SEALs killed in Afghanistan

[USNAviator]

Marines, please keep in your prayers the three SEALs and Senior Chief listed below. Lt Looney was the son of a good friend...thank you


Navy IDs 4 killed in Afghanistan helo crash


By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Sep 25, 2010 8:24:21 EDT

Navy officials have released the names of the four Navy personnel killed when their helicopter crashed Tuesday in Zabul province, southern Afghanistan.

Three Navy SEALs and one naval special warfare support sailor are among those confirmed dead. Five U.S. Army air crew members also died in the crash. Three others, including another Navy SEAL, were injured in the crash and remain in critical condition at a U.S. medical facility in Afghanistan.
Killed were:
• Lt. Brendan John Looney, 29, a native of Owings, Md., who was a 2004 Naval Academy graduate, where he played on the lacrosse team. He was initially commissioned as a naval intelligence officer, serving first with Naval Forces Korea, Detachment Chinhae. In May 2006, he was assigned as an intel officer with an East Coast NSW unit before being accepted for SEAL training in March 2007. He remained at Coronado and was assigned to a SEAL team there. His awards are listed as the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the National Defense Service Medal.
• Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician (Collection) (SW/FMF) David Blake McLendon, 30, of Thomasville, Ga. McLendon, who joined the Navy in July 1998, was assigned to Naval Special Warfare Group 2 Support Activity in Norfolk, Va. He was selected by the 2010 senior chief board and officially put on his latest rank June 16. His awards include the Joint Service Commendation Medal; Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal; Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal; Navy Battle “E” Ribbon — two awards; Navy Good Conduct Medal — three awards; and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
• Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class (SEAL) Adam Olin Smith, 26, of Hurdland, Mo. Smith enlisted Oct. 27, 2004, and was formally advanced to second class July 16. After recruit training, he attended school at the Naval Air Technical Training Command in Pensacola, Fla., before reporting to NSW in March 2005. His awards include the Joint Service Achievement Medal; Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal; the National Defense Service Medal; Iraq Campaign Medal; and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
• Special Warfare Operator 3rd Class (SEAL) Denis Miranda, 24, of Toms River, N.J. Miranda enlisted Sept. 10, 2003, and was advanced to E-4 on July 16. Before becoming a SEAL in 2007, he served at Patrol Squadron 8 in Jacksonville, Fla. He also attended hospital corpsman “A” school. His personnel files contained no record of awards or medals.

[Wyoming]

Outbound Cmdr., prayers outbound.

[Mistybluelady]

My prayers go out to the families and friends. God Bless Dan. May God ease your heavy heart.

[FistFu68]

May You Men Rest In Peace No More Worries Your In Gods Hands Now

[Integrity57]

I'm not a religious man but my thoughts go out to the families of the Sailors and Soldiers that were lost in the crash and I hope for a speedy recovery for those that survived.

[DocGreek]

Interesting....no mention of a Doc, with these S.E.A.L.S......RIP, Sailors!!
ANCHORS AWEIGH......Doc Greek.....

[hrscowboy]

You docs can't be everywhere Doc even tho you would like too..

[DocGreek]

.....I'm a "DUCK", not a SEAL!!!!.....!
HEY!!.....check out the very first post on this thread, by The Drifter!!!!.....

[DanM]

Doc, Read the article again SO3 Denis Miranda completed HM "A" school.

[hbharrison]

PRAYERS OUTBOUND God Bless them All "Fair Winds and Following Seas"

[jamielang1951]

My heart and prayers go out to the families of these hero's.

[DocGreek]

......DAN, musta' been the "fine" print!!.....I went right by that NON-capitalized reference to Hospital Corpsman School! That young Man's rank is incorrect, I'm sure (?) he went to HN "A" school before becoming a SEAL......EH?......

[390 Mach I]

Prayers outbound to the families of these fine Sailors.

[USNAviator]

Marines...Brendan was a great young man whose two brothers are actively serving. I draw you attention to the final sentence. R.I.P Brendan


The family of Brendan Looney remembered him with these and other thoughts this week as they mourned his passing. LT Looney, 29, was one of 10 U.S. service members to lose his life Tuesday in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

Brendan’s family –– parents, Kevin and Maureen; wife, Amy Hastings Looney; and siblings, LT Stephen Looney and his wife Alison, LTJG Billy Looney, Bridget, Erin and Kellie –– have gathered together as one this week in the family home in Silver Spring, Md., to honor Brendan after he gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

In their current hour of grief, the Looney family asks the public and members of the media for a period of privacy that will allow them to devote the coming days to each other, and to Brendan.

A public visitation will be held for Brendan on Sunday, October 3, from 2-5 p.m. at DeMatha Catholic High School (4313 Madison Ave., Hyattsville, Md.). The funeral service will be held Monday, October 4, at St. John the Baptist Church (12319 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, Md.) from 9:30-10:30 a.m., followed by burial at Arlington National Cemetery. At Arlington, Brendan will be laid to rest next to his Naval Academy roommate, 1stLt. Travis Manion, USMC, who gave his life in the line of duty in 2007.

[USNAviator]

Lt. Brendan Looney, You Have the Thanks of a Grateful Nation

By KT McFarland
Published September 28, 2010
| FoxNews.com
When my old boss Ronald Reagan gave the commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1984, the tradition was for the president to give the first salute only to the top 100 graduates. Reagan decided to break with tradition and saluted every single graduate, nearly 1,000 of them, standing for hours in the hot sun.
Afterwards his aide said, Mr. President, that was a generous thing you did, those kids will never forget it receiving their first salute from their commander in chief .
“I didn’t do it for them, he replied, I did it for me. I wanted to look into their eyes. Because someday I may have to send them into harm’s way, to fight and maybe die for our country. I won’t hesitate if I have to do it, but I want to know them as people, not anonymous names on a list.”
Last week, one of this generation of officers, Naval Academy graduate Lt Brendan Looney, died when his helicopter crashed in rugged terrain in southern Afghanistan. Nine American servicemen were killed.
Brendon was the first of three brothers to graduate from the Naval Academy. He was a star lacrosse player, and played on the NCAA championship game in his senior year. Also on that fabled Navy Lacrosse team? Brendon’s younger brothers Billy and Stephen.
Brendon went on to become a Navy SEAL, and was the “honorman” in his SEAL class.
He married in 2008 and within 48 hours deployed to Iraq.
In all, Brendon deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan four times. In a cruel twist of fate, he died just two weeks before he was scheduled to retire from the military and transition back to civilian life.
Last week, 2,000 of his fellow servicemen and women gathered in Afghanistan to pay their final respects to Brendan and his fallen comrades as they departed for their final journey home. When his body arrived at Dover Air Force Base, hundreds of his friends, family and navy classmates met the plane.
Lt. Brendan Looney will be laid to rest next Monday in Arlington Cemetery, next to his best friend and Naval Academy roommate, Marine 1st Lt. Travis Manion, who gave his life in the line of duty in Al Anbar Province, Iraq in 2007.
In the Reagan administration there was a large oil painting hanging just outside the Secretary of Defense’s office. It was of a young family: father in uniform, mother and two young children, kneeling at an altar. Underneath was a verse from the Bible, Isaiah 6:8"I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here [am] I; send me."
Lts. Brendan Looney and Travis Manion answered that call. On behalf of a grateful nation, we give you thanks.