In death, examples of determination

MOSUL, Iraq - More than 800 troops gathered in a theater here today to mourn five Fort Carson soldiers killed in a bombing last week that preceded a ferocious firefight on the city’s southeastern side.

Scores of them wept during the service to remember Staff Sgt. Gary Jeffries, 37; Sgt. James Craig, 26; Cpl. Evan Marshall, 21; Spc. Brandon Meyer, 20; and Pfc. Joshua Young, 21.

The three younger soldiers were promoted posthumously.

Top American generals in Iraq, led by Gen. David Petraeus, were there to pay their respects.

Soldiers in the dead men’s unit, Fort Carson’s 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, said the ceremony helped them gain strength to return to the fighting in their sector of eastern Mosul.

“We will endure,” battalion chaplain Capt. Stephen Pratel said during the service. “We will overcome.”

Eulogists said they’ve gained determination and tenacity from the example set by the men who died. The five were killed Jan. 28 on a mission to hunt down insurgents when their Humvee was destroyed by a buried homemade bomb.

“They are counting on us, our team, to continue the mission they died so valiantly to accomplish,” battalion commander Lt. Col. Christopher Johnson told the crowd gathered inside a movie theater on the Army’s Forward Operating Base Marez.

The battalion deployed in December with Fort Carson’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team and was sent to Mosul. The brigade’s other five battalions are serving in and around Baghdad.

Mosul, about 225 miles north of Baghdad, is now one of the most violent places in Iraq, with insurgents hiding within the city’s majority Sunni population and carrying out as many as 10 attacks each day in Johnson’s sector.

Friends said the five who died never flinched at Mosul’s danger.

“All were my friends, all were my comrades and all were leaders,” Sgt. 1st Class Felipe Cruz said.

Cruz said Jeffries was an expert at cheering people up despite facing another day at war.

“He would bring me back to the light when I was seeing darkness,” Cruz said.

Sgt. Jacob Sandoz spoke about Craig during the service, recalling his friendship and his dedication to the American cause in Iraq.

“He would want us to continue fighting,” Sandoz said.

Sgt. Tyler Daly told a similar tale about Marshall.

“He never wanted to quit,” Daly said during the service. “If you beat him at anything he would say ‘One more time’ or ‘Best two out of three.’”

Pfc. Anthony Mims said Meyer set an example by always giving of himself.

“Brandon was a great soldier and an awesome friend,” Mims said.

Choking back tears, Spc. Richard Jackson told the crowd that Young’s dream was to make a difference in the world.

“That’s what he did,” Jackson said. “He made a difference where the fight is.”

After the service, 3rd Brigade’s top enlisted soldier, Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Dailey said mourning and remembering helps soldiers go back out and face death anew.

“They need to close out because they have a big mission ahead here,” Dailey said. “They need to get beyond it, but they can’t ever forget the men who gave their lives.”

After taps played at the end of the service, the soldiers lingered.

Alone or in small groups, they walked to the front where pictures of the five men were displayed below a helmet, rifle and boots representing each of the dead.

They paused there, some praying or leaving mementos that will be given to the fallen soldiers’ families.

And during the 90 minutes after the service, each mourner rendered a slow, final salute before returning to war.

CONTACT THE WRITER: tom.roeder@gazette.com

PROFILES OF THE FALLEN

STAFF SGT. GARY W. JEFFRIES, 37, Texas

A big Texan with a big Texas drawl, Gary Jeffries was a teller of tall tales and a wizard of sorts on the roads of Iraq.

A three-tour Iraq veteran, Jeffries could almost smell roadside bombs, comrades said.

“He could sniff out IEDs like a bloodhound,” said Sgt. James Luce, who served in Jeffries’ platoon.

Soldiers gave Jeffries a hard time about his age. They joked about finding his walker on a battlefield and accused him of being a Spanish-American War veteran.

But the slow-talking sergeant took it all in stride.

“He kept us calm out there,” Staff Sgt. Matthew Houser said.

He pulled off a joke or two of his own — in December he gave the platoon a laugh by sticking a full bag of potato chips in his roommate’s pillowcase at a camp in Baghdad.

He told Army stories often and at length. The other soldiers loved it.

“It would be the same story, told six different ways,” Houser recalled.

He talked often of his children, daughter Sierra and son Zachary.

His goal after Iraq was to get his son a Jeep.

He also talked about his faith, especially in the days before he died.

