Three Special Operations Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan

[NcDeuce]

Three Special Operations Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Three U.S. Army Special Operations Command Soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan last week when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device there.

Capt. Daniel W. Eggers, Sgt. 1st Class Robert J. Mogensen and Spc. Joseph A. Jeffries were fatally wounded while returning to their base of operations near Kandahar when the IED detonated as they tried to avoid another explosive device in the road.

Eggers, 28, a Special Forces detachment commander, and Mogensen, 26, a Special Forces weapons sergeant, were both assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Jeffries, 21, was a psychological operations specialist assigned to the 320th Psychological Operations Company, an Army Reserve unit based in Portland, Ore.

The explosion also killed a U.S. Navy Sailor. All four service members were attached to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force -- Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The incident is under investigation.

Eggers, a native of Cape Coral, Fla., graduated from The Citadel Military College of South Carolina in May 1997 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He completed Special Forces training in 2002 and was assigned to 1st Bn., 3rd SFG in May 2003 following Arabic language training. He is survived by his wife, Rebecca, and his sons, John, 6, and William, 3.

A native of Leesville, La., Mogensen enlisted in the Army in 1995 and served in a number of Special Forces assignments with the 3rd SFG. He was a senior Special Forces noncommissioned officer and spoke French. Mogensen is survived by his wife, Tanya, and three children, Joshua, 10, Vanessa, 6, and Leilani, 8 weeks.

Jeffries, of Beaverton, Ore., joined the Army in October 2001 and completed the Psychological Operations Specialist Course at Fort Bragg, N.C. He is survived by his wife, Betsy, of Beaverton, and his parents, Mark and Linda Jeffries, also of Beaverton.



Soldier who grew up in Hollis killed in Afghanistan
May 31, 2004

HOLLIS, N.H. -- A 28-year old soldier who grew up in Hollis has died in an explosion in Afghanistan.

Capt. Daniel W. Eggers, of Cape Coral, Fla., was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airbone), from Fort Bragg, N.C., the U.S. Army said Monday.

The Army said Eggers was one of three soldiers killed Saturday in Kandahar, when their Humvee entered a field of land mines. Initial reports said four soldiers were killed.

Eggers attended Hollis Elementary School from third to fifth grade, said his aunt, Dorothy D'Vann, of New Boston. His family moved in 1987 to Cape Coral, where he attended high school and joined JROTC.

Eggers had always wanted to be a soldier, she said.

"I can remember visiting him in Florida and seeing him on the lawn with a Desert Storm uniform and a makeshift gun," D'Vann said. "He wasn't afraid of anything," she added.

"He was a caring, loving person," she said.

Eggers graduated from The Citadel, in South Carolina, ranking near the top of his class, she said. He served in the Army Special Forces.

His grandfather, Francis Donovan of New Boston, said Eggers came from a military family. His father served in Vietnam, he served in World War II and another relative served with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders.

Eggers, who would have turned 29 in July, leaves behind a wife, Rebecca, two brothers, four sisters and his parents, Margaret and William Eggers. One of his brothers, Billy, also is in the military and will be returning to Afghanistan soon, D'Vann said.

The American special forces soldiers perished Saturday about 20 miles east of Qalat, the capital of southeastern Zabul province.

"An explosive device detonated under the (Humvee) the four were traveling in," spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michele DeWerth said.

The toll was one of the worst for a single attack on the U.S.-led coalition force, which currently numbers a record 20,000, since it entered Afghanistan to topple the Taliban for harboring al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in late 2001.

DeWerth gave no more details.

An Afghan government official said three more Americans were wounded in the blast.

At least 89 American service members have died in and around Afghanistan since the start of the U.S. war on terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks. Fifty-five of them were killed in action.

R.I.P.

[Trigger]

Rest In Peace.

[b00n]

Rest in Peace

[JiJoMacLE45]

Also killed in the explosion was a Navy SEAL, Brian Oulette from MA.

RIP men.

