Bruce E. Price – Chief Warrant Officer, United States Army

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NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 469-04
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2004

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Chief Warrant Officer Bruce E. Price, 37, of Maryland, died May 15, 2004, in Kajaki, Afghanistan, when individuals using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire ambushed his unit.  Price was assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The incident is under investigation.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Green Beret dies from combat wounds

Chief Warrant Officer Bruce E. Price, a Green Beret stationed at Fort Bragg, died over the weekend after being wounded on a combat patrol in Afghanistan.

Price, 37, was an assistant detachment commander assigned to the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Special Forces Group, according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

The Army said he was was struck by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade fire.

His father, Colonel Herman Price, retired from the Army after serving 30 years. “We were proud of him, and naturally, it’s hard losing your only son,” he said.

Bruce Price enlisted in the Army in 1986 and this was his third deployment to Afghanistan since 2002, according to the Special Operations Command release. Price had been in the Army for 17 years. Two Taliban suspects have been detained in the Saturday attack.

Herman Price said his son loved hunting, fishing, biking and riding motorcycles. “He was easygoing, but a serious person regarding his goals in life,” the elder Price said in a phone interview from Fayetteville. “He lived a very simple life.”

Price lived in Fayetteville with his wife, Renate, and an 8-year-old son, Aidan.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at JFK Chapel in Fort Bragg. A graveside service will be held later at Arlington National Cemetery.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Special Forces from Fort Bragg soldier killed in Afghanistan

A Green Beret from Fort Bragg was killed when his unit was ambushed while on combat patrol in southern Afghanistan, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

Chief Warrant Officer Bruce E. Price, 37, died Saturday, according to a Defense Department news release that identified him as being from Maryland. The U.S. Army Special Operations Command said he lived in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Price was born at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Army said.

Herman Price said his son was a tough soldier who enjoyed what he did for a living.

“He loved life, loved his buddies, loved his family and loved his job,” said Herman Price.

He died in Kajaki, Afghanistan, “when individuals using rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire ambushed his unit,” the Defense Department statement said. Afghan authorities have said they arrested two Taliban suspects in the attack.

Price had a wife, Renate, and an 8-year-old son, Aidan. He attended Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, for two years.

He was an assistant detachment commander assigned to the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Special Forces Group, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Elements of the group are deployed to Afghanistan.

This was Price’s third deployment to Afghanistan since 2002, according to the USASOC release. Price enlisted in the Army in 1986 and has served on several assignments, including an overseas tour in Germany and time in Kuwait.

He completed the Special Forces Qualification Course in 1992 as a Special Forces weapons sergeant and had been a warrant officer since 1998.

The Green Beret also was an Army jumpmaster and an Army Ranger. Price’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Joint Service Commendation Medal and the Army Commendation Medal, among others.

The Prices were a military family, moving to El Paso, the San Francisco Bay area and back to the Washington area, settling for a short time in Chevy Chase. Price attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, The Washington Post reported.

Bruce Price was interested in the challenge of being a soldier, his father said. Special Forces missions are often secret, and Price didn’t talk much about his work, even with his family.

“We never discussed any of that,” his father said. “I never really asked him.”

Herman Price said his son would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery at a date to be determined.

“How do you express your feelings at a time like this?” he said. “We’re sorry he didn’t get to live a longer life, but we feel that he lived the time that he had here to the utmost. He basically has two families. He has his natural family, and he has his Army family. Everyone’s going to miss him.”

20 May 2004:

Matt Harmon, a 1992 Carmi-White County High School graduate, is serving with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. A captain with the U.S. Army Special Forces 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), he wrote in a dispatch to The Times last month that Afghanistan is still very dangerous to U.S. forces. This dispatch tells why.

By CAPTAIN MATT HARMON

I recently arrived back at home in North Carolina.

On Saturday, May 15, 2004, my team of seven men was decimated when four of my men were shot in an ambush on a patrol in southern Afghanistan. Fortunately, we suffered only one fatality, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bruce Price (my second in command), because we were wearing body armor. Most of the other personnel were hit with multiple gunshots, including my team sergeant, who was hit eight times. Luckily, I was not hit, but I lost a good man, teammate and friend. All my other men are healing slowly, but they will be fine.

Because of the number of able men I had remaining, it was decided to send us home to the States rather than have us continue our missions in Afghanistan.

Instead, we were able to carry our fallen brother home. We will be burying him in Arlington National Cemetery in the coming week.

I have always appreciated the amount of support that I have received from the people of Southern Illinois and have always enjoyed giving them insight as to how the global war on terrorism is going through the eyes of one soldier. So much of the news and names of those soldiers that are killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan go unnoticed and maybe appear as a tiny blurb running across the bottom of your TV. It is my wish to tell you about one of them and his actions on that day.

