Since 2001, there have been 1306 American troops killed serving in Afghanistan, and since 2003, 4424 American troops killed serving in
Iraq. The IGTNT (I Got The News Today) title is a reminder that nearly everyday, somebody gets the news that a friend, former classmate, or beloved family member will not be coming home from war.
Tonight we remember four soldiers lost to all who love them:
Pfc. William B. Dawson, 20, of Tunica, Mississippi
Pfc. Jaysine P. S. Petree, 19, of Yigo, Guam
Sgt. Mark A. Simpson, 40, of Peoria, Illinois
Spc. Donald S. Morrison, 23, of Blue Ash, Ohio
Please take a moment below to remember them.
The Department of Defense announced the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom:
Pfc. William "Brandon" Dawson and Pfc. Jaysine "Jen" Petree
died September 24 of wounds suffered while traveling between Ghanzi and Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, when their military vehicle was hit with a missile from shoulder-held launcher. The two young soldiers on their first war deployment were motor transport operators assigned to the 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, based in Fort Richardson, Alaska.
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Pfc. William Brandon Dawson, 20, of Tunica, Mississippi
Pfc. Dawson was killed September 24 by a missile in Afghanistan, along with Pfc. Petree.
Known by his middle name, Brandon Dawson was an honors student and football player at Rosa Fort High School in Tunica. Principal Derrick Dace remembered the 2009 graduate as a positive young man.
Commercial Appeal writes:
Army Pvt. Dawson's younger brothers looked up to him as a man with the characteristics of a good soldier.
"He never talked back to his mother or father. He was always respectful," Joseph Dawson said of his older brother. "He was a perfect man."
Spc. Brandon Dawson joined the Army in September of 2009. Only a year later, he was driving the lead truck in a convoy when it was struck by a missile, killing him.
William Dawson was the eldest of his mother's four sons. His father, the Rev. Willie Dawson, associate pastor at Adams Chapel in Clarksdale, said his soldier son was ambitious and had talked about a career in politics.
"He told me he wanted to be a senator. He could do so many different things," Rev Dawson said.
"He made a career choice, and he had all the support of his family.
He wanted to drive trucks and he wanted to serve his country;"
wrote Commercial Appeal.
Among those Pfc. Dawson leaves behind are his mother and father, and his three younger brothers.
Pfc. William Brandon Dawson is missed. REST IN PEACE.
sources Anchorage Daily News, FR
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Pfc. Jaysine "Jen" Petree, 19, of Yigo, Guam
Pfc. Petree was killed September 24 by a missile blast in Afghanistan, along with Pfc. Dawson.
Jaysine "Jen" Petree and her family moved from the Philippines to Guam in 2002. She joined the Army in 2009, after graduating from Sanchez High School. In high school, Jen was a star wrestler and soccer player.
According to Guam PDN:
Herbert Petree said his daughter joined the military to get funding for college. Her family could have paid that cost easily, but she was the kind of person who "liked to do things by herself."
"She was a giving person," Herbert Petree said. "She would give to everybody else before she'd take care of herself. I miss my baby."
Her family said Pfc. Petree was very homesick during her deployment in Afghanistan, and eagerly awaited the end of her tour in March. She called home every day.
In Guam PDN Her father said:
He should have been treasuring each moment while he could still hear her voice.
"Every time she called up, we also say, 'Oh, just tell her hi.'
You know, we didn't really grab the phone and try to talk to her every time," he said.
"Because we thought she was coming back. We don't think that this will happen to us."
Update: As earicicle pointed out in the comments: Petree is the 16th soldier from Guam to make this sacrifice in the current wars: 9 in Afghanistan, 7 in Iraq, according to AP NRCW. "For an island community with a population just over 150,000, such losses must hit terribly hard."
Among those Pfc. Petree leaves behind are her mother and father, grandmother, younger brother, uncle and other family.
Pfc. Jaysine Jen Petree is missed. REST IN PEACE.
source Marianas Variety
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The Department of Defense announced the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom:
Sgt. Mark Simpson and Spc. Donald Scott Morrison
died September 26 at Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered their military vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device on September 25 at Forward Operating Base Frontenac, Afghanistan. They were assigned to the 20th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, based in Fort Hood, Texas.
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Sgt. Mark A. Simpson, 40, of Peoria, Illinois
Sgt. Simpson was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, along with Spc. Morrison.
