Name: Air Force Tech. Sgt. John W. Brown
Age: 33 From: Tallahassee, FL Assigned to 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, N.C. Incident: Air Force Tech. Sgt. John W. Brown
died Aug. 6 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when the CH-47 Chinook helicopter in which he was riding was shot down.
&lsquoRambo without the attitude&rsquo
The Associated Press
An Arkansas airman who was among the dozens of U.S. troops killed when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan was a hero who loved sports and loved to laugh, his mother and a friend said.
A rescue team of Navy SEALs and other troops who just helped rescue a Army Ranger unit were killed Aug. 6 when the Chinook helicopter they were on was hit and crashed about 60 miles southwest of Kabul, officials said.
Air Force Tech Sgt. John W. Brown was among those on board, his mother, Elizabeth Newlun, said by telephone. Her son was a paramedic and attended to the medical needs of those who were rescued, she said.
&ldquoI think I&rsquom internally very upset, but at the same time, I&rsquom so very proud of my son,&rdquo Newlun said. &ldquoI want to make sure that everyone knows that he&rsquos a hero. I can fall apart later.&rdquo
Newlun said her brother referred to Brown on a Facebook post as &ldquoRambo without the attitude,&rdquo but she called him a &ldquogentle giant.&rdquo
&ldquoHe just loved anything physical, anything athletic,&rdquo Newlun said. &ldquoIf I wanted to have a conversation with him that was serious, I would have to shoot baskets with him. There&rsquos nothing athletic about me, but I realized that you have to get into other people&rsquos comfort zone to get information.&rdquo
Arkansas state Rep. Jon Woods went to high school with Brown in Siloam Springs and remembered playing basketball and watching &ldquoSaturday Night Live&rdquo on the weekends. Brown graduated in 1996.
&ldquoWhen you think of what the ideal model of a soldier would be, he would be it,&rdquo Woods said. &ldquoHe could run all day. We lived down the street from each other and spent time together after school and hung out. Even if we had a long day of practice, he would put on his sneakers and run after practice.&rdquo
Newlun said Brown played football and basketball in high school and went to John Brown University on a swimming scholarship. He had wanted to go into the medical field and become a nurse anesthetist, but decided to join the military after seeing a video of a special tactical unit, she said.
He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Newlun said. She and Woods are working on a memorial service that will be held later in Arkansas, she said.
Woods was married but had no children, Newlun said.
Friends have &lsquoheavy hearts&rsquo after airmen deaths
By David Larter
Staff writer
One was a medic who abandoned plans to become a nurse anesthetist when he saw a recruiting ad for special operations. Another was a high school football player and wrestler who knew how to make people laugh. The third had a &ldquoterrier-type&rdquo mentality, according to his football coach.
All three were among the Air Force&rsquos elite &mdash assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron at Pope Field, N.C. And all three died Aug. 6, when the Taliban presumably shot down their Chinook helicopter during a night raid with soldiers and Navy SEALs.
&ldquoThis crash leaves us in AFSOC with heavy hearts,&rdquo said Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command.
Friends remembered Tech. Sgts. John Brown and Daniel Zerbe, both pararescuemen, and Staff Sgt. Andy Harvell, a combat controller, as lifelong athletes who were proud of their jobs.
Brown, 33, grew up in Siloam Springs, Ark. The Pentagon listed his hometown as Tallahassee, Fla.
His mother, Elizabeth Newlun, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that she was maintaining her composure so she could tell people about her son.
&ldquoI think I&rsquom internally very upset. But at the same time, I&rsquom so very proud of my son,&rdquo Newlun said. &ldquoI want to make sure that everyone knows that he&rsquos a hero. I can fall apart later.&rdquo
Brown attended John Brown University with plans of becoming a nurse anesthetist but joined the military after seeing a video about special operations units. He was also an athlete, Newlun said. He swam and played basketball.
&ldquoHe just loved anything physical, anything athletic,&rdquo she said. &ldquoIf I wanted to have a conversation with him that was serious, I would have to shoot baskets with him. There&rsquos nothing athletic about me, but I realized that you have to get into other people&rsquos comfort zone to get information.&rdquo
An Arkansas state representative and friend of Brown&rsquos, Jon Woods, also remembered his athleticism.
&ldquoWhen you think of what the ideal model of a soldier would be, he would be it,&rdquo Woods told AP. &ldquoHe could run all day. We lived down the street from each other and spent time together after school and hung out. Even if we had a long day of practice, he would put on his sneakers and run after practice.&rdquo
Zerbe, 28, grew up in York, Pa., and played for Red Lion Area High School&rsquos football and wrestling teams.
His coach, George Shue, told The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News that Zerbe was a team player. He said he saw Zerbe about three years ago, and though he didn&rsquot talk a lot about what he did for the Air Force, he was proud of his job saving lives.
&ldquoHe was proud of what he was doing,&rdquo Shue told The Patriot-News. &ldquoI know he was doing what he wanted to be doing. I hope something we taught him about being a team player carried on to his life&rsquos mission.&rdquo
Zerbe&rsquos friends and acquaintances took to Facebook to share memories.
One friend said Zerbe&rsquos good attitude was infectious.
&ldquoI still remember the days of you goofing around,&rdquo the friend wrote. &ldquoThe smile you had that lit up a room and how you always made people laugh. Dan you are a true hero: my hero.&rdquo
Others wrote about his ability to cheer up friends.
&ldquoDan, you always made me laugh when I wanted to cry,&rdquo a friend wrote. &ldquoThat, I&rsquoll always remember. You were sweet, kind and absolutely funny.&rdquo
Harvell, 26, grew up in Long Beach, Calif. He lived with his wife and two small children in North Carolina, near Pope Field, according to the Los Angeles NBC affiliate.
His football coach at Miliken High School in California remembered Harvell as having the &ldquoheart of a lion&rdquo and said he brought a &ldquoterrier-type mentality&rdquo with him to every game.
&ldquoHe had to because he was too small, too slow, but not when you took into account his heart,&rdquo Kurt Diego told KNBC-TV. &ldquoIt didn&rsquot surprise me at all when he chose to go into the military. He was always a guy that gave every ounce of whatever he had.&rdquo
PJs went through Kirtland during training
The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. &mdash At least two of the 30 military personnel killed in last week&rsquos downing of a helicopter in Afghanistan received part of their elite pararescue training at New Mexico&rsquos Kirtland Air Force Base.
According to an Albuquerque Journal report, Tech Sgts. Daniel L. Zerbe of York, Pa., and John W. Brown of Tallahassee, Fla., took two of a pararescueman&rsquos eight
required courses at Kirtland: the Pararescue Recovery Specialist Course and the Paramedic Course.
In the 20-week Pararescue Recovery Specialist Course, PJs learn field tactics, mountaineering, combat tactics, advanced parachuting and helicopter insertion/extraction.
Both Zerbe and Brown were assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron based at Pope Field, N.C.
Harvell&rsquos older brother, Staff Sgt. Sean Harvell, also is a combat controller and received two Silver Stars last year for actions in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Died: August 6, 2011