thedrifter
07-16-09, 07:57 AM
MILITARY: Pendleton Marine killed in Afghanistan
By MARK WALKER - mlwalker@nctimes.com
Camp Pendleton has suffered its first combat fatality in Afghanistan since more than 1,000 Marines and sailors from the base were dispatched to the country's Helmand province as part of an Iraq-style surge two months ago.
The Defense Department announced Wednesday that Sgt. Michael W. Heede Jr., 22, of Edgewood, Md., died Monday from injuries suffered in a roadside bomb explosion in Helmand.
Heede was assigned to Pendleton's 1st Combat Engineering Battalion, a 1st Marine Division unit operating under the umbrella of the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Also killed was Staff Sgt. David S. Spicer, 33, of Olney, Md. Spicer was a bomb technician assigned to the 8th Engineer Support Battalion based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He joined the Marine Corps 15 years ago.
The two men were on patrol in the southern Afghanistan province when they were killed.
The Marines' bodies were returned to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday, where autopsies will take place before the remains are released to their families.
The 1st Marine Division issued a statement mourning Heede's death, saying that its heartfelt condolences go out to his family.
Heede enlisted in the Marine Corps in September 2005 and was on his second combat assignment. He also served in Iraq from November 2006 to April 2007.
Last year, Heede was interviewed at sea while aboard the San Diego-based USS Peleliu as a member of Camp Pendleton's 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Then a corporal, Heede, a squad automatic weapon gunner, told a military journalist that he was building his leadership skills by taking a corporal's course at sea.
"We received a whole lot of great knowledge like basic leadership traits and advanced tactics of war fighting," Heede told the journalist in an article released last year by the Marine Corps. "It's important to take part in the course because it teaches the building blocks and fundamentals of being a leader."
Taliban and related anti-government forces in Afghanistan are increasingly turning to roadside bombs to carry out attacks against U.S. and NATO coalition forces in Afghanistan and avoid direct confrontation.
The military recorded 736 improvised explosive device or roadside bomb incidents in June, the highest monthly total since the invasion in the fall of 2001.
The Marine Corps began ramping up its presence in Afghanistan last year, and now has about 11,000 troops in the country, most operating in the Helmand region.
In May, the unit Heede was assigned to was dispatched to Afghanistan as part of a 21,000-troop increase ordered by President Barack Obama.
This has been the most lethal month for U.S. and allied troops since the war began. Forty-five have been killed, including nine U.S. Marines.
Overall, 109 American troops have been killed this year, according to the Web site icasualties.org. If the pace of fatalities continues, 2009 will be the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Call staff writer Mark Walker at 760-740-3529.
Ellie
By MARK WALKER - mlwalker@nctimes.com
Camp Pendleton has suffered its first combat fatality in Afghanistan since more than 1,000 Marines and sailors from the base were dispatched to the country's Helmand province as part of an Iraq-style surge two months ago.
The Defense Department announced Wednesday that Sgt. Michael W. Heede Jr., 22, of Edgewood, Md., died Monday from injuries suffered in a roadside bomb explosion in Helmand.
Heede was assigned to Pendleton's 1st Combat Engineering Battalion, a 1st Marine Division unit operating under the umbrella of the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Also killed was Staff Sgt. David S. Spicer, 33, of Olney, Md. Spicer was a bomb technician assigned to the 8th Engineer Support Battalion based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He joined the Marine Corps 15 years ago.
The two men were on patrol in the southern Afghanistan province when they were killed.
The Marines' bodies were returned to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday, where autopsies will take place before the remains are released to their families.
The 1st Marine Division issued a statement mourning Heede's death, saying that its heartfelt condolences go out to his family.
Heede enlisted in the Marine Corps in September 2005 and was on his second combat assignment. He also served in Iraq from November 2006 to April 2007.
Last year, Heede was interviewed at sea while aboard the San Diego-based USS Peleliu as a member of Camp Pendleton's 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Then a corporal, Heede, a squad automatic weapon gunner, told a military journalist that he was building his leadership skills by taking a corporal's course at sea.
"We received a whole lot of great knowledge like basic leadership traits and advanced tactics of war fighting," Heede told the journalist in an article released last year by the Marine Corps. "It's important to take part in the course because it teaches the building blocks and fundamentals of being a leader."
Taliban and related anti-government forces in Afghanistan are increasingly turning to roadside bombs to carry out attacks against U.S. and NATO coalition forces in Afghanistan and avoid direct confrontation.
The military recorded 736 improvised explosive device or roadside bomb incidents in June, the highest monthly total since the invasion in the fall of 2001.
The Marine Corps began ramping up its presence in Afghanistan last year, and now has about 11,000 troops in the country, most operating in the Helmand region.
In May, the unit Heede was assigned to was dispatched to Afghanistan as part of a 21,000-troop increase ordered by President Barack Obama.
This has been the most lethal month for U.S. and allied troops since the war began. Forty-five have been killed, including nine U.S. Marines.
Overall, 109 American troops have been killed this year, according to the Web site icasualties.org. If the pace of fatalities continues, 2009 will be the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Call staff writer Mark Walker at 760-740-3529.
Ellie