Rest in Peace Chief Petty Officer Michael E. Koch and Chief Petty Officer Nathan H. Hardy. Our prayers go out to these brave heroes families, friends and fellow Soldiers.
Posted on 02/11/2008 6:50:08 AM PST by RDTF
Chief Petty Officer Michael E. Koch, 29, a graduate of Charles County schools and former resident of La Plata, was one of two Navy SEALs based in Virginia Beach killed in Iraq last week.
Koch and Chief Petty Officer Nathan H. Hardy of Durham, N.H., died Feb. 4 of wounds suffered from small-arms fire during a combat operation, according to Navy officials.
Born on Offut Air Force Base in Omaha, Neb., where his father was stationed, Koch moved frequently as a child because of his father's assignments. He graduated from Maurice J. McDonough High School in Pomfret in 1996.
For the next year and a half, Koch attended Penn State University. He left to enlist in the Navy in 1998 and entered SEAL training in 1999. Joining the elite Special Forces unit was always his goal, said his father, Donald Koch.
"That's why he went into the Navy -- to try out for the SEALs," Koch said. "He was very humble and quiet but fabulous at what he did."
During his career, Koch was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal and, three times, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. His father said Koch will be receiving posthumously a second Bronze Star with Valor.
Koch's commitment to military service appeared to run in the family. His brother, Matthew Koch, served in the Navy for four years, and works as a private contractor in Iraq. He flew back with Michael's body. Koch's father has also worked as a contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan since retiring from the Air Force. And his mother has an accounting job with a U.S. contractor in Afghanistan.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
ping
Does anyone know his father’s name? I went to high school with a Koch who is still in the air force. I think this young man is a few years older than would be the children of my old classmate, but maybe not.
SOCOM Ping
Donald ...
RIP Brave warrior.
Thank you. Not the one, but a brave son of his parents nevertheless. Prayers for the family in this time of overwhelming loss.
May he be honored forever.
Prayers for the family.
From another Navy family.
PRSESENT ARMS;
Taps sounds;
READY TWO;
Rest in PEACE warrior, your duty is done,
You have earned your place in Heaven, by serving in he!!
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Prayers to the family.. thank you for your sacrifice!
Prayers for his family........
My thanks to both of these for their service to our country.
May God comfort their families.
Prayers...
May God Bless them and their families.
God Bless this young patriot. His ultimate sacrifice will not be in vein. We will win this war on terror.
Hand Salute..................two
SKCM(SS) USN, Retired
Prayers.
One of Maryland’s sons comes home to rest.
Rest in Peace.
I haven’t seen a side by side comparison, but it strikes me that navspecwar casualties are close to or surpassing total VN casualties.
IOW, this is a MAJOR war for frogmen.....who are operating balls to the wall, full tilt boogie.
Mike and Nate
ping to post 25
2 of them. What a terrible loss.
They are sure tasking our folks to make the ultimate sacrifice. Never experienced this kind of loss in EOD during my career there. This fight is different IMO. we will see more I fear.
EOD Losses since the war on terror started......
