This is the one I really wanted to Share; It is in Your Blood!!!!!!
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Hog
SOLDIER `HAD TO BE THERE' ; THE ARMY TOLD CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER AARON WEAVER OF INVERNESS, WHO WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER, THAT HE COULDN'T GO TO IRAQ. BUT THE VETERAN HELICOPTER PILOT, A SURVIVOR OF MOGADISHU IN 1993, INSISTED. THE ARMY RELENTED, ON THE CONDITION HE GET CHECKUPS IN BAGHDAD. WEAVER WAS ON HIS WAY TO A CHECKUP WHEN HIS CHOPPER WENT DOWN THURSDAY.:[FINAL Edition]
Rich Mckay, Sentinel Staff Writer. Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, Fla.: Jan 10, 2004. pg. A.1
INVERNESS -- Ranger Aaron Andrew Weaver wasn't supposed to be serving in Iraq. The U.S. Army told him that he couldn't go because he had cancer.
The 32-year-old chief warrant officer already had been battle- tested, having survived the bloody 1993 ambush of American soldiers in Mogadishu, Somalia, recounted in the book and movie Black Hawk Down.
But Weaver insisted on returning to a combat zone, and the Army relented, as long as he agreed to undergo regular medical exams. He was on his way to a checkup Thursday when the medevac Black Hawk helicopter crashed into a potato farm. Weaver and eight other soldiers were killed after a rocket struck the aircraft, eyewitnesses said.
"It's a brotherhood thing," said his father, Mike Weaver, his lips and hands trembling in grief Friday. "He had to be there."
Mike Weaver got the news of his son's death just hours after the attack and said he spent Thursday night crying and calling family members. He wondered how to tell Aaron Weaver's youngest sisters, who are 11 and 6.
"I kept them home from school and told them this morning," Mike Weaver said. "I told them there was bad news. I told them their brother died."
Aaron Weaver was the second oldest of eight children, all raised in Inverness, about 70 miles west of Orlando. In order, the children are Steven, 39, the oldest, whom Aaron followed into the Army; Ryan, 30, who followed Aaron into the Army; Shannon, 26; Ashley, 22; Regina, 21; Paige, 11; and Kierston, 6.
Mike Weaver, who already had one son, adopted Aaron and Ryan as toddlers when he married their mother Kelley, from whom he is now divorced. He raised the boys and remarried and had more children. They melded into one happy family.
Aaron Weaver was close to the man who raised him, signing notes sent from boot camp with "Love ya Dad."
The elder Weaver said he introduced Aaron to the woman who would become his wife. A production manager at the Citrus County Chronicle, he noticed Nancy, a classifieds worker who was as sarcastic and strong-willed as his son.
They were married three years ago. Aaron Weaver was raising Nancy's first child, Austin, and the couple had a baby girl, Savannah, 13 months.
On Friday, Nancy Weaver was with the children at their home at Fort Bragg, N.C., where her husband was assigned to C Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
"She's so upset, she could barely speak," the elder Weaver said. "Today she's crying, trying to hold it together enough to get down here."
The couple were looking forward to a new stage in their lives. Sometime in February, Weaver was to be transferred to Fort Rucker, Ala., to become an Army flight instructor. His testicular cancer was in remission.
The new job would have meant regular hours, more time at home raising a family and a change of pace in a 12-year Army career, already immortalized in Mark Bowden's best-seller Black Hawk Down.
Weaver is mentioned near the end of the book, fetching coffee for a wounded soldier. The grateful man responds, "Bless you my son. Got any cigarettes?"
Weaver also was featured in a documentary about the firefight that left 18 American soldiers dead and more than 70 wounded, his father said.
In Iraq, Weaver flew observation helicopters for the 82nd Airborne, gathering information on the enemy and beaming it back to headquarters.
"I talked to him a week ago; he was doing fine," the elder Weaver said. "We were sending him books, easy reading, along with Scientific American and astronomy magazines."
And they were counting down the days until he came home.
Aaron Weaver was relentless, charming and smart, traits evident even when he was in Citrus High School, running track and acing his schoolwork, friends and family recalled Friday.
Bob Goddard, a science teacher and track coach, was too broken up to talk. But he scribbled a note for reporters, telling them how unselfish and thoughtful Weaver was -- always trying to be everyone's big brother.
Mike Weaver said it's too soon to know when a memorial service will take place. Right now he's trying to arrange for his son Ryan, also stationed in Baghdad, to return home "so he won't get killed, too."
But he doesn't regret Aaron Weaver's decision to go there; he's proud of it.
"He wasn't going to take advantage of a medical piece of paper. When you serve your country, putting yourself in harm's way is part of the job," his father said.
"But I'll tell you what: The world just lost one hell of a guy. He could have been anything he wanted, and he chose to serve his country."
[Illustration]
PHOTO: `The world just lost one hell of a guy.' Mike Weaver talks Friday about his son Chief Warrant Officer Aaron Weaver, shown with wife Nancy, daughter Savannah and son Austin. TOM BURTON/ORLANDO SENTINEL BOX: U.S. CRASH VICTIMS The U.S. military reported the identifications of eight of the nine soldiers killed in Thursday's helicopter crash in Iraq: Army Staff Sgt. Craig Davis, 37, Opelousas, La.; assigned to the 603rd Transportation Company, 142nd Corps Support Battalion; Fort Polk, La. Army Spc. Michael A. Diraimondo, 22, Simi Valley, Calif.; assigned to the 571st Medical Company (Air Ambulance); Fort Carson, Colo. Army Spc. Christopher A. Golby, 26, Johnstown, Pa.; assigned to the 571st Medical Company (Air Ambulance); Fort Carson, Colo. Army Sgt. 1st Class Gregory B. Hicks, 35, Duff, Tenn.; assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division; Fort Hood, Texas. Army Spc. Nathaniel H. Johnson, 22, Augusta, Ga.; assigned to Company D (Aviation), 82nd Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division; Fort Bragg, N.C. Army Chief Warrant Officer Philip A. Johnson Jr., 31, Alabama; assigned to the 571st Medical Company (Air Ambulance); Fort Carson, Colo. Army Chief Warrant Officer Ian D. Manuel, 23, Florida; assigned to the 571st Medical Company (Air Ambulance), Fort Carson, Colo. Army Chief Warrant Officer Aaron A. Weaver, 32, Inverness; assigned to C Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne, Fort Bragg, N.C. The Associated Press
