MIL Security Engine-1

Source: United States Army

LIVORNO, Italy — A steady rain fell Wednesday as volunteers including U.S. service members, from the Darby Military Community moved through the Old English Cemetery, clearing brush and scrubbing centuries‑old headstones belonging to Americans who died more than 200 years ago.

The cemetery, tucked along Via Verdi near a parking garage and the former Odeon theater, is one of the oldest Protestant burial grounds in Italy. Among many former English residents of Livorno, the burial ground also contains the graves of early U.S. Navy and Marine Corps personnel who died while serving in the Mediterranean.

Among the volunteers was Airman James George, 33, of South Carolina, who serves with the 731st Munitions Squadron at Camp Darby.

“These are service members that have been here for a long time,” George said. “Most likely, most of them are forgotten about or their names haven’t been mentioned very much.”

George said he was searching for one grave when he heard another volunteer mention the name “Cotter.”

“I saw it on a grave and said, ‘Excuse me, I think I may have found someone,’” he said. “We confirmed that it was the right name.”

Midshipman John Cotter died at sea in 1817. He’s buried near Green Lynch, another sailor who died at sea that same year.

Lt. Col. Ross Hertlein, commander of the U.S. Army Field Support Battalion–Africa, a logistics unit at Leghorn Army Depot, spent four months working with local historian and Livorno officials to coordinate the effort.

Hertlein’s connection to Livorno runs deep. His grandfather served with the U.S. Army in the city shortly after its liberation at the end of World War II.

“This is the first cemetery where American servicemen were buried overseas,” said Hertlein, referring the time of the Barbary Wars, from 1801 to 1805 – America’s first major foreign conflict. “So, to rediscover that history was really special.”

One of the most prominent graves the Soldiers cleaned belongs to Capt. James McKnight, a U.S. Marine Corps officer killed in a duel in Livorno in October 1802. McKnight and U.S. Navy Lt. Richard Lawson, both assigned to the USS Constellation, agreed to fire at six paces after Lawson initially demanded three. Lawson shot McKnight through the heart.

Other Americans buried in the cemetery include Henry De Butts, a U.S. Navy officer born in 1769 and a citizen of Baltimore who died in Sarzana on Dec. 4, 1801, at age 32; and Capt. Thomas Gamble, a U.S. Navy officer born in New Jersey in 1783 who died in Pisa in 1818 while commanding the USS Erie.

The cemetery also holds William Seton, husband of Elizabeth Seton — who converted to Catholicism in Livorno and later became the first American Catholic saint.

For Hertlein’s wife, Jayme, the day’s work carried special meaning. She discovered the grave of a woman, a military officer’s spouse who died in 1828. Her name was Anna Colhoun Colquitt, widow of Lt. Col. Coodwing Colquitt.

“Spouses really do a lot that is sometimes unseen,” she said. “I feel very honored that I got to be a part of this.”

The cemetery’s origins date to 1594, when Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand I granted land outside Livorno’s walls to the English community for non‑Catholic burials, according to Giovanni Bitossi, a Livorno resident who has studied the site for 50 years. Some tombstones date to the 1640s, and one grave from 1595 belongs to a relative of William Shakespeare, he said.

The Anglican Church of San Giorgio was built near the cemetery gate in 1840, followed by a Scottish Presbyterian church in 1849. The graves, scattered among trees, palms and thick vegetation, show centuries of weathering and war.

Later, George and other U.S. service members from Camp Darby presented flowers and small American flags beside the American graves. They played Taps, similar to the Italian hymn, “”Il Silenzio.”

“It was awesome to come out, be a part of something that’s not a typical day,” George said.

Source: United States Army

KUNGSÄNGEN, Sweden — Eighty New York Army National Guard Soldiers spent their annual training working alongside Swedish soldiers in Sweden’s sprawling forests.

Instead of spending their two weeks of annual training at Fort Drum, New York, the New York Soldiers were in Sweden as part of New York’s State Partnership Program relationship with the Swedish military.

The two-week deployment, from April 24 to May 8, allowed the New York troops to participate in exercise Northern Lights 26, known as Aurora 26 in Sweden. The team included reconnaissance Soldiers from Troop C, 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry Regiment, and military police from the 105th Military Police Company, 102nd Military Police Battalion.

New York and Sweden signed a State Partnership Program agreement in 2024, but this was the largest training exchange to date. Previously, small groups of military personnel had attended training events in each other’s countries.

