Afghanistan

A local hero has died while fighting in Afghanistan. First Sergeant Bill Siercks died Saturday from injuries he received in an RPG attack on Wednesday. The 32-year-old Army Ranger was a native of Benton County, Missouri, graduating from Lincoln High School in 1997. He leaves behind a wife and two children. 1SG Siercks will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.  No word yet on the date.

WASHINGTON D.C. -- Saturday, the Department of Defense confirmed a soldier from Arkansas has died in the line of duty. Army Sergeant Jerry Reed, II, from Russellville, was killed in Afghanistan on Thursday. The exact details into Reed's death have not been released.

Former KY3 News anchor Jerry Jacob has been stationed in Afghanistan since October on his second overseas deployment.  He expects to be there until close to the end of 2011.  Jacob has been in the Army for four years.  His first deployment was in Iraq.  He likely will wind up his service in the Army soon after leaving Afghanistan. He's still not saying what he plans to do after he leaves the Army, except rest for a few months, so stay tuned.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Flags are flying at half-staff in honor of an Evangel University student killed in Afghanistan.  Army 1st Lt. David Johnson was killed by a roadside bomb while he was on a foot patrol on Wednesday. Johnson graduated from Evangel University in 2010, where he was a leader in the school's ROTC program. "Our entire community joins David's family in mourning the loss of this outstanding young man who distinguished himself as a student and as a campus leader," said President Robert Spence.

SPRINGFIELD -- Friends and family said goodbye on Saturday to 19 local soldiers. The Missouri National Guard members are heading to Afghanistan to conduct medical evacuations for wounded soldiers.     This will be William Fulbright's first deployment to the war-torn country.      While he's serving overseas, he'll likely miss the birth of his first baby. "It's going to be rough, but when I married him, I knew this was a possibility so I'm more than willing to take on the challenges and support him," said Brittney Fulbright.

An early morning deployment to Afghanistan for soldiers from Fort Leonard Wood. Nearly 80 members of the 515th Engineer Company left from the Springfield Branson National Airport early Sunday morning. The group will be clearing roads of explosive devices.  The 515th will stay in Afghanistan for one year.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Sixty soldiers left Springfield early Wednesday morning for a mission in Afghanistan. The 180th Military Police Detachment deployed from the Springfield-Branson National Airport.  They are part of a newly formed unit that has never been activated in the past.  They will command military working dogs and their handlers.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Nearly 100 soldiers who said farewell to their families at the airport on Monday night were still here on Wednesday.  The 55th Mobility Augmentation Company from Fort Leonard Wood was supposed to fly out of the Springfield airport that night, but the winter weather left it stranded for the past two days. With bags packed and weapons ready, the soldiers were supposed to be bound for Afghanistan. "Kind of expected it," said Capt. Mike Hettick. Mother Nature can even hold up even the military.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO  -  Every soldier wants to be home for the holidays; but members of a military police unit at Fort Leonard won't be home for Christmas. They are heading for after tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner. "It's unimaginable. It's something that I've tried very hard not to even think about," says Seargant First Class James Barrett while holding his 2 year old son, Griffin. Captain Justin Boberg is also leaving a family behind, "Wife; two kids. I have a 13 month and a 4 year old. " And if the thought of going to war isn't enough for the men and women of the 988th MP company to think about; the idea of leaving their families behind weighs just as heavily on their minds.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Another unit out of the Ozarks is on its way to Afghanistan. The 509th Engineer Company gathered in the old terminal at the Springfield-Branson National Airport, on Thursday evening, before boarding a plane to head overseas. The 509th has a long history of serving the United States, tracing all the way back to World War II. Some of these soldiers are deploying for the first time, others for the second or third time. For Sparta's Matthew Hyde, it's his second deployment, the first in 2007 to Iraq.      For him, leaving family is never easy.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A Springfield veteran who served in Afghanistan is organizing a run Saturday that will be unlike any other this year. No clock, no medals, no entry fee.  Just a 5K run to honor the anniversary of the death of Pat Tillman. 9 years ago this week, SPC Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan.  Tillman left the NFL to join the Army and participate in the Global War on Terrorism.  Two years ago, Dane Brown of Springfield was stationed at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.  BAF, as it is called, has a USO center named in honor of Tillman.  Recently he learned the Tillman USO Center at BAF was holding a memorial run and inviting anyone in the States who wanted to hold their own memorial 5K to do so and to send pictures to them via Facebook.