Narrative for the award of the Silver Star to CW2 Bruce E. Price, Operational Detachment Alpha 313, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bruce E. Price, United States Army, distinguished himself by gallantry in action and extreme heroism above and beyond the call of duty as the assistant detachment commander for Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 313, Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM during an armed reconnaissance mission near Musa Qalay, Afghanistan on 15 May 2004.

On this date, CW2 Price and his detachment were part of a combined patrol consisting of U.S. Special Forces and soldiers from the 1st Kandak, 3rd Brigade of the Afghan National Army. The purpose of the mission was to disrupt anti-coalition militia (ACM) activity in this known enemy sanctuary. CW2 Price commanded the lead vehicle in a convoy composed of two ground mobility vehicles (GMV) and two non-tactical vehicles. While moving through a small, restricted village, the patrol was ambushed at extremely close range from multiple prepared positions. CW2 Prices’ GMV was immediately struck head-on by two rocket propelled grenades (RPG) and machine gun fire, disabling the vehicle. Within seconds of the ambush, all personnel in CW2 Price’s vehicle were wounded or unable to return fire. The determined enemy swept the vehicle with repeated volleys of machine gun and RPG fire.

CW2 Price immediately rallied his men and tried to gain fire superiority in order to break the enemy attack. He quickly realized that the enemy force was concentrating its fire on the lead and trail vehicles of the patrol in an effort to trap the friendly forces inside a prepared kill zone. With his vehicle in flames and under a mounting volume of fire, CW2 Price gave the order to dismount and seek cover. CW2 Price then exited the vehicle and without hesitation began engaging enemy directly to his front from the exposed door machine gun position on his vehicle.

The ACM force immediately began concentrating its fire on CW2 Price. With total disregard for his own life, his continued to man the machine gun until he was mortally wounded by small arms fire. CW2 Price’s courageous efforts to destroy the enemy enabled his teammates to reach cover and continue to fight. His valorous leadership and spirited actions served as the call to action, which inspired the entire patrol to drive the entrenched enemy from the field. CW2 Price’s conspicuous personal heroism, extraordinary valor and selfless courage saved a number of his detachment members from certain injury and possible death at the cost of his life.

The gallantry in action and absolute bravery in the line of fire by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Bruce E. Price reflect great credit upon himself, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan and the United States Army.

Bruce is survived by his wife, Nadie; his son, Aidan (age 8); his parents, two sisters and a brother. He was one hell of a soldier, leader, teammate and friend. He is not just another name going across the ticker at the bottom of your TV. Please don’t forget that.

Very respectfully,
Captain Matthew Harmon
Detachment Commander ODA 313

Green Beret ‘Loved His Job,’ Father Says
D.C. Area Native Slain in Afghanistan
By Nelson Hernandez
Courtesy of the Washington Post
Wednesday, May 19, 2004

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Although he served 30 years in the armed forces, Herman Price never encouraged his Washington-born son to join the military.

“I wanted all of my children to make up their own minds,” Price said. And when his boy, Bruce, joined the Army and became a Green Beret, the father had no objections.

“He was his own man,” he said.

Chief Warrant Officer 2nd Class Bruce E. Price lived for his comrades in the Army Special Forces, his father said. And he died among them. He was killed in southern Afghanistan when his unit was ambushed Saturday by insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, the Department of Defense announced yesterday.

Price, 37, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was on patrol in the town of Kajaki, about 60 miles northwest of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, when his unit, the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), was attacked, according to the Army. The incident is still being investigated.

Price, square-jawed and shaven-headed in his official Army portrait, served as assistant detachment commander. He was, according to his father, a tough, serious soldier who enjoyed what he did for a living.

“I have talked to some of his close friends who felt that he was also a wonderful person, and easygoing generally,” said Herman Price, who lives in Florida and was in Fayetteville with his son’s family yesterday. “He loved life, loved his buddies, loved his family and loved his job.”

Bruce Price was born at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 1966. At the time, his parents lived in the District. The Prices lived the wandering life of a military family, moving to El Paso, the San Francisco Bay area and back to the Washington area, settling for a short time in Chevy Chase. Price attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.

Joining the military was not what his father, a military physician, had in mind for him when he graduated from high school in 1985. But Bruce Price was interested in the challenge of being a soldier and enlisted in the Army in 1986.

He met his wife, Renate, in 1990 in Germany and brought her back to the United States, where they had a son, Aidan, who is now 8.

