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Joined Army to leave small NC
hometown
The Associated Press
Amy Sinkler’s reason for joining the
military was simple: She wanted to get out of the little town
where she grew up and spent her life, and see the world.
“Basically, we were in our hometown
forever,” her best friend, Brittany Rahman, told The
Fayetteville Observer. “We grew up there, didn’t travel much,
so we wanted to get away and see different stuff.”
Sinkler graduated from West Columbus
High School in Chadbourn, N.C., in 2006. Rahman graduated a
year earlier. Both wound up joining the military.
Sinkler, 23, was killed in a
rocket-propelled grenade attack Jan. 20 in Baghlan province,
Afghanistan. She was assigned to Fort Richardson, Alaska. She
was a vehicle driver with a group at the post known as the
“Rough Riders.”
Rahman said her friend had settled in
well at the post, buying herself a car and marrying her high
school boyfriend, Doug Sinkler.
The soldier was a strong-minded
person and wasn’t one to hold back what she was feeling,
Rahman said.
“That’s not Amy,” she said. “She’s
going to tell you exactly how she’s feeling.”
Chadbourn native killed in
Afghanistan attack
Pfc. Amy Renee
Sinkler, 23, of Chadbourn died in Afghanistan when her convoy
was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in an attack Wednesday
evening. The West Columbus High School student graduated in
2006 and was a member of the 109th Transportation Brigade, the
"Rough Riders," assigned to Ft. Richardson in Alaska.
Sinkler was in the exposed turret of an armored MRAP in a
convoy enroute to Forward Operating Base Killaghey in Baghlan
Province when her vehicle was hit with the grenade at about
11:40 p.m. Afghanistan time, and she died about four hours
later. Three others in the vehicle were not hurt.
She had joined the Army in August, 2009, joined the Rough
Riders in January, 2010, and had served in Afghanistan since
July for a 12-month tour. She was married to Doug Sinkler, her
high school boyfriend.
http://whiteville.com/articles/2011/01/22/news/doc4d3b2c0d2ee5a322136799.txt
Who Was Amy
Sinkler?
Leo Dougherty
I don’t know
Amy Sinkler. I doubt you know her either. She was just one
of the more than 308 million
people who make up the population
of the United States. Until recently her name meant nothing
to me. If I had passed her on the street I wouldn’t even know
who she was.
I know her
name now but I don’t know a whole lot more about her and there
is this nagging feeling inside that I really should know more
about her. And there is this feeling of anger way deep down
that keeps reminding me the
majority of the more than 308 million people who make up the
population of the United States should also know a lot about
Amy Sinkler, and a lot more young people just like her.
Amy Sinkler
was one of those young people who do a job not very many
people want to do any more. The little information I could
find on her is that she was born August 11, 1987 in
Whiteville, NC. I was also able to find out that she
graduated from West Columbus High School in 2006.
She was also a
soldier in the US Army, 17th Combat Sustainment Support
Battalion, 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Fort Richardson,
Alaska.
On January 20,
2011 in Baghlan, Afghanistan, Pfc. Amy R. Sinkler lost her
life when insurgents attacked her unit with a rocket propelled
grenade. She was just 23 years old. One other thing I now
know about her is that her residence is now forevermore the
Butler Branch Cemetery in Fair Bluff, North Carolina.
If you do a
Google search on her name, this will be about all you will be
able to find on her, at least as of this writing. I want to
caution you, though. You will see her picture and you may
find it captivating. Her eyes seem to be looking at you and
through you, as though she sees into your soul. Once you
realize it is just a picture and study the eyes you may see,
as I did, that those eyes seem to portray a confident, perhaps
contented young woman who is not only aware of the decision
she has made to serve her country but is at peace with
whatever may happen and however her decision may turn out.
It’s as though she knows.
Her half-smile
also seems to portray a confident woman. It is not the usual
stone-faced photo typical of a young soldier, sailor, airman,
marine or Coast Guardsman. There just seems to be this peace
and confidence in her face – as though she knows what her
destiny is and she is prepared to face it. And there is
pride.
