MILITARY MISSIONS, INC.

God ordains and chooses the government and the military for a high and noble purpose.  The man who chooses to enter its ranks, whether he knows it or not, is serving more than his country; he's serving God.  Even before entering the military, God had a plan and purpose for the lives of these men.  Though we can't understand why God's plan had to include these tragedies, we know He is sovereign.  The actions of each of these men demonstrated a mental toughness, courage, and, ultimately, sacrifice.  These are personality traits of  men being made in the image of God. God is the source of all heroism, the bulwark of all courage, the foundation of all sacrifice.  These men were each born with these characteristics and they carried them out to the end.  It is the mettle of these men, and others in our military, that helps to make our country the greatest nation in the world.

 

Proud member of Marine Families Online In-Action
  Marine Families Online is an organization formed strictly for the purpose of providing a place for coordinating support efforts for families of fallen heroes.  The group provides support by creating and delivering condolence books to the families of our nation's fallen heroes. MFO also helps to coordinate efforts to supply the families with comfort quilts, memorial dogtags, etc. MFO is strictly made up of volunteers (mothers, wives, friends, and family of our nation's military) that strive to honor the families of our fallen heroes.  Condolence books are filled with warm thoughts from close friends and complete strangers, all of whom are Americans that want to honor the memory of the fallen hero who sacrificed his/her life for our freedom and safety.  Bookmakers spend their own time and money to create these books.       THANK YOU to all who create and deliver condolence books to the families of our fallen heroes.   Currently, Military Missions is working on three condolence books.  To read about the fallen heroes you can click on the links below to read about their lives and their sacrifice.  Remember that these sacrifices were made for you and for me.    If you feel led to leave a condolence for the families of these men, please follow the links below to send the condolence via email.  You may add graphics, photos, and stationery to your condolence.  We can download and print condolences in Word, Microsoft Works, and Adobe.  If you use another program, contact us to see if it is one we can access to receive your condolence.  Warm thoughts of gratitude for service, poems, scripture verses, song lyrics, and more are appropriate for a condolence.  If your condolence is written within an email, we can print it on patriotic paper before we add it to the book.  Check back often as we are continually adding names to our list.  We will announce closing dates for books so that you know when they have been completed.  Please include the families of the fallen in your prayers.   Click on the name of the fallen to read about them.  Click the email link next to the name to send a condolence.  In the subject line, please mention the fallen hero for whom your condolence is being written.   (No books in progress at this point....check back later to help with this project.)

Singer and songwriter Kory Brunson has graciously allowed Military Missions to play his new song, I Can't Wait on this webpage.  Kory's song was written to honor our nation's fallen heroes.  He was inspired to write this song after meeting the families of fallen heroes Daniel Wyatt and Andrew Reidel.  Verse 1 is based on Daniel.  Verse 2 is based on Andrew.  His mother Sherri shared with Kory about Andrew giving his life to Christ on the carrier ship on his way to Iraq, a few months before his death. 

This song is just a demo at this point.  It was brought to my attention by my friend, Danni Wyatt, LCPL Wyatt's mother. Spread the word about Kory's talents if you like this song.  He has also written a beautiful song to honor our military called We Know You're Out There.  You can listen to that song on other pages of this website.  To find out more about Kory, check out his website at www.korybrunson.com

 

 

 

FREDERICKSBURG -- A Marine from Spotsylvania County was killed in combat in Iraq earlier this week, military officials said today.

Marine Sgt. Joshua J. Frazier, 24, died Tuesday in Al Anbar province. A 2000 graduate of Spotsylvania High School, Frazier had been assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division's Expeditionary Force, whose home base is Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Frazier served with infantry battalions during a deployment to Afghanistan and back-to-back deployments to Iraq in 2005 and last fall, according to a Marine Corps publication.

