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| Afghanistan |
| Army chaplain KIA in Afghanistan |
| 2010-09-03 |
| DENVER (AP) - A chaplain killed in Afghanistan this week was the first Army clergyman killed in action since the Vietnam War, the military said Thursday. Capt. Dale Goetz of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colo., was among five soldiers killed by an improvised bomb on Monday. Before Goetz, the last Army chaplain to die in action was Phillip Nichols, who was killed by a concealed enemy explosive in Vietnam in October of 1970, said Chaplain Carleton Birch, a spokesman for the Army chief of chaplains. Officials said Goetz had hitched a ride on a resupply convoy when he was killed. Birch said chaplains are considered noncombatants and don't carry weapons, but they are accompanied by a chaplain's assistant, a soldier who is armed. A chaplain's assistant, Staff Sgt. Christopher Stout of Worthville, Ky., was killed in Afghanistan in July, Birch said. Chaplains don't go on combat patrols but do go onto battlefields to conduct services and counsel soldiers, Birch said. "Many of those places where they travel are very dangerous," he said. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #7 In VietNam, there were three chaplains who won the Medal of Honor. All three were Catholic priets. Two of them were KIA - Vincent Capodanno and Charles Watters. One, Angelo Liteky was a Catholic priest at the time. He later left the priesthood and married a nun. He is also the only MOH recipient who returned the medal. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2010-09-03 21:54 |
| #6 I got to Vietnam the day after that Chaplain was killed. Lots of folks were talking about it. This is the first time I've seen it mentioned since then. Lots of good guys, chaplains. I knew two that had received Purple Hearts - one in Vietnam and one in Korea. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2010-09-03 13:47 |
| #5 First, RIP. Birch said chaplains are considered noncombatants and don't carry weapons, but they are accompanied by a chaplain's assistant, a soldier who is armed. Learn something new every day: my high school American History teacher had been a chaplain's assistant in Viet Nam. I never bothered to learn what that entailed - now I know. |
| Posted by: xbalanke 2010-09-03 12:50 |
| #4 FIFY |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-09-03 09:47 |
| #3 maybe we need too hit a few of those m,adrassas |
| Posted by: chris 2010-09-03 08:48 |
| #2 As opposed to the mullahs who sit in their madrases across the border sending the young cannon fodder out to die, but never seem to be in the front lines themselves. "For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother;" - Henry V, Act 4, Shakespeare. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-09-03 00:15 |
| #1 RIP, Chaplain |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-09-03 00:06 |