Lot of talk lately about the 9/11 Challenge this year....I will tell you this.....my class will be the toughest Challenge Ive ever run....period, and I dont expect anyone to quit. Ive said it 1000 times, on my best day in C-1-1, the 1st Special Forces Group CIF Company, there were a handful of guys better than me to my left and right and at least 50 more better than me that had come and gone through Charlie Company. Some of them eternally guarding the hallways and team rooms of what I considering the most spiritually significant place Ive been in my life.....1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, Okinawa, Japan.....or as we know...The Box. I never met Nate Chapman, but I looked at his picture and his dog tags every day I was fortunate enough to work in the same Company and on the same Team he did. I will leave the following information here.....do with it what you will, but know this...if youre in my class for 9/11 in NYC you better start preparing now and get your mind right: Nathan Ross Chapman (23 April 1970 – 4 January 2002) was a United States Army Sergeant First Class with the 1st Special Forces Group. He was the first American soldier to be killed in combat in the war in Afghanistan. Born at Andrews Air Force Base where his father was stationed, Nathan Chapman grew up in a variety of towns across the United States, but listed his hometown as San Antonio, Texas when he joined the military at the age of 18. Hed never lived in San Antonio, but that is where his grandparents lived. Assigned to 1st Special Forces Group following the 11 September attacks, Chapman was directing troop movements from the back of a flatbed truck when he was shot. He did not die instantly from the attack, which also saw a CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer from Special Activities Division wounded. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. Forward Operating Base Chapman was named after SFC Chapman.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 15:18:11 +0000