I Got The News Today (IGTNT) is one of the oldest continuous series on Daily Kos. It is a way for our community to pay respect to those who have died while in service to our nation.
Sergeant 1st Class Jeremy W. Griffin
Jeremy Griffin was born in Panama in 1978. He graduated from Northeast High School in Clarksville, Tennessee before he enlisted in the US Army in 2004.
Jeremy graduated from Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia., and a Korean language course at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. During his more than 15-year career, he also completed basic and advanced Airborne schools, among several others.
Griffin deployed with the 82nd Airborne Division to Iraq in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2009.
The previous assignments served by Sergeant 1st Class Griffin, included one with the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He also served as a Special Forces communications sergeant to 3rd Battalion, 1st SFG (A) at Joint Base Lewis-McCord in Washington.
After completing the Special Forces Qualification Course in September 2014, he deployed to Afghanistan with 1st SFG (A) in 2016 and served on an overseas rotation in Korea in 2018.
Although his wife and children were living in Washington during his most recent deployment, Griffin had listed Greenbrier, Tennessee as home. During his fourth combat deployment, his unit was engaged in combat operations in Wardak Province, Afghanistan when he was killed in action by small arms fire on September 16th. He was 41 years old.
A story on WREG News site quotes the commander of the Special Forces Group:
“He was a warrior – an accomplished, respected and loved Special Forces Soldier that will never be forgotten,” said Col. Owen G. Ray, commander, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). “We ask that you keep his Family and teammates in your thoughts and prayers.”
Sergeant1st Class Jeremy W. Griffin was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart.
The awards and decorations earned by Sergeant1st Class Griffin include the Bronze Star medal, two awards of the Army Commendation medal, four awards of the Army Achievement medal, the Combat Infantry Badge, the Combat Action Badge, and the Ranger and Army Special Forces tabs.
According to a story in the Marine Corps Times, about Sergeant1st Class Jeremy W. Griffin:
“He was a father, he was a husband, he was a son, he was a Green Beret and he was an American hero,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville told reporters.
May he rest in peace.
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About the IGTNT series:
”I Got the News Today” is a diary series 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. US service members whose names have been released by the US Department of Defense will usually be diarized two days or so after the official announcement on the DoD website. This allows the IGTNT team to cover each person more fully, but still in a timely manner. Click the #IGTNT tag to see previous diaries in the series, which was begun by i dunno, and is maintained by Sandy on Signal, Noweasels, Blue Jersey Mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, SisTwo, Spam Nunn, True Blue Majority, CalNM, Wide Awake in Kentucky, maggiejean, Jax Dem, Ekaterin, SARBill & Joy of Fishes. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but show our community’s respect for those who have died.
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Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members mentioned here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.