1st Sgt. John Blair Drop Zone Dedication скачать в хорошем качестве

1st Sgt. John Blair Drop Zone Dedication

CATOOSA TRAINING SITE, Ringgold, Aug. 4, 2010 -- Loved ones, friends and fellow Guardsmen honored 1st Sgt. John D. Blair of Calhoun today during a ceremony where the Copperhead parachute drop zone (DZ) was renamed in his memory. Among the words on the large wooden sign that stands near the site are: "1SG John D. Blair, Infantry, In orbe Terrum non visi (All around the world unseen)." Blair, who lived in Calhoun, died June 20, 2009, in Mado Zayi, Afghanistan, when the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle, on which he'd taken the gunner's position instead of ridding inside as he normally would, was struck by an insurgent's rocket propelled grenade. "We come here this afternoon to honor a fellow warrior who's gone, but will never be forgotten," said Sgt. Maj. John F. Gunning, senior enlisted leader for Fulton's 3rd Squadron, 108th Cavalry and one of Blair's longtime friends and teammates. "There'll be a time when a younger Soldier will see the sign bearing his [Blair's] name and know that he made the ultimate sacrifice." More than 70 people, including Blair's wife Donna, their son Dallas, grandson Nolyn Foubert, and representatives of the Gordon County Sheriff's Office for which Blair had worked as a deputy came to take part in the ceremony. Members of his former units -- 3rd Squadron, 108th Cavalry; 1st Squadron, 108th Cavalry; Georgia Counterdrug Task Force; and Company A, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry, the unit with which he deployed to Afghanistan -- were also present. Later in the day, a six-man group of jumpers parachuted out of a hovering UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. One of the six departed from the group in mid-air, leaving the remaining five in the "missing man formation" in an aerial salute to Blair's absence. "This plot of land on which we stand," said Capt. Shilo Crane, operations officer for the Georgia Counterdrug Task Force, "is important to a paratrooper; it's one of the places where we test personal courage and practice our craft of bringing the warfight to the enemy." That, Crane said, is the embodiment of the Blair, a trooper he knew and admired. "This dedication is but a symbol of our collective admiration and appreciation of 1st Sgt. Blair and his service," he added. "We must remember why we serve, and doing so should make us proud to stand here on this ground." He wasn't one to seek awards, Crane noted, and would have been humbled by the attention given him today. "He's right," said Donna Blair while looking at the sign bearing her late husband's name. "John was quite a humble person and wouldn't have expected anything to be named after him." At the same time, she said, he would have been quietly honored to have so many people, many of whom he trained and fought along side, think so highly of him as a person, but especially as a Soldier. Story by Sgt. 1st Class Roy Henry Public Affairs Georgia Department of Defense http://gadod.net/index.php/news/archi...