[shrek]

May God bless their souls into heaven



De Opresso Liber

[Marmot1]

RIPhttp://img49.photobucket.com/albums/v151/Hemppis/muut/smiley_salute.gif

[2RHPZ]

:(

[Iceman]

RIP :(

[Dennis G]

RIP

[LordHalbert]

So, it seems they were killed by a recent IED, not an old mine (from war with USSR).

[anonymous individual]

Rest in Peace. :|

[Khabbi]

RIP :petting:

4 guys last week , and now 3 more + a SEAL :petting:

[Damian]

RIP :-(

[seruriermarshal]

Sad message

REGIMENTAL PRAYER

Almighty, merciful, and loving Father,
you are the one who hears all our prayers and grants our petitions.

We ask you to remember, as we do,
the tremendous sacrifice made by those who went before us.
They have given their lives so that we might live and breathe freely.
We ask you to receive them into your hands.

Father, give us the strength and wisdom to learn from their example,
to uphold freedom and life at home and around the world.

Keep us vigilant as we guard the frontiers of freedom.

Give our leaders the wisdom and the strength to lead well.

Grant all of us courage and confidence.
Be, for all of us, troopers, a wise counsel in keeping peace
and a strong shield for us against our enemies.
Oh heavenly Father, give us the determination
that the peace and freedom won at such a high price be lasting!

Father, hold all of the troopers in the palm of your almighty hand
and protect them in the shadow of your wings.

Amen.

[Seoulstriker]

NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 522-04
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 31, 2004
Media Contact: Army Public Affairs - (703) 692-2000
Public/Industry Contact: (703)428-0711

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers
supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died May 29 in Kandahar, Afghanistan,
when their vehicle hit a land mine. Killed were:

Capt. Daniel W. Eggers, 28, of Cape Coral, Fla. He was assigned to the
1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), from Fort Bragg, N.C.

Staff Sgt. Robert J. Mogensen, 26, of Leesville, La. He was assigned
to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Pfc. Joseph A. Jeffries, 21, of Beaverton, Ore. He was assigned to the
Army Reserve's 329th Psychological Operations Company, Portland, Ore.

The incident is under investigation.

For further information related to this release, contact Army Public
Affairs at (703) 692-2000.

[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2004/nr20040531-0842.html]


RIP :(

[NcDeuce]

http://www.soc.mil/News/releases/04MAY/USASFC_eggers_bio.pdf

http://www.soc.mil/News/releases/04MAY/USASFC_mogensen_bio.pdf

http://www.soc.mil/News/releases/04MAY/USACAPOC_jeffries_bio.pdf

Bios w/ photos

[Beowulf]

RIP

Have there been any other pics

Not really of the soldiers, but of their vehicle, the attack site or anything like that?

Thanks.

Sine Pari

[2RHPZ]

The consequences in Zabol province:

