Twenty-seven year old Air Force Captain Mark Tyler Voss was killed in a Kyrgyzstan air crash. The young pilot was refueling military craft for Afghanistan. Voss was a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. The Boerne, Texas grew up on a farm helping out his grandfather. The two were inseparable.
Voss always loved flying. His major was Aeronautical Engineering. Voss was made Aircraft commander just two months ago. He was single
Princess Diana would have been so proud of her son Prince Harry as he made his way across America this week. The Prince was especially moving as he visited the wounded warriors at Walter Reed Hospital and then at the 'Wounded Warrior' games in Colorado this weekend.
As someone who has served in Afghanistan, the Prince seems to have a special empathy for these service members who were badly injured in Iraq or Afghanistan. Like his mother, Prince Harry reminds us of those who we need to remember.
Here is Prince Harry at Walter Reed and at the games.
Spc. Brandon Joseph Prescott was just twenty-four when he was killed by an improvised explosive device in Maiwand District, Afghanistan. The native of Bend, Oregon was one of five soldiers killed in the blast. OregonLive.com reports on the young soldier.
Prescott was the younger in the family's first set of twin boys, born in West Covina, Calif., said his older brother, Aaron. The second set of twins, Jake and Josh, now 23, arrived soon after.
Prescott grew up in Dana Point, Calif., and graduated from Dana Hills High School in 2006. Two years later, their mother moved the brothers to Bend, where he took classes at Central Oregon Community College. Their father, Joseph Prescott, lives in Montgomery, Texas; their mother, Tracey Prescott has returned to Dana Point.
She said her son volunteered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and took part in a firefighting academy before joining the Army in 2010 in Portland.
Prescott was due to return home in September. However, he signed up for another three years when he discovered he would have to leave his unit behind, Aaron Prescott said.
The older twin said he spoke to Prescott on the phone about four hours before he was killed. The soldier said he loved and missed his family He is survived by his mother, father and three brothers.
"He was a hero and an inspiration for all of us," Aaron Prescott said. "Before he left for Afghanistan, he told us that if he died, he wanted us to be proud of him and hold our heads up because we know he was doing something he loved."
Tracey Prescott described Prescott as a selfless, humble man who loved his family and the beach.
That figure is almost a thousand more than all those that died on 9/11. The figure is almost as many that died in the Iraq War. The figure is more than American soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
Who are the 3,863 dead?
They are the people killed in the United States from gun violence since the Newtown shooting on December 14! Really. That is not an annual toll or the gun death toll for the last five years. It is the number killed in just five months. That figure average out to over 700 people being killed each month in the United States from guns.
No one can deny that we are in the middle of a slaughter by guns in this nation. A total bloodbath is occurring and our Congress is trembling in fear of the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA). The new President elected this weekend, James Porter, is describe as even more of a hard-liner and a 'culture warrior' by USA Today.
What are they fighting with millions and millions? The simple requirement that people who purchase a gun at gun shows must do a background check. Really? Yep that is the battle. A much needed assault weapons ban and magazine clip limit is not even on the table anymore.
Hell, even senior citizens in some states are required to have their eyes checked and driving abilities tested before getting their driver licenses renew.
If a terrorism killed over 7,000 Americans in just one month, the nation would be going 'bonkers' demanding that our government act to stop it. Citizens of this country should be now going 'bonkers' to demand an end to the gun violence.
United States Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel N. Fannin was killed in Afghanistan outside the Kandahar Airfield. The thirty year old airman was married to Sonya Fannin for several years. He was a native of Morehead, Kentucky and loved camping and fishing. He graduated from Rowan County High School in 2001.
The Sgt. had been in the Air Force for twelve years and this was his third tour in Afghanistan. He was an air surveillance technician on E-3 AWACS aircraft.
His family said in a statement, " Daniel always had a smile and kind words, and had a heart of gold."
This week a cargo plane crashed in Afghanistan. The video shows the plane struggling in the air and then comes crashing down. This was a 747 National Air Flight which came down and killed all seven aboard. It is all captured in this horrifying video.
Spc. Delfin Santos was killed in Zabul, Afghanistan at the age of twenty-four. Santos was on his second deployment to that nation. The soldier had been in the military six years. S
antos was killed when he was on his way to deliver school books for the Afghanistan children.
His father was a Prisoner of War in World War II and was part of the Bataan Death March. His body will be flown to the Philippines to be buried next to his father. Spc. Santos was from San Jose, California.
Santos was the youngest of seventeen children. This is the Christmas greeting he sent to his sixteen siblings.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jarett Yoder was only 26 years old when he was killed in Afghanistan. He was an piloting a AH-64 Apache Helicopter that crashed. Yoder attended Oley Valley High School in Oley, Pennsylvania (near Reading). Afterwards, he went to Reading Community College.
Yoder joined the military in 2005. He had previously served a tour of duty in Iraq in 2008 in the Infantry. He learned to become a pilot of Apache helicopters in 2010.
He had just married his wife Heather.
Air Force Academy graduate Capt. James Steel was killed in Eastern Afghanistan. The F-16 pilot was twenty-nine years old. The Tampa, Florida native was following in his father's footsteps by joining the Air Force. Major General Robert Steel and his wife Dee had five children and four of them entered the Air Force. This includes Capt. Steel's twin brother Jonathan.
Daily Kos quoted Captain Steel's father about his family:
James and Jonathan, who are our first set of twins, both went to the academy, one year apart. James is ahead of Jonathan by one year, who is at Laughlin finishing up his undergraduate pilot training. Their younger brother, Christopher, graduated the academy as well and is going to medical school at the Uniform Services University in Bethesda, Md. Out of our youngest set of twins, Paul is in basic training wanting to be a (joint terminal attack controller). And our oldest son, Bob, is in the process of applying for an officer training school slot.
One of the greatest photojournalists in the world was the late Tim Hetherington who was killed in combat in Libya. When in Afghanistan in 2008, he did a series of American soldiers sleeping in combat zone. So of them show restless energy while sleeping and others look so peaceful for a combat zone.
The Mail Online featured some of these photographs:
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