For many of the Empire State Soldiers, the exercise was a series of firsts, from their first time leaving the continental United States to their first time operating under a foreign command and their first experience with a markedly different approach to reconnaissance and combat operations.

“Their (Swedish) reconnaissance assets are a mounted force, so the size of the movement and the durations are longer,” said Capt. Ryan Sheehan, Troop C’s commander. “We’re usually only out there for 24 hours, maybe 48. Having them do reconnaissance for 72-plus hours gives my Soldiers a perspective on having to equip themselves for that.”

Placed under the command of a Swedish reconnaissance company from the Guard’s Regiment, Troop C’s platoons had to overcome the unique challenges of navigating an entirely new command structure, eventually finding their footing and adapting successfully.

The differences extended into small-unit tactics. Pvt. Tyler Brundage, a Troop C infantryman from Elma, New York, noted that while U.S. doctrine favors establishing a static observation post, or OP, to monitor a target long term, Swedish reconnaissance elements prioritize continuous, fluid movement.

Brundage recalled one grueling mission that began with a six-mile ruck through thick vegetation to a highly camouflaged rally point, culminating in a stealthy nighttime movement through a residential neighborhood under cover of darkness.

“It was super cool,” he said. “We were walking, staying close to the forest, and we had to kick out onto a street, and some lady looked at us through the window. It was crazy because you’re never going to see that in America.”

Despite some small-unit tactical differences, the integration at the team level was seamless. Sgt. Matthew Jankowski, a team leader from Clifton Springs, New York, leading his first large-scale training event, credited his platoon leadership and the professionalism of the Swedish hosts for mitigating potential friction.

“We fell under Swedish command, and we had some Swedes embedded with us, but predominantly it didn’t really change the mission very much,” Jankowski said. “Whatever differences there might have been above my station were absorbed by my platoon sergeant and platoon leader.”

Jankowski described the intense training as a bond-building “crucible.”

“There were a lot of tough moments, but everyone knew there was a mission to do, and they knew what their part was,” Jankowski said. “We had an excellent Swedish soldier with us … the integration was very seamless.”

Brundage emphasized the advanced tactics and state-of-the-art technology used by the Swedish trainers to bring stark wartime realism to the training scenarios, driven by regional security concerns. He recalled his Swedish counterparts using a specialized 12-by-12-foot tarp designed to completely mask thermal signatures from overhead drone surveillance.

“When the drone pops up, and it sees a thermal signature across the whole forest, that tarp that all five of us are sleeping under… it all is the same heat signature,” Brundage explained. “They treat everything so seriously.”

For other New York Soldiers, the training extended beyond reconnaissance and infantry tactics. Spc. Myles McCoy, a military police specialist with the Buffalo-based 105th Military Police Company, spent his time in country partnering with Swedish military police on detainee and combat operations while living out of field tents.

“This is my first time out of the USA,” McCoy said. “Honestly, I love Sweden. (Northern Lights) gives us a lot of opportunity to not be so ‘cone-visioned.’ We’re not just New York state. We’re not just the U.S.”

McCoy said he and his fellow Soldiers used their time working with the Swedish Armed Forces to build rapport, learn, exchange information and make both sides better.

“Coming over to a place like Sweden shows you that there’s a world outside of our own at a much larger capacity,” he said. “There are a lot of people who want to fight for their own country and where they live, just like we do.”

Both leaders and Soldiers agreed that Northern Lights 26 underscored the program’s value, demonstrating that face-to-face engagements translate diplomatic agreements into tangible battlefield capabilities.

“It’s one thing to put it on paper and say, ‘Yeah, we’re teamed with the Swedish,’ but to actually get out here and train with them and truly team with them, I think that’s an entirely different thing,” Brundage said.

“I hope that we’ve made a good impact on them,” Jankowski added. “I hope that they’ve enjoyed us as much as we’ve enjoyed them, and that we were able to build those relationships for a long time and be invited back to training events like this.”

Related Links

The Official Website of the National Guard | NationalGuard.mil

State Partnership Program | NationalGuard.mil

The National Guard on Facebook | Facebook.com/TheNationalGuard

The National Guard on Flickr | Flickr.com/TheNationalGuard

The National Guard on Instagram | Instagram.com/us.nationalguard

The National Guard on X | X.com/USNationalGuard

The National Guard on YouTube | YouTube.com/TheNationalGuard

Source: United States Army

CAMP ZAMA, Japan – For most, the final days of May signal the unofficial start of summer, but as the calendar turns and flags are lowered to half-staff across the country, the approaching weekend brings a familiar, quiet burden for Chief Warrant Officer 3 Vandy Thon.