US special forces kill several militants


Thursday June 03, 2004 (1249 PST)
Kabul, June 04 (Online): U.S. special forces killed several militants in a troubled area of southeastern Afghanistan where another battle between a band of Taliban fighters and Afghan troops left at least three dead, officials said.
The special forces skirmished with "anti-coalition militia" Monday near Shinkay, in Zabul province, some 330 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of the capital, Kabul, military spokesman Lt. Col. Tucker Mansager said.
He told reporters there were "a number of casualties" on the militant side, but the U.S. forces suffered none.
He provided no further details of the skirmish, but an Afghan official told The Associated Press on Monday that U.S. troops killed six Taliban fighters in the area after cornering them in an orchard.
Zabul, a lawless and impoverished province on the Pakistani border, is emerging as a key test of the American military's ability to defeat insurgents with a combination of force and reconstruction aid.
Shinkay district borders that of Sorie, where a mine exploded under an American Humvee on Saturday, killing four U.S. special forces operatives. Mansager said there were no indications that the militants killed Monday were linked to the blast.
The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Barno, said Tuesday he had deployed "significant" forces to Zabul and neighboring Uruzgan province and was confident militants would not derail preparations for national elections in September.
But the United Nations has yet to begin registering voters beyond the main towns in the two provinces, and there is no sign of a let up in the violence that has killed dozens of Afghan soldiers and officials in the area since the spring.
On Monday evening, some 80 Taliban rode into Zabul's Shahjoy district on a fleet of vehicles and attacked the mayor's office with assault rifles and machine-guns, a military official said.
In a three-hour gunbattle with troops guarding the office, one Afghan soldier was killed, one was wounded and another was missing, provincial military commander Naimatullah Khan told The AP.
Khan said two Taliban also were killed and three more wounded.
"They took their dead and wounded with them, but left their turbans and rifles behind," Khan said.
Khan also said some of his men on Wednesday stopped a car carrying bombs into the provincial capital, Qalat, averting a possible attack in the city, where U.S. troops have a base.
He said the soldiers found remote-controlled bombs, mines and other arms and arrested three Taliban suspects in the vehicle, when they pulled it over at a checkpoint.
U.S. Had Osama Within Reach, says French Gen'l:
U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan had Osama bin Laden "within reach" on at least two occasions, but were unable to prevent him from slipping away, France's top general said Wednesday.
French chief of staff Gen. Henri Bentegeat, said the al-Qaida leader has evaded capture several times since 2002, but not recently. He didn't say where bin Laden had been tracked down, and refused to comment on whether French special forces operating in southern Afghanistan were involved.
"Several times the coalition has had Osama bin Laden directly within reach," Bentegeat told reporters during a visit to the Afghan capital. "But between locating a person and arresting them there is a gap tied to all the uncertainties of all operations of this kind."
A spokeswoman for the U.S. military in Kabul had no immediate comment on the general's remarks.
Bentegeat said several of bin Laden's top lieutenants also evaded capture. "At least two times they managed to escape," he said. "That's absolutely inevitable, normal in the conditions in which these kind of operations are carried out.
"I'm not saying there was an incident of this kind recently," he added. "To my knowledge, that's not the case."
Bentegeat made similar comments in an interview in March to France's Europe-1 radio station, saying bin Laden narrowly escaped capture by French troops in Afghanistan, perhaps several times. He did not say when or where the escapes took place.
Some 200 French troops work with the 20,000-member U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan in the drive to track holdouts of the former ruling Taliban regime and bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist group. They include special forces based in Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, close to the Pakistani border.
Another 650 based in Kabul are part of the NATO-led peacekeeping force or are helping the United States train a new Afghan army.
Bentegeat said France planned to add another 300 troops in August and that a French general would take command of the 6,400-strong international force, which is expected to expand from the capital into northern towns to provide security for September elections.

[Rilence]

RIP

[2RHPZ]

4 fallen special operations troops honored in Afghanistan
By Sgt. Maj. Keith D. Butler

Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force ? Afghanistan*Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (USASOC News Service, June 3, 2004) ? In a somber Memorial Day ceremony here May 31, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force ? Afghanistan honored four service members who were killed May 29 in southern Afghanistan.
Killed in action were three Soldiers, Capt. Daniel W. Eggers, a Special Forces detachment commander; Spc. Joseph A. Jeffries, a psychological operations specialist; and Sgt. 1st Class Robert J. Mogensen, a Special Forces weapons sergeant.* Petty Officer 1st Class Brian J. Ouellette, a U.S. Navy SEAL, was also killed in action.
About 300 members of the CJSOTF-A stood in formation under a flag at half-mast.* The command sergeant major called roll call.* While several answered ?present,?* four representatives answered on behalf of fellow service members who could not answer, echoing ? ?killed in action.?
?They didn?t back down from trouble,? the CJSOTF-A commander said of the warriors who spotted and tracked anti-coalition forces before rolling over a mine in their vehicle.* ?They put their lives on the line so our families can live in peace.?
The honored service members cherished their families, said friends.* Jeffries, a newlywed, was known to light up a room when he entered.
?He wore a smile like it was part of his uniform,? said Jeffries? commander, citing from a group eulogy compiled by his fellow PSYOP troops.* ?(His wife) meant more to him than anything.* He was excited to be a husband and more excited to be a dad.* We?ll miss our brother always -- but he will always be in our hearts and minds.?
The SEALs met before the ceremony to reflect on their teammate and refocus on their Afghanistan mission.* The SEAL commander held up a piece of metal from the World Trade Center.* The commander said Ouellette knew why he was in Afghanistan, as well, to bring security to this nation and rid the country of anti-coalition forces who attacked the WTC on Sept. 11, 2001 and brutalized the Afghan people under Taliban rule.
?Brian was always a professional, whether filling sand bags or guarding the president of the United States,? said the SEAL commander.
The ceremony continued with ?Taps,? sharp salutes, prayer, and folding of the Colors.* In honor of the special operators, the ?Ballad of the Green Berets,? the ?Army Song? and ?Navy Song? ended the ceremony attended by friends, generals and coalition force members.
But the ceremony did not mark an end.
?We stopped today to show honors to these heroes,? said the CJSOTF-A commander, who added that the ?mission continues through great special operators willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.?
He said that his special operators would continue the fight undeterred.* ?We will maintain contact with the enemy.?
On Saturday night, special operators returned to the area where the Soldiers died and caught the perpetrators off guard.* ?They fired first, but we fired the last rounds,? the CJSOTF-A commander said.

