"It was character that got us out of bed,
commitment that moved us into action,
and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”
Zig Ziglar
DoD Announces Army Casualty
Cpl. Raphael R. Arruda, 21, of Ogden, Utah, died July 16 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 416th Theater Engineer Command, Ogden, Utah.
Cpl. Raphael Arruda was just a couple of months away from returning home, when he was killed in Afghanistan while clearing a road. Friends and family remember Arruda as someone, who made the best of any situation. His brother, Andrey, told the Standard Examiner:
"If it wasn't fun," Andrey said, "he'd try to make it fun or as fun as possible."
"He was a happy person," Andrey said. "He liked having a good time. He really hates sad moments. He kind of made anywhere he was fun to be at. He always had a good mood, good jokes."
Cpl. Arruda joined the Army right after graduation from Bonneville High School in 2008. He was born in Brazil, in 2001 the family moved to Utah. His brother, Andrey, is a combat medic in the Army. Andrey told the
Standard Examiner his brother had a strong sense of duty for our country. Cpl. Arruda was not afraid of dying:
"Somebody has take care of it," Andrey said.
snip
'At least if I die, I'm going to be happy, because I like doing this job -- it is something I'll never regret,' " Andrey said he heard his brother say.
Raphael's father, Sergio Arruda, heard the news of his son's death while he was in Brazil for the funeral of his mother. Sergio said his son' and mother died within ten days of each other. He told the Salt Lake Tribune:
"We are here to be happy, to commemorate life, his joy for life. We are here to love each other," Arruda told those who came to pay their respects. "Freedom is not free. It is generally paid for with blood and generally young blood. My son did what he believed and I am comforted by small acts of kindness from our community, this country, our family."
Corporal Raphael Arruda is the third soldier from Utah to die in Afghanistan this month. Gov. Herbert ordered all flags to be at half-staff in honor of Cpl. Arruda.
Thank you to Sandy on Signal for this lovely tribute
Master Sgt. Benjamin A Stevenson
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Master Sgt. Benjamin A. Stevenson, 36, of Canyon Lake, Texas, died July 21 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. He was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.
http://www.defense.gov/...
A Special Forces Master Sergeant on his 10th deployment was lost on July 21st, when Master Sergeant Benjamin A Stevenson was killed in Paktika province, Afghanistan.
Sergeant Stevenson was born in Albany, New York, and graduated in 1993, from Smithson Valley High School in Spring Beach. Soon after he graduated he joined the Army, serving at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in the infantry, and in Katterbach, Germany, as an aircraft power plant repairer with the 601st Aviation Support Battalion.
But then he found what seems to have been his calling: in 2000, joined the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campbell Kentucky, as a weapons and intelligence specialist after passing the Special Forces Qualification Course. As a member of that unit, Master Sergeant Stevenson was deployed to Iraq three times and once to Afghanistan.
Master Sgt Stevenson was transfered to become a part of a special operations team in May of 2006, and was deployed to Iraq four more times and twice more to Afghanistan.
As part of his training, Mast Sergeant Stevenson was educated in jungle and mountain warfare, the Russian language, air assault, and free fall. The Bronze Star (fifth award), the Meritorious Service Medal and a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor Device, were all part of the long list of commendations awarded to him. The Purple Heart and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal were added postumously.
Master Sgt. Stevenson leaves behind family and friends and service brothers and sisters who loved him. We join them in their grieving.
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, 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, ccasas, CalNM, JaxDem, and me, Chacounne. 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.