Phillip A. Bocks, Marines, Sergeant -- Rest In Peace

Phillip A. Bocks, 28

Marines, Sergeant
Based: Bridgeport, Conn.
Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: November 9, 2007 Aranus, Afghanistan
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Truckee
High School: Tahoe Truckee High (Truckee)
Burial: Ashes scattered over the Sierra Nevada

The opportunity to work in the mountains of Afghanistan was too good for Phillip Allen Bocks to pass up, especially after he had spent two years teaching others how to survive in difficult terrain.

The Marine Corps sergeant had been stationed at the Pickel Meadow Mountain Warfare Training Center near Bridgeport, Calif., showing other troops how to use pack mules for combat in rugged regions.

Friends said he was getting restless. So, last spring, Bocks volunteered to serve as an advisor with an embedded training team in eastern Afghanistan's mountainous Nuristan province. It was, friends said, a perfect fit for the easygoing but adventurous native of Troy, Mich.

"He was at that point in his career and life where he was trying to figure it all out for himself," said Sgt. Arlen Gentert, who worked with Bocks at the Bridgeport center's horse stables. "He was excited about going. This was his chance to do what he'd been teaching."

On Nov. 9, Bocks and 13 other U.S. soldiers were returning from a meeting with elders from the village of Aranus when they were ambushed by militants using rocket-propelled grenades and firearms, said Capt. Abel Espinosa from the Bridgeport center. Bocks, 28, died immediately. Five other Americans died in the attack and eight were wounded, Espinosa said. Three Afghan soldiers were killed.

Read the rest of the LA Times story here and read more about Marines Sergeant Philip A. Bocks here and visit his Guest Book here.

An honor guard of eight Marines carries the casket of Sgt. Phillip Allen Bocks from the memorial service at the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Pickel Meadow