[MARINO]

RIP

[Laconian]

Rest in Peace

[cqbrdy]

rip men :(

[2RHPZ]

Navy veteran Ouellette: 'A good SEAL, great friend'

By Max Heuer / Tribune Correspondent

Tuesday, June 8, 2004WALTHAM -- The comrades of slain Navy SEAL Brian Ouellette, who was raised in Waltham and lived in Maynard, yesterday remembered him as a Boston guy, a committed soldier and a loving friend whose sense of humor and loyalty transcended his job.

*****"The best way to sum up Brian, he was a good SEAL, but more importantly, he was a great and loyal friend," said Chief Warren Lee Smith of New Hampshire, who first met Ouellette while in Basic Underwater Demolition training.

*****"We became friends because he was on my team, and we hit it off," he said. "How we stayed friends is what's important. I realized what a good man he was and subsequently, 14 years later, he's still my friend."

*****Ouellette, a member of Special Warfare Group 2 based in Norfolk, Va., was among four Special Forces members killed in an explosion in Zabol province in southern Afghanistan during operations designed to stop militants from wrecking planned national elections.

*****His friends in the service, in their first visit to his hometown since the 37-year-old was killed, were among family and friends yesterday who filed into Joyce Funeral Home on Main Street for his wake.

*****Ouellette's medals, which include a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his service in Afghanistan, lay near his flag-draped coffin. His picture, smiling and youthful, was hung behind it.

*****Photographs of Ouellette, who had lived near his military base at Virginia Beach, Va., posted inside on the bulletin board illustrated the sharp contrast between the lives he lived as soldier and civilian. One picture of Ouellete with a full beard in Afghanistan hung near another of him playing with an infant.

*****While Ed Everett, petty officer first class, was deployed abroad, Ouellette took it upon himself to visit Everett's 10-year-old son, attending sports games or taking trips to the bowling alley.

*****When Ouellette heard the boy was picking up lacrosse, he went out and bought him his first stick.

*****"If one of us was away on deployment, he'd always be the one to leave his phone number," Everett remembered yesterday. "He was looking out for guys' families when they were gone."

*****Ouellette was even present for the birth of Everett's son, out pacing in the waiting room as Everett's wife gave birth.

*****"I walked out and he was there," Everett said.

*****Only months ago, Ouellette was given the opportunity to go home for vacation, but opted to stay in Afghanistan so younger soldiers with families could leave, said his friend Jeff, who could not give his last name due to operational security.

*****"He liked things difficult," said Jeff. "If there was a hard job, he'd be the one doing it."

*****The two met eight years ago while serving in sister platoons. Ouellette shared the same specialty -- parachute rigging -- and trained him.

*****"He had a lot more experience. He was just willing to pass all that stuff on," Jeff said. "He was kind of a mentor."

*****"Brian liked being a team guy," he said.

[Frost]

:( RIP

I mourn for the loss of these guys. My thoughts go to their families.
One had a kid of 8 weeks! Very sad :( :(

[Locked N Loaded]

R.I.P.