Posted on 06/28/2002 8:10:11 PM PDT by HiJinx
Brian Prosser's wife, Shawna, stands next to her husbands stepfather,
Al Solhaug, on Fort Huachuca Thursday. Prosser was killed in Afghanistan
on Dec. 5. Shawna is here from Clarksville, Tenn., to be on hand for
honors that are being bestowed to her husband.
(Mark Levy-Herald/Review)
FORT HUACHUCA -- Shawna Prosser was teaching her fourth-grade class fractions when a knock came on her classroom door.
She had an uneasy feeling that fifth day of December when she heard the news that a bomb from a U.S. Air Force plane had gone off course and killed and wounded a number of Army Special Forces soldiers in Afghanistan.
Shawna knew her husband, Staff Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser, was in that area of the world. She was asked to leave her class at Kenwood Elementary School in Clarksville, Tenn., that day.
"They had to drag me down the hall," she said Thursday afternoon. "One little girl thought I was being fired."
Shawna, 28, would rather have been fired than to receive word that her husband, who was with the Military Intelligence Battalion of the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campbell, Ky., had been one of three killed.
The 28-year-old Cody, as everyone called him, was the first intelligence soldier to be killed in Afghanistan. This afternoon, the Military Intelligence Village on Fort Huachuca was renamed Prosser Village in his honor. The complex is where soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines live while they are attending military intelligence classes on the post.
Shawna said her students were not told what happened, but by that night many of them knew because they were part of a "tight-knit Army community," she said. The next day counselors were with her class to help them understand what happened to their teacher.
Shawna and Cody had been married for three years. He would go off on assignments throughout the world -- mostly training assignments, she said. Cody was in Jordan on such a mission, but he and she knew he could be called to go elsewhere, especially since the United States was gearing up to combat terrorism, and Afghanistan was one of the targets to eliminate the Taliban support for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida group.
"Before he left (for Jordan) I cried. He held me and told me he probably would go to Afghanistan," Shawna said.
Going in harm's way is part of being a Special Forces soldier, and Cody was dedicated to his work, she said.
But the aftermath of his death has been "a roller coaster ride," Shawna said, fighting back tears, adding that throughout the ups and downs, family and friends "have held me up."
For another Brian Cody, whose middle name is Delos, the pride a father has in a son is magnified when it comes to Cody. Buster, as the senior Brian used to be known, cannot attend the ceremonies at the annual Military Intelligence Hall of Fame this week because of a disability.
In a telephone interview from his California home Thursday night, he said his son had a warrior's spirit. "He was a pretty normal kid, in some cases above average, and was a good football and baseball player in high school," the father said.
The father said he is in awe of his son and what he did as a soldier. "I'm grateful for the recognition he is being given," the father said. "He's being recognized by soldiers for being a soldier, and that's something special."
He also said that his son was to be posthumously awarded a Legion of Merit today as an additional recognition. The soldier also will be posthumously presented the Military Intelligence Corps Association's Knowlton Award.
For Cody's father and wife, renaming the complex on Fort Huachuca will keep Cody's name alive forever. "With every soldier who walks in the village, Cody will be there too, walking along side," said his father, who served a tour in the Army in the late 1950s.
Al Solhaug spoke for Cody's mother, Ingrid, who still is too distraught to talk about her son's death. Solhaug said that when he and Ingrid were married, it was Cody who escorted his mother down the aisle.
"God didn't make many like Cody," Solhaug said. "We are proud of him, he truly is an American hero. Anyone would be proud to have him as a son."
He and Shawna talked to the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Daily Review after watching a retreat ceremony and demonstration by B Troop, 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment at Wren Arena.
On Jan. 15, Shawna attended a ceremony at Fort Campbell to honor soldiers wounded in the Dec. 5 incident and others wounded in putting down a rebellion by Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners in Mazar-e-Sharif were honored.
Cody had been posthumously awarded a Bronze Star Medal with "V" device for Valor and a Purple Heart for his action in Afghanistan. He was part of a Special Forces unit that had infiltrated 150 miles behind enemy lines, advising and assisting anti-Taliban fighters.
During the weeks of action, the unit was responsible for the destruction of 40 vehicles and 300 enemy soldiers. The unit Cody was with eventually forced the Taliban fighters into Kandahar. Cody was killed during a battle at Sayyd Alama Kalah.
Shawna said that although she and Cody are from California, she will remain near Fort Campbell with their two dogs, Buster and Sadie.
"It was where we had our home," she said. Although they had no children of their own, Shawna said she has many children -- her students at Kenwood Elementary School -- to take care of and to instill in them the honor of people such as Cody.
HERALD/REVIEW senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 458-9440 Ext. 115 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
To a few good FRiends.
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