 

Diddling While Americans Die

 

Town Hall

By Oliver North
Saturday, February 17, 2007

 

SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. -- He was an American hero. On his second tour of duty in Iraq, he had already served in the Western Pacific and a prior combat tour in Afghanistan. On Friday afternoon, Feb. 16, when Sgt. Joshua Frazier, USMC, was laid to rest in the soil of his native Virginia, his comrades in arms from the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines were fighting terrorists on the mean streets of Ramadi, in Iraq's bloody Al Anbar Province. As Sgt. Frazier's grieving mother was being presented with a carefully folded American flag, the Congress of the United States was debating a meaningless "non-binding resolution" attacking the commander in chief.

 

Heroes aren't athletes who set new sports records or Hollywood actors who make "daring" films or politicians who make bold promises. Heroes are people who place themselves at risk for the benefit of others. Joshua Frazier was certainly such a man. Unfortunately, there are far too few members of Congress who fit the definition.

 

At Joshua's funeral, I gave his parents photographs of their son that had been taken a few weeks ago while I was embedded with his unit in Iraq. We had just returned from a patrol to a newly re-opened school where little Iraqi girls were being taught arithmetic. Standing around us in the photo are the Sunni police officers and Shia soldiers who had accompanied us on the mission. Sweat stains from his 40-pound flak jacket are still evident on his uniform and he is smiling through exhaustion into the lens. He and his squad of Marines had been up for more than 24 hours chasing down an enemy sniper. His is one of more than two dozen Army, Marine, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard units whose tours will be extended in Iraq in order to increase U.S. troop levels by 21,500. These are the young Americans who will bear the brunt of what Congress is doing.

 

Sgt. Frazier is one of more than 2,500 U.S. military personnel killed in action in Iraq. Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims the resolution being debated by the House of Representatives is a measure that "will continue to support and protect" U.S. military personnel. Yet, she also says it shows "Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on Jan. 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq." How this does anything but damage U.S. and Iraqi morale and embolden America's adversaries is beyond comprehension.

 

"The American people have lost faith in President Bush's course of action in Iraq," Pelosi said Tuesday as the resolution was introduced. She said the president's plan "is based on the judgment that the way out of Iraq lies in sending more troops in," adding, "our experience has proven just the opposite."

 

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, "our experience," in Pelosi's words, has proven that pulling U.S. forces out before the war is won is a formula for disaster. In Korea, the decision to withdraw U.N. troops to the 38th parallel resulted in stalemate and today's despotic, nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang. In Vietnam, the congressional cut-off of funds in December 1974 precipitated the North Vietnamese communist takeover of the entire country less than five months later. The combined losses in both wars -- more than 108,000 Americans killed in action -- should be an object lesson for this Congress. Pulling out, holding back, withdrawing support, "de-funding" the war -- whatever it's called -- is tantamount to squandering lives.

 

Is that where this Congress is heading? Are the lives of courageous young American volunteers like Joshua Frazier worth so little to our Congress that they would ignore our peril for perverse personal political profit?

 

If the morale of America's soldiers, sailors, airmen, Guardsmen and Marines doesn't have meaning to our legislators, then perhaps they should look at what America's enemies are doing. While Congress debates hollow, but ultimately damaging legislation, there is new assertiveness in Iran -- on everything from acquiring nuclear arms to supplying terror cells in Iraq with advanced weaponry. Tehran's radical Islamic theocracy headed by Grand Ayatollah Khamenei doesn't have to worry about "resolutions of non-support," but they are very adept at measuring American ambivalence and uncertainty.

 

This week's "show and tell" of captured Iranian sniper rifles, surface-to-air missiles, mortar rounds, sophisticated "explosively formed penetrators" and evidence of Iranian complicity in killing more than 170 Americans elicited nary a peep from the new Congressional leadership. They were more concerned with their pet resolution -- and getting Pelosi a bigger military airplane for her commute between Washington and San Francisco. That's a telling signal to Tehran that our Congress is backing away from protecting our vital interests and our troops.

