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DOD
Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced
today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Kenneth R. Nichols Jr., 28, of For more information media may
contact the |
An
infantry battalion consists of about a thousand troops led by a Lieutenant
Colonel and a Command Sergeant Major.
The 2nd Battalion of the 12th Infantry Regiment
was home to Ken Nichols. A month before
he died, an AP photographer was imbedded with the 2/12thIR in the
AP
photo by David Guttenfelder
The
Pech valley was the site of the Wanat battle, shown as a red dot below, fought
on July 13, 2008 in which Pruitt
Rainey and eight other American soldiers died.
I am
not sure of the exact location where the RPG hit Ken’s vehicle, but it is
likely on the map above – probably in the lower-right area. It is sparsely-populated with isolated tribes
and intense tribal loyalties, and near a porous border with the lawless area of
Six
months ago, the Commander-in-Chief Obama appointed Stanley McChrystal to
succeed David McKiernan as Commander of the NATO International Security
Assistance Force or ISAF. In doing so,
President Obama endorsed a strategy for Afghanistan of COunter-INsurgency or
COIN.
Three
months ago, based on that agreed strategy, the ISAF Commander asked the
President for additional troops. Last
week, The President gave the ISAF Commander 30,000 additional American troops
to enable COIN.
So we
will withdraw from most of the area in the map above.
We
will intensify our development of the Afghan army and police and we will
dominate the areas of high population density.
We will put the Afghans on a fast-track to effective sovereignty and
then we will leave altogether. With
luck, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan will be a long-term ally in the
Global War on Islamist Terror. With
luck.
Because
we are doing COIN in
All
that is neither good nor bad – only future history will tell – so the
intensification of COIN does not lessen the great contribution that Ken Nichols
made to the current history of
Those who knew Kenny Nichols always will remember
one of his key personality traits: He was happy.
The 27-year-old
Nichols would have been home for Christmas this year. He was going to take 15
days of leave this month.
Nichols’ body is scheduled to be flown into
Still reeling from the news a week later, his family can barely believe he’s
gone, but find that remembering him is easy.
“He was just a really positive person,” said Lexi Nichols, his widow. They were
married in January.
Lexi has learned much more about her late husband, a 2000 graduate of
Georgetown, in recent days.
As calls of support have poured into the family during the last week, she’s
heard many happy remembrances about him from friends who knew him during his
teenage years.
Lexi was seven years behind him in school, so she didn’t know as many of his
old high school stories.
“(Everyone remembers) how good of a person he was, how much he cared about
everyone else. He’d go above and beyond to protect other people,” she said.
In fact, Nichols often wondered whether he was doing enough. He’d been working
mainly on a base in
Knowing how short-handed the patrolling soldiers were, Nichols insisted that he
join a patrolling unit.
“He always told me that he felt like he wasn’t doing the job he was supposed to
do unless he was going out on missions. He wanted to be out there fighting,”
Lexi said. “(Before he went out on patrol) he wasn’t serving the country the
way he wanted to.”
His first patrol mission was the one in which he was killed.
His tragic death might not have displeased him, as he was doing a job he was
deeply passionate about.
“He loved his country and he loved the Army,” Tina Cravens, his mother-in-law
said. “Sometimes these days, that’s hard to find.”
She agrees with her daughter. She’ll always remember him for being what she
calls “content.”
“He just has always been really content with everything. He was always happy
with what he had and grateful for what he had. He loved his kids. And he loved
my daughter,” Cravens said.
Cravens said the family still is trying to grasp Nichols’ passing.
“We’re still kind of in shock still,” she said. “It still doesn’t seem real. He
was (usually) not here anyway, so it hasn’t sunk in. We’re just going day to
day, trying to cope with the baby.”
Nine-month-old Pailynn is Nichols’ youngest child.
“She’s starting to say ‘Da-da,’ so that makes it rough.”
Cravens said coping with the death of such a young serviceman is more difficult
to endure than other deaths in the family.
“You see it all the time on TV and you kind of think about it,” she said, but
the family often got to speak with him while he was deployed.
“I’ve known young people who’ve died before, but this is just different. It’s
hard on everybody.”
Lexi is the daughter of Tina and Mark Cravens of
Nichols’ other children are 6-year-old Brhyleigh, 4-year-old Kenneth III and
3-year-old Branden.
http://www.commercial-news.com/local/local_story_341225531.html
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DOD
Announces
The Department of Defense today announced the deployment of approximately 16,000
additional forces to
A Brigade Combat Team (BCT), with approximately 3,400 soldiers from the 1st
Brigade, 10th Mountain Division,
Secretary Gates also approved the deployment of approximately 4,100 support
forces, which will deploy at various times into spring 2010.
DoD will continue to announce major unit deployments as they are
approved. For additional information on the Marine units, contact Marine
Corps Public Affairs at 703-614-4309. For additional information on the
Brigade Combat Team, contact Army Public Affairs at 703-614-2487. |
General David Petraeus, the top
“Achieving progress in
Violence will increase as additional troops from
the U.S.-led 43-nation alliance enable a stepped-up offensive against Taliban
insurgents, he said. He predicted “greater turmoil” within the Afghan
government as it moves to combat corruption with international assistance.
Petraeus testified along with Karl Eikenberry, the
U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, and Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew in the
second of three days of hearings this week on President Barack Obama’s revised
strategy in
Petraeus’s caution contrasts with the optimism that
Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in
Afghanistan, voiced repeatedly yesterday before two other congressional
committees. With the caveat that the battle won’t be easy, McChrystal said, “I
believe we will absolutely be successful.”
Obama needs Congress to approve funds to carry out
his policy, which is aimed at reversing Taliban gains in Afghanistan, training
Afghan forces and preparing the country’s government to take more control. The
buildup may cost as much as $40 billion next year, according to Representative
Republicans question whether the 30,000 extra
Petraeus said he fully supports the policy and
cautioned lawmakers to “withhold judgment” on whether it is successful until
December 2010, when the strategy and will be assessed with an eye to beginning
a drawdown of
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_O9svKLOp64
Ken’s
baby has her 21 year-old mother (who has two local parents) to shelter
her. As I have discussed with my
grandson Kevin, before you have your first birthday you are “zero” years
old. For most of Pailynn’s life, her
father was far, far away.
Ken’s
first grade daughter and his two pre-school sons knew their father enough to
understand he is gone. Their
step-mother’s parents will look after them.
Ken’s small children won’t understand what happened to their father for
years. When they do, they will be told
of what we do this weekend. Maybe they
will see old newspaper accounts. Maybe
this website.
~~~
The
visitation was held at the funeral home on a Sunday. Local PGRiders were joined by PGRiders from
On
Monday, we returned to the funeral home for staging. We escorted SGT Nichols from the north side
of
We
held our flagline for an hour before the service as people arrived. Then we waited.
The
story of the PGR at the
And
then we re-formed as SGT Nichols was transferred to the hearse for his last
ride.
The
story of the ceremony at the cemetery is here.
I
left less than 48 hours after I arrived – same as the folks from
It is
never enough.
Photography: Sunday
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