The War Hits Home.
 

Men,
Today is a sad day here on North Attleboro. The whole town is in mourning tonight as we learned that one of our best and brightest Marine Aviator Capt. Kyle VanDeGiesen gave his life for his country today in Afghanistan. His wife is due in 2 weeks with a son that will never know his father. Pray for his wife and family. God bless his soul.

And sadly it was in a mid-air incident with friendly craft.

Not a good day at all, my his name never be forgotten among those that gave their lives so that we may live ours.

A Marine friend of ours nearly had the same fate, just a few weeks away from the birth of his first child. He watched the delivery via teleconference from the hospital in Germany.

My thoughts go out to his family. Regardless of how he died, it's going to impact them the same.

-spence

Sad. War sucks. :(

Duke very sad T& P to his wife and child.


The news has been reporting it as an accident, the Pentagon, or the Administration may want to allow the truth.

The military has released little information about the crashes, expect to say they were not a result of hostile fire.

The deadliest crash occurred in the western part of Afghanistan. A helicopter went down after leaving the scene of a firefight, killing 10 Americans on board – including three Drug Enforcement Administration agents. The agents routinely patrol with US forces in Afghanistan, the world’s larges producer of opium, the key ingredient of heroin and a major source of funding for insurgent groups.

The helicopter was on an operation that targeted insurgents involved in drug trafficking when a firefighter began.

A military spokeswoman did not give a cause of the crash, but said hostile fire was unlikely because the troops were not receiving fire when the helicopter took off. Taliban fighters claimed they had shot down a helicopter in the Badghis province, but it was not clear if they were referring to the same incident, and their claim could not be independently verified.

It was the first time a DEA agent has died since the agency began operations in Afghanistan in 2005.

A second crash occurred when two US Marine helicopters – a UH-1 and an AH-1 Cobra -- collided in flight in the southern province of Helmand, killing four American troops and wounding two more.

Which crash VanDeGiesen was involved in was not known.

Very Sad news....God bless him and his family.

Thoughts and prayers for his family.

Sometimes we forget the constant anxiety and sacrifices
of our armed force service families.

You said it. Prayers to his family.

Awful news, heard it this morning.

The four Marines who died while supporting combat operations in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan were Cpl. Gregory M.W. Fleury, 23, of Anchorage, Alaska; Capt. Eric A. Jones, 29, of Westchester, New York; Capt. David S. Mitchell, 30, of Loveland, Ohio; and Capt. Kyle R. Van De Giesen, 29, of North Attleboro, Massachusetts.

Very sad he died without seeing his baby. I'm not saying its would have been OK after but going just two weeks before is fate being doubly cruel.

Prayers for his wife.

USMC is saying visibility, 'DUST' caused the crash.