Talapia
04-16-2007, 05:37 PM
Dang, one year in Irag and one year in
Afghanistan...he only joined for 4.
I will raise a toast for Sgt Hernandez
tonight. For making the ultimate
sacrifice for our country.
http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20070416506752.html
Washington Post
April 16, 2007
Pg. B8
Soldier Whose Enlistment Had Ended Dies On Combat Patrol In Afghanistan
By Eric M. Weiss, Washington Post Staff Writer
Sgt. Edelman L. Hernandez had fulfilled his four-year commitment to the U.S. Army last month, and he did it the hard way, pulling a one-year combat tour in Iraq and another in Afghanistan. But because his unit was still deployed in a combat zone, he was prevented from leaving the service.
Instead, he died in uniform, drowning in a river in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley on April 11. Hernandez was 23.
His mother, Norma, said her eldest of four sons had wanted to be in the military since growing up in Hyattsville. Yesterday, the Lanham woman was mourning two of her sons. A younger son, Edwin, died three years ago to the day, in a car crash.
Edelman Hernandez was a member of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, based in Fort Drum, N.Y. The Army said only that he died while on combat patrol and that the incident is under investigation.
The 10th Mountain Division is taking part in Operation Mountain Lion, an effort to push Taliban forces out of the valleys in Kunar province, northwest of Kabul.
Norma Hernandez said Army officials told her when they came to her house to inform her of her son's death that his squad was crossing a deep river and that he never made it across.
But she wants more answers.
"Why only him, if it was so deep?" she asked.
Edelman Hernandez was kept in the Army through the Pentagon's "stop-loss'' program, which prevents active-duty Army and Reserve soldiers from leaving the military, either because their skills are needed or because their units are going overseas or are there already.
Afghanistan...he only joined for 4.
I will raise a toast for Sgt Hernandez
tonight. For making the ultimate
sacrifice for our country.
http://ebird.afis.mil/ebfiles/e20070416506752.html
Washington Post
April 16, 2007
Pg. B8
Soldier Whose Enlistment Had Ended Dies On Combat Patrol In Afghanistan
By Eric M. Weiss, Washington Post Staff Writer
Sgt. Edelman L. Hernandez had fulfilled his four-year commitment to the U.S. Army last month, and he did it the hard way, pulling a one-year combat tour in Iraq and another in Afghanistan. But because his unit was still deployed in a combat zone, he was prevented from leaving the service.
Instead, he died in uniform, drowning in a river in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley on April 11. Hernandez was 23.
His mother, Norma, said her eldest of four sons had wanted to be in the military since growing up in Hyattsville. Yesterday, the Lanham woman was mourning two of her sons. A younger son, Edwin, died three years ago to the day, in a car crash.
Edelman Hernandez was a member of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, based in Fort Drum, N.Y. The Army said only that he died while on combat patrol and that the incident is under investigation.
The 10th Mountain Division is taking part in Operation Mountain Lion, an effort to push Taliban forces out of the valleys in Kunar province, northwest of Kabul.
Norma Hernandez said Army officials told her when they came to her house to inform her of her son's death that his squad was crossing a deep river and that he never made it across.
But she wants more answers.
"Why only him, if it was so deep?" she asked.
Edelman Hernandez was kept in the Army through the Pentagon's "stop-loss'' program, which prevents active-duty Army and Reserve soldiers from leaving the military, either because their skills are needed or because their units are going overseas or are there already.