Our Latest American Hero #31

andrewvelez
Originally uploaded by Randuwa.

Hero is taking on a whole new meaning under this incompitent and self-serving regime.......

It’s been a particularly A-typical week in military deaths for the war on terrorism.

#1 is Andrew Velez. Only 22. Do you remember what you where doing when you where 22? That’s 23 years ago for me. I was in my senior year at college. I was really confused about the future. So much so, that I started a whole new major, after realizing that my first attempt at direction in my life was horribly mis-directed.

Now place me in a foreign country. Surround me with a culture that does not speak my language, does not understand my “god,” does not even eat the same things that I eat and bring me comfort. Add to the mix outrageously hot temperatures, the real threat that at any moment someone will kill me, the loss of friends and my brother under the same situation, and finally the loss of support of my significant other.... Give me a break! Was Andrew a super man?

HOW MANY OTHER MEN AND WOMAN ARE WE (AS A NATION) PLACING IN THIS PERDICAMENT? HOW MANY OTHER “SELF”-INFLICTED DEATHS ARE WE WILLING TO IGNORE?

Army Spc. Andrew Velez, 22, of Lubbock, Texas; assigned to the Corps Support Battalion, Theater Support Command, Fort Irwin, Calif.; died July 25 from a non-combat related injury in Sharona, Afghanistan.

“One Of Two Brothers Killed In Conflicts Overseas Committed Suicide”

Lubbock, TX (AHN) - Family and military officials say one of two brothers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan committed suicide.
A military document says Army Spc. Andrew Velez, 22, shot himself with a mini-machine gun on July 25. The soldier's father, Roy Velez, confirmed his son was having marital problems.

More than a year earlier, his older brother, Cpl. Jose "Freddy" Velez, 23, was killed in Iraq.

Roy Velez says grief over the deaths of his sons, who were the first brothers to die in the two conflicts, keeps him up at night.

He says, "It's not easy to sleep." But "I'm proud of my sons. I miss them, but it was to defend their country, their God. They volunteered to go."

Roy and his current wife Veronica Velez have three children together, ages 2, 3 and 5.

Velez enlisted in the Army following his graduation from high school in 2002. He escorted his brother's body back from Iraq in 2004.
Freddy Velez also joined the Army after high school, in 2000. He was killed when his unit was attacked in Fallujah.