Rest in peace to the fallen and all prayers and condolences go out to the family and friends of these brave men. –Matt
Edit: July 9, 2011–Ryan Lozier was awarded the Defense Medal of Freedom medal posthumously. Here is the link.
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Middletown grad killed in Afghanistan
Ryan Lozier died ‘doing what he loved’
By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer
May 11, 2010
MIDDLETOWN — Two days before Mother’s Day, Viki Lozier was notified that her oldest son, Ryan Lozier, 30, a 1998 Middletown High School graduate, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan while working for Global Security Solutions, a private security company.
Viki Lozier said her son served eight years in the Army Ranger Battalion in Afghanistan and Iraq. He worked for a year in the private sector, then joined the security company.
“He told me, ‘Mom, this is what I’m meant to do. I want to save people and this is what I love,’ ” she said Monday, May 10.
“As a mother, I have to honor that. I can’t be mad. There is nobody to blame. That’s how he lived. He died doing what he loved.”
She described her son as “big, bold and bright,” and he didn’t do anything “half-measured, even when he was getting in trouble.”
Lozier, a standout athlete, played football at Madison High School, then transferred to Middletown High School for his junior and senior years.
Chip Otten, then coach of the Middies, said Lozier was an outstanding running back for the Mohawks, but, because the Middie backfield was crowded, he was moved to defensive end.
Lozier earned the nickname “razor” because he was always on the edge, Otten said from Coldwater, where he’s head football coach.
“He was a fun guy to be around, but you were always asking yourself, ‘What’s Ryan up to?’” he said.
Otten said enlisting in the military was the “best thing to happen” to Lozier.
Brother Benjamin Lozier, 29, a 1999 Middletown High School graduate, described Ryan on Monday as “my best friend, my mentor.”
Then he got quiet.
“He was everything to me,” he said. “Nothing ever will be the same now.”
Ryan Lozier, who was divorced, was set to marry Gwen Clymo, 23, in June, his mother said. He has a daughter, Izabella, who is 8 months old.
His father, Phillip, lives in Indiana.
Lozier’s body was flown from Afghanistan to Dover, Del., his brother said. His body will return to Middletown this week, then be buried at Woodside Cemetery, the family said. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Story here.
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Man Killed By Roadside Afghanistan Bomb
Son Followed In Dad’s Military Footsteps
Reported By Cynthia Williams
May 10, 2010
FRANKLIN, Tenn. — A man who grew up on a farm in Williamson County was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
“They said ‘Adam,’ and it just broke my heart,” said Adam Spain’s father, George Spain.
Spain said his 44-year-old son was known as a gentle giant.
“Most people take a sip of life,” said Trina Flynn, Adam’s sister. “Adam got the whole vat, and he drank it in.”
Adam played football and graduated from David Lipscomb. His dad said Adam knew from an early age that he wanted to serve in the military.
“He was 17 when the Russians invaded Afghanistan,” said Spain.
Adam’s son, Shane, followed in his father’s footsteps, and the two are difficult to tell apart in photographs.
Lynch Spain said his brother’s death feels like universal pain.
“This is one family experiencing what many have since 9/11 and, unfortunately, more will,” he said.
It hasn’t been a year since Adam’s mother, Jacqueline Spain, died from cancer. In his mother’s last days, Adam would pick a flower from her garden and place them in a vase beside her bed.
“By the time she died, the whole windowsill was filled,” said Flynn.
Now, as Adam’s wife, Angie, and others come together to say good-bye, it’s the memories this family said they will treasure the most.
Story here.
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From Secure Aspects Forum
I thought this would have been posted by now but on 6May2010 (U.S.) a Security Team working out of Qalat, Afghanistan in support of the Army Corp of Engineers was hit, IED (non complex attack). There were 3 team members KIA, 2 were American and one LN. Families have been notified.
RIP: Ryan Lozier former Ranger Bat. 1/75, also DOE courier, Global PM for KAF area. I did not know Ryan well only met him once but some of you might now or served with him and haven’t heard. I know he recently had a baby with his fiance. My heart is broken for the child who will only hear how great dad was.
RIP: Adam (Mo) Spain team engineer, former Marine. Adam was a great guy who I had the pleasure of knowing. My thoughts and prayers are with your family as well.
Rest in Peace I know you paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Link to post here.
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Massive roadside bomb killed North Wales security man in Iraq
by Eryl Crump
Apr 21 2010
A MASSIVE roadside bomb that killed an ex-soldier in Iraq was big enough to destroy a tank.
David Hughes, 31, died instantly alongside two Iraqi colleagues when their armoured vehicle was targeted by insurgents in the Al Hillah region, south of Baghdad, last May.
The former Queen’s Dragoon Guards was working for a civilian company providing protective security to American construction workers in the war-torn country when the incident happened.
Recording a verdict of unlawful killing at an inquest yesterday, North west Wales coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones said someone hiding alongside the dirt road had triggered the bomb.
He said: “In effect David Hughes was murdered by someone hiding in the fields or drainage ditches. By whom we cannot say.
“We are hearing more about deaths of this sort on a daily basis and dozens of similar inquests will be held throughout the country for the foreseeable future. It is probably something politicians might like to look at.”
Mr Jones added he considered the equipment issued to David and his colleagues was probably of a higher standard than similar equipment issued to British soldiers. “But this bomb caused a huge explosion and was capable of penetrating the armour plating of a battle tank,” he said.
David, from Cae Mur, Caernarfon, spent more than 12 years in the Army but left in 2007. He worked for private security company G4S Secure Solutions in Afghanistan before transferring to the company’s Armorgroup business in Iraq.
Colleague Chris Powell, from Burton-on-Trent, told the hearing at Caernarfon they were escorting three Americans from Al Hillah to Baghdad.
Former Paratrooper Mr Powell said: “There were five Toyota Landcruisers in the convoy. These are armour plated and we were all armed. David was travelling as lead scout in the first vehicle. His job was to report anything he thought suspicious.
“There was no target indicator, just two schoolgirls walking about 150 yards ahead of us. As we came to a bend the vehicles slowed and then there was a massive explosion.”
Fearing an ambush Mr Powell called for help from his colleagues and US military forces. He escorted the Americans to a safer area before returning to the scene.
He said the vehicle had been blown off the road into a field. One of the Iraqis was found on the road and another near the vehicle. David was found inside the vehicle.
“The explosion hit the right hand side of the vehicle and David, sitting on that side, took the full force of the blast,” he added.
They saw no one who could have activated the bomb and they did not stay in the area after the bodies had been airlifted to a Baghdad hospital.
Christopher Beese, of G4S Risk Management Ltd, said the bomb had penetrated the armour plating and exploded inside the vehicle.
He suggested the high explosive used may have been from unexploded bombs or shells fired by American forces during the war in Iraq. “These devices are relatively easy to make, but while rudimentary are highly effective,” he said.
Hundreds of David’s former Army colleagues and friends attended his funeral in Caernarfon. His heartbroken girlfriend Mim Bradshaw, a 23-year-old nurse, described David as her “mister perfect”.
His brother Andrew said: “We’ll never forget him. My wife Karon and I had our first child last summer just a few days before his birthday. We have named him David Sean in his honour.”
Another brother, Darren, added: “He joined up in 1996. Since then he’s been everywhere on exercises and operations. He was in the peacekeeping force in Bosnia and with Nato in Kosovo.”
Story here.