Ultimate Sacrifice - Dimitri Del Castillo USMA 2009

Many prayers for his wife and family's consolation. Such a great loss.
 
I heard about this over here the other day. This is especially saddening and my thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.
 
This made me very sad. He and his family, friends, and fellow classmates will be in all of our thoughts. A great American who made the ultimate sacrifice.
 
RIP Lt Del Castillo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeasNTq1mQA&playnext=1&list=PLD3F87754DD3ED539
To fallen soldiers let us sing
where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
to the mansions of the Lord

No more bleeding no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
just divine embrace, eternal light
in the mansions of the Lord

Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard tho the angels sleep
All through the ages safely keep the mansions of the Lord
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And RIP CPT Mike Newton VMI03 (6/13/11) and every other soldier who has given everything for his soldiers, his comrades , his duty and for all of us. All of You are in our hearts and our prayers.
 
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In memory

All the new cadets of the class of 2015 were issued gold wrist bands to wear in memory of First Lt. Dimitri Del Castillo. Also their Beast class has been dedicated to Castillo.
 
Thank you so much for this Bruno. I lost my very first NCO from my first duty station this morning, I needed this. God bless you!
 
Notification Process

cptdrfrtim said:
Relative to the death of ...(whose name it was you couldn't find on "official" Army sites), all the Chaplains and Chaplain Assistants in the U.S. Army received the following email today from the Army Chief of Chaplains, Fr. Donald Rutherford:
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FR Tim,
With all do respect, no, it is not official enough. There is an appropriate notification process for families and finding out from a Service Academy Admissions Forum is not the DoD's plan. Additionally, once the family has been notified, the DoD releases a statement about the death. I have no idea whether the Soldier's NOK were informed of the Soldier's death or not. Only way I could have known that is with an official DoD announcement of the Soldier's death. I have been unable to find one. As the post in question was on 1 July, 1 day after the death of the Soldier, and the poster is stationed in Afghanistan, I assumed that it was a member of his unit.

If he did not die in Afghanistan but in the US, I still think I was correct in weighing on the side of caution. My worry was not in "official" ness but rather ensuring the the DoD notification process is followed. As a former line company commander who served in Iraq, I would never want one of my Soldiers to accidentally release the name of a KIA through an inadvertent posting. As a chaplain you understand the importance of the notification process for NOK.

My thoughts and prayers are with every Soldier's family who has been killed or injured in OEF/OIF.
 
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GoArmyBeatNavy,

You are absolutely right and I did post prematurely. I am aware of the issues surrounding the release of information about a soldier's passing before the NOK had been notified. I should have waited for something official from DoD before posting anything. I was and am still grieving. I do know however for a fact that NOK was notified at the time of my posting. I apologize for any waves I may have caused, all of which was innocent and unintentional. I will be a lot more careful with what I say in the future. Thank you for everybody on here who is doing the right thing and squaring me away.

Blessings everyone!
 
cptdrfrtim said:
Relative to the death of ...
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Wow. If anyone should know better than to post this kind of stuff, it's a Chaplain. Generally CH Corps folks get to slide on the finer points of officership, but this is egregious. Last I checked, joining a forum to post an email that was intended for a limited military audience for the world to see was NOT how we do business. I'm sure General would be less than amused at your antics. This is six shades of improper.
 
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fallen loved one

Please understand that the soldier that we talking about is my relative...we were notified as a family. I dont think that the soldier had any ill intentions, i understand that there is a process but I dont believe that this was meant to be hurtful.
 
lostloved1, my deepest condolences. And thank you for your patience with the tone of the discussion, which should not have turned the way it did.
 
FR Tim,
I do not believe I have seen a chaplain's viewpoint on the forum before; you have a lot to offer. The chaplains' offices at USMA have been a huge help to my cadet and to many others, and are an off-line source of communication for parents.
Please don't let this exchange stop you from posting again and offering us the benefit of your experience and guidance.

Hope to see more of you here.

Lostloved1, our deepest condolences. Grip hands!
 
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