Andrew F. Chris, Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Andrew F. Chris, 25

Army, Specialist
Based: Ft. Benning, Ga.
Company B, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: June 25, 2003
Baghdad, Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Poway
Burial: Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Ala.

Dad, I did this for you.

— Andrew Chris, at his father's gravesite before deploying

Chris' grandfather fought in World War II, his uncle was a special operations soldier in the Army, his father belonged to an Army airborne division and his brother Derek served in the Navy. A native of Alabama, he had lived in California for years.

From Military Times:

Army Ranger Andrew Chris called his brother on June 22 to let him know he was headed overseas.

“He said, ‘This is the last time I’m going to call you from the States,’ ” Josh Chris recalled.

Andrew Chris died just a few days later. The Florence, Ala., native was killed along with another Ranger on June 25 when a vehicle packed with explosives on the side of a Baghdad road detonated.

“He went through some of the most rigorous training in the world just to be a Ranger,” Josh Chris said. “But he loved it. He’d go on a 20-mile hike with a 60-pound pack and call me that night and be in a great mood.”

Chris, who lived in San Diego, followed a long line of relatives into the military. Both of his grandfathers served in World War II, his father served in the Army, his uncle in Special Forces and his brother Derek in the Navy. Josh Chris said knowing that his brother died doing what he loved has made it easier to accept.


“He was spiritually and emotionally ready,” Chris said.

Read more about Army Specialist Andrew F. Chris at
Lead the Way, 

Fallen Heroes, 

the Advocate 

and at...NPR. 

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Honoring Specialist Andrew F. Chris's fallen colleagues at Lead the Way

Troy David Jenkins, Army, Sereant -- Rest In Peace

Troy David Jenkins, 25

Army, Sergeant
Based: Ft. Campbell, Ky.
B Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: April 24, 2003
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany
Married, 2 children
Gender: Male
Hometown: Ridgecrest
High School: Hillcrest High School (Evergreen, Ala.)
Burial: Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside


From Military Times:

Army Sgt. Troy David Jenkins 25, of Ridgecrest, Calif.; assigned to B Company, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment based in Fort Campbell, Ky.; died from wounds received as a result of an explosion April 19 while on a dismounted patrol with other soldiers in Iraq. He died from his injuries at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany.

Troy Jenkins told his father he planned to get out of the military because he felt his luck was running out. Even so, he made a courageous, split-second decision April 19 that ended his life, but saved those of a 7-year-old girl and several soldiers in his 187th Infantry Regiment

Jenkins, 25, was critically wounded when an Iraqi child approached a group of soldiers with an unexploded cluster bomb. As the bomb went off, Jenkins threw himself over it.

He was transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and died Thursday.

“The boys in his outfit called me and said he deserves the (Medal of Honor),” said his father, Jack Jenkins of Turkey Creek, La. He said one soldier from his son’s outfit explained Troy’s actions this way: “If you were standing in a store and there was a guy in there with a hand grenade, which way would you run? Troy ran forward, to save that little girl and to save his buddies.”

Jenkins grew up in Evergreen, Ala., the youngest of three children of divorced parents, raised by their father. “He loved music. He loved to roam the woods. And he loved to go fishing,” his father said. “He was the kind of kid, if he had a problem, he’d take his radio out to the woods and try to think it out. He never got in any trouble, and he never lied to me.”

When he graduated from high school in 1995, Jenkins had already joined the Marines. He later joined the Army.

Jenkins, who served in Afghanistan, was planning to leave the service in July and wanted to join the California Highway Patrol. He didn’t want to leave his wife and two children, ages 4 and 2, alone again. “I think he had a premonition,” his father said.

His wife, Amanda Jenkins, said the circumstances of his death were not surprising. “He didn’t have a selfish bone in his body. He was always thinking of other people first.”

— USA Today, Associated Press

Find more about Army Sergeant Troy David Jenkins

at Fallen Heroes.

Fallen Heroes

Robbie M. Mariano, Army, Private -- Rest In Peace

Robbie M. Mariano, 21

Army, Private

Based: Ft. Hood, Texas

3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division

Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom

Died: January 5, 2006

Najaf, Iraq

Single

Gender: Male

Hometown: Stockton
High School: Stagg Senior High (Stockton)

The 21-year-old from Stockton was among five soldiers killed Jan. 5 when a roadside bomb exploded near their Humvee in Najaf, south of Baghdad, according to the Defense Department.

Also killed were Maj. William F. Hecker III, 37, of St. Louis; Sgt. Johnny J. Peralez Jr. , 25, of Kingsville, Texas; Capt. Christopher P. Petty, 33, of Vienna, Va.; and Sgt. 1st Class Stephen J. White, 39, of Talladega, Ala.

All were assigned to the Army's 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Ft. Hood, Texas.

Mariano's father, Bob, said his son joined the Army in November 2004, shortly after graduating from Stagg High School, and soon found a second family among his fellow soldiers.

"He was always upbeat about the war and believed in what he was doing over there," said the elder Mariano, a Stockton police sergeant. "The Army was his new family. I talked to him about 10 hours before he died. He said he was doing fine."

Bob Mariano said his son had planned to leave the service in 2008, attend college on the GI Bill and possibly follow in his father's footsteps with a career in law enforcement.

In addition to his parents, Robbie Mariano is survived by a 19-year-old brother, Bobby.

Read the entire store about Army Private Robbie M. Mariano here and find more here,  visit Private Mariano's Guest Book, and listen to an NPR story here.