 

Nero fiddled as Rome burned. Today, Congress diddles as Americans die. Tomorrow, we may all pay the price.

 

Oliver North is the founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance and author of The Assassins .

 

URL:  http://www.townhall.com/columnists/OliverNorth/2007/02/17/diddling_while_americans_die

 

 

April 8, 1981 - October 21, 2006  Corporal Joshua Charles Watkins 2nd Tank Battlion, Tow Platoon, USMC Josh made the ultimate sacrifice for our country on October 21, 2006

Josh was a member of my son's platoon.  The platoon has deployed to Iraq twice since March 2005.  Josh was out on his very last mission of the second deployment on October 21, 2006.  All other sections had completed their duties and were waiting for the last shift to end.  Josh had just a little over an hour left on duty before he was heading back to the US to reunite with family and friends. 

I don't think anyone will ever understand the timing for this one. 

We miss you, Josh.  It was an honor to have known you.

WATKINS Corporal Joshua Charles Watkins passed away October 21st, 2006 as a result of injuries sustained in combat in Iraq. He was born April 8, 1981 in Jacksonville, Florida and was a lifelong area resident. He was a 1999 graduate of Allen D. Nease High School and attended the University of North Florida for 3 years before enlisting in the Marine Corps. He was a true patriot, serving his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed while on patrol outside Fallujah. He loved this country and was proud to be a Marine. He had recently attained the rank of Corporal and had also been promoted to the role of vehicle commander, making him responsible for his Humvee and all of the men in it. He was a member of All Souls Anglican Church and a beloved son, grandson, nephew, cousin, fellow soldier and friend. Corporal Watkins is survived by his mother, Amy Watkins Vazquez; father, Charles Watkins; grandparents, Gail Tillis, George W. (Muriel) Tillis, Charles L. (Ruthann) Watkins; uncles, Dave (Judy) Tillis and Wayne "Biff" Tillis; cousins, Ashli, Austin, and Griffin Tillis and best friend, Sam Spearl and his wife Christy, and their son Ayden, to whom Josh was Godfather. Josh was an outstanding young man to whom family and friends were everything. He was good to his mother and had a special bond with his grandmother, Gail. He loved his cousins as if they were his sisters and brother. A memorial service with full military honors was held Friday October 27, 2:00 PM at All Souls Anglican Church, 10679 Old St. Augustine Road. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you write a note to his mother about your friendship or special times with Josh, or make a contribution to the Joshua Watkins College Scholarship Fund. Contributions can be made through the Mandarin office of Compass Bank, 568-8180. Published in the Florida Times-Union on 10/27/2006.

The Florida Times-Union  by KEN LEWIS

October 24, 2006
Family's joy turns to grief as son comes home early

Marine Cpl. Joshua Watkins planned to come home from Iraq on Oct. 31, and his Jacksonville family dreamed of meeting him in a joyous reunion. They wanted to be at the base in North Carolina as he walked off the bus.

On Monday night, they changed their travel plans amid overwhelming grief. Their son was scheduled to arrive in Dover, Del., today. They wanted to be on the tarmac as his body was transported from the aircraft into a vehicle.

Watkins, 25, died Saturday after being shot in the stomach while on foot patrol in Fallujah. Military doctors struggled for four hours in attempts to save him, according to information provided to his mother, Amy Watkins-Vazquez.

"The hardest part for me is going to be to learn to live without him in my life," Watkins-Vazquez said. "Because he was everything to me. He was my life, and he was the joy of my heart. And I told him that since he was a baby, that he was the joy of my heart."

Watkins was assigned to the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to U.S. Department of Defense.

"He was supposed to come home next Tuesday, and instead we're going to bury him," Watkins-Vazquez said. "He's coming home, but not the way I want."

Watkins was born and raised in the Jacksonville area, like his mother before him. After graduating from Nease in 1999, he took classes at University of North Florida for three years, then joined the Marine Corps. He intended to become an officer, but he wanted to start as an enlisted man.

