R.I.P. - Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan J. Wilson

DOD Identifies Navy Casualty

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan J. Wilson, 26, of Shasta, Calif., died of complications associated with a medical condition May 20 in Manama, Bahrain.  Wilson was assigned to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command headquarters in Bahrain.

            For further information related to this release, contact U.S. Naval Forces Central Command / U.S. Fifth Fleet Public Affairs at 011-973-1785-4027.

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from Redding Searchlight:

A Navy sailor from Shasta has died, officials with the Department of Defense announced Friday.
Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan J. Wilson, 26, of Shasta, died Sunday in Manama, Bahrain, because of complications associated with a medical condition, DOD officials said.

Wilson, who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, was assigned to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command headquarters in Bahrain, the DOD said.

Wilson, the son of Tracie and James Wilson, of Redding, was a 2004 graduate of Shasta High School in Redding, according to a 2005 Record Searchlight article.

A Navy website said Wilson was named in March as the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Sailor of the Quarter for the first quarter of the 2012 fiscal year.

Wilson, who was identified as an intelligence specialist, was "recognized for the exemplary performance of his duties as indications and warnings leading petty officer on the maritime operations center watch floor, from October to December 2011."

Wilson joined the Navy in 2004 and reported to the Naval Forces Central Command in August 2011.
A letter of commendation, which accompanied Wilson's Sailor of the Quarter award, reads in part: "Your enthusiastic leadership emphasized the responsibility of Sailors to mentor junior personnel, eliminate communication problems, enhance career development, and inspire senior petty officers to assume leadership roles."

Wilson's supervisor, Chief Intelligence Specialist Jeremy Embree, said Wilson was selected based on his merits and professionalism.

Wilson's participation in two community relations projects also contributed to his selection, the Navy website said.

He was part of a group of sailors who met and spoke with American studies students from the University of Bahrain in an effort to increase cultural understanding. He also volunteered to tutor elementary schoolchildren at the Department of Defense Dependents School in Bahrain.

CNN reported that Wilson's death was the 3,000th death among coalition forces in the Afghanistan war, according to its count based on information provided by the U.S. Defense Department and the International Security Assistance Force.

He was the 1,974th U.S. death in the war that started Oct. 7, 2001, and the 3,000th overall death from the U.S.-led international coalition engaged in Operation Enduring Freedom.
The coalition includes 50 countries. Britain has the second-largest number of dead from the mission at 414, according to the CNN figures.

But iCasualties.org, which tracks military casualties in Afghanistan, reports there have been 3,011 coalition military fatalities there since 2001.

Funeral services for Wilson are pending at Allen & Dahl Funeral Chapel in Redding.

Posted in: Bahrain, fallen heros, Manama, NAVY, Operation Enduring Freedom, United States Fifth Fleet