Mark Simpson grew up in Peoria, Illinois, and graduated from Richwoods High School in 1988. After high school, he moved around and worked several jobs in several places: construction in Colorado, sheriff in El Paso, and bailiff in Colorado Springs.
PJ Star reported:
Sgt. Simpson was the youngest of five children, and very close to his sister, who remembered him as "an avid Trekkie and a big New England Patriots fan."
Mark Simpson met his wife and married in 1996, and they had two daughters. He enlisted in the Army in late 2004.
His sister said he saw the military as a way to provide for his family and a way to fulfill his desire to see the world and meet people.
After basic training, Simpson and his family moved to New York where he was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division. Then he transferred to the 20th Engineer Battalion, at Fort Hood, and the family moved to Texas.
Sgt. Simpson deployed to Iraq in August 2006, and left for Afghanistan in 2009.
PJ Star writes:
"He was a loving father and his girls were the light of his life," his sister said. "He will be greatly missed by everybody."
Among those Sgt. Simpson leaves behind, are his wife and daughters, and his sisters and brothers.
Sgt. Mark A. Simpson is missed. REST IN PEACE.
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Spc. Donald Scott Morrison, 23, of Blue Ash, Ohio
Spc. Morrison was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, along with Sgt. Simpson.
Known by his middle name, Scott Morrison grew up in Ohio and graduated from Sycamore High School in 2005. He joined the military as a combat engineer in the fall of 2008, Army after his high school friend, Brandon Haunert, was killed in combat in Iraq.
According to wlwt:
A soldier from Blue Ash became the fifth Sycamore High School graduate to be killed in the line of duty.
The parents of Scott Morrison, 23, were notified over the weekend that their son had been killed in Afghanistan. They were at Dover Air Base Monday preparing for his arrival. Morrison is the son of Blue Ash firefighter and paramedic Don Morrison.
Before joining the Army, Scott Morrison worked with his mother at the Blue Ash Recreation Center as a fitness coordinator.
"(He) enjoyed life. He laughed a lot," said recreation leader Brian Kruse. "He was a good person. He had a lot of friends."
Staff members and family friends spent their Monday working in shifts to make enough yellow ribbons to honor Morrison when his body returns home to Blue Ash.
The Army awarded Spc. Morrison the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals, amongst other decorations.
Among those Spc. Morrison leaves behind are his parents and family and friends in Blue Ash.
Spc. Donald Scott Morrison is missed. REST IN PEACE.
sources Cincinnati com,
news Cincinnati
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Photos Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Thanks to Timroff for our faithfully lighted candle IGTNT logo;
and Thanks to llbear for our beautiful forget-me-nots IGTNT logo.
(Other Photos by CalNM)
Helping our troops: If you wish to assist our military and their families, consider Operation Helmet, or Fisher House. Sponsoring a deployed service member at TroopCarePackage.com can provide letters or care packages that make a real difference in a military person's life. To assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available at guardian angels for soldierspet.
When our veterans come back home, they need jobs. Look at the programs of Veterans Green Jobs and Welcome Back Veterans. Encourage a Vet, and see if you can help out.
Stop-loss pay is available for veterans. The deadline to apply for the Retroactive Stop Loss Pay program is October 21. The compensation is also available to survivors.
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About the IGTNT series: I Got the News Today is intended to honor, respect, and remember the fallen, and to remind us that each casualty has family and friends who received the terrible news that their loved one has died at war.
Diaries about the fallen usually appear two days after their names are officially released, which allows time for the IGTNT team to find and tell their stories. The US Department of Defense news releases are found at defense gov/releases. Icasualties lists the names of those killed, and shows the number of wounded. Published AP photos of the returning war fatalities are found on the Dover AFB page.
Click the IGTNT tags below for previous diaries in the series which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by monkeybiz, noweasels, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, joyful, roses, SisTwo, a girl in MI, Spam Nunn, JeNoCo, Janos Nation, True Blue Majority, Proud Mom and Grandma, Sandy on Signal, Wide Awake in Kentucky, Ms Wings, maggiejean, racheltracks, JaxDem, kestrel9000, and me, CalNM. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but are an important service to those who have died, and show our community’s respect for our fallen brothers and sisters.
Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and
family of the service members chronicled here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.