"Sailor from Freetown killed in Iraq; Family says he was destined for elite unit" by Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | May 2, 2009
A Freetown sailor, destined to work in an elite unit in the military, his family said, was killed in Iraq Thursday while conducting what the Navy called combat operations against enemy forces in Fallujah.
Really? What oceans are in Iraq?
Tyler Trahan, a 22-year-old Navy petty officer 2d class, was with two Marines when the three of them were killed, according to the Navy. Military officials would not provide further details, only saying the three were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, but Trahan's family has said that a roadside bomb exploded. It was not clear whether the device detonated on its own or was activated.
Trahan was a member of the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Twelve, based in Virginia, and was temporarily assigned to a Navy SEAL team in Iraq. He was deployed last month. His family said yesterday that Trahan's goal when joining the Navy was to work in an elite ordnance disposal unit.
"It's something he always wanted to do and strongly believed in," his sister, Molly Trahan, said yesterday. He would always tell her, "Tough times don't last, but tough people do," she said.
Okay, I won't grieve for him then. He wanted to be there?
Trahan was a 2004 graduate of Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical School in Rochester, where he excelled academically and in sports. He was in the top of his graduating class, a member of the National Honor Society, and a star quarterback on the football team....
--more--"Notice how the profile of our cannon fodder is always the same?
All great kids who played football, etc, etc.