Army EOD :
SSG BOUDREAU II, RICHARD N. 3/2001
SPC WILDFONG, JASON 3/01
SGT FRELIGH, PHILLIP 3/01
SSG HARDING, ADAM T. 11/01
SGT MAUGANS, JAMIE 4/02
SSG GALEWSKI, JUSTIN 4/02
SSG CRAIG, BRIAN 4/02
SSG ROBSKY, JOSEPH E. 9/03
SSG VOELZ, KIMBERLY A. 12/03
SSG SUTTER, MICHAEL J. 12/03
SSG RAMEY, RICHARD P. 2/04
SGT WONG, ELIJAH T. 2/04
CPL HEWITT, CORY M. 12/04
SSG SHEPHERD, KRISTOPHER L. 2/05
SSG GRESHAM, DANIEL G. 2/05
SSG STEFFENEY, ERIC M. 2/05
SSG VERDUGO, RUSSELL J. 5/05
SSG MASON, JOHNNIE V. 12/05
SFC JESSEN, KEVIN P. 3/06
SFC SMITH, SCOTT R. 7/06
Marine’s :
GYSGT CLARK, MICHAEL J. 7/2004
SSGT LEHTO, JASON A. 12/04
SSGT DAMERON, JOEL P. 10/05
SSGT TSUE, DANIEL A. 11/05
GYSGT BOATMAN, DARRELL 11/05
MSGT ANGUS, BRETT E. 11/05
SSGT POSPISIL, KENNETH B. 12/05
GYSGT MARTONE, JUSTIN R. 3/06
GYSGT FRY, JOHN D. 3/06
SGT NOYES, JUSTIN L. 7/06
SGT PHILLIPS, JOHN P. 8/06
SSGT WILLIAMS, DWAYNE E. 8/06
SGT WALSH, JUSTIN T. 10/06
Navy:
AO2(EOD) WILSON, NICHOLAS 2/2006
EOD2 KOTH, E. AUSTIN 7/06
EODC DARGA, PAUL J. 8/06
EOD2 RODDY, DAVID S. 9/06
USAF:
TSGT MOSS, WALTER M. 3/2006
MSGT CLEMMONS, BRAD A. 8/06
CPT EVANS, KERMIT O. 12/06
TSGT WEINER, TIMOTHY R. 1/07
SRA LONCKI, ELIZABETH A. 1/07
SRA MILLER, DANIEL B. 1/07
That’s our toll to the best of my knowledge thus far...........
God bless them and those like them.
From the BlackFive link at Post #25:
Last Sunday while most of America was enjoying the Superbowl several members of our Task Force were commencing an assault on a terrorist stronghold in Iraq. During the assault two of our brothers from the Navy were shot and killed while clearing a building that was occupied by terrorist insurgents. Ultimately, the building was reduced and all of the terrorists in it were destroyed by the assault force. Remember these names, Mike and Nate. They were good men doing honorable work in the name of freedom. The terrorists they sought to destroy were responsible for unspeakable acts of evil including the construction of improvised explosive devices and explosives to equip homicide bombers. For those of you who may not understand the enemy we face out here let me remind you that the previous week this group of terrorists took two innocent and unwitting women who had Downs Syndrome, rigged them with explosive vests and detonated them 20 minutes apart in a crowded market causing several deaths and hundreds of injuries. These terrorists used innocent people as unwitting vehicles to destroy more innocent lives. There is good and there is evil in this world. The enemy we face is evil. Mike and Nate were fighting on the side of good to prevent further acts of evil that would result in the loss of more innocent lives. The next time you pray I ask you to thank God for giving Mike and Nate the talent and skill that made them great warriors and thank God that he gave them the heart to apply those God given talents to destroy evil and further the cause of freedom in a land far from their home. Thank God for men like Mike and Nate. Their work is done here now, but there are many of us who will honor their sacrifice by continuing the fight against evil terrorists. They will be remembered through our actions.
For any of you out there who are doubting the validity of this war and the evil that resides in our enemy I ask you to study your history again. Over the last 20+ years dating back to the bombing of the Marine Corps Barracks in Lebanon, various factions of radical Islamic Terrorists have been committing heinous acts of terrorism against the free world. We are fighting the same enemy here. The brethren of an evil ideology that spawned the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001 claiming almost 3,000 innocent lives. Take time to reflect on the type of evil that would put explosive vests on innocent women with Downs Syndrome and use them to kill and maim other innocent people. While the American media strives everyday to rewrite the history of the most generous nation in the free world and cast disparity over all that we do as a Nation men like Mike and Nate are giving their lives to make sure the real history doesn’t repeat itself. While the American media strives daily to erase the memory of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and paint this war as an unjust occupation of a sovereign nation men like Mike and Nate are out here hunting down and destroying the enemies of the very freedom that allows our media to try and discredit us. Terrorism is real, evil is real, this war is real and real men and women are in this fight because righteousness and freedom are worth fighting for.
