SPECIAL OPERATIONS SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN: 9th TOUR OF DUTY

SFC RONALD GRIDER, KIA

Elite warriors from the United States Special Operations Command will gather this week at Fort Bragg, North Carolina to remember one of their own.

After nine tours of duty, Sergeant First Class Ronald Grider was killed in Konduz Province, Afghanistan in September on his 30th birthday. He was the father of a young daughter.

Grider, 30, a veteran of a dozen years of military service, was on his ninth deployment to a combat zone in the current Middle East conflicts.

Grider was born in Alton, Ill. He graduated from high school in 1998. Grider enlisted in the U.S. Army as an Infantryman, a month shy of his 18th birthday,
on Aug. 18, 1998. Friends and family say despite the frequent deployments, Grider was still the happy-go-lucky kid they all called "Hank," and that he had found his calling in the military.

Grider served for three years as a grenadier, rifleman and scout team leader, in C Company, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

During this time, Grider attended Ranger School graduating in May 2000. He served with the 3d battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia as a rifle team leader and squad leader, deploying once to Afghanistan and three times to Iraq.

Later, Grider attended and passed the Special Forces "Q" Course. In November 2005, the Army assigned him to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Special Operations Command, at Fort Bragg as a Special Operations team member.

"For five years, he performed this duty, deploying four times to Operation Iraqi Freedom and once more to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom," USASOC said.

Grider served as an unofficial chaplain for older warriors in his squadron. The longer he stayed in, friends and family say, the more he sought comfort in his religion.

Grider had talked to a pastor about entering the seminary and taking his life in a new direction. He had a big thing to wrestle with: Which job would benefit other people more? The pastor said, I don't know. Ultimately, Grider opted to stay in the Army for a full to earn his retirement, and then go to seminary and come back and help the other way.

A soldier injured in the same attack that killed Aaron Grider told the family about his last moments: "He knew that he was going to die, because he was actually - he was bleeding out. He looked up at these guys that were trying to take care of him. And he said, it's OK, closed his eyes and died."

Grider's decorations include two Bronze Star Medals; he was posthumously awarded his third Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.

MEXICAN SWAT TEAM

DEATH OF A HERK

WHO: C-130 Tail # 60412 Cargo Carrier From The 440th Airlift Command At Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina

WHAT: CRASH OF A U.S. AIR FORCE C-130 HERCULES

WHERE: 10 Kilometers North of Baghdad, Iraq

WHEN: 1222 Hours 27 June 2008

WHY: "Uncommanded Power Loss after takeoff" . . . no shit - I hope it wasn't a COMMANDED power loss. (thanks Mike the Marine - see comments below)

HOW MANY: At least nine that I can count . . . and one Big Iron Bird!



By all accounts this should have been it for everybody on board . . . instead Tail # 60412 dug a 600 yard furrow in the dirt and came to rest intact - all aboard cheated death.




The crew leaves the C-130 after crash landing - it is 1222 hours 27 June 2008.




A hasty perimeter is set up to establish security until help arrives.




The Iraqi Police arrive at the crash scene. Command Sergeant Major Miller meets the Iraqi Police to explain what happened.





THE passengers are evacuated by helicopter. Staying behind are 8th PSYOP Battalion Commander, Colonel Ceroli, LT. Colonel Goldsmith, CSM Miller And . . .

. . . two members of the Asymmetric Warfare Group. They will recover weapons, night vision & other sensitive gear - and await U.S. ground forces




Half of the nose gear that was sheared off at landing.





Other half of the nose gear - this "landing" was beyond engineering limits




Ladder To flight deck in left of frame. Deck is pushed up in the center & split down the middle. The landing was rough.



Close-up of split in the deck. Dust filled the cabin through this split, filled the ship, making it hard to breath or see until emergency exits were opened within a minute of landing.




Wider view of the interior damage - a miracle that anyone survived.




Landing gear forced up into fuselage with doors torn off




Port side emergency exit hatch near flight deck.




Iraqi Police with U.S. advisers were first on the scene. They unloaded for the C-130 crew.




Stryker Infantry Company from U.S. 25th Infantry Division arrives to secure the site.

Preparations are made for transport of personnel, weapons, sensitive items and equipment back to Baghdad.




A Fort Bragg & Pope Air Force Base Aircraft From Which Unit Commander, Colonel Michael Ceroli and his men probably jumped by parachute in training. Never Again will they jump Tail # 60412 - this Hercules is a complete loss.



