Spokane7
55°
July 10, 2011 in City, Idaho
Families, friends mourn fallen soldiers from CdA
Explosive in Baghdad severely injured another
On July 5, Army Spc. Nathan R. Beyers wrote on Facebook that a soldier has only one wish: “To come home safe.”
Two days later, Beyers and Army Spc. Nicholas W. Newby, both of Coeur d’Alene, died of wounds they suffered when insurgents attacked their convoy with an explosive in Baghdad, the U.S. Department of Defense said Saturday. A third soldier from Coeur d’Alene, Staff Sgt. Jason Rzepa, suffered serious injuries in the attack.
The attack on Thursday marked the deadliest day for North Idaho soldiers since combat began in Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2001.
Beyers, 24, had spent several years in the Coeur d’Alene area, where his wife, Vanessa Beyers, and their infant daughter still live, Idaho National Guard spokesman Col. Tim Marsano said. He previously lived in Littleton, Colo., Marsano said.
Newby, 20, who worked as a machine gunner in the Army National Guard, lived in Coeur d’Alene from the age of 5. He graduated from The Bridge Academy Alternative High School but also attended Lake City High School, according to his profile on MySpace.
Both men reference time spent studying at North Idaho College in their online profiles.
Officials said Rzepa, 30, of Coeur d’Alene, suffered serious leg injuries in the attack. He has been taken to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for treatment.
Rzepa attended Project CDA High School and obtained a marriage license in 2010, according to Spokesman-Review archives.
The soldiers were assigned to the 116th Cavalry Heavy Brigade Combat Team, based in Post Falls.
“Nathan was proud of his job and serving our country,” Vanessa Beyers said in a statement. “He died doing something he loved and was such a brave person. We just had our first child, and Nathan had a chance to visit us when he was home on leave in January. I told him I knew he was going to be a wonderful father. We are going to miss him.”
Newby’s mother and father released a statement, noting their son could play a variety of musical instruments, including guitar, bass guitar, saxophone and drums. According to his MySpace profile, he started a punk rock band called Trip Wire when he was 15.
“We wrote about an album’s worth of songs and played enough shows with the right bands to qualify as rock stars,” he wrote.
His parents described Newby as intellectually curious and an avid reader.
“Nick would do anything for anybody who needed his help,” they said. “He’d stick by his friends and never gave up on anybody. He had a great sense of humor, ever since he was a kid. For instance, once when he saw his pregnant mom drinking orange juice, he said, ‘Mom, you’re getting orange juice all over the baby!’ ”
They also said he enjoyed his truck. “He loved thrashing his truck and then fixing it; we recall digging him out of the snow and we all smiled through it. Nick loved his family, and everybody loved him.”
Newby wrote on MySpace that he enlisted in the Army National Guard before he graduated from the Bridge Academy in December 2008 and spent much of 2009 in basic training in South Carolina.
The 116th Cavalry Heavy Brigade Combat Team is on a yearlong mobilization and deployment to Iraq as part of Operation New Dawn. It has 2,700 soldiers from Idaho, Montana and Oregon. The soldiers are scheduled to return to the U.S. in September.
Man dies following early Saturday accident 
drywitt99 on July 10 at 4:25 a.m.
President Obama……please bring these heroes home to us.
Alive…..to help us face our challenges.
And not in a flag-draped coffin.
Please.
westerly on July 10 at 7:00 a.m.
Very sad news for the parents, these soldiers are the real heroes in the USA. Prayers for their families.The more reason to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m a Vietnam vet and 55,000 soldiers died in that war…and to what end? We lost and now are friends with Vietnam. Did the whole southeast asia fall under communism like our leaders said would happen? No…big lie.
The_Seer on July 10 at 9:20 a.m.
drywitt: I am thinking if citizens were able to witness and see those flag draped coffins every night on the news our “heroes” would be home sooner than planned. In addition, the events on the ground are no longer being covered as in Vietnam as our media has become complicit in the government’s attempts to sanitize our “conflicts.”
It’s time to end being an empire and get back to being a republic. Anyone with me on that?
Iran, India, Pakistan and other regional players need to “fix” Afghanistan. Anyplace in the world can be a launch pad for terrorist acts. You don’t invade and occupy nations for over a decade to stop that.
misjustice on July 10 at 11:16 a.m.
