3 MPs killed in firefight
Fort Campbell soldiers in Iraq were trying to break up gathering
By Orlando, Bellavia, JILL NOELLE CECIL
The Leaf-Chronicle
Bellavia
Orlando
Three Fort Campbell soldiers were killed Friday in Iraq during a firefight with gunmen guarding the headquarters of a Shiite cleric.
The soldiers were killed while attempting to negotiate with the armed men, who were gathered after the 9 p.m. curfew on a road near a mosque in the Shiite holy city Karbala in southern Iraq, according to a statement from Fort Campbell released Friday.
The Iraqis opened fire, killing the three soldiers and wounding seven others, Fort Campbell officials said. Two Iraqi policemen were also killed in the gun battle.
Eight of the Iraqi gunmen died and up to 18 were wounded in the battle, which started about midnight Thursday and continued intermittently until late Friday morning.
Pentagon officials said they were investigating how the shooting began. Iraqis insisted the Americans fired first.
The soldiers were members of the 101st Airborne Division. The deaths bring Fort Campbell's death toll in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to 26. Thirteen of those deaths were the result of enemy fire.
Killed in the gun battle were Lt. Col. Kim S. Orlando, 43, of Tennessee; Staff Sgt. Joseph P. Bellavia, 28, of Wakefield, Mass.; and Cpl. Sean R. Gilley, 24, of San Bernardino, Calif.
The three were all members of the 716th Military Police Battalion.
Orlando was the commander of the battalion. He also served in Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Orlando is one of three Army lieutenant colonels killed in the war, the highest rank of any American military personnel killed, according to a list of American war dead compiled by Bloomberg News Service.
The other two lieutenant colonels were Anthony L. Sherman, 43, of Pottstown, Pa., an Army Reservist in a Civil Affairs unit who died Aug. 27 of a non-combat medical problem, and Dominic R. Baragona, 42, of Niles, Ohio, commander of the 19th Maintenance Battalion based at Fort Sill, Okla., who was killed in a wreck May 19.
Orlando joined the Army in 1982 and in June 2002 came from Fort Bragg, where he was the executive officer of the 18th Airborne Military Police Command, said Eric Provost, chief of Austin Peay State University's campus police department and a former military police commander.
Orlando was a master parachutist, a formal designation the military gives for its most experienced paratroopers.
He was also a recipient of the Bronze Star, which is given for heroic or meritorious achievement or service in connection with military operations against an armed enemy or during military operations involving conflict with an opposing armed force.
"He was a great officer, a great commander, a great husband and father. This is a tragic loss for the military police," Provost said.
Fort Campbell spokesman John Minton said Orlando, despite his rank, often worked among the rank-and-file.
"I've known him a long time," Minton said. "This was a hard-charging guy, an out-in-the-front kind of guy."
He is survived by his wife, Sherry, who works with Fort Campbell's Public Affairs Office, and two sons who live at Fort Campbell.
Bellavia and Gilley were military police team leaders assigned to the 194th Military Police Company, 716th MP Battalion.
Bellavia entered the Army in February 1995 and arrived at Fort Campbell in February 2002. He is survived by a wife who lives in Clarksville. The couple had no children, according to his aunt, Anne Marie Lannin of Upper Marlboro, Md.
"He loved the military," she said. "He wanted to make a career out of it."
Before going to Iraq, Bellavia served about a year in Korea. Lannin said Bellavia had expected to return to the United States in April.
Bellavia is survived by an identical twin brother, Johnathan, who is a policeman in suburban Hendersonville, Hendersonville Police Chief David Key confirmed Friday night.
Johnathan Bellavia was working at the police department Friday and was notified of the death of his brother before lunch, the chief said.
"We're saddened, deeply saddened by the circumstances," Key said.
Gilley joined the Army in January 2001 and arrived at Fort Campbell in June 2002. He is survived by his wife, who lives at Fort Campbell.
Because the 716th is still deployed to Iraq, Fort Campbell officials said they did not know if there would be a memorial service on post.
Fort Campbell officials said they did not know when the soldiers' bodies will be returned to the United States for burial.
As of Friday, 336 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense.
Since May 1, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 198 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, according to the latest Defense Department figures. Of those, 20 have been from Fort Campbell.
Friday's incident was the second time three Fort Campbell soldiers were killed in a single incident. On July 24, Staff Sgt. Hector R. Perez, Cpl. Evan Asa Ashcraft and Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter were killed when their military convoy came under enemy fire.
Friday's incident, along with July 24, have been the two single deadliest days for Fort Campbell soldiers since they deployed in February.
Provost said Friday's deaths illustrate the dangers the military and its MPs increasingly face in Iraq.
Staff writer Lauren Howard, the Associated Press and Gannett News Service contributed to this report. Jill Noelle Cecil can be reached at 245-0262 or by e-mail at jillcecil@theleafchronicle.com.
Lt. Col. Kim S. Orlando