve in Afghanistan are involved in a difficult and dangerous mission. They are serving our country and its people with distinction."
"Our nation will not forget their sacrifice."
Manitoba Premier Gary Doer also expressed regret.
"On behalf of the people of Manitoba, we respect her life of bravery and honour on behalf of Canada and we offer our condolences to the family and to the community of Shilo," he told CJOB radio in Winnipeg.
Canada has about 2,300 troops in Afghanistan, most of them in Kandahar, as part of an international effort to help the Kabul government assert its authority and fight Taliban insurgents, who have been engaging the U.S.-led coalition and NATO forces in hostilities in many parts of the country.
Kandahar, in the south, is regarded as a hotbed of insurgent attacks and the spiritual home of the extremist Taliban movement.
The Taliban were ousted from power by U.S.-led forces after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The Taliban regime was blamed for harbouring Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist organization while it was in power.
naked truth

Pfc. Brian M. Moquin Jr.

Worcester soldier among 10 killed in Afghanistan crash
WORCESTER, Mass. -- A 19-year-old Worcester man was among 10 soldiers killed when their helicopter crashed during combat operations in eastern Afghanistan last week, the Army announced Wednesday.
Pfc. Brian M. Moquin Jr. died Friday in the remote mountains of Kunar Province, Afghanistan, after the CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter crashed while on a mission to find al-Qaida and Taliban militants believed to be hiding in the rugged terrain near the border with Pakistan.
Army officials said the helicopter was conducting operations on a mountaintop landing zone when it fell into a ravine. All 10 soldiers aboard the helicopter were killed.
Military officials said the helicopter was not downed by hostile fire. An investigation into the cause of the crash is continuing, Julie Curren, a spokeswoman for the Army, said Wednesday.
Moquin's mother, Tracy Vaillancourt, said she was in Chicago on a business trip Sunday morning when an Army officer called her on her cell phone and told her of the death of her only child.
"He was too young," Vaillancourt told the Telegram and Gazette of Worcester. "He just wanted to do something to make everybody proud. I'm very proud of him."
Vaillancourt said that from a young age, her son had expressed interest in joining the military.
Moquin enlisted in the Army in March 2005 and attended basic training at Fort Knox, Ky.
He was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division in August and deployed to Afghanistan in February.
Moquin had received numerous military awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Afghan Campaign Medal and Combat Action Badge.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CWO Eric W. Totten

St. Paul native dies in helicopter crash in Afghanistan
Pilot who grew up in Frogtown was on second tour of duty
BY DAVID HAWLEY
Pioneer Press
A combat-hardened Army helicopter pilot who grew up in St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood was among the 10 U.S. troops killed Friday in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, his family and the military said Wednesday.
Chief Warrant Officer Eric W. Totten, who would have celebrated his 35th birthday Wednesday, was a veteran of military actions in Bosnia and Iraq and was on his second tour in Afghanistan.
He died with nine others when a CH-47 helicopter crashed while scouring remote Afghan mountains along the Pakistan border for al-Qaida and Taliban militants as part a major action involving U.S. and Afghan troops.
The military said the crash was not caused by hostile fire, though Taliban forces claimed to have shot down the helicopter. It was the deadliest single incident for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in a year and is still being investigated.
A Defense Department announcement did not identify Totten as the pilot of the helicopter. But his older brother, Noel Totten of Bloomington said Totten was rated to fly helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft and was primarily serving as a pilot.
"I never really worried about him because he was so intelligent and competent and because he wasn't cocky," Noel Totten said. "I worried about the younger ones, the 19- and 20-year-olds, but not Eric."
The son of a prominent Twin Cities building contractor, Totten grew up on Lafond Avenue in the Frogtown neighborhood and attended Ramsey Junior High School before his family moved to Golden Valley.
Noel Totten said a major change in his brother's life occurred when a close childhood friend died of drug-related causes.
"He said, 'I don't want to go that way — I want to make something of myself,' " Noel Totten recalled. "And he did. We're very proud of him."
Eric Totten joined the Army shortly after graduating from high school and took Ranger training before getting into aviation. A bachelor, he moved at the whim of Army. He had recently been living in Fort Campbell, Ky., the home of the 101st Airborne Division.
In Afghanistan, he was with the 3rd Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division. The division is based in Fort Drum, N.Y.
One of six children, Totten was fond of dropping in on his siblings and their families — he had 21 nieces and nephews — at their homes in various parts of the country.
A cousin, Avalon Totten-Denton, posted a note on a Web site that was created after the family learned of the aviator's death. The Web site is filled with slideshows of family gatherings, with many pictures of Eric Totten at birthday parties and at family gatherings near a lake.
"I wish there was a way to set off fireworks on this site because encounters with Eric were always such a blast," Totten-Denton wrote. "Until we meet again, enjoy the ride, my friend. Bless you for your sacrifice and know you are forever loved."
Noel Totten said his brother loved the military and living an active, athletic life, though he was also an accomplished musician who played piano and a number of other instruments.
"They were always training and promoting him," Totten said of his brother's Army career. "He was always excited about his next new challenge. They gave him a lot of pats on the back."
Totten's funeral will be Saturday in Augusta, Kan., where the family has a burial plot. He will be laid to rest near his parents.
His survivors, in addition to Noel, his eldest brother, include a sister, Thais Hinz, of Duluth. Other siblings are a sister, Judy Jackson of Oklahoma City, and brothers Jim of Tallahassee, Fla., and Ottis of New Orleans.
Totten is the third Minnesota soldier to die in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001. Three Wisconsin soldiers also have been killed there.
At least 234 U.S. military personnel have died in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan and Uzbekistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime, according to the Defense Department.
More than 2,400 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the war started there in March 2003. The total includes 30 Minnesota military deaths and 52 Wisconsin military deaths.
The Totten family's memorial site is online at at www.eric-totten.memory-of.com.

