Professional Soldiers ® - SFC Daniel Crabtree

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- - SFC Daniel Crabtree (http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11073)

God takes care of good men! My prayers go with him and his family! I leave in July for the first time away from my new family, my wife feels this fear everyday. But we have a calling and duty is what is in our hearts.

God speed!

God bless SFC Daniel Crabtree and may he Rest in Peace

my son sent me a link on SFC Daniel Crabtree when he came online for a brief moment today. I asked how he was doing...replyed not good and sent this link.

http://news.soc.mil/releases/06JUN/060610-01.html

keeping our troops in prayer

blustr

Rest in Peace..........

Akron Beacon Journal (ABJ)

By Jim Carney

GREEN: The mournful song was Hector the Hero.

It was played by the Cleveland Pipes and Drums member and Brecksville police officer Joseph Grzelak on bagpipes as he slowly walked in front of the flag-draped coffin of fallen Ohio Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Daniel B. Crabtree as it was carried Saturday into The Chapel in Green.

Members of the military and nearly 100 uniformed law-enforcement officers, including dozens from Cuyahoga Falls and Hartville, stood at attention and saluted at the church's west entrance as the coffin of the nine-year veteran of the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department passed by.

The song echoed through the massive church as several hundred people stood at the begining of the funeral for the Green resident who died in Irag in a roadside bombing.

The somber mood of the bagpiper's hym carried out to the Green and Lake Township communities, where a fallen son was laid to rest.

The funeral for the 31-year-old Crabtree - who is survived by a wife, Kathy, and a daughter, Mallory - brought out most of the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department.

Volunteers from Stow, Hudson, Copley Township, Tallmadge and Silver Lake helped with afternoon police duties in Cuyahoga Falls so that most of the 95 members of the police department could attend, said Mayor Don Robart.

"Everybody loved him," Robart said of Crabtree.

Two Columbus officers drove in Saturday morning for the service. Sgt. Steve Redding, 34, of London, Ohio, had worked a night shift Friday, did not sleep Saturday morning and was to work another night shift Saturday.

"I'm here to honor a fallen hero," he said. Redding has ties to Crabtree, who was his wife's stepbrother.

Two Michigan State Police Troopers also attended the service.

Trooper B.C. Smith said Rodney Goss, a trooper at the Monroe, Michigan Post, is in Crabtree's unit in Iraq.

Goss had sent an e-mail to the state police post and asked Smith to attend the service on his behalf. So Smith and Trooper T.C. Sproull drove from Michigan to pay their respects.

Crabtree was a Green Beret and a member of a Special Forces unit based in Columbus.

During the funeral, Steve Hodges, a longtime friend of Crabtree, read a letter he wrote to his friend's 17-month-old daughter on the occasion of her father's funeral.

"The proudest moment of his life was when you were born, Mallory," he said.

Outside the church, firetrucks from the Green and Cuyahoga Falls Fire Departments extended their ladders and flew a 36-foot-by-24-foot American Flag for Crabtree and his family.

Along the route from the church to the cemetary in Lake Township, hundreds of people stood, most holding flags of support.

In Green, along Raber Road, Ron Stoudt and his sister Karleen Cope stood under the shade of some trees waiting for the procession.

"I just have to do it," said the 50-year-old Stoudt.

For most of State Route 619 from Mayfair Road to Cleveland Avenue Northwest, small flags were placed on either side of the road about 10 feet apart.

In Lake Township, near Greenlawn Cemetary, 60-year-old Navy veteran Rand Spargo of Lake Township was filled with emotion before the funeral prcession arrived.

"it's a shame we fight wars with cowards," he said. "The person who set of the bomb was a coward. They didn't face him like a man."

The funeral procession included about 75 police vehicles, 35 motorcycles and about 110 other cars, said Lt. Dave Hills of the Summit County Sheriff's Department.

In one of those cars was Jason Blankenship, a close friend of Crabtree, who last week went door to door in Lake Township and Green and persuaded nearly 60 business owners to put signs out in honor of his friend.

"I'll never forget Dan," he said

Kent resident Don Berg, 62, a Vietnam veteran, stood near the entrance to the cemetery and held a sign of thanks to Crabtree. "It's an honor to be here for him," he said.

Lake Township resident Brenda Jones, 62, stood near the Uniontown Chapel of Praise and watched as the hearse carrying the soldier's body passed in front of her.

"It breaks my heart," she said.

Donations can be made to the Daniel Crabtree Family Memorial Trust Fund for his daughter at any First Merit location.

On behalf on Dan's brothers and sisters on the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department, thank you for your prayers for Dan and his family.

Rest in Peace SFC Crabtree. Thank you for standing in the gap. May God Bless you & your family.

