Mills River Resident, App St Graduate Dies In Afghanistan

[Appaholic]

MILLS RIVER — An Army helicopter pilot from Mills River was killed Saturday in Afghanistan in a helicopter crash, said his pastor, the Rev. Paul Thompson.

U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Terry Varnadore was 29. He is survived by his wife, Casey, and a young daughter.
Varnadore was stationed at Fort Drum in New York. He had served a tour in Iraq and was deployed to Afghanistan last year, Thompson said.

Funeral and burial arrangements have not been finalized.

“He was a wonderful young man,” Thompson said.

Varnadore and his wife were high school sweethearts at West Henderson High School. They met in preschool and married shortly after graduation. Thompson said Casey is six months pregnant with the couple's second child and described her as devastated by Varnadore's death.

Varnadore graduated from Appalachian State University in 2003 and enlisted in the Army in 2005.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20 ... |Frontpage

[Appaholic]

Tell me again how this miserable country and it's miserable citizens are worth even ONE American life?....

[ASUG8]

This sucks.

RIP CWO Varnadore.

[CID1990]

Tell me again how this miserable country and it's miserable citizens are worth even ONE American life?....

Was it a crash, or the result of enemy fire? I lost a buddy in Iraq to a helo crash in 2007. They flew into the side of a mountain up near Tall Afar. He's one of the many names up on the temporary plaque on Summerall Chapel on The Citadel campus. When these wars are officially over, we'll put up a bronze plaque to go along with the ones from the earlier wars.

All that being said, we crack up choppers here in the US, too. It is a part of the job. Military activity, whether in war or peace, is a dangerous affair.

RIP Soldier.

[Appaholic]

Tell me again how this miserable country and it's miserable citizens are worth even ONE American life?....

Was it a crash, or the result of enemy fire? I lost a buddy in Iraq to a helo crash in 2007. They flew into the side of a mountain up near Tall Afar. He's one of the many names up on the temporary plaque on Summerall Chapel on The Citadel campus. When these wars are officially over, we'll put up a bronze plaque to go along with the ones from the earlier wars.

All that being said, we crack up choppers here in the US, too. It is a part of the job. Military activity, whether in war or peace, is a dangerous affair.

RIP Soldier.

Fair enough & it's under investigation. He was training a new pilot, but reports are that when unit arrived to rescue the two downed pilots, all were under small arms fire by insurgents. Now, whether the insurgents caused the crash or were looking to rummage through gear and take possible prisoners is unknown at this time. Here is another story in paper this morning...

Asheville-Area Soldier Dreamed of Being a Pilot
MILLS RIVER — Terry L. Varnadore II always wanted to fly helicopters, even before joining the Army six years ago.

“My wife and me made the mistake of taking him to the Asheville airport to see the Blackhawk helicopters when he was 6 years old,” his father, Terry Varnadore, said Monday. “He told us, ‘Mama and Daddy, I am going to be a helicopter pilot one of these days'.”

Varnadore became a chief warrant officer 2 and deployed to Iraq in 2009 and to Afghanistan in October as a pilot with Task Force Phoenix, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum.

The 29-year-old Mills River native was killed Saturday while training a new pilot. The military said the crash in Kapisa province of Afghanistan is under investigation.

“We are all still in shock,” Terry Varnadore said at his home in Mills River, where he raised his two sons. “We are trying to get over it, but you never get over it. You might calm down a bit, but I'll never forget my boy. He was my life.”

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20 ... ionstories

[Cap'n Cat]

Tell me again how this miserable country and it's miserable citizens are worth even ONE American life?....

Ex-fvcking-zackly.

[blueballs]

Tell me again how this miserable country and it's miserable citizens are worth even ONE American life?....

Couldn't have said it better...

[Appaholic]

Hey America, here's what we're getting for our Afghanistan war......God Bless Our Soldiers & their families, but forgive us for sending "Leaders" who lack the political courage to do the right thing and the intestinal courage to send their own sons and daughters to execute OUR policies...

[AshevilleApp]

Hey America, here's what we're getting for our Afghanistan war......God Bless Our Soldiers & their families, but forgive us for sending "Leaders" who lack the political courage to do the right thing and the intestinal courage to send their own sons and daughters to execute OUR policies...

Agreed.

I am glad to see that the good people of Henderson County turned out to show appropriate appreciation for his sacrifice.