This is heartbreaking... Army Spc. Rudy Acosta kept a list of goals in his pocket. Be a good leader. Become a surgeon. After serving as a medic in Afghanistan for nine months, the 19-year-old soldier was six weeks away from finishing his tour of duty, and he was looking to the future. On March 19, he was among several soldiers at a U.S. military base in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province, on the Pakistani border. They were cleaning their weapons before a planned patrol when an Afghan contractor hired to help guard the base approached and opened fire with a machine gun... The gunman killed SPC Acosta and Corporal Donald Mickler. He wounded four others before being killed. Both men were assigned to the 4th Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment based in Vilseck, Germany. ...Acosta enlisted in the Army in a delayed-entry program even before he graduated from high school in 2009. Both of his grandfathers had served in the military — one during World War II and the other during the Korean War — and his parents had friends in the armed services. After training as a medic, he deployed to Afghanistan in July 2010. The Army changed and focused him, Swales said: "He came back a man." Swales saw Acosta in January, when the young soldier took time from his two-week home leave to give presentations to the school's students about his war experiences. Along with descriptions of combat missions, he shared a lighter anecdote: a story about a bet he made with fellow soldiers in which he had to drink an entire bottle of Tabasco sauce followed by a Mountain Dew... He was buried 12 days ago in California: ...On March 31, when Acosta was buried in his hometown, a processional through the city drew thousands to the streets. Banners bearing his portrait were hung from overpasses and the sidewalks were lined with schoolchildren, firefighters and City Council members. "It was a Norman Rockwell moment," Swales said. The motorcade started at Acosta's school and passed by the Army recruiting station where he enlisted. It drove past the hospital where he was born, past the state Department of Motor Vehicles office where he got his driver's license and by a park memorializing veterans. It ended at Eternal Valley Memorial Park, where Acosta was buried with full military honors. This is how he was brought home: From one of his high school classmates: I would just like to start by saying this was by far one of the coolest things I have ever had the honor of being a part of. Rudy Acosta was a graduate of my school (class of 2009) and over the past 13 years our paths have crossed in several different ways. Whether it was seeing him at school as one of the 'big kids' on campus, or when my best friend had dated him, to working on lines in drama class. He was an amazing man of God and a true American hero. Though theres sadness in today's events of the final goodbye...knowing he's in heaven, away from sickness, danger and everything else of this earth is really comforting. Along with seeing the whole town of Santa Clarita come out to support his family. For those of you who don't know what happened today, it started at Santa Clarita Baptist Church/ Santa Clarita Christian School, where there was a memorial. After the memorial, a procession of multiple cars of the family and friends of Rudy along with veteran motorcyle riders, and police escorts drove through the town to a few of the places that were significant in Rudy's life, such as the hospital he was born at, where he went to preschool, and places he hung out, which ultimately ended at the Eternal Valley Cemetary. The route which the procession drove was blocked off by law enforcement, and the streets were lined with hundreds, if not thousands of Santa Clarita residents holding flags and signs watching the line of cars go by. It was a site to see both from being in the line of cars and seeing all the people lining the streets, but also from news helicopters showing the long line of cars and hearing about it from the people who stood out on the streets to pay respects and honor the hometown hero. If I can find a link to a video from the news of the procession I will try and post it here. Thank you for your time and God Bless America. Keep all the troops in your prayers... Godspeed, Rudy. Thank you.
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Posted
Apr 12 2011, 02:55 AM
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