NSDQ

RELEASE NUMBER: 060807-01
DATE POSTED: AUGUST 7, 2006

Quote:

Special Forces Soldier Remembered
By Sgt. Kimberly Snow
DIVIDS Hub

GREEN, Ohio (USASOC News Service August 7, 2006) – In the early evening June 16, a group of about a dozen Soldiers from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group, immaculately clad in full military dress uniform, nestled together in a small basement room of the Schermesser Funeral Home. Above them, hundreds of well-wishers waited their turn to honor the memory of their friend and brother-in-arms, Sgt.1st Class Daniel B. Crabtree, recently killed in combat. Occasionally, one of the men would slip out temporarily to mingle with the guests.

The somber quiet was occasionally punctured by a laugh, which was inevitably followed by a story – like the time their friend broke his leg on his first jump with the elite troops after successfully completing the Army’s Special Forces Qualification Course.

Their friend and comrade had landed badly on the jump. As he lay on the ground with a broken leg, one unit member, Sgt. 1st Class Don (due to the sensitive nature of special operations, first names only will be noted), noticed that something was wrong with his friend and was temporarily distracted.

“I rode my ruck in, trying to see what was wrong with him,” Don said with a laugh. “I landed pretty hard and when I got to him, he was laughing at me. He was still laughing and smiling while grimacing in pain.”

They also remembered the Special Forces weapons sergeant for his patience and kindness.

“You want to know what Dan was like?” Sgt. 1st Class Kevin, a fellow unit member, asked.

Kevin recounted an email – one of many such emails and phone calls he had received in the preceding days – from a young Soldier who had trained with the Special Forces unit, but ultimately didn’t make it to the qualification course. As a trainee, the Soldier had always looked up to the “tabbed” (Special Forces-qualified) Soldiers, particularly Crabtree.

“He always stopped and took the time to talk to me, even though I wasn’t tabbed. He answered my questions no matter how stupid they were,” the young Soldier wrote. “That was Dan. He was what being a Special Forces Soldier is all about.”

Crabtree died June 8, when a roadside bomb exploded next to his vehicle during a combat patrol near Al Kut, in east-central Iraq. “He was on his way to a meeting. He was trying to help a village threatened by the insurgency, trying to help them secure themselves to reduce the threat,” Don said. “He died doing what he liked to do.”

The 31-year-old weapons sergeant had been as determined to make a difference in Iraq as he had always been in meeting his personal goals. One Soldier recalled Crabtree’s training regimen when he was preparing himself for the rigors of the Special Forces Qualification Course. At the time, he was working night shifts.

“He would train when he got off work in the morning, when he was already tired,” he said shaking his head. “He would strap a 70-pound ruck to his back and just start running.”

Crabtree had a passion for weapons that carried over to his civilian job, where he worked as a sniper for the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team. He was also a member of the force’s honor guard.

“He was really good at teaching weapons,” Don said. “He took the time to study all kinds of different weapons systems.”

With a knack for teaching, along with his civilian police training, Crabtree was particularly well-suited for his mission in Iraq, where he developed and implemented a SWAT training program for the Iraqi Police Force in Al Kut. As the lead trainer, he instructed the SWAT volunteers in advanced marksmanship, offensive and defensive driving techniques and urban assault tactics. He had also previously been involved with training other foreign troops.

“They always liked him because he was patient. He always took the time to explain things,” Don said.

Crabtree and his operational detachment also assisted the Al-Kut SWAT team in more than 35 combat missions which netted more than 100 known insurgents.

“The Al-Kut SWAT was one of the most effective Iraqi units. They were feared by the insurgency because they were so effective,” Don said. “And that was due, in large part, to his training.”

Crabtree joined the Army Reserve in 1992 and transferred to the Ohio Army National Guard in 1993 as an administrative specialist. He later retrained as a military policeman and joined the 19th Special Forces Group in March 2002. He earned the coveted green beret after graduating from the Special Forces Qualification Course at Ft. Bragg, N.C., in May 2004.

He was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and attached to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Arabian Peninsula.

His awards and decorations include the Army Achievement Medal, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Parachutist Badge and Special Forces Tab.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal, and Combat Infantryman Badge. Crabtree’s military education includes the Basic Airborne Course, Primary Leadership Development Course and Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course.

He is survived by his wife, Kathy, and daughter, Mallory, of Green. He is also survived by his father, Ronald Crabtree, and mother, Judy Ann Crabtree.

-usasoc-

Their friend and comrade had landed badly on the jump. As he lay on the ground with a broken leg, one unit member, Sgt. 1st Class Don (due to the sensitive nature of special operations, first names only will be noted), noticed that something was wrong with his friend and was temporarily distracted.

“I rode my ruck in, trying to see what was wrong with him,” Don said with a laugh. “I landed pretty hard and when I got to him, he was laughing at me. He was still laughing and smiling while grimacing in pain.”

Only the Airborne could/would understand the above quote.
I may have not known SFC Daniel B. Crabtree, but today he made me laugh.;) RIP SFC Crabtree.

TS

RIP SFC. Feet and knees together...