World Reviews

Marine Capt. Brian S. Letendre

Dutiful Marine Had 'Followed His Heart' Back to Iraq
By Stephanie McCrummenWashington Post Staff WriterSaturday, May 6, 2006; B02
Capt. Brian S. Letendre had survived one tour in Iraq. In the early days of the invasion, his Marine battalion had rolled north from Kuwait, engaged in heavy combat at Nasiriyah and elsewhere, and Letendre had come through it all decorated with a "V" for valor.
He made it home to Woodbridge, to his wife, Autumn, and his newborn son, Dillon.
Even after two years of calm, though, Letendre never felt comfortable knowing his fellow Marines were still fighting a war, his friends and family said. So he volunteered to go back, accepting perhaps one of the most dangerous assignments the war has to offer.
Three weeks ago, Letendre returned to train Iraqi soldiers. He was killed Wednesday when a suicide car bomber attacked his observation post in Anbar province, military officials and family said. He was 27.
"Brian just didn't feel right being back here in the U.S. while other Marines were serving overseas," his family and friends wrote in a statement. ". . . Despite others telling him to stay back and be safe, Brian could not resist his call to duty."
Brian Letendre grew up in Woodbridge. He was a good student with a competitive streak, his friends said, and was captain of the soccer team at Potomac High School, where he graduated in 1996. He went on to Milligan College in Tennessee, graduating in 2000 with a degree in computer science and a wife, his college sweetheart, Autumn.
He and two childhood buddies had decided about the same time to join the Marines, and Letendre was commissioned a lieutenant in May 2000.
"It was kind of an unspoken thing we all wanted to do," said Capt. David Bann, one of the friends. "We all wanted to get out there and serve our country."
Letendre trained at the Quantico Marine Base to become a military infantry officer. He was deployed to Okinawa, Japan; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and then to Kuwait at the start of the war. His son was born the day before he crossed into Iraq.
He returned from Iraq in May 2003 and was assigned a year later to the Marine Forces Reserve Inspector/Instructor staff in Plainville, Conn. Although he did not talk about it much, Bann said, Letendre was anxious to return to Iraq.
"He just didn't feel like sitting back," Bann said. "He wanted to do his part."
Letendre volunteered for an 11-man "military transition" team that was to train Iraqi army recruits, who have been so relentlessly targeted by suicide bombers. Three weeks ago, the job took him to Tammin, in the Anbar province of Iraq -- the swath of desert west of Baghdad considered the heart of the Sunni Arab insurgent movement.
On Monday, Letendre sent his wife an e-mail saying that he missed her and Dillon dearly but that he felt proud to be serving in Iraq. On Wednesday, he was killed. Military officials did not specify where Letendre was in Anbar when the suicide bomber attacked. Letendre's family said he was on foot when his post "received a complex attack," including from a car bomber carrying an improvised explosive device.
In the family's statement, Letendre's parents, Milton and June Letendre, said they believed in their son and what he was doing in Iraq.
"Several times throughout his life, Brian could have chosen the easier or more comfortable path, but he didn't," the statement read. "He . . . followed his heart to where he felt he could help make this world a better place."
Besides his parents, his wife and 3-year-old son, Letendre is survived by his two brothers, Justin and Nick. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Cassioj

Joe Nurre

Today, a family in Sacramento needs our prayers. Joe Nurre, a young man who I went to college with at California State University Sacramento, died serving somewhere near Tikrit. Joe was a good friend to many people in the Sacramento community. He is a hero who served this country and gave his life for you, just like all the other men and women who have died in service of our nation. When you pray today, pray for Joe's family, pray for our military in harms way, and be sure to tell God to pass a thank you on to Joe, we are forever indebted to men like him.

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