Free Republic

DoD announced today the deaths of seven soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom on Jan. 29 west of Ghazni, Afghanistan. The seven soldiers and an additional soldier, whose status is currently being listed as "duty status whereabouts unknown," were working around a weapons cache when there was an explosion. Another soldier died from wounds suffered in Iraq. Killed were: Staff Sgt. Shawn M. Clemens, 28, of Allegany, N.Y., Spc. Robert J. Cook, 24, of Sun Prairie, Wis., Spc. Adam G. Kinser, 21, of Sacramento, Calif., Sgt. 1st Class Curtis Mancini, 43, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Staff Sgt. James D....

<p>She made it through her son's first deployment -- a three-month tour in Iraq last year. But when Erika Mancini learned that her son would be deployed to Afghanistan last month, she started losing sleep.</p> <p>"I kept seeing him as a little baby, holding my hand," said Mancini, 64, of Lincoln, R.I. "I didn't know he wasn't coming back, but it's that eerie feeling that you feel in your gut."</p>

Wesley Clark, Chief Wiggles, and moreFrom the February 16, 2004 issue: Remembering Sergeant First Class Curtis "Paco" Mancini02/16/2004, Volume 009, Issue 22 Remembering PacoIn his reporting during the war in Iraq, our colleague Stephen F. Hayes frequently called on Sergeant First Class Curtis "Paco" Mancini, a 17-year veteran of the Davie, Florida, police department who had been recruited to train Iraqi Americans working with U.S. soldiers to liberate their native country. Hayes described Mancini as a "soldier's soldier"--a cliché, perhaps, but nonetheless an apt description of the burly 43-year-old with a shimmering Mr. Clean head.Mancini and his hand-picked colleagues...