“He said, ‘You’re doing the Lord’s work out there,’” 1st Lt. Francisco Hernandez said.

Jeffries was an expert at bringing young soldiers along, teaching them the ins and outs of a rig he loved, the M2 Bradley.

“He was the best Bradley commander we had,” Sgt. 1st Class Lloyd Lane said.

SGT. JAMES E. CRAIG, 26, Hollywood, S.C.

It’s not often that a hard-nosed infantry sergeant such as James Craig gets described this way:

“He was a teddy bear,” said Sgt. Gary Dishroon, who served in Craig’s platoon.

Craig wasn’t a pushover. His standards were as exacting as they come. This was about more than his military deportment, though.

“He was by far the nicest guy I ever met in my life,” Luce said. “You could give him crap all day, and the minute you needed something, he was still there for you.”

Craig talked often about his wife, Natalie.

The two had met online in 2006, during Craig’s second tour of duty in Iraq. Their romance blossomed.

“They were madly in love,” Dishroon said.

He was a bit straight-laced and could get drunk on a single glass of beer.

What really endeared Craig to his comrades was the amazing depth of his knowledge.

“He was one of the most booksmart guys I’ve ever met,” Houser said.

And Craig worked hard to pass everything he knew on to a younger generation of soldiers.

“Every time I saw Sgt. Craig, he was teaching somebody something,” Hernandez said.

“He had a lot of pride in everything he did,” said Sgt. Tyler Daly.

CPL. EVAN A. MARSHALL, 21, Athens, Ga.

The easiest question in the platoon: “Who was Evan Marshall’s best friend?”

The answer: Everybody.

Marshall got the honor by giving more than he took to everyone he met.

“He would let guys borrow his car for days at a time,” Daly said. “If you needed money, he would say, ‘Here, take my money.’”

Leaders liked Marshall because he worked to keep morale high.

“He was always smiling and joking,” Lane said. “He was never down.”

Dishroon said Marshall wasn’t a clown, though.

“He was an intelligent type, so his one-liners were over people’s heads sometimes,” Dishroon said.

He was outgoing, to a point.

“He was shy around girls,” said Houser, remembering several attempts by platoon members to fix up Marshall on dates.

Marshall, who was on his second Iraq tour, is survived by his parents, Andrew and Sheila Marshall, and a sister, Alice.

SPC. BRANDON A. MEYER, 20, Orange, Calif.

Brandon Meyer didn’t get the usual trouble new soldiers face in the platoon.

Leaders looked for faults to razz Meyer about — an untucked shirt or a dirty rifle — so they could welcome him with a proper lecture on how to be a soldier.

But Meyer, who joined the Army in January 2007, didn’t give them an opening.

“He was an excellent soldier,” Hernandez said. “If we had an Army of soldiers like Meyer, we could win the war easily.”

Meyer was a newlywed and talked often about his wife, Caitlyn. Friends say they thought Meyer would be as good at being a husband as he was at being a soldier.

His positive attitude and drive to excel made him popular in the platoon.

“Everyone wanted to hang out with him,” Sgt. Richard Augafa said.

He was a deeply spiritual son of a pastor and a gifted athlete who frequently bested his buddies on the basketball court or baseball diamond.

He passed up a college baseball scholarship to join the Army, Augafa said.

“He never bragged about it,” Daly said.

PFC. JOSHUA A. R. YOUNG, 21, Riddle, Ore.

The newest soldier in the platoon, Joshua Young was determined to make his mark.

“He was a good soldier, he always wanted to go outside the wire,” said Augafa, remembering how disappointed the private would be when left off the roster for a combat mission.

Young had gone to college in Oregon and was the platoon’s resident computer expert. In Iraq, he was called on frequently by his comrades to help untangle software glitches and Internet snarls. They marveled at his ability to type on two keyboards simultaneously.

“He was so smart that one time I asked him why he chose the infantry,” Daly said. “He wanted to be on the ground making a difference.”

Young, who joined the Army in May 2007, was still learning some Army skills. His comrades laugh about their adventures in teaching him how to operate an M2 Bradley rig.

“He was the worst driver I’ve ever seen,” Luce said.

But it was clear to everyone that Young would focus on every task until he could do it without fault.

“He would always ask, ‘How am I doing? Is there something I can improve on?’” Houser said.

Young had a corny sense of humor and loved his parents, Albert Young and Dawyna Fouts.

And he left no doubt as to what he wanted in the future, Lane said: “He wanted to be that guy who got things done.”