Usmc Sgt From Camp Lejeune Kills His Babies
A woman who cradled a babe in her arms at the airdrome and posted on social media that she loved her chore. A young husband with a child on the way. Another man who e'er wanted to be in the military. A human who planned to become a sheriff's deputy when his deployment ended. Centre-wrenching details have emerged about some of the 13 U.Southward. troops killed in a suicide bombing at Transitional islamic state of afghanistan's Kabul airport, which besides claimed the lives of more than than 160 Afghans.
11 Marines, 1 Navy sailor and one Army soldier were amid the dead, while 18 other U.S. service members were wounded in Th'southward bombing, which was blamed on Transitional islamic state of afghanistan'due south adjunct of the Islamic State group. The U.S. said it was the most lethal day for American forces in Afghanistan since 2011. The White Firm said President Joe Biden volition look for opportunities to honor the service members who lost their lives, many of whom were men in their early on 20s.
Here are the stories of some of the victims and the people who are mourning them:
Nicole Gee, 23
A calendar week before she was killed, Sgt. Nicole Gee cradled a baby in her arms at the Kabul airport. She posted the photograph on Instagram and wrote, "I love my task."
Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California, was a maintenance technician with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Sgt. Mallory Harrison, who lived with Gee for three years and called her a "sis forever" and best friend, wrote about the magnitude of her loss.
"I can't quite describe the feeling I get when I force myself to come dorsum to reality & retrieve virtually how I'm never going to see her again," Harrison wrote on Facebook. "How her terminal jiff was taken doing what she loved — helping people. … Then there was an explosion. And just similar that, she's gone."
Gee's Instagram folio shows some other photo of her in fatigues, holding a rifle side by side to a line of people walking into the belly of a large transport plane. She wrote: "escorting evacuees onto the bird."
The social media account that includes many selfies afterward working out at the gym lists her location as California, North Carolina and "somewhere overseas."
Photos show her on a camel in Saudi arabia, in a bikini on a Greek isle and property a beer in Spain. One from this month in Kuwait shows her beaming with her meritorious promotion to sergeant.
Harrison said her generation of Marines hears state of war stories from veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, but they seem distant amid boring deployments until "the peaceful float you were on turns into … your friends never coming habitation."
Rylee McCollum, twenty
Rylee McCollum, a Marine and native of Bondurant, Wyoming, was married and his wife is expecting a baby in three weeks, his sister, Cheyenne McCollum, said.
"He was and then excited to be a dad, and he was going to exist a great dad," McCollum said. She said her brother "was a Marine earlier he knew he was allowed to be a Marine. ... He'd behave around his toy rifle and article of clothing his sis's pink princess snow boots and he'd either be hunting or he was a Marine. Sometimes it would be with nothing on underneath, just a T-shirt."
McCollum said her brother wanted to be a history instructor and a wrestling coach once he completed his service. Another sis, Roice McCollum, told the Casper Star Tribune that her blood brother was on his first deployment when the evacuation in Afghanistan began.
"Nosotros want to make certain that people know that these are the kids that are sacrificing themselves, and he'south got a family who loves him and a wife who loves him and a baby that he'll never get to encounter," Cheyenne McCollum said.
Regi Stone, the father of one of Rylee McCollum's friends, described McCollum as "a good kid," who was resilient, smart and courageous. Rock shared a note that his wife, Kim, sent to their son Eli Stone, who is also in the military machine and deployed elsewhere. In the note, Kim wrote that she remembered telling the friends to run the other fashion if they had to go in commencement and that both of them said, "If nosotros die doing this, we die doing what we beloved."
Kareem Mae'Lee Grant Nikoui, 20
Lance Corporal Kareem Mae'Lee Grant Nikoui, of Norco, California, sent videos to his family hours before he died, showing himself interacting with children in Afghanistan. In one clip, he asked a young boy to say how-do-you-do.
"Want to take a video together, buddy?" Nikoui said, leaning in to take a video of himself with the boy. "All right, we're heroes now, human being."
Family friend Paul Arreola said the videos evidence "the heart of this young human, the love he has."
"The family is just heartbroken," he said. Arreola described Nikoui as an "amazing fellow" full of hope who always wanted to be a Marine and set out to achieve his goal. He is survived by his parents and three siblings.
