Fastest Soldier in Battalion Even With a Cold

1st Cav Soldier finishes first despite illness
Fort Hood Sentinel By Staff Sgt. John Healy, 2nd ABCT, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs
AUGUST 13, 2015 | SPORTS

“There was a bug going around and I just so happened to catch it that day,” said Weaver. “I was hurting for that.”

Spc. Solomon Weaver is a M1 Abrams gunner from Patterson, Calif., currently serving with the Co. D “Desperados,” 1st Bn., 8th Cav. Regt, 2nd ABCT, 1st Cav. Div. Weaver earned recognition throughout the brigade after completing the Air Assault Course’s final ruck march with the fastest time of two hours and two minutes.
(Photo by Staff Sgt. John Healy, 2nd ABCT PAO, 1st Cav. Div.)

CAMP CASEY, South Korea - Spc. Solomon Weaver is a modest looking 21-year-old tanker from Patterson, California, currently serving with the Company D “Desperados” of 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.

He’s not very tall, and not very big either. His father, who also served in the Army, is a gunsmith in his hometown. He’s polite, and his uniform is clean. When Weaver talks to you, he looks you straight in the eye.

Weaver is also the fastest Soldier in his battalion; possibly even the whole brigade, and can run two miles in 10 minutes and 47 seconds.

“For the two mile, I’m definitely the fastest,” said Weaver. “I always get set aside for ability group runs and that kind of thing.”

The other members of Weaver’s company like to joke about how fast he is.

“He used to get beat up a lot, so he had to run fast,” said one Soldier, to which Weaver doesn’t respond, he only smiles.

For two years, Weaver’s demonic speed was the best-kept secret of Co. D. That is, until he decided to attend Air Assault School, a grueling course where Soldiers learn how to transport equipment with a helicopter via sling load.
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Soldier's platoon in on surprise visit from his father

Most of soldier's platoon in on surprise visit from his father
Stars and Stripes
By Jon Rabiroff
Published: June 13, 2013

CAMP CASEY, South Korea — Pvt. Benjamin Rankin III thought he was being interviewed Thursday for a public affairs video about his tank unit when he noticed a surprise visitor standing nearby — his father had flown in from Kentucky to help celebrate his 25th birthday.

“I had no clue,” Rankin said. “When I finally took a look to see who was moving next to me (I said to myself), ‘Oh wait, that’s my dad. Wait. What?’”

Before sharing a warm embrace, the soldier’s initial matter-of-fact reaction came as no surprise to his father.

“It was typical of him just to see it, gauge it and then go ahead and react to it,” Benjamin Rankin Jr. said.

But the son said that despite what he called his “calm, calculated composure” throughout the surprise reunion, he was touched.

“Of course I’m excited, it’s my dad,” he said. “It’s a dream come true.”

The reunion makes for a dual celebration: Friday is the son’s birthday, and Father’s Day follows on Sunday.
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2nd Infantry lost second soldier in 10 days from non-combat causes

2nd Infantry Division soldier dies while on leave in Norway
By T.D. Flack, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, December 30, 2007


SEOUL — The 2nd Infantry Division lost its second soldier in 10 days, officials confirmed Friday.

Spc. Armando Matos, 35, died Thursday while on leave in Norway, according to a 2nd ID news release.

Matos had gone to the Stavanger Hospital after not feeling well, according to the release. He later died, and an autopsy and investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of death, according to the release.



On Dec. 17, Pfc. Christopher Adan, 20, of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, was discovered dead in his barracks room on Camp Casey.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51319

Non-combat death investigated at Camp Casey

Army investigating the death of a soldier at Camp Casey
Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, December 20, 2007



CAMP CASEY, South Korea — Army officials are investigating the death of a 2nd Infantry Division soldier whose body was found Monday at Camp Casey, according to an Army spokeswoman.

The soldier was assigned to the 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team.

The soldier’s name was being withheld on Tuesday pending notification of family.

No other information was available Tuesday.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51120&source=rss

No stigma in getting post-combat stress help

Caregivers emphasize: No stigma in getting post-combat stress help
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, October 30, 2007

CAMP CASEY, South Korea — A perception that seeking help for post-combat stress could harm a servicemember’s career is preventing many from dealing with problems that could balloon into greater ones.

But care providers throughout the Pacific say that seeking treatment alone will not jeopardize a security clearance — and therefore military jobs.

Most say they can keep treatment confidential and out of service records, with exceptions possible when serious harm to self or others is involved.

Capt. Christopher Perry, Area I support psychiatrist at Camp Casey, South Korea, has managed medications and conducted psychotherapy for several hundred returning vets.

Senior NCOs and junior officers do perceive a stigma with getting treatment, he said. But that stigma doesn’t exist, Perry said: “You don’t lose your clearance because of seeking help [for combat-related stress].”
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49875

Memories of lost friends follow soldier through therapy

Memories of lost friends follow soldier through therapy
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, October 29, 2007

CAMP CASEY, South Korea — “John” didn’t really notice how much he had changed until five months after he watched his first friend die in Iraq.

On Dec. 26, 2005, John and others in the 5th Engineer Battalion were looking for roadside bombs near Baghdad when a rocket-propelled grenade caromed off a Humvee turret and ended Sgt. Dominic Coles’ life.

“I didn’t even know how to react to what I saw,” John said. “But I knew what to do. I stood up on the gun.”

John still sees Coles in his dreams. Sometimes he looks as healthy as when they played spades together in their barracks.

Other times, Coles and two other dead friends look as they did when they died; sometimes they slowly disintegrate in front of him. One dream was so bad John pushed himself off his bed and cracked his ribs on a chair.

The nightmares began in Iraq, before he arrived home in May 2006 for his mid-tour leave. At the airport, most welcomed him and other troops home. But one man began shouting at the servicemembers, calling them baby-killers.

“That didn’t make me feel too happy,” John said during a recent interview at Camp Casey.
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http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49858

Before you go to the link to read the rest, I still have no clue what gets into people when they say things like "baby killers" as if those things don't happen in combat. In Iraq, babies get killed, kids get killed, so do mothers and fathers and grandparents. Innocent people die. They end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. In Iraq, it is the civil war causing more innocents to die that even the contractors. It is not as if the troops target innocent people. One the rare times when it does happen, they go on trial. Pig headed people call them "baby killers" just like pig headed people join Westborough Baptist Church and protest at the funerals of the fallen. Taking out anything against the troops does not make sense at all. They are not the ones making the choices. Bush is. The generals are. The congress is.