News

Honoring the memory of Spartan 04

  • Published
  • By Roland Balik
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  A temporary duty assignment, or TDY, is looked at by some military members upon as a break from the day-to-day routine of home station operations.

The chance for Airmen--military or civilian-- to perform work skills at an unfamiliar, austere location and possibly in a hostile environment halfway around the world for a short-notice deployment can also make for a good "war story" to tell.

For one former Team Dover Airman, his TDY story couldn't have been scripted any better.

A native of Claymont, Delaware and a former member of the 436th Communications Squadron, Master Sgt. (ret.) Wayne Garvine's story happened in July 2005 when he was tasked to deploy on a short-notice TDY to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan as a Land Mobile Radio technician and had an indirect connection to Operation Red Wings, a covert mission to capture or kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shah.

"The individual assigned to the LMR position for the previous rotation had a family emergency and had to return stateside without a replacement," said Garvine. "The LMR position was responsible for managing and maintaining Kandahar's substantial LMR system which was utilized by all units throughout the base for communications."

Once in-country, Garvine identified the LMR system was operating at a degraded capacity and met with all LMR users to troubleshoot and resolve known issues by reprogramming radios and loading up-to-date encryption keys, to include the 59th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron's Combat Search and Rescue mission.

"By the time all of [the 59th] ERQS's LMR issues were fixed, I had been up for an extended period of time," said Garvine.

In appreciation of Garvine's tireless efforts, Master Sgt. Randolph Wells, then a 59th ERQS aerial gunner, asked Garvine if there was anything he could do for him.

"In the tradition of carrying an American flag on combat missions while in the area of operations, I asked him if he would take my flag on one of his missions," said Garvine. "He was more than happy to accommodate my request and I gave him my flag."

Garvine crossed paths with Wells several days later during a scramble alert as CSAR crews were being redeployed to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.

"Not knowing when or if I would see him [Wells] again, I asked him if he had flown my flag yet," said Garvine. "He [Wells] explained that he had not flown on a mission since I gave it to him, but he would take it with him on this mission."

About a week later, the CSAR teams returned to Kandahar and Wells contacted Garvine with news regarding his flag.

"Master Sgt. Wells informed me that my flag had flown on a very important mission," said Garvine. "He could not tell me anything yet but once cleared, he would get my flag to me and explain."

That very important mission turned out to be the events that played out in Marcus Luttrell's book and its motion picture adaption, "Lone Survivor." The book and film recounted the true story about four U.S. Navy SEALs taking part in Operation Red Wings in which three of the SEALs perished during a fire-fight with militants in the Kunar province of Afghanistan.

A few days later, Garvine was presented his flag, along with an unclassified combat rescue mission narrative and certificate signed by all six 59th ERQS crew members who recovered the remains of U.S. Navy SEAL, identified as Spartan 04, on July 10, 2005.

Fast-forward a little over 10 years from that date, Garvine had the flag properly folded by Staff Sgt. Joshua Matticks and Senior Airman Michael Russo, both members of the Dover Air Force Base Honor Guard in a ceremony attended by Garvine and 14 other members of the Honor Guard at the base flagpole held on July 17, 2015.

"To me, this U.S. flag represents the many sacrifices associated with Operation Red Wings," said Garvine "I feel the [CSAR] mission carried out by these brave men is the epitome of 'No man left behind.'"

The team Dover honor guard was honored to play a part in Garvine's story.

"We typically get requests to fold the U.S. flag at retirement ceremonies, funerals or some other occasion," said Tech. Sgt. Isaiah Martin, Dover AFB Honor Guard NCO in charge. "Having the opportunity to properly fold this particular flag and knowing the story behind this flag, made it a special honor for us [Dover AFB Honor Guard] to accommodate Mr. Garvine's request."