Fort Hood Army Soldier Pfc. Melissa Hobart Collapsed and Died from an Undetermined Cause While on Guard Duty in Baghdad, Iraq (June 6, 2004)

On June 6, 2004July 5, 2018 By AdministratorIn Armed Forces, Army, In Their Name, Medical, Military Policy, PTSD, TBI, Mental IllnessLeave a comment

Army Pfc. Melissa Hobart, 22, died after collapsing on guard duty in Baghdad, Iraq on June 6, 2004. Pfc. Hobart was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) on behalf of the Company E, 215^th Forward Support Battalion, 1^st Cavalry Division in Fort Hood, Texas. At the time of the Department of Defense press release, the incident was under investigation. Pfc. Hobart left behind a three-year-old daughter. According to Melissa’s memorial site, military officials believe Melissa suffered from a heart attack. Melissa’s mom Connie Hobart told the Hartford Courant that she was put on an anti-depressant shortly before deploying to Iraq and was still feeling depressed. Connie reported in 2006 that the official word from the military, two years later, was that she died of an undetermined cause.

Connie Hobart’s 22-year-old daughter, Army Pfc. Melissa Hobart, was put on an anti-depressant shortly before deploying and had told her mother that she remained depressed while in Baghdad. Three months into her tour, in June 2004, the East Haven native collapsed and died of a still-undetermined cause. Told of the policy changes Monday, Connie Hobart said, “I’m happy to hear about it. That’s good news.” Sobbing, she said her daughter might be alive today if the policy had been different at the time. –Hartford Courant

Chicago Tribune Published ‘In War Without Front Lines, Women GIs Caught in Chaos’ (March 11, 2004)

On March 11, 2004March 6, 2019 By AdministratorIn Accidents, Armed Forces, Army, In Their Name, Military Policy, Navy, Non Combat Death, Suicide, USAF, USCG, USMCLeave a comment

Xatavia Hughes, an Iraqi war vet is looking for a safer neighborhood for herself and two sons. She is in her current home in the Englewood neighborhood on Nov. 6, 2013. -Chicago Tribune (December 2, 2013)

“One woman saw the military as a stop along the path of higher education. The other saw service as a road out of poverty. They enlisted in what’s typically thought of as a man’s world, and they both died in it. When Pfc. Nichole Frye’s convoy was attacked with a roadside bomb in Baqouba, Iraq, in February, she became the 15th servicewoman to die in the Iraq war, equaling the official number of female soldiers killed in the 1991 Persian Gulf war. When Capt. Gussie Jones, 41, died Sunday of a heart attack in the Baghdad hospital where she served as an Army surgical nurse, that gulf war total was officially surpassed. The conflict in Iraq now has the designation of claiming the lives of more U.S. servicewomen than any hostile theater since World War II, according to Department of Defense statistics. The stories of women like Frye and Jones–what drew them to the military and how they died in that service–reveal much about the role of American military women in Iraq.” -Chicago Tribune (March 11, 2004)

Read more ‘In War Without Front Lines, Women GIs Caught in Chaos’ from the Chicago Tribune here.

September: U.S. Department of Defense Casualties Report (2003)

On September 30, 2003August 22, 2017 By AdministratorIn Accidents, Armed Forces, Army, In Their Name, Military Policy, Non Combat Death, SuicideLeave a comment

09/30/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Christopher Cutchall, 30, Iraq, Fort Riley, Kansas

09/30/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Evan O’Neill, 19, Afghanistan, Fort Drum, New York

09/29/2003: Vietnam War MIA’s Identified

09/28/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Robert Lucero, 34, Iraq, Wyoming Army National Guard

09/27/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Lisa Andrews, 24, NCD, Overland Park, Kansas (on-leave), Kansas Army Reserve

09/27/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Kyle Thomas, 23, Iraq, Caserma Ederle, Italy

09/26/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Robert Rooney, 43, NCD, Shuabai Port, Kuwait, Massachusetts Army National Guard

09/25/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Michael Andrade, 28, NCD, Iraq, Rhode Island Army National Guard

09/24/2003: Remains of U.S. Servicemen Recovered in North Korea

09/23/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Brian Faunce, 28, NCD, Iraq, Fort Carson, Colorado

09/23/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Lunsford Brown II, 27, Iraq, Patton Barracks, Germany

09/23/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: David Friedrich, 26, Iraq, Connecticut Army Reserve

09/23/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Paul Sturino, 21, Iraq, Fort Campbell, Kentucky

09/22/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualties: Anthony Thompson, 26, Richard Arriaga, 20, and James Wright, 27, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/22/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Frederick Miller Jr, 27, Iraq, Fort Carson, Colorado

09/17/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Craig Ivory, 26, NCD, Kuwait, Vicenza, Italy

09/17/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Alyssa Peterson, 27, NCD, Iraq, Fort Campbell, Kentucky

