COOK, IL, USA
U.S. Army
SPC, CO C, 1ST BN, 17TH INFANTRY, 5TH STRYKER BDE CT, FORT LEWIS, WA
ARGHANDAB RIVER VALLEY, AFGHANISTAN 10/27/2009
Specialist Jared Stanker was one of seven soldier killed on October 27, 2009 in Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan, after enemy forces attached their vehicle with an improvised explosive device. The Evergreen Park, Illinois soldier was twenty-two years old. Specialist Stanker was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2d Infantry Division based at Fort Lewis, Washington. This was Specialist Stanker’s first deployment. Two separate bomb attacks in Southern Afghanistan killed eight American troops, making that month of October 2009 the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the 2001 invasion.
Specialist Stanker was patrolling in an armored vehicle along with seven other US soldiers and an Afghan civilian. Jared enlisted October 12, 2006, in Chicago, shortly after graduating from Brother Rice High School, and began his training in Fort Benning, Ga. In March 2007, he was assigned to 5th Stryker Bridage Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
President Barack Obama salutes as a team carries the remains of Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin, of Terre Haute, Ind., Thursday morning at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del. Griffin was killed in the same attack Tuesday in Afghanistan that killed Spc. Jared D. Stanker, of Evergreen Park, along with five other soldiers.
It was Stanker’s first deployment. He is survived by parents and an older sister, and had just celebrated his 22nd birthday on October 13, 2009.
Specialist Stanker;s character can be easily seen through a prominent entry in his Facebook. His quote notes: “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”