Our company is flying the flag at half staff, in honor of these young men. When I rolled into work this morning I saw the flag and wondered why it was lowered and then I remembered these fallen soldiers.
Too sad, really.
Dazzeetrader11 on July 10 at 12:31 p.m.
Hey…what happened ot Obama stopping the wars instead of expending and adding more in order to avoid this exact thing.
Our kids won’t be forgotten by us parents. Our country needs these beautiful children to live long lives as Americans.
Somebody remind Obama he’s welshed on another promise. It does sound like he needs a new memo. Can’t they get a collar on this incompetent monster? Meanwhile…we pray for our kids and honor them when they find their way home.
SMARTGUY on July 10 at 1:46 p.m.
Freedom is not free, so pay your taxes
misjustice on July 10 at 2:10 p.m.
Funny Dazee you and others blame the guy tryin’ to clean up Shrub’s messes for not doing it FAST enough to suit you.
Bet you were part of the jingoistic rah rah rah club beating the war drums in 2003; when we were being lied into the Iraq war. You were FOR the war before (a 1/2 black dude became Pres) you were AGAINST it…typical flip-flopper.
greenlibertarian on July 10 at 5:44 p.m.
The bodies of these brave soldiers aren’t even cold and the sick troll has the disgusting gall to blaming Obama for a war he inherited, and a war from which the US is withdrawing from just EXACTLY according to the Status of Forces Agreement negotiated by the Bush administration and the Iraqi government.
Just when you think they can’t get any more vile…
Despicable.
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My condolences to the families of these slain soldiers. Keep the good memories you have of them in your hearts. Prayers for a successful and speedy recovery for S. Sgt. Rzepa.
Dazzeetrader11 on July 10 at 5:48 p.m.
Sorry J…you boy was elected because of his promises…not one of which has been worked through. Truth be known…he neve rhad a plan..he had a mouth to fleece the US.
Lots of promises …not much else. How on earth anyone could have believed him ( oh he without plans or experience) is beyond normal people.
He is making a bigger mess….and he will continue to make big messes until someone calls him out and the media covers it.
Sad for those kids and the families. Reminds me of the old Who song/….:Won’t get fooled again”. He’ll be contained till he’s gone. And “gone” he will be. This idiot has hugely contributed to this:debt payments of $300 million every month with only $200 in income.
Sound smart now? Sounds like a flim flam man…which is exactly what he is.
We will pray for those children who won’t be home in one piece…or won’t be home at all.
Dazzeetrader11 on July 10 at 5:50 p.m.
Greenie…let me finish your lost thought (if anyone can call your outbursts “thought”..wars he expanded and then added a few more conflicts. Nice..praise him if you want…says something about YOU..doesn’t it?
johnclarke on July 10 at 6:07 p.m.
Daisy, you don’t have an ounce of class. What is really annoying is how the Cons will nag the President because he “pulling the troops out too fast.” Cowards, all of them. You want war, go sign up.
misjustice on July 10 at 7:07 p.m.
Dazzee, once again beyond the “pint of no return”…
Dazzeetrader11 on July 10 at 9:01 p.m.
Here’s the story….your boy obama never had a clue. He found willing shills in you. I’ve been saying for years that all you have to do is go look at his resume…training, jobs, etc. No math, no economics…nothing. he was “present” and that’s abou tit. He saw the hole in the system ( white guilt) and let you all hallucinate. That’s about it. don’t you..each of you wonder.how each and every thing he’s done has ended as a mess? Well there’s plenty of reasons…he doesn’t know now and didn’t know then….what he’s doing. Alll he knows is socialism as a community organizer…..and that’s about it.
Didn’t you ever figure out how he elected to senate? Screwed over another, much better candidate……it’s all out there. He’s a loser and you obamalovers are in fantasylnd./shills that you are.
The biggest deal in this article is the spectre of kids who die for not much. For this chump? this pretender? We all know why Bush went wrong…and this idiot is so goofy…he’s done the exact same thing….only worse. flim flam with big old grin while he’s fleecing ya.
Sad to see our honorable young kids passing. I salute them. I am sad for their families…and I’m sad for their unrequited promise. These are good and wonderful kids who die. And, as it turns out…die for not much. So don’t insult or criticise me.you idots can’t see through this pretender…it’s his game…it’s just not mine when other people’s lives are on the line. That’s one place I don’t go.