I was passing along the bad news about Travis Patriquin to a mutual friend, and he told me another of our mutual friends, Capt Jason West, had also been killed in Ramadi. This happened on 24 July this year. Somehow I missed hearing about it, probably because I was on the way home from Okinawa from a TDY.
Jason was the S1A, the personnel adjutant, if I remember my office symbols correctly. Our paths crossed fairly regularly. He was always busy, but never too busy to at least say "Hi," and was always in a good mood. We went on countless exercises together, and like Travis, I can’t remember how many meals at the chow hall we shared.
Related posts can be found here, here, and here.
Rest in peace, my brother.