OZARK, Mo. --  Time spent far apart is a sacrifice that soldiers and their families know well.  The relief of being reunited came sooner than expected for one family. Sgt. Marshall Goodson left home five months ago, and didn't plan on coming home for six more months.   After his wife, Andi, became ill, the added hardship made it even tougher to be apart.  It was not only tough on Marshall and Andi, but also their first grade son. Andi Goodson waited anxiously for the plane to land on Wednesday afternoon.  "I'm nervous.  I have butterflies in my stomach," Andi said.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Army Sergeant Amy Newman struggles to explain precisely why she wishes she had been allowed to serve in a combat arms unit and be on the "front lines" in Afghanistan. "It's just something I always wanted to do," she says. "I always wanted to do that. " As it was, her deployment to Afghanistan in 2008 was cut short by injury.  She was flown home on a medical evacuation after nine months at war. "It's war.  Mortars, rocket attacks, no matter where you are. " While the Defense Department says it will be changing its policy banning women in combat, the change is several years from taking affect.  It comes too late for those serving in the current conflict in Afghanistan and too late for Newman.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.--  Forty men and women returned home to Fort Leonard Wood from Afghanistan on Monday afternoon, just in time to spend Christmas with their families.  The group deployed last year just before Christmas, on Dec. 8.  One year later, all of them are back -- and everyone is safe and excited about getting to see their loved ones. "Supposedly at 1600 (4 p.m.) I'll be reunited with my family and then hopefully we can go home and have a good night," said 1st Lt. Edward Guardo after the company flew into Springfield before heading to Ft. Wood.

SPRINGFIELD -- A big welcome home on Sunday afternoon for soldiers returning from a year-long deployment in Afghanistan. With American flags blowing in the breeze, the Patriot Guard greeted the men in women in uniform as they disembarked from the plane. The soldiers were assigned to the 988th Military Police Company, 92nd MP Battalion, 4th maneuver Enhancement Brigade. After landing in Springfield the soldiers were headed to Fort Leonard Wood.  

The USO really came in to my family's life on December 31, 2010, when a tornado tore through our neighborhood on Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. While our house was not completely destroyed we were still required to vacate the neighborhood for the next week. I was scheduled to drop Kimberly, my wife, and Jackson, my 1 year old son, off at the Kansas City Airport in one week so that she could begin driving across the country to stay with her family while I deployed to Afghanistan. Needless to say, it was already a stressful situation to begin with and now, not only did we not have access to our belongings, but we also still had to properly clear our quarters on post because of the lack of damage.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Sixty soldiers left Springfield early Wednesday morning for a mission in Afghanistan. The 180th Military Police Detachment deployed from the Springfield-Branson National Airport.  They are part of a newly formed unit that has never been activated in the past.  They will command military working dogs and their handlers.

SPRINGFIELD -- Friends and family said goodbye on Saturday to 19 local soldiers. The Missouri National Guard members are heading to Afghanistan to conduct medical evacuations for wounded soldiers.     This will be William Fulbright's first deployment to the war-torn country.      While he's serving overseas, he'll likely miss the birth of his first baby. "It's going to be rough, but when I married him, I knew this was a possibility so I'm more than willing to take on the challenges and support him," said Brittney Fulbright.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Nineteen local soldiers will depart the Ozarks on Saturday for a medical mission in Afghanistan. The Missouri National Guard members will conduct medical evacuations of wounded soldiers.  The guard will host a deployment ceremony Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at the old airport terminal in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. --  Jason Kander comes from a home you would expect to produce a Soldier.  "My dad was a cop, and my mom was a juvenile probation officer," says Kander, flashing a proud smile.  "So we didn't get away with anything in our house at all. " Kander, who is 31 years old, has followed his parents' example of public service, as both a state representative in Jefferson City and as an Army officer.  Afghanistan, he says, taught him...