"He felt like that gave you better experience to lead other men," Watkins-Vazquez said.

He was on his second tour of Iraq and was promoted to corporal in the past 30 days. He became the leader of a Humvee crew and the soldiers inside it, she said. He had one more tour to go, and then he wanted to go to college to become an officer, she said.

The family members are handling the grief as well as they can, said his grandmother, Gail Tillis. She said the family was very close, and Watkins was their heart.

"He was tall and good-looking," Tillis said. "He had a beautiful, million-dollar smile."

His family takes pride in knowing that he believed in his mission. He had a great respect for the Marine Corps and felt it was an honor to become one and serve his country, Watkins-Vazquez said.

"He told me by phone not long ago that he and the Marines knew they were there for a reason," she said. "They would rather fight the fight there than to have anybody touch American soil. It was heartfelt. He loved his country."

   

During David's first deployment, he knew two Marines that made the ultimate sacrifice.  David met Staff Sergeant Pummill while he was working at the Marine recruiting office in Lexington, Kentucky.  When David turned 17, he joined the Marine Corps under the Delayed Entry Program.  He spent his senior year of high school working at the recruiting office to earn co-op hours.  David had the privilege of getting to know the recruiters very well during the year he patiently waited to graduate from high school and begin boot camp.  While David was going through basic training and School of Infantry, SSgt Pummill completed his recruiting assignment and went back to his former battalion in the fleet.  David ran into SSgt. Pummill at Camp Fallujah a few short days before Pummill was killed.  He requested that we honor Ssgt. Pummill's service and keep his family in our prayers.

Additionally, David also knew Lance Corporal Chase Comley of Lexington.  David played Little League baseball with Chase when he was nine years old.  Chase was older, and the pitcher for the team that year.  David had his eye on the pitcher's mound and enjoyed the experience that Chase was able to share.  Additionally, David and Chase served at the same FOB, as their units worked together in Iraq.  Sadly, David was one of the men that had to respond to the accident scene when Chase was killed.  For these reasons, the ultimate sacrifice made by Chase hits home.  Please remember to pray for his family as they deal with their loss.

Articles about SSgt. Pummill and LCpl Comley can be read below.

Staff Sergeant Richard T. Pummill, 27, of Cincinnati, Ohio died from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Nasser Wa Salaam, Iraq October 20, 2005. Pummill, was from Cherry Grove. He graduated from Anderson High School in 1996 and immediately joined the Marines as a career. Pummill was married with a three year old boy. "He was a fantastic father. He's dedicated and adores his son. His son looks just like him," said Linda Pummill, Richard's mom. She found out Thursday night, when two Marines showed up at her door. They told her Pummill was in a Humvee with some other Marines when they hit a bomb. Linda told 9News, "My son loved our country. He loved the Marine Corps. He lived to be a Marine." Richard loved his mother and grandparents who guided him growing up. He was an awesome person. He loved life. He adored his grandparents," Linda said. She says she'll cherish the last phone message he left at home. "Hey Mom, I guess you're over at Grandma's or Susan's. Just wanted to call and say hello. I love you. Bye," Richard said in the message. Pummill was based out of Camp LeJune in North Carolina. He was deployed July 17th as a weapons officer. Pummill served as a recruiter for the Marine Corps prior to his deployment to Iraq. He worked out of the Lexington, Kentucky office.

LCPL Chase J. Comley, 21, of Lexington, Ky., died Aug. 6, 2005, serving his country in the Al Amiriyah Province, Iraq, from a bomb blast detonated by a suicide bomber. Comley was a member of the 2nd Platoon, B Company, 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, NC. Chase was a 2002 graduate of Sayre School in Lexington, Kentucky. He was a pitcher and catcher for the Sayre baseball team, earning third team all-city honors for his catching skills. He was also the starting center for the Sayre basketball team and earned a number of other athletic awards. In 2000, Chase was awarded the Spartan Cup at Sayre. Chase briefly attended Lexington Community College before entering the Marines. After graduating from boot camp, Chase was excited about the path that he had chosen and looked forward to serving his country. Betty McKinney, a close friend, said that she and Comley regularly exchanged emails and photographs while he was in Iraq. She said that he looked really happy in all of his pictures, but then he was always happy, always smiling. Chase is survived by his parents, Mark and Cathy.

