Bradley S. Bohle Sergeant First Class, United States Army

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dod-seal-small-01U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 727-09
September 17, 2009

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.  They died September 16, 2009, in Helmand province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle September 15, 2009, with an improvised explosive device.  They were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Killed were:

Sergeant First Class Bradley S. Bohle, 29, of Glen Burnie, Maryland

Sergeant First Class Shawn P. McCloskey, 33, of Peachtree City, Georgia

Staff Sergeant Joshua M. Mills, 24, of El Paso, Texas.

Former Maryland Resident Victim of Explosion

By James Hohmann
Courtesy of The Washington Post
Friday, September 18, 2009

Bradley S. Bohle, a 29-year-old who grew up in Glen Burnie, wanted to be a Green Beret. He enlisted in the Army in 1998, around his 18th birthday. A decade later, he finally completed the Special Forces Qualification Course.

A year-and-a-half after that, an improvised explosive device detonated near Bohle and two others Tuesday as they patrolled around Ghur Ghuri, Afghanistan, the Defense Department said. He died Wednesday from his wounds.

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Bohle was a Medical Sergeant in the 7th Special Forces Group, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was on his second deployment to Afghanistan, according to a biographical shetch provided by the Army. Before that, he deployed twice to the Philippines.

The latest victim of the escalating hostilities in Afghanistan, Bohle leaves behind a wife and three daughters — Breanna, Jocelyn and Braelyn– who live at his home in Sanford, North Carolina.

Friends and neighbors described Bohle as a devoted father and proud soldier.

Staff Sergeant Stephen S. Kuehl, 30, a neighbor with two children about the same age as Bohle’s, said his friend enjoyed camping and woodwork. And he loved to watch Ultimate Fighting Championship martial arts.

Kuehl said he helped Bohle put some belongings in storage before he deployed in July. He last talked with him a few days ago in an online chat.

“He always smiled, was always in a great mood,” Kuehl said.

Bohle’s widow, Elizabeth, was grieving with military wives near Fort Bragg late Thursday, her mother said.

Reached by telephone, Elizabeth Bohle declined to comment. “It’s a private family matter,” she said. “We’ve got it covered.”

According to an online posting, the couple met while each was enlisted in the Army at Fort Hood in Texas.

The attack on Bohle’s patrol took place in the southern province of Helmand, where the U.S. military has launched an offensive against the Taliban.

More U.S. and NATO troops have been killed in 2009 than in any year since the war began in late 2001. U.S. deaths in August reached an all-time monthly high of 47.

Also killed after Tuesday’s explosion were Sergeant First Class Shawn P. McCloskey, 33 of Peachtree City, Georgia, and Staff Sergeant Joshua M. Mills, 24 of El Paso, the Defense Department said.

Major Emanuel Ortiz, a spokesman for U.S. Army Special Forces, said McCloskey and Mills were in the vehicle with Bohle.

Asked about the circumstances of the explosion, Ortiz said, “it’s still under investigation.”

Soldier who grew up in Arundel dies in Afghanistan

Sgt. 1st Class Bradley Bohle graduated from North County
September 19, 2009

Ethel Bohle was in the attic of her Severn, Maryland, home Friday morning, retrieving photos of her grandson, Brad, from more than five dozen albums and recalling memories of the 29-year-old soldier who was killed this week in Afghanistan.

One of her favorite memories involved her husband, Edward, who died three years ago.

“They would do woodworking together, and Brad even had a lathe in his house,” she said. “After they were done working, Pop would make him a milkshake and shave the ice for it. When Brad’s father came to tell me the bad news, he said, ‘I guess Brad and Pop are having a milkshake.’ ”

Sergeant First Class Bradley Bohle, an Army Green Beret medic serving in the 3rd Division, 7th Special Forces Group, was killed with two other soldiers when their Humvee was hit by an improvised explosive device Tuesday while they were patrolling in Helmand province.

Sergeant Bohle, who grew up in Glen Burnie, Maryland, is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and three daughters, ages 9, 6 and 3. They were living in Sanford, North Carolina, near Fort Bragg. Sergeant Bohle had been in the military since graduating from North County High School in 1998.

It was his second tour of duty in Afghanistan since completing Special Forces training at Fort Bragg in March 2008. According to his grandmother, his first tour ended in December, and he returned in July.

“I didn’t worry about him as much as I should have,” Ethel Bohle said. “But that’s the way he made us feel, like nothing was going to happen to us. He was so calm. I know he was a good soldier. We’re going to miss him very much.”

Sergeant Bohle’s body arrived at 3 a.m. Friday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, according to his grandmother. He was the 10th soldier from Anne Arundel County to be die in the line of duty in Afghanistan or Iraq since 2003.

Ethel Bohle said her grandson “pretty much grew up in my house” while his mother, Linda, was studying to be a teacher and his father, Donald, was working.

In Sergeant Bohle’s high school yearbook at North County, where he transferred as a senior after spending his first three years at Glen Burnie High School, he said his career aspiration was to be a soldier. He played lacrosse and wrestled at North County.

Sergeant Bohle’s younger sister, April Clark, is in a National Guard unit stationed in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

“He was my best friend and my hero,” she told The Gazette suburban Maryland newspapers.

Through a relative, Sergeant Bohle’s wife and father declined comment.

