2LT John Vaughan was born on April 12, 1983, in Vail, Colorado, a town of just 5,000 people. He was raised by his mother, Sarah Vaughan. John lived in Vail his entire life. He easily adapted to the role of 'man of the house'. His mother, Sarah Vaughan, would often travel on business when he was younger. A couple times a year that meant being gone for 3-4 days at a time. John was so mature and trustworthy that Sarah never needed to worry about a babysitter, especially since John usually just ran off the ones she'd hire anyway. One time, John locked a babysitter in a bedroom and another time Sarah got a call from the sitter saying she was fed up and leaving. He was very protective of his mother. Whenever a boyfriend or male friend would come over, they were greeted to a million candle flashlight in their face and BB gun in his hand. He scrutinized all her dates and made sure that everyone who took her out was worthy of her company. He was a tough kid. His uncle once took him elk hunting in the middle of the night when he was just 11 years old. John had no problems walking the four miles at such a young age. Being a hunter and avid outdoorsman lent naturally to his interest in the military. At just five years old one of his favorite coats was an Army coat with a US flag. He would play soldier with his baby sister, Rebecca. All he ever wanted to wear was "famouflage"; he couldn't pronounce camouflage. He spent the night outside in the woods with his jungle helmet. He even had winter "famouflage" for those long, cold winters. Close friend, family veterinarian, and retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Bill Nusz would loan him his old Army gear to play with. In high school, he did a science project on bullet velocity. The military was in his blood. His frequent use of "yes, ma'am" and "no ma'am", "yes, sir" and "no, sir" would come in handy. Even more than wanting to be a Soldier, John wanted to be a pilot. He was so sure about his future that he only applied to one college after high school - Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the number one ranked school in the specialty category of "Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering Programs". He majored in Aviation Business Management. He had already learned to fly and made his first solo flight at the young age of 16. He majored in Aviation Business Management in the hopes of one day running his own small aviation business. To earn money for school, he worked at a car parts store. He loved to weld and build grills for people around town. "He was incredibly handy," said his mother. "He just knew so much and here I was a single mother. He had some minor dyslexia, yet was so articulate in everything he did." John had a strong sense of family. Rebecca and John did everything together. They never argued. John took great care of his little sister. His mom said that they were impossible to separate. "He was my best friend in the whole world," said Becca Vaughan. He was also very close to his grandmother, whom he called "OO Hoo". As a young child he couldn't quite pronounce grandma either and the name stuck. When he'd visit his grandmother once a week growing up, he'd open the door and yell "OO Hoo!" to see if anyone was home. He was a man of many friends. People naturally took to his charm and friendliness. John was a very active child. His mother describes him as a tough kid, artistic, an avid outdoorsman and quiet. He loved animals and spent many hours horseback riding. Growing up in Vail provided him with all kinds of things to do. He loved the outdoors and would spend his days hunting, fishing, and just enjoying the mountains. On June 7, 2005, John was commissioned a Second Lieutenant into the United States Army. He was assigned to the Infantry Branch and sent to Fort Benning for the Officer Basic Course. Once he complete all of his training, he was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Wainwright, Alaska. He arrived in Mosul, Iraq on Wednesday, May 10, 2006, excited about getting to the business of helping the Iraqis get back on their feet. John describes his arrival in Iraq in an email sent to his family: "We were half way to Mosul when our plane was requested to return to Kuwait to transport a VIP. We boarded a bus, and an hour later we were back where we started 18 hours before. We heard that the plane broke again before the VIP was able to board, so that flight was nixed as well. Good start huh? At 10 pm we were in the middle of a sand storm, and they said that we were going to try and fly again at midnight. By luck the sand had cleared by take off time and we had a pretty uneventful flight up to Mosul. We were greeted at the airport by a sponsor from my unit, and received battalion assignments. I now know that I am with the 2-1 infantry, but don't know what company or what my job is yet. Just checking out our huge camp this morning I am really impressed. I could never dream of a better dining facility. It is like walking in a brand new grocery store, and everywhere around you are people that can make you whatever you would ever wish for to eat. It is just amazing! We have a large gym, and the MRW facility is big too, with pool tables and all that jazz. Looking across the wire you can see the city of Mosul. it looks very congested and just stack a shack type architecture everywhere. Then there is the countryside with rolling hills and fields. It is really nice to see a bit of green after seeing how desolate Kuwait is. I am safe, doing well, and with any luck will be calling a few of you soon before I get all wrapped up in operations." After getting settled, John sent another email to his family to give them an idea of what he was doing in Iraq, dated 2 Jun 06: "I am doing really well, but I keep a pretty busy and very fluid schedule. A typical day for me usually consists of taking my platoon out on a three hour morning patrol and a three hour evening patrol. Between patrols I am involved in the supervision of maintenance on our strykers, and a lot of paperwork and planning for missions and patrols. A typical patrol involves driving around all the major routes in our AO with my platoon, then lately I have been dismounting my platoon and sending the vehicles away so we can walk through neighborhoods and markets to talk to local Iraqis. This way I can get a feel of how the area is doing without looking too intimidating with the Strykers. "For the most part everyone in Iraq is very nice, the bad guys are very far and few between, but they are most defiantly there. Most of the activity we see involves homemade roadside bombs and drive by shootings. I have planned and executed a few missions that strike specific targets within the city, and can't really talk about those, but my platoon is very good at what we do, and the attacks we see in the city are slowly on the decline. Missions can last up to 72 hours, and I like to stay out in the city for that whole time, sleeping in an abandoned building or something where we can watch the streets all night. It wears on us, but we wear on the enemy pretty well too, so it is a tradeoff. "Yesterday was pretty cool, my platoon was tasked as a quick reaction force for the battalion, and the building we are usually in was locked. So we moved down to a building that was part of Saddam's palace. We slept on marble floors, surrounded by marble walls, and grilled steaks by the poolside in the mid afternoon sun. It was pretty nice, we almost forgot we were in Iraq for a bit!" John grew to love the Iraqi people he was there to protect. In an email to his aunt Cheryl dated 5 Jun 06, he talked about the people and the neighborhoods for which he was responsible: "I have just about everything I need here. You learn to live without a few things, but life is comfortable for just getting out of pinching pennies in college to support a Jeep habit. I do like people to send me stuff I can give to the Iraqi kids though. I like to give them suckers and whatever I have in my pocket to establish a friendly relationship with the neighborhood. The safer I can make people feel the more willing they are to talk with me about the terrorist problem. The terrorists threaten to kill people who give out information to the US, so it is a constant battle to get anything out of these people. (I am attaching one picture, this little guy is Kurdish and lives in the very north part of Iraq where it is really safe. I just thought the whole camo hat and binocular thing looked just like Walker, Max, and myself growing up.) "I have adjusted in pretty well, but you can't really explain this place to anyone who has never been here. It is such an odd and diverse place it is almost mind boggling. Some neighborhoods I don't even feel the need to have a gun, and a half mile further we are dodging bullets left and right, and homemade explosives are just everywhere. It is a neat experience though, I would not trade anything for the opportunity to see this. When you meet people on the street that take you into their home and tell you about how Saddam burned their home and land mines killed their children, you have a much clearer purpose on why we are there and what we have done for these people. Already there is a lot of visible improvement, hopefully we can take all our guys home soon." Two days later, 2LT John Vaughan was killed in Mosul, Iraq. His platoon was on a routine patrol when they were attacked by insurgents. His death came exactly one year after receiving his commission. LINKS TO 2LT John Vaughan John's Personal Iraq Photo Album Moving Funeral pictures from Tallahassee Democrat John's story respectfully written by CJ Grisham.
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