LITTLE ROCK, AR, US
U. S. Army
MSG, CO B 3D BN 5TH SPECIAL FORCES GROUP, FORT CAMPBELL, KY 42223
09/12/2003, AR RAMADI, IRAQ
Thirty-three year old Master Sergeant Kevin Neil Morehead, an Army Special Forces Team Sergeant, died on September 12, 2003 in Ar Ramadi, Iraq of wounds received when his unit executed a raid on enemy forces. He was two weeks away from leaving Iraq and just days away from his thirty-fourth birthday. . MSG Morehead was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The units were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. A US Army camp in eastern Afghanistan is now named for MSG Morehead. The camp is a training ground for the fledgling Afghan Special Forces.
A native of Arkansas, Kevin Morehead graduated from Little Rock’s Central High School in 1987. He began his Army career in March 1989 and completed initial entry training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, as a combat medic. After participating in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, he volunteered for Special Forces training and in 1994 completed the Special Forces Qualification Course at Fort Bragg, N.C.
He studied Arabic at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was subsequently assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), where he participated in numerous overseas deployments to include combat operations in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. His military education includes the Combat Medic Course, the Basic Airborne Course, the Special Forces Qualification Course, the Combat Diver Qualification Course, the Primary Leadership Development Course and the Basic and Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Courses. While he grew up in Little Rock, he rounded up terror suspects in Afghanistan which earned him handshake recognition from President George W. Bush and was known to some of his fellow soldiers as “Buck Knife”.
His awards and decorations include the Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal with valor device, the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon, the Kuwaiti Liberation Medal, the Combat Medical Badge, the Expert Field Medical Badge, the Parachutist Badge, the Air Assault Badge, the Scuba Diver Badge, the Driver Badge, the Kenyan Parachutist Badge, the Ranger tab and the Special Forces tab. Professionally, Kevin was a qualified Ranger, sniper and skilled medic. He had traveled to parts of Africa, Pakistan and Yemen with the Special Forces, and had even recovered from malaria.
Kevin was a talented young man who graduated from Little Rock Central High School and briefly attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville before joining the Army. He was very active in his church and would easily witness his faith to those around him. While he and his wife did not have children, he did have parents and many family members and friends who remember his bright spirit.