In Memoriam

[Grace]

Country of Georgia

Cpl. Giorgi Avaliani

From: Kutaisi, Georgia
Age:
Unit: 32nd Battalion, III Infantry Brigade
Died: February 22, 2011

A Georgian soldier was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday, said the defence ministry in the ex-Soviet republic which has become a significant contributor to NATO-led efforts to combat the Taliban.

The soldier was killed in the troubled Helmand region when a mine exploded, also injuring two other Georgian troops, a ministry statement said.

Corporal Giorgi Avaliani was the sixth Georgian to be killed while serving in Afghanistan, the ministry said.

[Grace]

Germany

Sgt. 1st Class Georg Missulia

From: Langdorf, Germany
Age: 30
Unit: 4. Kompanie, Panzergrenadierbatallion 112, 12 Panzerbrigade, 10. Panzerdivision (4th Company, 112th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Brigade, 10th Armored Division)
Died: February 18, 2011

One of three German soldiers killed when a gunman opened fire on them while they were performing maintenance on a vehicle at an observation post in Baghlan province, Afghanistan.

Spc. Georg Kurat

From: Munich, Germany
Age: 22
Unit: 4. Kompanie, Panzergrenadierbatallion 112, 12 Panzerbrigade, 10. Panzerdivision (4th Company, 112th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Brigade, 10th Armored Division)
Died: February 18, 2011

One of three German soldiers killed when a gunman opened fire on them while they were performing maintenance on a vehicle at an observation post in Baghlan province, Afghanistan.

Pfc. Konstantin Alexander Menz

From: Adelzhausen, Germany
Age: 21
Unit: 4. Kompanie, Panzergrenadierbatallion 112, 12 Panzerbrigade, 10. Panzerdivision (4th Company, 112th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Brigade, 10th Armored Division)
Died: February 18, 2011

One of three German soldiers killed when a gunman opened fire on them while they were performing maintenance on a vehicle at an observation post in Baghlan province, Afghanistan.

[Grace]

Micronesia

Staff Sgt. Jerome Firtamag

From: Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia
Age: 29
Unit: 96th Combat Support Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Divisionz
Died: February 24, 2011

Firtamag was medically evacuated from Kandahar, Afghanistan, to the United States for treatment of a non-combat related illness on December 1, 2010. He died on February 24, 2011, in Pembroke, Kentucky.

[Grace]

Speaking at the United States Military Academy at West Point today, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said this -

“Any future defense secretary who advises the president to send a big American land army into Asia, or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as Gen. [Douglas] MacArthur so delicately put it,”

Too bad Mr. Gates was not President Bush's first choice for SecDef.