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Saturday, July 2, 2005
Fellow soldiers laud fallen sergeant
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Camp Stryker, Iraq — Sgt. Chad Mercer of Waycross had a special request for his buddies before he left for Iraq.
“He said that if something happened to him he didn’t want a wimpy maple” planted to remember him, said Staff Sgt. Walter Kegley, a friend and co-worker.
Kegley, 35, of Nashville, Ga., said Mercer was not impressed by the Eastern redbud trees planted along Warrior’s Walk at Fort Stewart to honor soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division who have died in Iraq.
He wanted something bigger, something more substantial, planted in his honor if he died, Kegley said.
Mercer, 25, a member of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade Combat Team attached to the Fort Stewart unit, was killed Thursday when the Bradley Fighting Vehicle he commanded rolled over during a night patrol.
His name will be among those added to one of the plaques at the base of each tree. But Kegley has something else planned for his friend.
“We’re going to plant a towering oak for him at the armory in Cordele when we get back,” Kegley said.
Mercer is the first member of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Brigade killed in Iraq since the 4,400-member unit arrived last month.
Two other brigade soldiers have died since the unit mobilized in January, one in a Humvee accident during training at Fort Stewart in February and one in a vehicle accident in Kuwait in May.
Mercer was remembered by those who served with him as a consummate soldier and fierce competitor who had an encyclopedic knowledge of all things military.
“Chad epitomized what a soldier should be,” Kegley said. “He had more knowledge of tactics, techniques and regulations than anyone should ever have.”
Mercer, a member of Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, won the 48th Brigade’s noncommissioned officer of the year award for 2004 for his dedication and professionalism. He served with the unit in Bosnia in 2001 and worked at a hardware store in Waycross in civilian life.
He is survived by his wife, Pam, and three children.
Mercer attended Georgia Military College in Milledgeville for one year and was on track to become an officer when he finished the two-year program. But he told friends he preferred to remain a front-line enlisted soldier because he could have a greater influence.
His fellow soldiers said Mercer was a die-hard Florida State University football fan, kept a football by his cot in Iraq and already had begun researching the college football rankings
First Lt. Nathan Childers of Atlanta said Mercer was commanding a Bradley Fighting Vehicle near Baghdad before dawn Thursday when the 25-ton vehicle went off a narrow dirt road and rolled into a canal. Four other soldiers inside suffered bumps, bruises and cuts. Two were hospitalized overnight but returned to duty the next day.
Mercer, who rode in a turret atop the vehicle, alerted the other soldiers by calling “Rollover!” on the intercom as the Bradley left the road and tumbled down a 15-foot embankment, said Childers, 27.
“It was dark and dusty, and the road was narrow,” said Childers, who was leading the mission in a Bradley just ahead of Mercer’s. “The accident wasn’t anybody’s fault.”
About 15 hours earlier, Mercer was commanding another Bradley that was struck by a roadside bomb. One of his arms was cut and bloodied. But he had it bandaged and insisted on participating in the next mission.
Kegley said faith and friendship will allow Mercer’s fellow soldiers to continue despite the devastating personal loss.
“We’ve built strong relationships, and those bonds of friendship will carry us through. If Chad was here, he’d tell us to go back out there and finish the job.”
