Near the Pakistan border, an ambush kills a beloved soldier

Cross posted from Veterans Forum:

Our own Indiana National Guard is serving in Afghanistan. Georgia's ARNG 1stSgt Blair is typical of many of our NCOs that are the backbone of our military. Condolences to Sgt Blair's family and loved ones.

RIP Top! :cry:


Photo courtesy of
Staff Sgt. Timothy
Bellinger

Near the Pakistan border, an ambush kills a beloved soldier

By Dianna Cahn, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, June 23, 2009

SAMAWAT, Afghanistan — The gunner’s weapon was blazing over Staff Sgt. Timothy Bellinger’s head. He jumped from window to window of his armored vehicle, trying to make out the battle that 1st Sgt. John Blair was fighting in the gunner’s position above him.

Bellinger felt the strike of a rocket-propelled grenade as it tore through the turret. He heard Blair’s gun cease firing. He saw the body of a man who always pushed his guys to do it right, slump lifelessly in the belt.

Bellinger did as he’d been trained.

He pulled the faceless body of a man he’d come to love out of the gunner’s belt and climbed into the turret to replace him.

“We went over that before we left. He said, ‘Sgt. Bellinger, what are you going to do if I get hurt?’ I said, ‘I’m gonna take you down and continue this mission.’ He’s like, ‘Roger,’ ” said Bellinger, of Cumming, Ga. “That’s what I did.”

Company A of the Georgia National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Division arrived at Camp Clark just over a week ago. They were the new kids at a small, tight-knit forward operating base in eastern Afghanistan’s Khost province that was struggling to expand as fast as these guys were arriving. Blair’s death, confirmed Monday by the Pentagon when Dover Air Force Base in Delaware announced that Blair’s family had approved media coverage of the return of his remains, is the unit’s first.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=63419