Staff Sgt. Alexander Crackel considered the Army a great challenge and a chance to gain another family.
Crackel, 31, had the military in his blood, with several members of his family having served in the military, including his father, Clint, and brother James.
Crackel, an infantryman, was killed Thursday when a bomb exploded near the Kuwait and Iraq border where he was serving, his father said.
Crackel had spent several years in England and even graduated from the equivalent of high school across the ocean, his father said. In 1998, he decided to join the Army at 24 and become a career Army man.
“I think he liked the challenge of the military,” Clint Crackel of North Aurora said. “He looked at the military as being another family.”
His father described Crackel as a quiet man who had a great sense of humor, always cracking jokes.
Crackel is survived by a wife and a 7-year-old daughter in England, his father said.
“It’s a heartbreak. It’s tough for anybody,” his father said. “We pride ourselves on being a military family.”
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2 men in 1 platoon: The invisible line that divided their ranks kept Capt. Christopher Cash and Spec. Daniel Desens Jr. from knowing each other well.
In other circumstances, the two men from the Army National Guard’s 120th Infantry Platoon would have found common ground in their passion for family, love of a good joke and fierce loyalty to friends and co-workers.
Cash and Desens, both from North Carolina, were killed July 24 in one of the fiercest battles up to that point between Iraqi insurgents and American forces in Iraq.
Family and fellow soldiers remember the men for their dedication to their work in the war-torn country.
“They were both good guys” who believed in what they were doing, said Spec. Nick Walton, who survived the brutal attack that killed Cash, his captain, and Desens, his best friend.
It was just 6 a.m. that day in July, but the air was already hot and dusty, Walton said.
Cash and his platoon had been called in to help a sister platoon that had come under fierce fire from Iraqis stationed strategically on the top of buildings in Baqubah, an insurgent stronghold just south of Baghdad.
“As soon as we got there, we were taking sniper fire. There were machine guns and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades]. They were shooting at us from everywhere and we were shooting at them,” he said.
Cash ordered the Bradley vehicles to close their hatches but was shot dead as he checked that his platoon was safe, Walton said. Desens and Walton were driving in the same vehicle when they were hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
“The insurgents were shooting from the top of the building. An RPG went right through our periscope and into the Bradley. It hit Dan in the leg,” Walton said. Desens would die after the platoon hobbled back to its camp.
Family members of Cash and Desens take heart in knowing the men were doing what they wanted.
Cash, 36, who grew up in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, attended East Carolina University and most recently lived in Winterville, N.C. He is survived by his wife, Dawn, and two teenage sons from a previous marriage. He worked as a fitness trainer and was known for his big smile and his ability to inspire.
“Captain was serious, but he could have fun,” Walton said.
Desens, 20, of Jacksonville, N.C., enjoyed playing football and running track at Camp Lejeune High School.
“I remember him saying when he was very young that he wanted to be an astronaut,” said his mother, Patricia. “Then, when he was older, he announced he wanted to be a Marine, just like his dad.”
He is survived by his parents, a sister and a fiance.
Desens’ death still haunts Walton.
“Before we left, Dan told my parents that he’d make sure I came home,” Walton said. “I did. And I think of him as my guardian angel.”