| From delmarvanow.com
11/26/14
Jeremy Cox, Phil Davis and Liz Holland, DelmarvaNow 11:42 a.m. EST November 26, 2014
Sgt. Maj. Wardell Turner, Nanticoke native and Bennett High grad, died Monday in an attack.
A U.S. Army sergeant major from Wicomico County was killed Monday serving in Afghanistan, according to his family.
Two soldiers were killed Monday morning when a bomb hidden in the median strip of a street in eastern Kabul detonated as a convoy of coalition troops drove by, according to a New York Times report.
The names and nationalities of the soldiers were not released by the American-led International Security Assistance Force. The policy of the U.S. Department of Defense is to not release the name of casualties until 24 hours after the next of kin has been identified.
But one of the casualties was Wardell Turner, said his mother, Wanda, and his sister, Wauleah, who both live in Nanticoke.
"You never think it would hit close to home," Wauleah said.
The bomb struck a Toyota Land Cruiser and also wounded a passer-by, Afghan police told the Times.
On Nov. 16, Turner served as a senior enlisted adviser for a training seminar for the Combined Security Transition Command in Kabul, according to the International Security Assistance Force.
Turner was quoted in a Nov. 17 news release from ISAF about his mission in Afghanistan.
"The goal of this seminar is to teach the senior enlisted noncommissioned officers supply discipline, the ordering process, maintenance procedures and how to operate the different management systems," Turner said.
Turner graduated from James M. Bennett High School in 1984 and was a member of the 1983 championship football team.
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He attended Towson University on a football scholarship, graduating in 1989 with a bachelors degree in management.
Turner later earned a master's degree in criminal justice from Central Missouri State University in 2011.
Turner had served in several military police units since 1993, most recently in the 720th Military Police Battalion. He was promoted to sergeant major in July 2013.
Elmer Davis had known Wardell Turner since the two were at Bennett. Davis characterized Turner as "quiet" when on the football team, adding he was "not one that was really voiceful" and "he never complained."
Audibly distraught, Davis said the last time the two had met was at Wardell's grandmother's funeral, about a year ago.
Daniel Savoy, an administrator at James M. Bennett High School from the 1970s through the 1990s, remembers Turner as someone willing to help.
"I could ask him for help of any kind and he would be more than willing to help me or anyone else," Savoy said. "He did not hesitate to help anyone. All you had to do was ask."
He also said "the way he carried himself and so forth" resembled that of military personnel, adding "he walked with a purpose."
Cynthia Johnson, 52, Salisbury is th aunt of Wardell Turner through Turner's father, Larry.
Johnson heard the news Monday morning from Turner's wife, Katherine.
"It's heartbreaking. It's just heartwrenching," Johnson said.
She said Turner's personality came from his upbringing, which she described as "old school."
Among friends and family, Johnson said Turner "was not like most kids" and acted beyond his years.
"He was always so serious," Johnson said. "We always used to call him 'the old man.'"
"It was that this look on his face was always so serious," she added, saying that he would not refer to her as hit "aunt."
"He said 'I'm not calling you 'Aunt,' you're only four years older than me," Johnson said.
Johnson said Wardell met his wife Katherine while the two were both at Bennett.
She added that after having their first child, a daughter, "he stepped into parenthood like he was born to be a dad."
"He raised his family the way he was raised, with values and with integrity," she added.
She said the Turners also have a son currently serving in the Army in Afghanistan, Devin, adding that "he was right over there the same time as the father."
NOTE: This report has been updated to correct the spelling of Devin Turner.
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| From The Army Times armytimes.com
11/26/14:
Command Sgt. Maj. killed in Afghanistan
The (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times staff 2:02 p.m. EST November 26, 2014
Command Sgt. Maj. Wardell Turrner, assigned to a key training command in Afghanistan, was killed Monday, according to a friend and Facebook posts.
Two soldiers were killed Monday morning when a bomb hidden in the median strip of a street in eastern Kabul detonated as a convoy of coalition troops drove by, according to a New York Times report.
