Name: Army Pfc. Douglas L. Cordo
Age: 20 From: Kingston, NY Assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Wainwright, Alaska Incident: Army Pfc. Douglas L. Cordo
died Aug. 19 in Zabul, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.
Fallen soldier &lsquowanted to be right out&rsquo on front lines
By Susan Campriello
The Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal
KINGSTON, N.Y. &mdash Tracy Karson, the mother of Army Pvt. 1st Class Douglas L. Cordo, said she hopes her son&rsquos body will be home in the coming days.
Cordo, a Kingston native, died Aug. 19 of injuries he suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated while his unit patrolled the Zabul Province village of Shah Joy in Afghanistan.
Cordo was an infantryman with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division, out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Days after Cordo&rsquos death, Karson, 43, of Hurleyville, Sullivan County, expressed mixed feelings about the departure of American troops from Afghanistan and the continuing conflict there.
&ldquoI want it to end. I want to bring those guys home,&rdquo she said. &ldquoBut what&rsquos the alternative?&rdquo
Karson said she does not want America to experience another 9/11-type attack or for fighting to take place in the United States. Karson said she has discussed the drawdown of troops and her mixed feelings with an Army major assigned to her.
Cordo arrived in Afghanistan for a yearlong tour in April, and would not have been among the troops to leave by the end of this year.
Cordo was expected to return home for 15 days in mid-September, Karson said.
He had returned in March and attended her wedding, and had traveled from Fort Wainwright for Christmas, she said.
Karson and Cordo&rsquos father, also named Douglas Cordo, of Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, said their son was a natural leader and had wanted to join the military as a child.
Karson said her son discussed with her his desire to join the Army or the Marines after he briefly attended SUNY Ulster.
Cordo grew up in Kingston and graduated from Kingston High School in 2009.
Karson said she supported her son&rsquos decision to join the Army in 2010 &ldquo100 percent.&rdquo
However, she wished that he had joined to do something away from the front line instead of the infantry, she said.
&ldquoHe wanted to be right out there,&rdquo she said.
&lsquoThere&rsquos nothing you can really say about this&rsquo
By Emily Stewart
The Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal
KINGSTON, N.Y. &mdash Army Pfc. Douglas L. Cordo was laid to rest Aug. 31 in St. Remy Cemetery following a funeral service at the Old Dutch Church.
Cordo, 20, a Kingston native, died Aug. 19 of injuries he sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated while his unit patrolled the Zabul province village of Shah Joy.
Cordo was an infantryman with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
Four of Cordo&rsquos friends and a friend&rsquos mother spoke at the funeral, recollecting antics and stories about a class clown &mdash and sometime troublemaker &mdash who put his friends before girls and transformed into a brave soldier who died for his country.
&ldquoThere&rsquos just so many stories,&rdquo said Mike Campbell, 21. &ldquoThere&rsquos nothing you can really say about this. It&rsquos something &mdash all you can do is think about it.&rdquo
A crowd stood somberly in front of the uptown post office, across the street from the church.
Troy Boutilette, 43, watched as six Army pallbearers from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point carried Cordo&rsquos flag-draped coffin. Boutilette said he served with the Marines in Afghanistan in 2003-04.
&ldquoThese kids are making a big sacrifice,&rdquo he said. &ldquoHe had his whole life ahead of him.&rdquo
Michelle Elise and her daughter, Sylvan Garesche, 6, each held a small American flag. Elise said she didn&rsquot know Cordo but felt compassion for his mother after reading about the death in newspapers.
&ldquoHe was an only child,&rdquo she said.
About three dozen motorcycle riders accompanied the funeral procession. Most were members of the Patriot Guard Riders and Rolling Thunder, two groups that support fallen service members.
&ldquoWe&rsquore believers in freedom,&rdquo said Mike Kubiak, 52, a Patriot Guard Rider. &ldquoAnd they gave the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.&rdquo
Cordo arrived in Afghanistan in April for a yearlong tour. He would not have been among the troops scheduled to leave by the end of this year.
His family said he intended to pursue a career in law enforcement.
Died: August 19, 2011