Free Republic

CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan - More than 100 U.S. Marines stood at attention before four empty boots and two sets of dog tags Tuesday to honor the first Marines to die in Afghanistan since their unit's deployment last month. 1st Sgt. Luke J. Mercardante, 35, and Cpl. Kyle W. Wilks, 24, died in a roadside bomb explosion in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province on April 15, said Lt. Col. Ricky Brown, the commander of Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Lejuene, North Carolina. Dark, overcast skies, a blustery wind and light droplets of rain reflected...

As a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, Luke Mercardante trained more than 1,200 men, turning them from civilians into Marines. Later, at Camp Lejeune, Mercardante visited the Wounded Warriors barracks and was approached by a young man who had been one of his recruits. The man told him that a lesson he learned from Mercardante at boot camp saved his life, said Mercardante's girlfriend, Kimberly Hull. The young man remembered Mercardante yelling at him, telling him not to move, Hull said. So when the time came, he didn't move, and lived.