“Every Memorial Day, it’s hard,” Thon said. “Because the pain doesn’t go away when you lose somebody.”

Thon, 39, is the son of a former infantry officer who served in the Royal Cambodian Army in the 1960s. He grew up in Long Beach, California, as a first-generation immigrant when his family migrated to the United States after the end of the Vietnam War.

Thon is currently assigned to the U.S. Army Aviation Battalion – Japan, where he serves as a UH-60L helicopter instructor pilot, and has been an aviator for seven years. But he began his career in the Army 21 years ago, enlisting in 2005 at the age of 18 as an infantryman, just like his father.

After completing training at Fort Benning, Georgia, Thon was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, at Fort Drum, New York. The following year, he deployed to Afghanistan for the first of four tours he would eventually complete there.

Across more than two decades of service, Thon has lost many friends, which brings up painful memories for him in the weeks leading up to Memorial Day. Yet, the weight of these losses extends beyond his immediate circle, as the tight-knit nature of the aviation community makes every report of a downed aircraft feel like a personal tragedy, regardless of whether he knew the Soldiers involved.

“Those of us who work in aviation, every time we hear about a crash or we hear about any incidents involving helicopters, the first thing everyone asks is, ‘Who was it?’” Thon said of the grim reality of aircraft accidents.

Cpl. Aaron Griner

During Thon’s first deployment to Afghanistan, he lost his medic, Cpl. Aaron Griner.

“He loved to take care of Soldiers,” Thon said of Griner. “He was the friendliest person I’d ever met.”

Griner was killed June 28, 2006, when his Humvee struck an anti-tank mine during combat operations in Helmand Province. Griner was sitting behind the driver. Thon was two vehicles behind his friend and saw the explosion.

Griner, a native of Tampa, Florida, was only 24 years old and had become a father just before deploying. Thon said Griner was looking forward to taking his upcoming rest and recuperation leave to travel home and see his wife and newborn baby. Instead, the young medic was the first casualty Thon’s unit suffered in Afghanistan.

“He never made it back home,” Thon said. “It hurt everybody. I don’t think there was a single dry eye during his memorial.”

Thon still remembers witnessing a moment when Griner did not even think twice to help his fellow Soldiers one scorching summer day there in Helmand. It was one instance of selflessness that he said summed up his friend’s character.

“Everybody had run out of water,” Thon said. “Griner had some, but he was not drinking it. He was passing it out to the other Soldiers to make sure they were taken care of. That’s the type of person he was.”

Sgt. Jasper Obakrairur

Sgt. Jasper Obakrairur and Thon were both sergeants and became close friends when they deployed to Afghanistan in 2009.

It was Thon’s second time in the combat zone, and he was part of the team in his unit that detected and neutralized improvised explosive devices. Obakrairur, or “Sgt. OB,” as Thon called him, was an armored security vehicle gunner.

Obakrairur was killed June 1, 2009, in Wardak Province when an IED detonated near his vehicle.

Thon was part of the team that was tasked with securing the wreckage, and the professional nature of the mission provided little shield against the visceral reality of witnessing the devastation firsthand.

“Seeing the aftermath of the vehicle and imagining in my head what happened, it was horrible,” Thon said, “It hurt. It really did.”

Though the heavy grief of that day remains a permanent fixture in Thon’s life, he has ensured that his friend’s legacy extends far beyond the battlefields of Afghanistan. He will always miss the Soldier he knew as Sgt. OB, but he keeps his memory alive in the most profound way possible — by naming his own son, Jasper, after him. For Thon, it is a lasting tribute to the character of a man who always put his fellow Soldiers first.

“He always took care of people,” Thon said.

Memorial Day

This June marks 20 and 17 years, respectively, since Cpl. Aaron Griner and Sgt. Jasper Obakrairur were killed. Thon has lost many other friends and brothers and sisters in arms, and their memory will always stay with him. But each Memorial Day brings to the forefront of his mind those two Soldiers who had a major impact on his life early in his military career.

“Meeting people like Aaron and OB, you realize that the bonds and the family you make in the military, you can’t get that anywhere else,” Thon said. “If they were still here, I would thank them for taking care of me. I would thank them the friendship they gave me.”

No matter how much time has passed, or that will pass, Thon said his friends will never be forgotten.

“That’s what I think it’s Memorial Day is for,” he said. “They sacrificed their lives for us to be there, so I want to continue to celebrate them and keep their memory alive by telling their story.”