The bomb struck a Toyota Land Cruiser and also wounded a passerby, Afghan police told the Times.
The names and nationalities of the soldiers have not been released by the American-led International Security Assistance Force. The policy of the U.S. Department of Defense is to not release the name of casualties until 24 hours after the next of kin has been identified.
But Turner's death was confirmed by Elmer Davis, a close friend who had known Turner since high school. Davis said a family member informed him of his friend's death.
The other casualty has been identified by local media in Ohio as Spc. Joseph Riley. Riley had been in the Army less than three years, according to the report Tuesday by the NBC affiliate in Columbus.
Turner served as the CSM for Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan in Kabul, which is primarily responsible for training Afghan National Security Forces. Earlier this year, CSTC-A lost Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, who was killed in a deadly insider attack Aug. 5 in Kabul. Greene was CSTC-A's deputy commander and the first American general officer to be killed by hostile fire in combat since Sept. 11, 2001.
The last time a command sergeant major was killed by enemy fire in Afghanistan was just this past May.
Command Sgt. Maj. Martin Barreras, 49, died at San Antonio Military Medical Center in Texas from wounds suffered in Herat province, Afghanistan. Barreras, the senior enlisted soldier for 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, was wounded when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire.
Turner graduated from Bennett High School in 1984 and was a member of the 1983 championship football team.
He attended Towson University on a football scholarship, graduating in 1989 with a bachelors degree in management.
Turner later earned a master's degree in criminal justice from Central Missouri State University in 2011.
Turner had served in several military police units since 1993, most recently in the 720th Military Police Battalion. He was promoted to sergeant major in July 2013.
Daniel Savoy, an administrator at James M. Bennett High School from the 1970s through the 1990s, remembers Turner as someone willing to help.
"I could ask him for help of any kind and he would be more than willing to help me or anyone else," Savoy said. "He did not hesitate to help anyone. All you had to do was ask."
He also said "the way he carried himself and so forth" resembled that of military personnel, adding "he walked with a purpose." |
From The Chicago Tribune chicagotribune.com 11/24/14:
2 U.S. soldiers killed in bombing in Afghanistan capital
By Tribune wire report
Two U.S. soldiers were killed when their vehicle was hit by a bomb in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, officials and sources said.
lRelated Suicide bomb blast kills 40 during volleyball match in Afghanistan
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"It was a magnetic bomb," said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi. "It was either attached to the vehicle belonging to the foreigners or it was planted and detonated remotely."
The Taliban insurgents, ousted from power by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The ISAF international military coalition in Afghanistan gave no details of the attack but said in a statement two of its service members were killed in the area on Monday.
A Western security source told Reuters the victims were American. Another source said at least three civilians were also killed.
The bombing comes a day after a suicide bomber walked into a crowd at a volleyball match and detonated his explosives vest, killing 45.
Mukhles Afghan, spokesman for the governor of Paktika province, said at least 50 more were wounded in the attack in Yahya Khel district, where residents had gathered to watch a tournament final.
He said most of the casualties were civilians.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack.
Casualties were high because the crowd was so dense, since people had come from nearby districts to cheer on their team. No other details were immediately available because of the remoteness of the location.
The Taliban and other jihadist militants have unleashed waves of suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year as foreign forces pull out after 13 years of war.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach condemned the "cowardly" attack.
"It is an attack on sport itself and on the positive values it can bring to help build strong communities and foster peace and reconciliation around the world," he said in a statement.
The Taliban banned public sports events as un-Islamic during their five-year rule before the 2001 U.S.-led intervention that toppled them from power after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on U.S. cities.
Paktika province has an active Afghan Taliban insurgent presence and lies along the porous border with Pakistan's North Waziristan region, used as a base by both the Haqqani militant network and the Pakistani branch of the Taliban.
The Pakistani army for months has been waging an offensive against militants in North Waziristan, driving refugees and militant fighters across the border into Afghanistan.
This year has been one of the bloodiest for Afghan civilians, according to the United Nations, which recorded nearly 5,000 deaths and injuries of civilians in the first half of the year.
Reuters
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