MAJ Guy Barattieri
 

Guy was a classmate and friend of mine. He graduated as the Goat of our class; he fought hard to attain his goals. Bear was in 1SFG for a while, then got out and joined 19SFG, and ended up deploying to Iraq with them.

Well done, Brother Bear; be thou at peace. We'll keep your family safe for you.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/...attieri06.html

Fund set up to help family of slain soldier
Friends reaching out to former Seattle police officer

By MIKE BARBER
P-I REPORTER

As word of his death continued to spread among his many friends and family around the country Thursday, a fund was set up for the family of Washington National Guard Maj. Guy R. Barattieri, 36, a West Point graduate, decorated Green Beret and former Seattle police officer.

Barattieri, a major in the state National Guard's Alpha Co., 1st Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group based in Buckley, was killed Wednesday morning by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Though he was at the time working in a civilian contract capacity, Barattieri, originally of Ohio, was a senior officer with the state National Guard "in good standing" at the time of his death, Guard officials said Thursday.

"The Bear Fund," referring to Barattieri's long-standing nickname since his high school football days near Cincinnati, was created through the National Guard Association of Washington.

The account through the American Lake Credit Union, Camp Murray, will be used to help Barattieri's wife of one year, Laurel, and 3-month-old daughter, Odessa, and stepdaughter, Rees.

"Bear was a doting stepfather to her, taking her to swim lessons, making her lunch and taking her to school every day," said Mary Mascarella, a family friend in Seattle.

Donations can be made in his name to the credit union through account number 13878, Guard officials said.

Donations can be made by visiting any branch, or arranged by telephoning the main branch, 800-228-2377, or the Department of Veterans Affairs branch at 800-244-0874.

Inquiries about electronic funds transfers should be directed to Cindy Arnold by e-mail, cindy@americanlake.org.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Barattieri had been in Iraq only a few days before he was killed. Barattieri had served numerous times in Iraq either with the military or lately working for a contractor, his friends and military officials said.

Since last year, he had held the post of operations officer for the state National Guard's Special Operations Detachment -- Pacific.

Buckley's Green Beret company is one of the military's elite units that carry out secretive missions.

A 1992 West Point graduate, Barattieri first served in the regular Army infantry before becoming a Green Beret and serving with the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Lewis.

After leaving active duty as a captain, Barattieri became a citizen-soldier in August 2000 with the state National Guard's Special Forces outfit in Buckley, which is east of Tacoma. From August 2001 to 2004, he was a Seattle police officer in civilian life, and he was elected president of his police academy class.

Barattieri went on activie duty in 2002 as a Special Forces detachment commander in Kuwait. In March 2003, his team led the 101st Infantry Division on its march to Baghdad. Barattieri received a Bronze Star and Combat Infantryman's badge for his role.

Barattieri transferred to the state National Guard's information operations group in 2004 before being appointed last year to the post he held at the time of his death.

Many who knew Barattieri here, including many police officers, were stunned at his death. And Barattieri's many friends nationwide Thursday read of his death and wrote the Seattle P-I.

"Word of Guy Barattieri's death in Iraq has dropped all of 'Bear's' Cincinnati family to one knee," wrote Mark Steiner of Cincinnati, a high school friend of Barattieri's.

Steiner said Barattieri's father, Guy Sr., was a veteran and the original "Bear" who was the defensive line coach for the state championship high school football team on which Steiner and Barattieri played in 1986.

"It will be a difficult Friday night later this month when Purcell honors the 20th anniversary of our undefeated 1986 state football championship that we were teammates on. Bear played defensive end. What other position would you expect a guy named 'Bear' to play?" Steiner said.

RIP

RIP Sir

RIP Sir.

RIP
 

RIP Sir.

Rest In Peace Brother!!

RIP Sir
 

Razor,

I was writing an eulogy for one of my classmates and found the MAJs page. If you wanted to leave something for friends and family here is the site.

http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1992/48911/

RIP, Warrior

Rest in peace Sir.

Rest in Peace

More info of events
 

At 1258 today in NE Baghdad (38S MB 4246 9789) a three vehicle convoy from Falcon Security was hit with and EFP IED. Immediately after the explosion the convoy begin receiving SAF from both sides to include the rooftops.

The group had just left a power plant where they had been conducting a site survey. The ingress route had been lined with Iraqi Police both on foot and in vehicles. When egressesing the power plant a different route was taken. It was noted that all streets were clear of pedestrians and vehicles.

A radio call was made by K2 stating that "Streets are clear. That's kind of odd isn't it?". There was an explosion 3 seconds later.

Convoy consisted of 3 x armored Ford F-350's. Center vehicle was hit broadside with center impact point being the drivers cab. Both the driver and front right passenger (Pesh Merga's') were KIA. The driver was on fire and the front right passenger had disintegrated. The two rear passengers were WIA. K2 was one of these passengers; Bear (former 19th Group SF) was the other.

Lead and trail vehicles stopped to render assistance while continuing the firefight. All attackers seen wore IP uniforms.

Bear had lost both legs below the knees. A tourniquet was applied to each leg to stop the bleeding. K2 was in and out of consciousness. It took 10 minutes to extricate the two rear passengers.

A running fire fight ensued and the rear gunner of the trail vehicle opened up on all IP's that were in his sights.

The ROC monitored the situation and Falcon personnel in their TOC were also monitoring the situation.

The two remaining vehicles returned to the IZ and drove straight to the CSH.
K2 was announced DOA and Bear went into surgery. He was stabilized and moved to Surgical ICU.

Rest in Peace

En Paz Descansen

Rest in peace, Sir. My condolences for your personal loss Razor.

RIP