New Jersey Memorials

The project, organized by Staff Sgt. Michael Cregan and Trooper 1 Rodrigo Nivia, involved Troopers Jean Cabral, Matthew Polek, Matthew Lebet and Robert Tarleton, said Sgt. First Class Jeff Flynn. The four troopers, newly assigned to Troop "B" Somerville Station, hail from the 159th New Jersey State Police Class, which graduated a few weeks ago. The memorial resides in the area where Hanratty was struck and killed on April 2, 1992 while walking back to his patrol car during a motor vehicle stop. It was erected shortly after Hanratty's death. The project, completed over the span of a few days, also had assistance from Department of Transportation employees who helped clear the area. Flynn said the act showed respect for the fallen trooper.  "We are proud of the troopers who did such a great job on this memorial," Flynn said. "Their efforts are a credit to not only their class, but to our entire outfit." Acts of community service such as this are not new to the State Police. Flynn said the projects are often organized when newly graduated troopers are assigned to stations. "We will go out and do some renovations, whether it is at a station or at memorials," he said. "It is something that will continue." ...

Inside Forward Operating Base Oqab in Kabul, Afghanistan stands a wall painted with a mural of an airman kneeling before a battlefield cross. Beneath it, a black gravestone bookended with flowers and dangling dog tags displays the names of eight U.S. airmen and an American contractor killed in a horrific insider attack at Kabul International Airport in 2011. It's one of a number of such memorials ranging from plaques, murals and concrete T-walls scattered across Afghanistan. For the last eight years, those tributes have been proof to the families of the fallen that their loved ones have not been forgotten. But with a final U.S. pullout from Afghanistan possibly imminent, those families fear the combat-zone memorials may be lost for good."I think all the memorials for the NATC-A 9 should come back," said Sally Stenton, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, using the term for those killed in the massacre. All served at NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan."[The memorials] should go to the bases where they were deployed from or where they were stationed at some point in their career," Stenton, who served as a legal adviser to the Afghan air force and staff judge advocate for the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing in Kabul, said in a recent interview. She is regarded as the "speaker for the families" because of her friendship with many of the victims."If they need to cut a wall out and bring it home, that's what they need to do. I think anything that has been dedicated to the nine to their memory needs to come back."No One Left BehindOn April 27, 2011, an Afghan Air Force Col. Ahmed Gul opened fire at the Afghan Air Command and Control Center at Kabul International Airport. In just seven seconds, nine Americans were dead.The service members were all blindsided by the attack, unable to draw their weapons in self-defense against Gul, according to a U.S. Central Command AR 15-6 investigation conducted in 2013. At least three inquiries by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and CENTCOM were conducted between 2011 and 2...