09/16/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Kevin Kimmerly, 31, Iraq, Baumholder, Germany

09/15/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualties: Kevin Morehead, 33, and William Bennett, 35, Iraq, Fort Campbell, Kentucky

09/15/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Trevor Blumberg, 22, Iraq, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

09/12/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Henry Ybarra III, 32, NCD, Iraq, Illesheim, Germany

09/11/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Joseph Robsky Jr, 31, NCD, Iraq, Fort Irwin, California

09/11/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Ryan Carlock, 25, Iraq, Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia

09/10/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Jarrett Thompson, 27, NCD, Iraq, Delaware Army Reserve

09/04/2003: DOD Identifies Army Casualty: Cameron Sarno, 43, NCD, Kuwait, Nevada Army Reserve

09/03/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Sean Cataudella, 28, NCD, Iraq, Fort Hood, Texas

09/03/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Charles Caldwell, 38, Iraq, Rhode Island Army National Guard

09/03/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Christopher Sisson, 20, NCD, Iraq, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

09/03/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualties: Chad Fuller, 24, and Adam Thomas, 21, Afghanistan, Fort Drum, New York

09/02/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Mitchell Lane, 34, NCD, Afghanistan, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

09/02/2003: DoD Identifies Army Casualty: Joseph Camara, 40, Iraq, Rhode Island Army National Guard

Fort Campbell Army Spc. Alyssa Peterson Died From Non Combat Weapons Discharge in Telafar, Iraq; Death Ruled Suicide (September 15, 2003)

On September 15, 2003September 15, 2020 By AdministratorIn Armed Forces, Army, In Their Name, Military Policy, Non Combat Death, SuicideLeave a comment

Army Spc. Alyssa Peterson, 27, died from a non-combat weapons discharge in Telafar, Iraq on September 15, 2003. Spc. Peterson was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom on behalf of the C Company, 311^th Military Intelligence Battalion, 101^st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. At the time of the Department of Defense press release, the incident was under investigation. Media reports indicate that Spc. Peterson’s death was ruled a suicide.

“Appalled when ordered to take part in interrogations that, no doubt, involved what most would call torture — another wrong turn by the United States following 9/11 — Alyssa Peterson refused, then killed herself a few days later, on September 15, 2003…Spc. Alyssa Peterson was one of the first female soldiers who died in Iraq. Her death under these circumstances should have drawn wide attention. It’s not exactly the Tillman case, but a cover-up, naturally, followed.” –Greg Mitchell Huffpost (October 12, 2014)

Navy Reservist Lt. Kylan Jones-Huffman was Killed in Al Hillah, Iraq by an Unidentified Gunman (August 21, 2003)

On August 21, 2003August 8, 2019 By AdministratorIn Armed Forces, In Their Name, Military Policy, NavyLeave a comment

030825-N-7572F-001 — Lt. Kylan Jones-Huffman, Navy Reserve

Navy Reservist Lt. Kylan Jones-Huffman, 31, was killed by an unidentified gunman on August 21, 2003 in Al Hillah, Iraq. Lt. Jones-Huffman was on temporary duty with the I Marine Expeditionary Force supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Fort Carson Army Sgt. Melissa Valles Died of a Non-Combat Gunshot Wound While Deployed in Balad, Iraq (July 9, 2003)

On July 9, 2003July 3, 2018 By AdministratorIn Armed Forces, Army, In Their Name, Military Policy, Non Combat Death, SuicideLeave a comment

MELSSA VALLES — Sgt. Melissa Valles, US Army

Army Sgt. Melissa Valles, 26, died on July 9, 2003 of a non-combat injury in Balad, Iraq. Sgt. Valles was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) on behalf of the B Company, 64^th Forward Support Battalion in Fort Carson, Colorado. At the time of the press release, the incident was under investigation. Military officials told her mother she died from a noncombat gunshot wound to her abdomen. Sgt. Valles was the first woman soldier from Texas killed in Iraq and left behind an eight-year-old son.

Sixteen months have passed since Army Sgt. Melissa Valles gave her life for her country. Still, the pain, anger and unanswered questions persist for the Eagle Pass, Texas, native’s grieving mother and siblings. “We’re still looking for some answers. We’re still trying to find out what really happened,” said Fernando Valles Jr., one of the soldier’s two older brothers. –My Plainview

MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL

Tag: OIF

Chicago Tribune Published ‘In War Without Front Lines, Women GIs Caught in Chaos’ (March 11, 2004)

September: U.S. Department of Defense Casualties Report (2003)

Fort Campbell Army Spc. Alyssa Peterson Died From Non Combat Weapons Discharge in Telafar, Iraq; Death Ruled Suicide (September 15, 2003)

Navy Reservist Lt. Kylan Jones-Huffman was Killed in Al Hillah, Iraq by an Unidentified Gunman (August 21, 2003)

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