Her death is
of course, like those of so many other young people who served
our country, a tragedy. Who knows what she and others like
her could have done for our world, our country, or whatever
community they might have chosen to settle in to?
The real
tragedy of course, beyond the loss her family feels, is not so
much that you and I do not know very much about her but that
so many outside our world – the world of those who have served
– not only will never know anything about her, they won’t
care.
I wish I knew
more about Pfc. Amy R. Sinkler, and a whole lot of other young
people just like her. They are after all comrades in arms.
More importantly though, I wish the majority of those more
than 308 million people knew more about her as they go about
their day to day lives, oblivious to what Amy Sinkler’s family
has to endure, oblivious to her sacrifice and her family’s
sacrifice on behalf of this grateful nation.
Coffin photo caption - CChaplain Lt. Col. Stephen A.
Tillett, left, directs a prayer over the transfer case
containing the remains of Army Pfc. Amy R. Sinkler of
Chadbourn, N.C., upon arrival at Dover Air Force
Base, Del. on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011. The Department of
Defense announced the death of Army Pfc. Amy R. Sinkler who
was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, in Afghanistan. (AP
Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
http://www.theveteransvoice.com/Who-Was-Amy-Sinkler.html
Community honors fallen 3rd
MEB Soldier
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by SSgt. Jason Epperson
3rd MEB PAO
2/4/2011 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Service
members gathered at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson
Soldiers' Chapel, Jan. 28, to honor Army Pfc. Amy R.
Sinkler, who was killed Jan. 20 during a convoy patrol in
Baghlan Province, Afghanistan.
Sinkler, 23, of
Chadbourn,
N.C., was a motor transport operator assigned to the 109th
Transportation Company "Rough Riders," 17th Combat
Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Maneuver Enhancement
Brigade at JBER.
"She took her job seriously, despite how miserable the
conditions were," said Army Lt. Col. Charles Russell,
commanding officer, 17th CSSB (Provisional).
"Nothing seemed to ever dampen her spirits. Although she
was not a fan of the climate in
Alaska,
she always maintained a positive attitude and had a
positive effect on those around her."
Sinkler attended Basic Combat Training and Advanced
Individual Training at Fort Leonard Wood,
Mo.
She was assigned to the 109th Transportation Company in
January 2010.
In the short amount of time she was with the unit, she had
made an impact, according to those who served with her.
"Pfc. Sinkler was that Soldier you would love to have in
your squad, because she never complained about the job or
the long hours that came with it," said Army Sgt. Allen
Patterson, Sinkler's squad leader. "She was always joking
and in a good mood that impacted all those around her."
"Courageous. Selfless. Spirited. Resilient. Cheerful.
These are the few words that can be used to describe Pfc.
Amy Renee Sinkler," Patterson said.
Army Chaplain (Maj.) Robert Williams called the chapel for
a moment of silence to remember their fallen comrade.
"This great warrior died on foreign soil while fighting
for her country, " Williams said. "Our nation owes her our
upmost gratitude and earnest thanks. To her loving
husband, parents and family: know that your precious one
loved her family and country deeply. Pfc. Sinkler joins
the thousands who have given, so that you and I might
enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy today."
During the ceremony, Pvt. Christopher Everett played
guitar and sang his original song, "My Prayer," dedicated
to Sinkler's memory.
Sgt. 1st Class James Pollard conducted a last roll call in
which Sinkler's name was called, but not answered.
After the roll call, a rifle squad from the 95th Chemical
Company fired a 21-gun salute.
Army Staff Sgt. Robert Leatherbee, a bugler with the 9th
Army band, played "Taps" followed by Army Staff Sgt. James
Kuppersmith of the 4th Quartermaster Detachment playing
"Amazing Grace" on his bagpipes.
"Her untimely passing leaves us with an emptiness that
will never go away," Russell said, "She will live in all
of us forever." |
Caption to picture for this article: Army Sgt. James
Patterson, 109th Transportation Company, 17th Combat
Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Maneuver Enhancement
Brigade, shares memories of Pfc. Amy Sinkler during a Jan. 28
memorial ceremony at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson
Soldiers’ Chapel. (U.S. Army photo/Staff Sgt. Jason Epperson)
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