May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.
Excerpt from "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan
This evening we gather here to remember another US citizen who joined the military and died far from home. His name is
Douglas J. Green and he was from Northern Virginia.
Specialist Douglas J. Green
Douglas J. Green grew up in Sterling, Virginia. He graduated from Potomac Falls High School in 2006. Green was extremely active in school. He was president of the Unity club, was on the football team, participated in drama, was in the show choir, and was crowned Homecoming Prince his senior year. The school's yearbook from 2006 shows Doug on several pages. Shortly after graduation, he joined the US Army.
An article at the WJLA website states that Green was well known as a friendly, helpful neighbor and student.
"He was always that kid in the crowd who was most dressed up for spirit day, most enthusiastic,” said Janice Koslowski, principal of Potomac Falls High School.
Renee Haynes is Potomac Falls drama teacher. Green was her student for four years. She says he was the class clown but a leader with a compassionate heart.
“He loved the military,” she said. “He loved serving his country. He felt like it was what he was called to do.”
In high school, his classmates voted Green mostly likely to stay forever young.
Renee Haynes was Green’s drama coach. She told the Loudoun Times:
“He was fun and funny and well liked by everybody,” Haynes said. “He was always joking around.”
...She says it’s hard to narrow down just one fond memory of Green and that “he did just about everything that could be done at the school.”
“I think the biggest memory of him ... we were doing a musical and he wanted to everybody to do the cell block tango from [the musical] Chicago and got everybody up doing the cell block tango in the class,” Haynes laughs remembering.
After enlisting in 2007, Green served a tour in Iraq. He was sent to Afghanistan in April of this year, and worked as an infantryman with the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, based at Fort Wainwright in Alaska.
Green's enlistment was due to be up before the end of the year. He had many plans about what he'd do back home. He was going to marry his sweetheart, attend college, work for the Secret Service, or the CIA and maybe enter politics.
His mother, Suni Erlanger and others are quoted in the
Washington Post:
“Everybody loved Doug,” said his mother, Suni Erlanger. “Everybody loved him.”
Chad Runfola, who was an assistant principal at Potomac Falls while Green was there, recalled that he “was just so genuinely nice to others.”
He “always communicated a sense of caring for his teachers, his classmates and his school,” Runfola said.
In the eastern Loudoun County community, “this was a very special young man,” said John P. Murray, a Newspaper Association of America executive and Loudoun resident.
On August 28th, Douglas J. Green was in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan on a foot patrol when an improvised explosive device (IED) was triggered and insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire. The 23-year-old died from his injuries, and two other soldiers from his unit were injured in the incident.
Survivors of Specialist Douglas J. Green include his father, Douglas Green of Sterling, his mother, Suni Erlanger and two sisters.
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Helping our troops:
If you wish to assist our military and their families, consider contributing to Fisher House. Donating to Netroots for the Troops provides care packages that make a real difference in a military person's life. To assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available here. Also, you could visit:
When our veterans come back home, they need jobs. Look at the programs of Hire Heroes USA and Welcome Back Veterans to see if you can help out.
About the IGTNT series:
”I Got the News Today” is a diary series intended to honor, respect, and remind us of the sacrifice of our US troops. Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and is maintained by Sandy on Signal, Monkeybiz, Noweasels, Blue Jersey Mom, Chacounne, Twilight Falling, Joyful, SisTwo, Spam Nunn, True Blue Majority, CalNM, Wide Awake in Kentucky, Maggie Jean, Jax Dem, Kestrel 9000, & TheFatLadySings. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but show our community’s respect for those who have died.
Fallen service members whose names have been released by the US Department of Defense will usually be diarized two days after the official announcement on the DoD website. This allows the IGTNT team to cover each person more fully, but still in a timely manner.
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Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members mentioned here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.