thedrifter
04-07-07, 03:39 PM
Search continues for soldier MIA for 3 years
By Michelle Tan and Gina Cavallaro - Staff writers
Posted : Saturday Apr 7, 2007 15:52:20 EDT
Army officials say an active search continues today for Staff Sgt. Keith “Matt” Maupin even as the date of his disappearance nears the three-year mark.
Maupin, of the Army Reserve’s 724th Transportation Company in Bartonville, Ill., went missing April 9, 2004, when insurgents attacked his convoy using rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. Two soldiers and six American civilian truck drivers were killed in the attack outside Baghdad.
“Part of our Army values is ‘Never leave a fallen comrade,’ ” said Col. Dan Baggio, an Army spokesman. “The Army won’t rest until we find him.”
Maupin and Sgt. Ahmed Altaie, also an Army Reserve soldier, are the only two soldiers listed by the Defense Department as “captured” in Iraq.
Lt. Col. Jack O’Brien has been the Maupin family’s liaison for more than two years, and the family receives updates every quarter from the Army about the search for him, said Lt. Col. Bob Tallman, an Army spokesman.
Tallman declined to discuss specifics about the effort to find Maupin.
Almost three months after he was captured, a video purportedly showing Maupin being executed was determined by the Army to be inconclusive. It’s unknown whether the person killed in the video was indeed the captured soldier.
Maupin, who was a private first class when he was captured, was promoted to staff sergeant in August 2006. He enlisted Oct. 9, 2002, and his 24th birthday will be on July 13.
Until he is found, Maupin remains on active-duty status with all rights and privileges for pay and promotions, the Army has said.
Maupin’s parents, Keith and Carolyn, of Batavia, Ohio, could not be reached for comment April 6.
Information on the Web site for the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, founded by the Maupins after their son was captured, lists two events scheduled on or around the April 9 anniversary, including a dinner and dance to raise money for scholarships in honor of Maupin and area soldiers killed in action.
Altaie, 41, is the only other soldier who has gone missing for an extended period of time since the start of operations in Iraq. an Iraqi-born resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., he was forcibly taken by masked gunmen in a Baghdad neighborhood Oct. 23 while visiting family.
He was assigned to work under a State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team, and on Nov. 11, the Army announced it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to his recovery.
According to the Army, Altaie had gone without reinforcements outside the fortified Green Zone to see his Iraqi wife, whom he had married before deploying to Iraq, when he disappeared.
On Dec. 15, the Army announced that Altaie’s status had been changed from “duty status whereabouts unknown” to “missing/captured” because the Army had made a determination that he had been abducted.
Altaie hadn’t been seen or heard from until Feb. 14, when a video claiming to show him was posted on a militant Shiite Web site.
Ellie
By Michelle Tan and Gina Cavallaro - Staff writers
Posted : Saturday Apr 7, 2007 15:52:20 EDT
Army officials say an active search continues today for Staff Sgt. Keith “Matt” Maupin even as the date of his disappearance nears the three-year mark.
Maupin, of the Army Reserve’s 724th Transportation Company in Bartonville, Ill., went missing April 9, 2004, when insurgents attacked his convoy using rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. Two soldiers and six American civilian truck drivers were killed in the attack outside Baghdad.
“Part of our Army values is ‘Never leave a fallen comrade,’ ” said Col. Dan Baggio, an Army spokesman. “The Army won’t rest until we find him.”
Maupin and Sgt. Ahmed Altaie, also an Army Reserve soldier, are the only two soldiers listed by the Defense Department as “captured” in Iraq.
Lt. Col. Jack O’Brien has been the Maupin family’s liaison for more than two years, and the family receives updates every quarter from the Army about the search for him, said Lt. Col. Bob Tallman, an Army spokesman.
Tallman declined to discuss specifics about the effort to find Maupin.
Almost three months after he was captured, a video purportedly showing Maupin being executed was determined by the Army to be inconclusive. It’s unknown whether the person killed in the video was indeed the captured soldier.
Maupin, who was a private first class when he was captured, was promoted to staff sergeant in August 2006. He enlisted Oct. 9, 2002, and his 24th birthday will be on July 13.
Until he is found, Maupin remains on active-duty status with all rights and privileges for pay and promotions, the Army has said.
Maupin’s parents, Keith and Carolyn, of Batavia, Ohio, could not be reached for comment April 6.
Information on the Web site for the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, founded by the Maupins after their son was captured, lists two events scheduled on or around the April 9 anniversary, including a dinner and dance to raise money for scholarships in honor of Maupin and area soldiers killed in action.
Altaie, 41, is the only other soldier who has gone missing for an extended period of time since the start of operations in Iraq. an Iraqi-born resident of Ann Arbor, Mich., he was forcibly taken by masked gunmen in a Baghdad neighborhood Oct. 23 while visiting family.
He was assigned to work under a State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team, and on Nov. 11, the Army announced it was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to his recovery.
According to the Army, Altaie had gone without reinforcements outside the fortified Green Zone to see his Iraqi wife, whom he had married before deploying to Iraq, when he disappeared.
On Dec. 15, the Army announced that Altaie’s status had been changed from “duty status whereabouts unknown” to “missing/captured” because the Army had made a determination that he had been abducted.
Altaie hadn’t been seen or heard from until Feb. 14, when a video claiming to show him was posted on a militant Shiite Web site.
Ellie