Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality. ~Emily Dickinson
I Got the News Today (IGTNT) is a diary series intended to honor service members who have died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The title is a reminder that almost every day a military family gets the terrible news about a loved one.
The beautiful forget-me-nots were created by llbear.
Since 2003 there have been 4486 US casualties in Iraq and since 2001 there have been 1906 US casualties in Afghanistan. Source.
Tonight we honor the memory of Lt. Col. John D. Loftis, 44, of Paducah, Ky.
The Department of Defense announced the death of Lt. Col. John D. Loftis, 44, of Paducah, Ky., who died Saturday, February 25 from wounds received during an attack at the Interior Ministry, Kabul, Afghanistan.
The Lt. Col. was one of the two U.S. service members killed this weekend inside a heavily guarded ministry in Afghanistan.
This high ranking officer joined the Air Force in 1996 and he was a space and missile officer who became a regional affairs strategist in 2008. Prior to deploying in March 2011, he had been assigned to the Air Force Special Operations School at Hurlburt Field, Fla. His awards included the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal and Army of Achievement Medal.
Loftis spoke Pashto proficiently and in 2009 he was given the Pashto name: Esan, meaning the quality of being generous. He was chief plans adviser for the AfPak Hands program, which was set up to develop U.S. troops skilled in Afghan and Pakistani culture and language.
According to his mother Janne:
He was very much committed to what he was doing in Afghanistan.". "He felt that the way to help the people there was to become their friends, and he trusted them.
His mother also said that "he lived more in 44 years than most of us will live in 80."
Loftis leaves behind his wife Holly and two daughters.
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Click here to read the series as begun by i dunno, and maintained by Sandy on Signal, noweasels, Blue Jersey Mom, Chacounne, Twilight Falling, Sis Two, Spam Nunn, CalNM, Wide Awake in KY,
maggiejean, Jaxdem, Kestrel9000, TheFatLadySings, and Ekaterin
If you would like to contribute to the series, even once a month, please contact Sandy on Signal or noweasels.
To see what these tributes mean to those who have lost a loved one in Iraq or Afghanistan, please read Sandy on Signal’s story about meeting the father of a soldier at NN10.
The IGTNT logo was created by Timroff.
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.