FOB Keating attack repulsed

[jmm99]

among our sappers from their tour in Astan - repeat, zero KIAs.

Just over two dozen Michigan residents have been killed in Astan, 2002-2010 Michigan casualties in Afghanistan. However, that list omits at least one KIA with Michigan connections. Here's the rest of that story.

Back to some ancient history. The Sapper Company and its sibling units are "descended" from the 107th Engineers, a WWI combat engineering battalion formed in 1917 on the Michigan Tech campus and officered entirely by Michigan Tech grads. Michigan Tech was then the Michigan College of Mining and Technology (now Michigan Technological University), whose mascot is the silver husky - so, the Sappers' newsletter, the "Husky Herald".

The 107th Engineers continues to the present as our NG Bn. Meanwhile, in the 1920s, a college ROTC program was started at Michigan Tech and linked to the Army Corps of Engineers. In fact, until 1974, Tech ROTC graduates were generally commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. All of this is laid out in the article, History of Military Science at MTU (check out the uniforms in the photo of the 1928 cadets - perhaps, picked up used from the black & tans of Irish Civil War fame ?).

In 1975, John Hall graduated from Tech, became a colonel in the Army and fathered a son Ben. The latter (then 1LT Ben Hall) died in Astan in 2007, from MTU Alumni Relations:

Benjamin Hall graduated with a bachelor's degree in social sciences. He served as the cadet battalion commander in the Tech Army ROTC program and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the US Army.

A paratrooper and an army ranger, Hall was deployed to Afghanistan with 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. Hall was killed in action on July 31, 2007. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for heroism and the Purple Heart.

Born in Texas, the son of army colonel and Tech alumnus John Hall '75, Hall moved around a lot as a child but throughout his life remained fixed on achievement. At Tech, he majored in social science and earned many awards in the ROTC program. He earned the rating of Distinguished Military Graduate, and ranked among the top cadets across the nation when he graduated.

He continued to excel while on active duty. He earned the Army's Combat Infantry Badge and Expert Infantry Badge; was one of only twenty-two soldiers in the 173rd Airborne Brigade to be awarded the title of True Blue; and was instrumental in creating a new infantry company, called Destined, in his regiment.

His family remembers him as "giving and humble - the type of guy people were drawn to." Hall is survived by his parents, two sisters, and a brother, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

In 2008, Hall's family accepted the Outstanding Young Alumni Award in his honor.

Excerpted from Michigan Tech Magazine, Fall 2008

Rest in Peace.

Mike