Matthew W. Ramsey, Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Matthew W. Ramsey, 20

Army, Specialist
Based: Ft. Campbell, Ky.
1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: November 29, 2010
Nangarhar province, Afghanistan
Married, 1 child
Gender: Male
Hometown: Quartz Hill
High School: Quartz Hill High (Quartz Hill)

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Several ... top national security advisers stood on a silent, windy tarmac Wednesday night to watch as the bodies of six soldiers killed by a rogue Afghan policeman returned to U.S. soil.

The six were killed in Afghanistan on Monday when the border policeman turned his gun on his American trainers as the group headed to shooting practice. The gunman was killed in the shootout in Nangarhar province near the Pakistan border.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the officer had enlisted as a sleeper agent to have an opportunity to kill foreigners.

The only sound during the “dignified transfer” was of the wind blowing through the 747 jet engines as the flag-topped caskets, called transfer cases, were lowered to the ground. Teams of white-gloved pallbearers carried each casket to a waiting truck. Fathers, mothers, wives and other family members of five of the soldiers traveled to Dover for Wednesday’s return.

The dead are Sgt. Barry E. Jarvis of Tell City, Ind.; Pfc. Jacob A. Gassen of Beaver Dam, Wis.; Pvt. Buddy W. McLain of Mexico, Maine; Spc. Matthew W. Ramsey of Quartz Hill, Calif.; Pvt. Austin G. Staggs of Senoia, Ga., and Staff Sgt. Curtis A. Oakes of Athens, Ohio

The the entire AP article about Army Specialist Matthew W. Ramsey and his group in Military Times here and find more here.

From the LA Times:

They had some tea and were getting ready for some firing...the lone ABP [Afghan Border Patrolman] fired at them, instantly killed five, then turned to where the platoon leader and the platoon sergeant were and shot the platoon sergeant.
— Maj. Gen. John F. Campbell, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

Ramsey was among six soldiers shot and killed Nov. 29 by an Afghan border policeman at an observation point near the Pakistani border. The shooter was a lone gunman who fired at five of the six, including Ramsey, from behind as they were gathered together at an observation point in Nangarhar province, according to Maj. Gen. John F. Campbell. A full obituary will follow.

Sgt. 1st Class Barry E. Jarvis, 36, of Tell City, Ind
-- Rest In Peace

Staff Sgt. Curtis A. Oakes, 29, of Athens, Ohio
-- Rest In Peace

Spc. Matthew W. Ramsey, 20, of Quartz Hill, Ca
-- Rest In Peace

Pfc. Jacob A. Gassen, 21, of Beaver Dam, Wis
-- Rest In Peace 

Pfc. Austin G. Staggs, 19, of Senoia, Ga
-- Rest In Peace

Pvt. Buddy W. McLain, 24, of Mexico, Maine
-- Rest In Peace

Rel A. Ravago IV, Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Rel A. Ravago IV, 21

Army, Specialist
Based: Ft. Campbell, Ky.
1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: November 23, 2003
Mosul, Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Glendale
High School: Hoover High (Glendale)

November 30, 2003

In an e-mail message from Iraq earlier this month, Army Spc. Rel Allen Ravago IV told his family in Glendale how proud he was of his new job as a driver for a high-ranking military official.

The following day, Ravago, 21, and Command Sgt. Maj. Jerry L. Wilson, 45, of Thompson, Ga., were fatally shot in Mosul "when hostile forces attacked the vehicle they were in on Nov. 23," military officials said.

After graduating in 2000, Ravago joined the Army, which puzzled his family. Because he was a talented artist, his family thought he would enroll in art school. Before his deployment to Iraq in February, his family said, he told them that he was afraid.

But this summer he wrote and said, "I'm not scared anymore," said his aunt, Arlynn Solis, 44. "If you see the faces of the kids, it will warm your heart. Now I know I have to be here; otherwise, they won't have a future."

"He wanted to serve his country," his father said.


In addition to his parents and sister, he is survived by his grandparents, Rel Junsay and Rebecca Ravago of Glendale, and Eleanor Florendo and Leopoldo Ongcapin of Marina del Rey; three aunts; two uncles; and eight cousins.

Read the whole LA Times article about Army Specialist Rel A. Ravago IV, here; read more about Sergeant Ravago here and see more memories here:

"I never knew Rel, but I hear of him all the time. My best friend, my brother, Shawn Parlett, was with him in Iraq. Here it is 7 years later, and I never get tired of hearing the stories. Shawn is a Baltimore City Police Officer now, and he would rather leave his house in the morning without his vest than without his bracelet with Rel's name on it. It never leaves his wrist, and the memories never leave him behind. My deepest sympathy to Rel's family and friends, and my gratitude for the sacrifice of those men greater than myself. GFBD."
Raymond Rogers of Baltimore, MD