Fallen

He was killed in an IED attack on February 3rd in Iraq. I served with Lt. Col Garnet (Gary) Derby while stationed at Ft. Stewart. He was the Commanding Officer and I was the loader on his tank. He was an outstanding leader and was not afraid to get in the battle. I learned of his death while watching the news Friday night. It hit me hard as I spent the past week searching out Army buddies on Facebook. See the story linked below.

http://www.militarycity.com/valor/3950005.html

My favorite memory of Capt Derby:
We were doing a live fire exercise in Egypt. At the end of the exercise we were moving unfired munitions between tanks (we could not take any back to the states). I was on top of the tank awaiting a round to be delivered. Capt. Derby was halfway out of the top hatch talking on his headset. I started to hear a series of distinct pings. I knew right away we were taking friendly fire from the infantry unit on our left. I yelled at the Sgt. delivering the round to hit the dirt. I then jumped right on Derby's head and shoved him back into the tank while sliding in on top of him. He was cussing and screaming until he saw my face and heard what I was saying. He got on the air and cease fire was called. He didn't say anything to me until later in the day we were looking at chips the rounds left in the tank. He just walked up and gave me a high five.

We lost an outstanding soldier and patriot. Please keep his family in your thoughts