DOD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Michael H. Simpson, 30, of San Antonio, Texas, died May 1 in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit on April 27, with an improvised explosive device in Arian, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
For more information the media may contact the U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) public affairs office at 910-689-6187.
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Staff Sgt. Michael H. Simpson, 30, of San Antonio, Texas, died May 1 in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit on April 27, with an improvised explosive device in Arian, Afghanistan.
He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. In the service for 10 years, SSG Simpson had been stationed in Afghanistan only about two weeks when he was wounded by a bomb while riding an ATV.
Simpson enlisted in the Army in April, 2003, as an Infantryman. Upon completion of basic training and Advanced Individual Training, Simpson was assigned to Company D, 3rd Infantry Regiment, the Old Guard, as a Rifleman. In 2006, Simpson was assigned to Company C, 2nd Cavalry Regiment and deployed in 2007 as a fire team leader in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Simpson volunteered for the Special Forces Assessment and Selection Course and completed the Special Forces Qualification Course in July 2011.
He was assigned to Company C, 4th BN, 1st SFG (A) as a weapons sergeant. He participated in the multilateral exercise Cobra Gold in Thailand in 2012 and recently deployed in support of OEF-A. His military education includes the Special Forces Qualification Course, Warrior Leader Course, Advanced Leader Course, Combat Life Savers Course, Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) Course, Hazmat Driver Instructor’s Course, Joint Armorers Training Course, and the Basic Airborne Course.
His awards and decorations include, the Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Army Achievement Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Good Conduct Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terror Service Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon, Non-commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon with numeral “2″ device, Army Service Ribbon, Special Forces Tab, Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge, and the Parachutist Badge. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
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The elder Simpson was a career U.S. Ranger and Special Operations
officer during his 24 years of active duty, with a “long tour in Iraq
with conventional forces” in 2007, followed by “two short tours in
Afghanistan with special operations forces.”
His oldest son also deployed to Iraq with Special Forces,
and his youngest son, Michael H. Simpson, “deployed during the height
of the 'surge' to Iraq for 15 months as an infantryman and is now
Special Forces, like his dad and older brother,” the father wrote in the
2011 piece.
The “middle son” was on a second tour of Iraq as an infantryman, Simpson noted at the time.
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Michael W. Simpson said the family was not caught unprepared by the news — he has two older sons also in the military.
“We're warriors,” Simpson said in a previous interview. “We know that these things happen.”
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