By U.S. Army 1st Lt. Paul Jackson
PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Oklahoma-based National Guardsmen gathered to mourn the loss of two of their own Nov. 7.
U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Gailey and Spc. Sarina Butcher were killed Nov. 1 when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in northern Paktya province. Both were members of Company F, 700th Brigade Support Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, 279th Infantry Regiment, Task Force Creek.
Butcher, of Checotah, Okla., was an automated logistical specialist and Gailey, of Collinsville, Okla., was a mortar man.
“Today we will say good-bye to our brother and sister,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Chuck Booze, from Norman, Okla., commander of TF Creek. "But we will also remember that they died as they lived, as heroes.”
Butcher is the first female member of the Oklahoma National Guard to be killed in action since the Guard began allowing women to join in 1976. Just shy of her 20th birthday, she is also the youngest Oklahoma Guardsman to be killed in action in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
The small maintenance bay filled to overflowing as more than a hundred soldiers from Oklahoma and across the U.S. gathered to say their farewells.
“Let us not focus on the brevity of their lives, but on the abundance of them,” wrote Capt. David Jordan, chaplain, of Shawnee, Okla.
Unable to attend the ceremony, Jordan provided words to be read via e-mail. He remembered both soldiers as quick with a smile and easy to talk to. He encouraged all present to “share this burden with each other and you will not only survive this tragedy, you will thrive in their memory.”
| Date Taken: | 11.07.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 11.08.2011 17:38 |
| Story ID: | 79737 |
| Location: | PAKTYA PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 129 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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