Afghanistan

It's a new twist on an old race. This year, The Big Wild Life Runs had military men and women overseas participating. They ran a 5k yesterday, and their spouses ran in a relay today. The Big Wild Life Runs is a set of five different races, and has been going for over 20 years under different race titles according to Sharron Fisherman, race director of the Anchorage Running Club Big Wildlife Runs. However, this year was very different from years past with military spouses participating in the race overseas in Afghanistan.

A JBER paratrooper was killed in Afghanistan early Tuesday evening when his unit came under small-arms fire that also wounded three other soldiers. U.S. Army Alaska spokesperson Chuck Canterbury says 22-year-old Spc. Ethan Jacob Martin of Lewiston, Idaho died during the attack in Koragay, Afghanistan. Martin served as a cavalry scout with the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division. He had joined the Army in 2009 and taken basic training at Fort Knox, Ky. before arriving at JBER in March 2010.

A memorial was held Thursday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson for a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan in mid-July. Staff Sgt. Carl Eric Hammar died July 14, when his patrol unit was attacked by enemies with rocket-powered grenades and small arms fire. Hammar was transferred to JBER from Fort Bragg last September. He became an infantry squad leader with the 1 st Battalion, 501 st Infantry Regiment, 4 th Airborne Brigade Combat Team. A friend and fellow Blackfoot Company soldier of Hammar's, Staff Sgt. Nick Tabaczka, remembered him as being passionate about educating other troops, even during deployment.

Two Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson paratroopers killed in separate early June incidents in Afghanistan, were remembered Thursday during a private JBER ceremony. Pfc. Vincent Ellis, 22, died after he was shot trying to help protect his base after insurgents attacked his unit at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost Province on June 1. Part of the Chaos Troop, 1 st Squadron, 40 th Cavalry Regiment, Ellis's unit used a quote from his Facebook to remember him. “I wear the colors because others don't want to,” Ellis wrote.  “I use an M4 so others don't have to, I wear the uniform because I want to, I'll lay down my life so others can live.” “He was a great guy,” Ellis' comrade Capt.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson hosted a memorial service Thursday for three of its soldiers who were killed last month in two separate bomb attacks in Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Thomas Fogarty was from California. He died when his Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle hit a bomb on May 6 in Afghanistan. He leaves behind his parents, his wife and two children -- ages 3 and 5. Sgt. Brian Walker was from California and Pfc. Richard McNulty was from Missouri. They both died in the same bomb attack on their M1117 Armored Security Vehicle on May 13. Both Walker and McNulty leave behind their wives and parents.

Happy Easter everyone! For the soldiers over here in Afghanistan it was pretty much just another day. It appears many got a lighter load, most likely just because it's Sunday. It is definitely quieter here at "The MOC" (Media Operations Center) today. Photographer Albert Lutan and I spent much of the day out at one of the COPs in the area. (Combat Outpost - If you've never dealt with the military they have acronyms for everything. I'm an Army brat and most of the time I still have to ask what they mean.)

The 4-25 lost its first soldier of the deployment this week. It's a milestone the commanders and unit had to prepare for and most likely anticipated, but it's still one that weighs heavily on them. I was already scheduled to sit down with Col. Morris Goins and Command Sgt. Maj. Terry Gardner today, but after the news about the death of Specialist Jeffery Lee White Jr., and other five soldiers injured in Tuesday's IED attack, it was even more important to talk with the two about the mission here in Afghanistan.