TAPS
Eternal Father
Posted on 06/11/2006 12:02:34 PM PDT by WestTexasWend
DALLAS — A Naval chief petty officer home on leave from the Middle East was shot and killed by a carjacker just three days before he was to report back for duty.
Kameron Pratt, scheduled to return after minor shoulder surgery, was shot by an unidentified carjacker who dragged him from his pickup truck at his parents' home in Dallas on Friday night.
Pratt, 34, stumbled to the porch. His brother, Keanon, found him semiconscious, dialed 911 and performed CPR. Paramedics transported Pratt to the hospital but he died shortly after arrival.
The chief petty officer had been savoring two weeks' leave during his fourth overseas tour of duty in four years — most recently serving in the Middle East aboard the USS George Washington. He left behind a 9-month-old daughter, Lailah.
"You think of how many times he's probably escaped death out there in all the places he's been," his younger brother, Kebreon Pratt, said Saturday. "And here he is — home — just trying to spend time with his baby. He was on cloud nine. And then this happens."
Relatives said Kameron Pratt would have completed his active-duty assignment in October. He had hoped to complete a college degree, teach social studies and coach sports in the Dallas school district. He liked sports and loved children, family members said.
About five years ago, the former football player and amateur boxer decided the Navy would help him earn a good salary and enlisted at age 30, 12 years after he passed up an opportunity to enter the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., relatives said.
"I felt it was a positive move for him," Keanon Pratt said. "And I was proud. Really proud."
Police said the carjacking appeared to be random. Two men in a gold Chevrolet pickup pulled up next to Kameron Pratt's Ford F-150 pickup, Dallas police Sgt. Gil Cerda said.
Pratt was parked in the driveway of his parents' home. One of the men, wielding a gun, ordered Kameron Pratt out of his truck before shooting him and stealing the pickup, Cerda said.
Police were investigating but no arrests had been made.
Close-knit relatives mourned Saturday and said they were struggling to come to terms with the death of a man they called "the life of the party" and "happy-go-lucky."
"But he could be quiet and very observant," said the victim's father, Leon Pratt Jr. "He could be very analytical. Most of all, he loved his family, and he loved his friends."
Prayers offered.
What a terrible event.
I hope they get the bastard....in a shoot out...
The victim MUST have MINIMUM success! Ask any United States Senator!
Time to withdraw our military from dallas...how many lives is an American city worth?
If these people cant rid themselves of criminals...why should our military personel even be there?
It's time to end the occupation now and give the city back to the murderers...
We can not win this war militarity...this is a law enforcement problem...
We need to have diplomacy and understanding for these "insurgents" and 'freedom fighters"...
If American military personel where in your neighborhood....you'd carjack them too...
Hmmm...I think that about covers the moonbat reaction...
feel free to add your own...
I wondered, also.
Enlisted Requirements for Advancements |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paygrade | E-1 to E-2 |
E-2 to E-3 |
E-3 to E-4 |
E-4 to E-5 |
E-5 to E-6 |
E-6 to E-7 |
E-7 to E-8 |
E-8 to E-9 |
| Time in Rate | 9 mos. | 9 mos. as an E-2 |
6 mos. as an E3* |
12 mos. as an E-4* |
36 mos. as an E-5* |
36 mos. as an E-6* |
36 mos. as an E-7 |
36 mos. as an E-8* |
Unlike many places, Texas executes murderers on a regular
basis.
There is rank inflation in the Navy. I honestly do not know if the rank E1 even exists anymore. Most sailors go to the fleet after boot camp and training from E3 to E5.
It is very difficult to make rank in the Navy as an enlisted. I have never heard of this E3 to E5 program you seem to be quoting. Extremely difficult to make chief.
This makes me so sad and so very angry. RIP, Sailor.
The picture of his family shows him as less than a chief. There is a military.com listing of a Kameron Pratt in the Navy as an E-5 (self-reported) as of 2005.
This is not to diminish his service....just another reminder that the media neither knows nor cares that much about military things.
Did a Dallas newspaper even bother to cover this?
An older, more mature sports figure, likely a natural leader, in wartime? I'm not up on typical times-in-grade at all, but it doesn't seem impossible.
Which should be exactly the same penalty as for killing anyone else in cold blood. While I appreciate the intent of your statement, my life is not worth any more or less than the life of any other law-abiding citizen. We have no royalty of privileged classes here -- cops and soldiers included. The unintended consequence of valuing some lives more is that we then value others less. Unless it is blind, it is not justice. Semper Fidelis...
Oh FGS, please let this man RIP.
He obviously was above the average if he had a chance at Annapolis but what does his classification given a point or two either way matter at this point except that his family and our country has lost a good man to killers.
Just drop him by parachute in full combat gear into Somalia.
Ah, the Red Bird/Oak Cliff area. Yes, that's exactly where I suspected this happened. That area was really nice before desegregation of the schools in the early 70's. After that, it went down hill within a couple years.
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