SGT Washington From The Stryker Company snapped this photo to document the Moment: L-R: 2X Asymmetric Warfare Group Personnel, CSM Miller, LTC Goldsmith, COL Michael Ceroli and C-130 Tail # 60412

SARAH PALIN AT FT. BRAGG

This story isn't about Sarah Palin - it's about the people of Fort Bragg who went to see her.

Normally I shun any kind of crowd action and I don't get involved in politics, but my 13-year-old daughter asked me to take her to see Sarah. This is the same girl who consistently brings home straight A's, wins every contest she's ever entered and who somehow got me into Senator Liddy Dole's offices and on a private tour of the Capitol building while Congress was on break last year; I'm home for the Thanksgiving holidays so I figured I could accommodate her. I cut her loose from school for an opportunity to get a little 'O.J.T.'* Civics 101.

* On The Job Training




I had some running around to do so we didn't get there until 10:00 am and the crowd was already wound around the building. It started to rain, so I went inside & bought an umbrella.




Things were surprisingly civil at the book signing; these shots are from the media, but I was this close and there was plenty of room to mill about in the little avenue to crowd control folks had arranged to let people in and out of the PX to do their shopping.




On the way back to my place in line I paced it: at an estimated five people per full pace count, I pegged the crowd was about two thousand. By the time Sarah showed up at 11:00 am the line had lengthened another 30% at least. The press is reporting about four thousand people showed up.




Not bad for a cold rainy Monday in late November.




There was electricity in that crowd, but I am here to tell you this was the most well-heeled and well-behaved crowd of that size I have ever seen. Everybody had a haircut and was dressed normally. No freaks or weirdos, no political grandstanders; just everyday ordinary people come to see a person who embodies everything they stand for and believe in.



The most civilized crowd I've ever stood in.

Those of us toward the back half of the line knew we had a slim chance of making it to the front by the time the book signing was over. Sure enough, at about 1:30 pm a lady came out and told us 'Sorry, everybody from this point back won't make it.'

There were no scenes. There was some grumbling, sure, but folks at Fort Bragg know the deal; self-discipline and stoicism is the theme and fiber of the warrior class.



Of course we moved toward the entrance of the PX and laid siege to it, waiting for Sarah to come out, and that is when we hit pay dirt.

When Sarah finally emerged, she shook every hand that was outstretched and signed books all the way to her PalinMobile. The lady is a class act, all the way.

My daughter got her copy of Going Rogue autographed, got her handshake and got a hug, and Sarah made off with my 3d Special Forces Group pen. Then Sarah stopped at a young lady in uniform standing directly in front of me and the look on her face as she gave the young soldier a hug was a combination of gratitude, appreciation & understanding coming from an Army Mom to one of the troops.


I wish I had a better picture of that moment . . . the kind of emotion I saw cannot be faked . . .

Y'all know it takes a LOT to impress me - I can't begin to describe the effect of her charisma - that look on her face when she hugged that young soldier really moved me . . .

. . . then, thousands of signatures later, Sarah Palin was gone . . .



- Sean Linnane,
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
23 November 2009





"The Department of Defense typically prohibits politicians from using installations as a platform, so Palin didn't give a speech and simply thanked soldiers individually. She was allowed to hold the event as a private citizen who was not campaigning, a Fort Bragg spokesman said.

"Army officials initially feared the book signing might turn political and negative comments would be directed at President Barack Obama, so they barred media from attending. The Army later relented and allowed coverage . . . many people who attended voiced their opposition to the Commander in Chief."

- Fayetteville Observer, 23 November 2009

SITREP MONDAY 23NOV09

Back home in North-by-God-Carolina for a hard-earned week's leave . . . one of the occupational hazards of being a modern-day Road Warrior is getting the laptop to sync with the wireless server, wherever you are . . . this is usually not a problem EXCEPT FOR the router at the apartment back in ChicagoLand requires it's own software that took over & usurped my normal wireless card utility . . . it took me all day yesterday to battle through the thing . . . FINALLY had the gizmo giving me 18 Mbps . . . then down to 1 Mbps . . . then up to 24 Mbps . . . then back down to 5.5 Mbps . . . SHEESH ! ! !


OK doing battle with this Thing ate up all my time and now I've got to run downtown, turn in the rent-a-car, then blast over to Ft. Bragg for a meeting with THIS American Hero:





Full report (and MORE) to follow . . .


. . . S.L.