Price volunteered for Special Forces in 1992, then earned the right to wear the green beret that marked his membership in one of the country’s elite fighting forces. Members of the Special Forces were among the first on the ground in Afghanistan when U.S. troops invaded that country in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

He was sent to Afghanistan three times, beginning in 2002, and earned the Bronze Star. A spokesman for the Special Operations Command said a citation for the medal was not available and did not respond to further requests for information about how it was won other than to say it was given for previous service and not posthumously.

Special Forces missions are often secret, and Price did not talk much about his work, even with his family.

“We never discussed any of that,” his father said. “I never really asked him.”

Even when he was not performing combat exercises or stationed overseas, he liked to get outdoors, his father said. When he had time off, he hunted and fished, practiced martial arts, or rode his motorcycle.

Herman Price said his son would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery at a date to be determined.

“How do you express your feelings at a time like this?” he said. “We’re sorry he didn’t get to live a longer life, but we feel that he lived the time that he had here to the utmost. He basically has two families. He has his natural family, and he has his Army family. Everyone’s going to miss him.”

Killed in a Country He Tried to Serve
Afghan Rebels Ambushed D.C. Native
By Michele Clock
Courtesy of the Washington Post
Wednesday, May 26, 2004

He didn’t talk much about his work in Afghanistan.

A member of the Army’s elite Special Forces, Bruce E. Price kept the details of his classified missions to himself. But Price, a Washington native, did make clear his affection for the Afghan people, said his mother, Madalin Price of Palm Coast, Florida.

“He viewed them as people, not as enemies,” she said. His parents wouldn’t realize the extent of his determination to understand the country where he was fighting until after their son’s death.

In the midst of his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, Price, 37, was killed May 15 when Afghan insurgents armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades ambushed his unit, the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Special Forces Group, the Defense Department said.

Price, a chief warrant officer from Fayetteville, North Carolina, who served as assistant detachment commander for his Special Forces team, was patrolling the town of Kajaki, about 60 miles northwest of Kandahar, when his unit came under fire.

Yesterday, Madalin and Herman Price watched as their only son became the newest war casualty laid to rest in the southeast end of Arlington National Cemetery. His metal coffin was placed at the end of a row of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Several graves near his were so new that they had not yet been marked with permanent marble headstones.

Madalin Price remembered her son as someone who always defended those who couldn’t defend themselves.

“He would stick up for somebody who was being bullied in school,” she said.

Price once took heat for getting into a fight at school — until it was clear that he was protecting another student.

“That kind of thing is what he did,” his mother said.

He devoted himself to understanding and protecting the Afghan people in much the same way, she said.

“That was what he prided himself on more than anything: treating everyone as a human being,” Madalin Price said. “Even though he was a soldier, a Green Beret, he felt like, ‘They’re people like I am.’ ”

Bruce Price went so far as to read the Koran cover to cover during a recent tour in Afghanistan, his father learned last week from his son’s colleagues.

“The way it was put, [he read it] so that he was able to understand what was truth and what was not truth,” Herman Price said.

A transient upbringing and far-reaching travels with the Army helped create and reinforce this interest in other cultures, Madalin Price said.

As far back as high school, Price’s fascination with cultural diversity was evident. His favorite subject at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School was Chinese, his mother said.

Bruce Price was born in 1966 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. His parents lived in the District at the time. His father’s military career later led the family to El Paso, the San Francisco Bay area and back to the Washington area — specifically to Chevy Chase.

Price graduated from high school in 1985 and enlisted in the military the next year. In 1990, Price met his wife, Renate, in Germany and brought her back to the United States, where they had a son, Aidan, who is now 8. The family settled in Fayetteville, near Fort Bragg, where his unit was based.

The loss isn’t unusual for Fayetteville, a large military community, said Todd McCabe, 35, a neighbor of the family there.

“We’re used to seeing things,” he said. “You hear about casualties.”

In general, there’s a lot of support for the president and the military, McCabe said. “In this community, especially if something like this happens, even if they don’t know the individual, people will flock to attend” a memorial service. A ceremony for Price filled a chapel at Fort Bragg last week, Madalin Price said.

As seven soldiers fired three rounds into the warm, heavy air yesterday, Renate Price, 32, looked down at her son standing beside her. She gently placed her arms around his shoulders.

The young boy quietly listened as a bugler, shielded from the sun under a tree, played taps.

Price was awarded the Bronze Star — his second — the Silver Star for valor and a Purple Heart posthumously, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Army Special Forces Command.

beprice-funeral-service-photo-01

PRICE, BRUCE E

  • CW2 US ARMY
  • VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 05/10/1999 – 05/15/2004
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 09/11/1966
  • DATE OF DEATH: 05/15/2004
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 05/25/2004
    BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 7982

beprice-gravesite-photo-may-2008-001 beprice-1204

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