Saturday, March 02, 2013

War Casualties in February - One

Out of all the American military in Afghanistan along with the NATO countries troops, and extremely sadly for his family and friends and the Navajo Nation, only one soldier died in the occupation theater during the month of February.

The war is still taking it's toll though as 18,299 world wide troops have been wounded in action in OEF up to March 1st as to DoD Casualty pdf up from 18,215 at the beginning of February. But even those have been gradually going down as those sent try and accomplish at least some of the Main Missions, sent into that region after 9/11, that were abandoned and forgotten years back.

And no one is reporting this, especially in the so called main stream national media. Nor are they connecting either war to what happened last night as no deal was reached about the deficits and President Obama signed the Sequestration bill while rubber stamping, now obstructionist, boehner screams 'No New Taxes'.

I did find this report about the Afghanistan occupation theater.

U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan are at 5-year low
March 1, 2013 - KABUL, Afghanistan — On the eve of the final "fighting season" before the major pullout of American troops from Afghanistan begins, U.S. deaths here have fallen to their lowest levels in five years.

The decline is ever steeper for international forces: The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force suffered its fewest number of troops killed in December, January and February in seven years.

U.S. deaths in those months this winter totaled 17, down from 57 the previous winter.

As of Friday, a Marine who died in Helmand province on Feb. 22 was the only U.S. service member to be killed in 43 days, the longest such stretch since the winter of 2006-07, according to records kept by iCasualties.org, which tracks deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. read more>>>

Then this about Staff Sgt.Jonathan D. Davis.

Navajo Staff Sgt. Jonathan D. Davis dies
28 February 2013 - Jonathan Davis, a Navajo Marine, was serving in Afghanistan when he died Feb. 22.

A Navajo member serving in the Marines in Afghanistan died Feb. 22.

Staff Sgt. Jonathan D. Davis, 34, of Kayenta, Ariz., was involved in combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan, when he died, the Department of Defense said Tuesday in a press release.

The release said Davis, based in California, had been serving as part of the Marine Corps’ Regimental Combat Team 7.

The Marine Corps Times reported that Davis was a motor transport operations chief. read more>>>

In that there's a link to the one page pdf Press Release from the Navajo Nation.

For Immediate Release - February 25, 2013

Navajo President Shelly Orders Navajo Flag Lowered to Commemorate a Navajo Marine

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.


Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly announced the loss of a Navajo warrior who was serving in the U.S. Marine Corp in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Jonathan D. Davis, of Kayenta, Ariz. died on Feb. 22 in Afghanistan in the Helmand province while conducting combat operations.

He was assigned to Headquarters Battalion, 32nd Georgian Liaison Team, Regimental Combat Team 7, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

“The Navajo Nation mourns the loss of a warrior who gave his life defending freedom. We are saddened by the loss of our warrior and we offer our prayers to the family during this difficult time. Staff Sgt. Davis was a valued member of the Kayenta community and often remembered for helping to bring home two state high school basketball championships in late 1990s. His presence will be missed,” said President Shelly.

To honor the legacy of Staff Sgt. Davis, President Shelly has ordered the Navajo Nation flag be lowered from sunrise Tuesday, February 26, through Friday, March 1, and again on the day of his funeral service, which is still pending.

According to the Department of Navajo Veterans Affairs, Staff Sgt. Davis is the 13th Navajo member of the armed forces to be killed in action in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

###

From the CNN U.S. and Coalition Casualties pages, who list all the casualties not just American, Staff Sgt. Davis is the only one from February:

Staff Sgt.Jonathan D. Davis 34 Kayenta, Arizona, USA Headquarters Battalion, 32nd Georgian Liaison Team, Regimental Combat Team 7, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force Camp Pendleton, Calif. Died while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on February 22, 2013

As it also is at the iCasualties site.

The Daily KOS group doing the IGTNT diaries posted about Staff Sgt.Jonathan D. Davis on the 27th of last month in Honoring him.

Last night CBS aired a small part of a clip from last month when they interviewed President Obama and Rep. Boehner:

I've been placing this is some replies about this clip:

The boehner in a very short cut from last month interview on CBS said something about Obama having raised the deficit by 5 trillion in the past four years. Not a peep, nor was it pointed out by Scott Pelley, that the quick rise in the deficit was adding the previous 6and7 years of war costs, that's ALL related costs, back onto the books, that the now teabags cheered on, that they kept off of as well as the rest of the rubber stamping before and after 9/11!!

This is now posted on the CBS site front page: Sequester's automatic cuts to hit military school districts first

More 'real reporting' would entail: How we got to the extreme deficits that started with the rubber stamping Before 9/11, how we so easily, everyone and especially journalists, and so quickly forget, billions here billions there all through the bush years, seems like a week didn't go by where announcements were made like the under funded 'No Child Left Behind' considered, and that's not even counting the rubber stamped war costs, especially the first six years and still none paid for!

Iraq war ends with a $4 trillion IOU: 15 December 2011 - Veterans’ health care costs to rise sharply over the next 40 years

And as I placed above, the boehner screams 'No New Taxes's. Added to knowing that the big investors reaped huge added wealth off these two conflicts I keep wondering even more so how many in Congress were doing the still legal, at the time, insider trading and on those no bid private contracts to public companies!


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