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Jeffrey J Rieck

Columbus, Ohio

April 4, 2012

Age

Military

Rank

Unit/Location

Army

SFC

1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Ohio National Guard

Walbridge, Ohio

Killed in Faryab province, Afghanistan, during an enemy attack by a suicide vehicle borne improvised explosive device.

Jeffrey James Rieck
RIECK Master Sergeant Jeffrey James Rieck, 46, of Columbus, Ohio, died in Northern Afghanistan on April 4, 2012. He was assigned to the Ohio National Guard's 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment of the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and was killed in combat. Born March 12, 1966 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Jeff graduated from Sidney High School in 1984 and began his 25 year career with the military on May 5, 1987. Jeff devoted his life to his service and his country. Jeff loved spending time with his son Joel and his family. He was a loving father, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin and friend. He had an amazing ability to ease the minds of children as he worked to prepare them for their parent's upcoming tour of duty in his career with the Ohio National Guard Family Readiness Group. He is preceded in death by his father James Henry Rieck and mother Jayne Rieck. He is survived by his son, Joel Rieck; former wife, Catherine Rieck; sister, Jennifer (Timothy) Herbst; nephew, A. Mitchell Herbst; Uncle Larry (Paula) Dohrer; cousins, Tom (Tracy) Dohrer, Tim (Stephanie) Dohrer and their children. Just as important is his Ohio National Guard and Army family that he leaves behind. Friends may call from 2-8 p.m. Sunday, April 16, 2012 at the SCHOEDINGER WORTHINGTON CHAPEL, 6699 North High Street. Funeral service will be held at Franklin County Veterans Memorial on 300 West Broad Street, Monday, April 16, 2012 at 10 a.m. Chaplin Daniel R. Burris officiating. Interment at Union Cemetery immediately following the service. Donations may be made in MSG Rieck's name to the Joel Rieck Fund, 2747 Roe Dr., Lewis Center, Ohio 43035 or Ohio Operation: Military Kids through the Ohio State University Foundation (Fund #311984) and sent to Dr. Theresa Ferrari, OMK Project Director, Ohio State University, 2201 Fred Taylor Dr., Columbus, OH 43210. Visit www.schoedinger.com to share a favorite memory of Jeff.
Published in The Columbus Dispatch on Apr. 13, 2012

3 soldiers killed in Afghan bombing identified

Staff and wire reports

Three soldiers killed in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan on Wednesday were members of the Ohio National Guard, the Defense Department announced Friday.

Killed were:

* Capt. Nicholas J. Rozanski, 36, of Dublin, Ohio.

* Master Sgt. Jeffrey J. Rieck, 45, of Columbus, Ohio

* Master Sgt. Shawn T. Hannon, 44, of Grove City, Ohio

The three guardsmen were killed in the relatively peaceful Faryab province in northern Afghanistan. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, but the bomber’s target was unclear, according to the Associated Press.

They were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Ohio National Guard in Walbridge, Ohio. The brigade is based in Columbus but includes soldiers from across Ohio, the Ohio National Guard said.

Wounded were 1st Lt. Christopher Rosebrock of Hicksville, Ohio; Spc. Austin Weigle of Bryan, Ohio; Cpl. Everett Haworth of Olmsted Township, Ohio; and Pfc. Jacob Williams of Somerville, Ohio.

A father of two girls, Rozanski worked for the Defense Logistics Agency at Defense Supply Center Columbus.

Rozanski’s wife told the Columbus Dispatch that a family military history compelled him to join the Guard since 2003. He had deployed to Kosovo in 2004 and to Iraq in 2008.

“He did what he needed to do and what he signed up to do,” she told WCMH-TV. “I want him to be remembered as a hero and that he was a great leader in the National Guard and he cared about his soldiers,” she said.

Alex Rozanski, the brother of Nicholas Rozanski, told WBNS-TV in Columbus that his brother “loved being in the National Guard” and “loved being a leader of soldiers.”

Rozanski said Americans going on with day-to-day lives shouldn’t forget the troops. “These just become fading, brief headlines. But no, we are a nation at war, and men are dying on a regular basis over there. And people need to remember that,” he said.

Hannon’s family said he felt it was a privilege to serve his country and was proud to be a soldier, a job he did nearly 20 years while also working as a lawyer.
Hannon, chief legal counsel for the Ohio Department of Veterans Affairs, joined the state veterans agency last year after working for a Columbus law firm. Survivors include wife and their 9-month-old son.

Hannon was a graduate of Capital University law school in Columbus and had been a lawyer for six years.
“He was one of the most well-respected guys I ever met,” said Steve Palmer, a lawyer who worked with Hannon. “If somebody in the world needed help, he’d be there. He believed in what he was doing over there.”

Rieck, the father of a 15-year-old son, had served in the Army and was in Iraq for longer than a year before heading to Afghanistan. He worked full time in the Guard’s Family Readiness office.

Friend Nicole Kraft, an Ohio State University journalism professor, said Rieck was “one of those people who really believed in what he was doing.”

“He was all about being an American and doing his part,” she told The Dispatch. “He really felt it was a role for which he was — perhaps it’s too strong a word — destined.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Friday ordered flags at the Capitol and other state facilities in central Ohio to be flown at half-staff on Monday in honor of the guardsmen. The governor also offered his condolences to the soldiers’ families and friends.

The Ohio infantry brigade has six battalions, with four based in Ohio and two in Michigan. It sent 3,600 soldiers to Afghanistan last summer for what was scheduled to be a yearlong deployment.

It was the largest mobilization for the 37th since the Korean War, according to the Guard. The soldiers were sent to help with counter-insurgency operations and work with Afghan security forces.

In 2005, Lima Company, a Columbus-based Marine reserve unit, lost 22 Marines and a Navy Corpsman in Iraq, including nine in one bombing. Fifteen of the 23 were from Ohio.

Another Ohio soldier was killed this week by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Christopher Brown, 26, of Columbus, died Tuesday, the Department of Defense said Thursday. Brown was serving his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, after spending nearly year in Iraq.