Sergeant Bohle, who had already earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. According to his grandmother, the Singleton Funeral Home in Glen Burnie would be handling arrangements and a Mass will be celebrated at St. Bernadette Church in Severn.

Farewell to a fallen hero

Services for 1st Sgt. Bradley Bohle held in Severn, local man buried in Arlington National Cemetery
By SEAN PATRICK NORRIS, Staff Writer
Courtesy of The Maryland Gazette
7 October 2009

Solemn faces and gentle weeping filled the chapel at St. Bernadette’s in Severn on Monday as family and friends shared loving memories of Sergeant First Class Bradley Bohle.

“There is something inside Brad that made it so easy for him to give himself away,” the Rev. Michael Murphy told scores of mourners who turned out for the funeral.

“We all will try to reach deep down inside ourselves and find what it was in Brad that allowed him to stand up for the underdog.”

Bohle, an Army Green Beret medic, was one of three soldiers killed by an improvised explosive device on Sept. 15, while on patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Once his flag-draped casket was carried inside by an honor guard of Green Berets, soldiers removed the flag and replaced so it could be replaced with a pall, the traditional white cloth used in the Catholic Mass of Christian Burial. The coffin was then moved to the center of the church, adjacent to the first three pews reserved for family members.

“Ballad of the Green Berets” played inside the church before services began.

April Bohle, his sister and an Army reservist, shared some lessons she learned from her brother.

“The first thing he taught me was the catcher shouldn’t stand too close to the batter,” Bohle joked. “He was my best friend, my comforter and he was, is and always will be my hero.”

Joe Bohle said he always looked up to his brother.

“I just did whatever he did: When he delivered the Maryland Gazette I delivered the Maryland Gazette,” Bohle said. “When he started playing lacrosse I was right behind him.”

Bohle was on his second tour in Afghanistan when the roadside bomb exploded next to his Humvee.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Last month, North County High School established a scholarship in Bohle’s name for students planning to join an ROTC program. He was 1998 graduate for the school.

And on Saturday, County Executive John R. Leopold planted a dogwood tree at Fort Smallwood Park in memory of Bohle as part of the County Fallen Heroes Memorial Grove.

Bohle is at least the 11th county soldier from Anne Arundel County to die in Afghanistan or Iraq. The county created the grove last year, planting a tree for each serviceman killed, erecting a 90-foot flagpole and marking the names with a bronze plaque.

He was buried yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Governor Martin O’Malley ordered flags to be flown at half staff yesterday around the state in his honor.

Rebecca Wilkinson was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, with Bohle when he first joined the military. She reconnected with him shortly before he returned to Afghanistan.

“He was excited, he’s always in a happy mood,” Wilkinson said. “He was always a very motivated person.”

Murphy reiterated Bohle’s sacrifice in a reference to a reading.

“The greatest thing we can do is lay down our life for a friend and Brad did that for a lot friends,” Murphy said.

5 October 2009:

A Maryland family says its final goodbye to a local soldier killed while fighting in Afghanistan.

Weijia Jiang has emotional words from family and friends of Sergeant Bradley Bohle.

Those who were close to Sgt. Bradley Bohle say aside from his family, there was nothing he loved more than serving his country.

With the precision that defines them, soldiers with the Army Green Beret Special Forces marched one of their own into the Saint Bernadette Catholic Church in Severn, where friends and family of 29-year-old Sergeant First Class Bradley Bohle gathered for his funeral.  A medic, Bohle was one of three soldiers killed on September 16, 2009, when their Humvee was hit by a bomb in Afghanistan.

“We’re a very small, close-knit brotherhood.  Because we work in small, 12-man teams, it has a big impact every time we lose one of our brothers, because we’re so close,” said Group Deputy Commander Colonel Mark Gorton.

Bohle graduated from North County High School in 1998.  He enlisted in the Army almost immediately after graduating.  Classmates say it’s something he couldn’t wait to do.

“Even in the yearbook they fill out in September of their senior year where they plan to go.  Some people write Harvard or Yale, but his said U.S. Army,” said friend Linda Parks.

Bohle’s funeral fell the day after the deadliest assault of U.S. forces in Afghanistan in more than a year.  Hundreds of insurgent militants stormed a pair of outposts Sunday, killing eight U.S. soldiers.  The Obama administration is reviewing a wide range of ideas for troops there.  They include pulling back, staying put and adding more troops.

Laura Brown, a Bohle family friend, says there’s just one choice.

“They need to come home.  There’s too many of them dying.  I’m just speechless,” she said.

“It’s a little tough to take.  He made a big sacrifice for his family and his country and we’re here to help out the family,” said Justin Szech.

The family includes wife Elizabeth and three daughters, ages nine, six and three.

Bohle will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery Tuesday morning.

North County High School has started a scholarship fund for students who aspire to join the military.  Donations are now being accepted.

If you would like to contribute, make out a check to North County High School and put Bradley Bohle Scholarship Fund in the memo section.  Mail the check to:

North County High School
Attn: Linda Parks
10 E. First Avenue
Glen Burnie, Maryland 21061

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BOHLE, BRADLEY SCOTT

  • SFC   US ARMY
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 06/21/1980
  • DATE OF DEATH: 09/16/2009
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 8939
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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