[Editor’s note: SFC Jeffrey Brundage of Honesdale, is currently stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. We talked with him via phone in Texas, after meeting his mom, Sue Lewis, at The Traveling Wall in Bingham Park. War has claimed the lives of four of his friends. When we asked him to share their memories, he willingly opened his heart. The men who gave their lives for our Country: CPT. Erick M. Foster, SSG Christopher S. Kiernan, SGT Richard A. Vaughn, and SGT Michael Barrera.]    
SGT Richard A. Vaughn
I met Ricky in May of 2007, when I returned to Fort Hood. I was assigned as the M1A2 Sep Tank Platoon Sergeant for 1st platoon Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. Ricky was assigned as my gunner on my tank. Initially, Ricky and I bumped heads. The members of the platoon had just returned from Iraq in December of 2006 and they were happy with their old Platoon Sergeant. So naturally when a new boss comes along the first reaction is resist change. I quickly established how I was going to run things and life was golden. My soldiers became the best platoon in the battalion scoring highest on all the tests and tasks. 
Ricky was a jokester. He could make anyone laugh and had an unlimited amount of one liners, but he had the heart of a lion. He liked to do things his way. I never had to worry about yelling at him because my tank was ready for war and training. Ricky dedicated himself to his job and soldiers, usually putting in time off duty to accomplish things as soon as possible. He demanded the best from his peers and subordinates which is probably why I always gave him the hardest mission to complete. He excelled at the tank gunnery, through maneuver training to our training at the National Training Center.  His previous experiences from being in Iraq from 2005-2006 gave him the drive to want to teach the younger soldiers the right way of doing things. So I let him go and I put him in charge of teaching the infantry tactics to the soldiers. Throughout the year of training, Ricky would call on me sometimes late at night to ask if I could come and see him. He would want to know how he was performing, how he could improve himself to become a better leader. We would sit and drink beer and talk for hours. I remember a question he asked me a few months before we left for Iraq in March of 2008. He said, “SFC B do I have what it takes to lead soldiers?” My response was “absolutely.” He asked if, even though he was my gunner, if he could lead an eight man dismount team in Iraq. He wanted to be on the ground leading from the front.  I told him that we would see when we got to Iraq. 
In January of 2008, Ricky married a wonderful, strong woman, Rachelle. Knowing that we were deploying, some people in society think soldiers do this as a last minute thing, and not out of love. Ricky truly loved Rachelle; they were great together. We deployed in March of 2008 for Iraq. Near the end of March, at our Forward Operating Base in Baghdad, I remember Ricky walking into my room with a big smile on his face; he did not have to say a word, and I knew the news was that he and Rachelle are having a baby.
Two weeks later on our first patrol in a heavily filled area of insurgent activity, our sister company was in a huge fire fight.  My platoon was called in to assist them. When we arrived we immediately came under fire. I had infantry soldiers with my tank platoon; we were in armored hummer’s moving towards the insurgents. Under enemy contact, my truck was hit with an explosively formed projectile (EFP) but we survived that attack. Five minutes later, the vehicle in front of me was hit and it was a total loss; no soldier was killed— wounded— but not killed. Our task was not to secure the truck, orders were given to secure the far side of the attack, which is standard operating procedures. So my infantry on the right moved forward under enemy fire and Ricky and his team moved forward on the left. The only thing I remember after that was the radio call saying Ricky was shot and killed. Ricky died on April 7, 2008.
Three friends in less than a year killed by the enemy.  My world truly crashed around me.