"He loved this country and everything we stand for. It'southward just so hard to know that we've lost him," he said, crying.
Nikoui was also in the JROTC, and the Norco High School Air Forcefulness JROTC posted on Facebook that he was "i of our all-time Air Forcefulness JROTC cadets" and that "Kareem was set on existence a Marine & e'er wanted to serve his country."
Jared Schmitz, 20
Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz grew up in the St. Louis surface area and was amongst a group of Marines sent back to Afghanistan to assistance with evacuation efforts, his father, Mark Schmitz, told KMOX Radio.
"This was something he always wanted to do, and I never seen a immature homo train as hard as he did to be the best soldier he could be," Schmitz said of his son. "His life meant so much more. I'm so incredibly devastated that I won't be able to see the human that he was very quickly growing into becoming."
Taylor Hoover, 31
Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, of Utah, had been in the Marines for 11 years and was remembered every bit a hero who died serving others, his father, Darin Hoover, said.
"He is a hero. He gave his life protecting those that can't protect themselves, doing what he loved, serving his country," said Darin Hoover, who lives in a Salt Lake Urban center suburb.
He said he had heard from Marines who said they were grateful they had his son as their sergeant.
"They look back on him and say that they've learned and then much from him," Hoover said. "One heck of a leader."
Hoover said his son was also a best friend to his two sisters and loved all his extended family. He had a girlfriend in California and was the kind of guy who "lit up a room" when he came in, his male parent said.
Nate Thompson of Murray, Utah, beginning met Hoover when they were ten years onetime in Picayune League football. They stayed friends through high school, where Hoover played lineman. He was undersized for the position, but his heart and difficult work more than made up for what he lacked in statute, Thompson said. As a friend, he was selfless and kind.
"If we had trouble with grades, trouble with family or trouble on the field, we always called Taylor. He's always level-headed, even if he'south struggling himself," he said.
Deagan William-Tyeler Page, 23
Corporal Daegan William-Tyeler Page served in the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment based at Camp Pendleton, California, and planned to go to trade school and possibly get a lineman later his enlistment concluded, his family said in a statement.
Page was raised in Red Oak, Iowa, and in the Omaha surface area and joined the Marines after graduating from Millard Southward High School. He is mourned by his girlfriend, parents, stepmom and stepdad, four siblings and grandparents, the family statement said.
"Daegan will always exist remembered for his tough outer beat and behemothic heart," the statement said. "Our hearts are broken, but we are thankful for the friends and family who are surrounding us during this time. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the other Marine and Navy families whose loved ones died alongside Daegan."
Ryan Knauss, 23
Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss was remembered every bit a motivated human being who loved his land and was looking forward to coming back to the U.S. and eventually moving to Washington, D.C., family unit members told WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Knauss' grandfather, Wayne Knauss, told the television station that his grandson attended Gibbs High School and grew upwardly in a Christian home.
"A motivated young man who loved his land," Wayne Knauss said. "He was a believer, and then we volition meet him again in God's heaven."
Stepmother Linnae Knauss said Ryan planned to motion to Washington after he returned to the U.S.
"He was a super-smart, hilarious young human being," she said.
Hunter Lopez, 22
Hunter Lopez, whose parents work at the Riverside County Sheriff'due south Department in Southern California, was a sheriff'south Explorer for three years before joining the Marine Corps in September 2017, Sheriff Republic of chad Bianco said.
Bianco said Lopez planned to follow in his parents' footsteps and become a Riverside County Sheriff'due south Deputy later on his deployment.
David Lee Espinoza, 20
Lance Corporal David Lee Espinoza, a Marine from Laredo, Texas, joined the armed forces after high schoolhouse, and is remembered as a hero by his female parent.
"He was just dauntless plenty to go do what he wanted and to aid out people. That's who he was, he was just perfect," his mother, Elizabeth Holguin, told the Laredo Morning Times.
In a argument, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said Espinoza "embodied the values of America: grit, dedication, service, and valor. When he joined the military after high schoolhouse, he did and so with the intention of protecting our nation and demonstrating his selfless acts of service."
Cuellar concluded, "The brave never die. Mr. Espinoza is a hero."
Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/us-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal_slain-marine-who-cradled-baby-kabul-airport-loved-her-job/6210099.html
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