Frankfort, KY: The Kentucky Army National Guard has announced that one soldier was killed and four others wounded on Tuesday, June 14, 2005 in Iraq,when insurgents fired on their armored humvee with a rocket propelled grenade. The guard reports the Kentucky soldiers were providing security around a "suspected improvised explosive device" near Baghdad when the attack occurred. Spc. Michael Ray Hayes, 29, of Morgantown was killed in the attack. Hayes was assigned to the 617th Military Police Company based in Richmond and with a detachment in Bowling Green. Capt. Todd Lindner, commander of the 617th Military Police Company, passed along the following statement: "Specialist Hayes was the consummate Soldier, always in the right place doing the right thing. As a combat veteran and war hero, Hayes had successfully completed over 135 missions. He had been involved in over 30 engagements with the enemy since the company assumed the mission on Dec. 13, 2004. He is deeply missed by his fellow soldiers, soccer players, friends, and family. Michael did the right things for the right reasons. He has paid the ultimate price defending freedom and he will never be forgotten." Hayes was serving with his brother and sister in the 617th Military Police Company, based in Richmond. Deputy Adjutant Gen. Norman Arflack said Hayes' sister, Spec. Melissa Stewart, and brother, Spec. James Hayes, were not with Hayes during the attack. Michael Ray Hayes coached the Butler County High School girls' soccer team since he started the program in 2000. Principal Bert Hensley said he saw Hayes in Morgantown on June 5. "I asked him if it was worth it being over there," Hensley said. "He told me, 'You should see the kids going to school over there. It's worth it.'" Hensley said Hayes e-mailed the girls on the team twice a week. Counselors and ministers met with team members Wednesday. "Mike was always so upbeat," Hensley said. "We wanted to remind them of that." With approval from school boosters, the girls' soccer field will be named for Hayes, Hensley said. "I'm sure if he had been over there much longer, he would have tried to start a soccer program there, too," Hensley said. Hayes' commander, Capt. Todd Lindner, said Hayes "did the right things for the right reasons. "Specialist Hayes was the consummate soldier, always in the right place doing the right thing. He has paid the ultimate price defending freedom, and he will never be forgotten." Gov. Ernie Fletcher released a statement yesterday praising Hayes for his service. "Once again, Kentuckians are reminded by the loss of one of their own that freedom is not free," Fletcher said. "He gave unselfishly of his time, as have many others, serving his country." Fletcher has ordered flags at all state offices to be lowered to half-staff until sunset the day of Hayes' funeral. Hayes is the fourth Kentucky National Guard member to die in Iraq since March 19. Adjutant Gen. Donald Storm said in April that insurgents in Iraq are focusing more on non-military supply convoys, which many Kentucky Guard members protect. Hayes' Humvee was fully equipped with armor plate and bulletproof glass, and Hayes was wearing a Kevlar vest, Arflack said Four others from the 617th were wounded during the attack and were treated for minor injuries. Arflack said their names were not being released, but their families have been notified. Arflack said Storm left for Iraq on Sunday on a previously scheduled trip and would visit with Hayes' company. "The soldiers and families are our No. 1 priority," Arflack said. "This loss reminds us we're involved in serious business. We're not just supporting the global war on terror, we are in the fight." Hayes joined the National Guard in December 2002. His unit mobilized for Operation Iraqi Freedom in October 2004. Hayes completed more than 135 missions in Iraq and had engaged with insurgents 30 times since December 2004. Arflack said Hayes' unit is scheduled to return home in December.