R.I.P.
Posted on 01/10/2009 4:25:24 PM PST by BBell
McLEAN, Va. -- An anthropologist has died of burns she got when was set on fire in Afghanistan in an attack that authorities say prompted her fellow contractor, a New Orleans resident, to kill an Afghan man.
Greg Caires, a spokesman for military contractor BAE Systems, says Paula Loyd died Wednesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio more than two months after she was doused with fuel. The 36-year-old suffered burns over 60 percent of her body.
Loyd's job with BAE was to help U.S. soldiers navigate local culture.
One of Loyd's colleagues has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of the man who attacked Loyd. Forty-six-year-old Don Ayala of New Orleans is accused of shooting Loyd's attacker in the head minutes after she was set on fire while speaking with civilians.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Same here.
This sentence is vague.
Me too. Something is very wrong with this picture.
RIP.
Condolences to her fiance, her family, and her friends.
Loyd, 36, remembered for strong-natured will
By Eva Ruth Moravec - Express-News
The second- and third-degree burns that engulfed 60 percent of Paula Loyd’s body persistently got infected and finally claimed the 36-year-old’s life.
In November, Loyd was in Afghanistan as a social scientist for BAE Systems, according to a BAE news release. She was embedded with troops as part of the Human Terrain System program, which pairs social scientists with ground troops to interview citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan and improve relationships.
According to a recent San Antonio Express-News story, Loyd approached a man carrying a fuel jug Nov. 4. Without warning, the man doused Loyd with gasoline and set her on fire. Loyd’s colleague threw her into water and she was airlifted to Brooke Army Medical Center, where she died Wednesday.
“She’s very strong-natured, and we had hope,” said Loyd’s mother, Patricia Ward. “The doctors told us when someone tries as hard as she did, it makes them try harder, too.”
Raised in Alamo Heights, Loyd had tried hard her whole life, her mother said. She attended high school in the Virgin Islands and Connecticut, received degrees at Wellesley College and at Georgetown University, then spent four years on active duty with the U.S. Army in Korea, and four years as a reservist in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In Afghanistan, she worked for the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for International Development and RTI International before joining BAE last September.
“Paula’s vast experience in Afghan reconstruction efforts, her thorough professionalism and gentle demeanor had a profound impact on the units she supported,” said Ted Wright, acting president of BAE’s Technology Solutions and Services. “She was committed to helping improve conditions in Afghanistan.”
The Moonlight Fund, which supports burn victims in the service and their families, has established an account in Loyd’s name.
“The checks are coming from around the world,” said Celia Jones, co-founder of the fund. “She touched a lot of lives in her short life, and the family would like for her legacy of kindness and caring to carry on.”
While she was at BAMC, Adam Millsap, a childhood friend, organized blood drives that raised a total of 47 pints.
“She always was kind and had a ready smile, she was helpful and a good friend,” Millsap said. “She had people’s best interests at heart.”
PAULA LOYD
BORN: June 9, 1972,
in San Antonio
DIED: Jan. 7, 2009,
in San Antonio
SURVIVED BY:
her mother, Patricia Ward and husband Terrence of St. Thomas; fiance Frank Muggeo of Fort Bragg; brothers Paul B. Loyd Jr. and wife Penny, William M. Loyd and wife Stephanie; sisters Kathryn Machuga and husband Bill, and Polly Lines and husband Marcus.
SERVICES: A celebration of life will begin at 2 p.m. on Jan. 10 at Porter Loring’s North Chapel, 2102 N. Loop 1604 East.
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I wonder what the man was expected to do? Shake the attacker's hand? The attacker deserved a bullet after what he did. I see nothing wrong with shooting the attacker . Prayers for Ms Loyd & Don Ayala. I hope he is found innocent.
Probably the Afghan went off because it was a woman talking, BUT there is no reason to charge her colleague for avenging the outrage immediately. Afghans do understand that.
Team in America was hired by US Army to navigate local Afghan culture.
Part of the team was a good looking non-muslim woman and some muslim men.
Muslim men made sexual advances on woman. Woman rebuffed him/them.
Muslim man doused infidel women in gas and set her on fire to save his “honor.”
Another infidel man sees all this a shoots the muslim man to try to save the woman.
AND HE IS charged is murder???
> I think this guy should get a medal
Me too. No good deed shall go unpunished.
But liberals don't. It's not the tribesman charging the man with second degree murder, if they thought he was wrong....he would be dead.
First, this guy shouldn’t even be charged. Second, I pray that he is acquitted.
Whoever brought charges against him in the first place should have the TAR beat out of him!
See post 7
Let me try and word this right. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
1.) Female U.S. civilian employee is attacked and grievously injured in Afghanistan by typical Afghan barbarian.
2.) Minutes later, her outraged friend and co-worker tracks down this barbarian and dispatches him with a bullet to the head, making the world a little better place.
3.) Our justice department, in a sadly predictable move, has this man arrested and charged with murder.
4.) American woman succumbs to her injuries.
I believe you are correct....
Where did you read that?
From my understanding, the guy was cuffed and Mr. Alaya executed him.
AND HE IS charged is murder???
When you shoot a cuffed, unarmed man in the head, that's usually the charge. What do you suggest?
Source please, so we can understand this mess better....
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