Blast kills local Marines in Kandahar, Afghanistan
As a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, Luke Mercardante trained more than 1,200 men, turning them from civilians into Marines.
Later, at Camp Lejeune, Mercardante visited the Wounded Warriors barracks and was approached by a young man who had been one of his recruits.
The man told him that a lesson he learned from Mercardante at boot camp saved his life, said Mercardante's girlfriend, Kimberly Hull. The young man remembered Mercardante yelling at him, telling him not to move, Hull said. So when the time came, he didn't move, and lived.
Mercardante was awe-struck and humbled that he had such a profound impact on that man's life, said Hull, who shared a home with Mercardante in Jacksonville. But he "would have done anything for (those) guys," she said.
Mercardante was one of two Marines killed Wednesday when the vehicle they were riding in hit a roadside bomb in Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Two other Marines were injured in the blast.
First Sgt. Luke J. Mercardante, 35, was the battalion sergeant major for Combat Logistics Battalion 24, the logistics element of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Cpl. Kyle W. Wilks, 24, the other Marine killed, was a military policeman serving as part of the battalion.
The casualties were the first for the 24th MEU since the unit has been in Afghanistan, and the death of the highest-ranking enlisted Marine in the logistics battalion touched Marines and sailors throughout the roughly 2,200-member MEU.
"This is the kind of blow you never expect and can never forget," Maj. Keith Owens, executive officer of CLB-24 said via e-mail. "We lost two great Marines, who were our brothers and friends. But we will carry on, we will continue the mission and do our part. A new day will rise and CLB-24 will go on."
Mercardante's position as battalion sergeant major required him to serve as a leader, but leadership came naturally, his friends and family say.
"Luke always seemed to really have a love for his country," said his uncle, Vince Mercardante. "He was certainly somebody that I think people could have looked to as a hero, could have looked to as a role model. He was that to me."
Lt. Col. Stephen Simpson, who now works at the Pentagon, served with Mercardante at Security Battalion, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Mercardante was the "picture-perfect Marine," Simpson said - in great physical shape, with a shaved head and a gravely voice, courtesy of a vocal chord injured during his time as a drill instructor.
Mercardante enlisted on April 22, 1992, graduating from Parris Island as the com-pany honor graduate. He later served on a deserter apprehension team, and was responsible for apprehending more than 130 deserters, according to his official Marine Corps biography. After serving as a drill instructor at Parris Island, he worked at Camp Lejeune as the training chief and brig security for the base. He was assigned to the Virginia Military Institute as the assistant Marine officer instructor and was voted an honorary member of the class of 2007, as well as faculty mentor of the year in 2005, according to the biography.
Simpson learned of Mercardante's death when he received an e-mail from a fellow Marine, Capt. Nick Harper, who wrote that Mercardante "is the type of man and Marine that anyone would follow until drawing their last breath."
Mercardante cared deeply about his Marines, said Vince Mercardante, and always referred to them as just that: "my Marines."
"He loved those men and women, and he believed in them," Vince Mercardante said. "I believe with all my heart he would have given his life for them. And in a way, I guess he did."
Hull said Mercardante was born to lead, and the Marines respected him deeply for it - recently making a poster with his picture and the words "fearless in the face of danger."
"They loved him. He was just so good at what he did. He really believed in the person behind the name tag and the uniform," she said.
Mercardante deployed to Iraq in December 2005, where he was the staff non-commissioned officer in charge of Enemy Detainee Operations and Regional Detention Facility at Al Asad. He returned in August 2006 and met Hull the day after he returned from leave.
He was "incredibly, brutally honest," she said, and a wonderful father to his two children. The couple planned to marry after he returned from Afghanistan.
"He loved his family very much. That was one of the things that I loved so much about him," she said. "He was just so compassionate ... he was an incredibly loving and honorable man."
Hull said she knew the Marines would follow Mercardante anywhere - and that he would go anywhere they went.
"That was one of the scariest things for me, knowing that," she said.
Hull last spoke to Mercardante before he left for the convoy on which he was killed. He told her not to worry - he would call when he could.
"The last thing we said to each other is ‘I love you," and I'm so grateful for that," she said.
Wilks joined the Marine Corps in 2004 and was assigned to CLB-24 in April 2005. His uncle, Steve Wilks, told the Associated Press that Kyle Wilks was previously scheduled to deploy to Iraq, but had to stay behind because of a health problem. He felt guilty when he learned that another Marine died in a roadside bomb explosion, the uncle said, and that prior incident makes it even harder for the family to deal with his death now.
Family and friends say Kyle Wilks wanted to go into law enforcement after his enlistment contract was up. They said they will remember him for his easy smile and his ability to strike up a conversation with anyone.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8467. To comment on this story, visit www.jdnews.com or http://fromafghanistan.encblogs.com.