If you don’t support this war I’m calling you out. I’ve had enough of people sitting in their living rooms watching the lying media and jumping on the bandwagon against this war. Don’t ever say to me, “I support the troops, but not the war.” You might as well be telling me that I’m committing a crime. You are in effect saying that my cause is unjust and everything I believe in is a lie. I have held my tongue in the past, but I will never allow you to have it both ways again. You cannot support me if you do not support this war. I am this war. It embodies everything that I believe in. If you believe that what we are doing here is wrong then you are in effect supporting the evil we seek destroy. If you believe I’m wrong for trying to stop evil people from taking more innocent lives then I fear there is no hope for you. If you choose to dishonor my service and the sacrifice of my fallen brothers by taking a position against this war you are free to make that choice thanks to guys like Mike and Nate, but don’t expect me to sit idly by and bite my tongue while you do it. Do it in my presence and be prepared to try and support your feeble position while I enlighten everyone else on the reality of this war and the nature of the enemy we face. I will ensure that you look like the fool that you are.
The stuff I’m seeing out here you won’t see on Oprah Winfrey. I’m seeing really evil people doing really evil things and I’m doing everything in my power to stop them. There’s nothing wrong or unjust about that.
Sincerely,
_________ the Angry American
Huurraaaggh...
Prayers Up...
GOD Bless...
Should post the letter on the Vela thread, the Haditha thread, the Iron Triangle thread and so on and so on and then explain to me why we are locking our WARRIORS up who are taking care of business.
Damn.....that’s a big % of EOD, isn’t it?
I’m framing it.
RIP.
Yeah and that is just off the memorial.....not sure who and how many the past 30 days..........
IED war this time. Everyone is working hard. EOD techs getting 3-5 calls a day for render safe’s. I am told , can’t verify that tours for EOD are now 6 months vs the year.
I suspect yer folks are just as busy of not more.......
If EOD tours were dropped to 6 months rotations, there is only one reason: stress. Stress people cannot imagine.
That was the reason I was told.......stress.
Yep, at least some of our (SF) losses have been doing ordnance disposal, also. One that springs immediately to mind is Dan Romero. He was preparing a pile of old rockets for demo and turned in for the night. Next morning, he went to blow it and kB.
We too have lost more, proportionally to overall losses, than in Vietnam. (So have our naval bros, the SEALs). More than our forebears did in Korea and WWII. When Dan died I knew the names and life histories of all our KIA. Now there are 78 of them and I concentrate on remembering those I served with or had another personal connexion to.
As far as the tour length is concerned, I believe EOD is managed jointly and all the Services have different rotation policies. (For example, most of the AF does four-month rotations; most of the Army does a year; most of the sea services fall in-between). I’m not an expert on EOD though. We mostly do our own (and have the casualties to show for it) but have had some great support from Army and Navy EOD. Out there, nobody cares what colour your dress uniform is, you know?
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Wow.
Heroes all.
Agree I was AF EOD and as just one example I ran with ODA 591 out of campbell for a while in JTF6 south from Bliss then again up into Kuwait in 91. We got dipped alot to other services ......EOD shortage even then.
Stay safe !
Agree........
God bless and comfort their families and suviving team members. As a Navy blue star family we honor their service and will remember their sacrifice. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
It was a lot simpler in the days when all services trained at the Joint Service EOD School atIndian Head Maryland. Everybody either knew someone who'd been through the school with, behind or ahead of them, or knew someone who did.
Around 1985, Indian Head was replaced by the current EOD School at Eglin AFBase in Florida, as well as the Army/FBI Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal, the Navy's NAVSCOLEOD Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, and a couple of foreign NATO and other *friendly* nation schools to which most of the serious noisy stuff fixers frequently attend.
Hey look! Somebody dropped their canteen over there...go get it for me, willya?
AO2(EOD) WILSON, NICHOLAS 2/2006
EOD2 KOTH, E. AUSTIN 7/06
EODC DARGA, PAUL J. 8/06
EOD2 RODDY, DAVID S. 9/06
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