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Army Master Sgt. Michael Russell, with his wife, Annette, grew up in Stafford County.
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By MELISSA NIX
A 31-year-old Army sergeant originally from North Stafford is believed to be one of 16 U.S. service members killed in Tuesday's helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
Lee Russell, the father of Master Sgt. Michael Russell, said he was told Wednesday by a chaplain and an officer from Fort Belvoir that his son was dead.
Yesterday afternoon, Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters that 16 bodies aboard the helicopter had been recovered.
Authorities initially reported 17 people were on board, but the manifest included a person who apparently missed the flight, military officials told The Associated Press.
It was the heaviest loss of American lives in a single attack in Afghanistan.
Russell's family learned Tuesday night that elements of his unit, the 3rd Battalion of the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, had been aboard the MH-47 Chinook helicopter shot down by insurgents. The unit is based at Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Ga.
The waiting was terrible for the family.
"The longer it went, the worse it got," Russell's father said, as he talked with a reporter via cell phone while en route to Russell's home in Savannah, Ga., to be with his son's wife, Annette, and his two granddaughters, Lauren, 5, and Magan, 1.
Though Russell was a family man, he never complained about being sent out of the country, his father said. "His unit was one of the only ones [in the armed forces] who could perform such missions against the Taliban."
The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is equipped with specially designed Chinooks that are versatile in all types of terrain, weather and low-light conditions. The downed MH-47 was one of these special helicopters.
This was the sixth time Russell, a flight engineer, had been sent to Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001. He was first sent there on the second Sunday after the World Trade Center attacks.
Russell returned to Afghanistan a month and a half ago, said his father.
He was able to see his son a few days before his departure, but had had no communication with him since he left.
"When he went back this time, he told me they would be really busy," his father said. On previous Afghanistan missions, his son had been able to call or e-mail once every two weeks, he said.
Michael Russell joined the Army after graduating from North Stafford High School in 1991. He went into special operations in 1999.
Though such a unit is prestigious, Russell was not the kind to brag, said his father.
His son was proud of the men he served with and would brag about them, instead, he said.
"I've met most of them," said Lee Russell, "and I'm so proud to know them."
He described his son as a "good kid" and an excellent father.
Growing up, Russell was a Scout, played baseball and was an avid NASCAR and Washington Redskins fan, he said.
Russell didn't see his children very much because he was often overseas, but when "he was home, he was with them all the time."
Kenneth Luehrs, a Spotsylvania County resident and Russell's uncle, said his nephew "was doing what he absolutely loved to do. It was a dream for him." He and his wife, Anne, had last seen their nephew at Thanksgiving.
The Luehrses remember their nephew, when he was growing up, as a pleasant, quiet child who spent a lot of time outdoors.
"He smiled all the time, almost like he knew something that the rest of us didn't," Anne Luehrs said.
"He had beautiful red hair like his father. His two children, Magan and Lauren, are redheads, too."
Russell's older brother, Lee Jr., 33, also served in the military. He spent six years in the Navy, and made the rank of petty officer, second class.
"We're proud of him, and we miss him," said Russell's older brother, who lives in Raleigh, N.C. but was with Russell's wife and children in Savannah yesterday. Russell also has a sister, Melissa Ann Yahnert, who lives in southern Virginia.
Reports from the AP and Stars and Stripes noted the downed MH-47 was carrying Navy SEALs and an Army air crew to a firefight, as part of Operation Red Wing, an effort to curb Taliban and al-Qaida attacks on the U.S.-led coalition in eastern Afghanistan's hostile Kunar province.
"I just wish we could have kept assets in Afghanistan in order to get [the Taliban], instead of diverting them to Iraq," said Russell's father. "If we're not careful, we're going to lose Iraq, too."
As of June 29, 2005, the Department of Defense has reported 194 military deaths in conjunction with Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. campaign to capture al-Qaida leaders and halt terrorist activities in Afghanistan.
Staff librarian Craig Schulin contributed to this report.
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