ISLAMIC dad mourns soldier son who died in Iraq
How about this for a change!!
It was supposed to be a good week for Mohamed Rateb.
The Brigantine man was going to South Carolina to visit his younger son, Sameer, who would be on leave from Iraq starting Tuesday.
Instead, Mohamed Rateb spent the day at Dover Air Force Base, waiting for Sameer's casket.
Sgt. Sameer Rateb, 22, died Sunday from noncombat-related causes in Bayji, Iraq. His death
More.. is under investigation.
“He joined the Army for all the right reasons,” Mohamed Rateb said Wednesday. “He felt very strongly about what he was doing.”
Sameer was just 16 when the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks happened. The teenager was living in South Carolina with his mother, Erzsebet Howell, and felt the hatred that many Muslims endured at that time.
A year later, his father took him to ground zero.
“It devastated him,” Rateb said. “He just couldn't handle the emotion of what had happened there.”
That's when “Sam” started talking about serving his country. He had never mentioned the military before, his father said.
“He had always wanted to be a pilot, but they said he had to get straight A's,” Rateb said. “He wasn't the greatest student.”
But he was a good athlete. Sam was a member of Brigantine's Little League traveling team when he was 13. He played baseball and soccer in South Carolina, where he attended high school for a time.
He moved back to New Jersey with his father in 2001, and went to Woodbridge High School in Middlesex County. He didn't graduate, opting to take the test for his general equivalency diploma instead.
The next year, the young man who loved adventure found his calling. He finished infantry training in July and the basic airborne course in August. That September, he started a three-month stint in Afghanistan, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
“All indications we've gotten are that he was a stellar paratrooper and a gifted leader,” Maj. Tom Earnhardt said Wednesday. Earnhardt is the public affairs officer for the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division.
The young soldier received several medals and other commendations.
“He enjoyed it,” Rateb said of his son's service. “He was proud of it.”
The boy who loved diving and surfing was now a young man who enjoyed jumping out of planes as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne out of Fort Bragg, N.C.
“They all tell me every time they jump, they're scared, but they do it anyway,” Mohamed Rateb said. “(Sam) loved jumping.”
After marking three years of service in March, Sgt. Rateb signed up for another five years.
“The comradery and the friendship he developed with his fellow soldiers is amazing to me,” Mohamed Rateb said. When he visited his son for his 21st birthday last year, Mohamed met many of those young men.
“They're a special group of characters,” he said.
The main photo on Sameer Rateb's MySpace page illustrates that — it is him with his fellow soldiers.
But that wasn't his only happiness. Last year, he married his childhood sweetheart, Tiffany. Together they were raising a son, Jason, 4, in Ladson, S.C. His mother, Erzsebet Howell, and stepfather, Lew, also live in that town.
Mohamed Rateb had taken a friend to a Yankees game Sunday, so he wasn't home when military personnel arrived to tell him his son had died. Mohamed's brother, Ashe, who lives in Smithville, called him with the news.
He will go down to South Carolina on Saturday, when his son's body is due to arrive there. An autopsy is now being done to determine the cause of death.
“It's just a very unfortunate event,” Maj. Earnhardt said. “We're eagerly awaiting the results of the investigation.”
There will be a closed-casket viewing Monday evening and noon Tuesday at the J. Henry Stuhr Funeral Home in Charleston, S.C. Then the body will be cremated, and the ashes scattered on the beach and water at Sullivan's Island near Fort Moultrie, S.C., at noon Wednesday. It is what Sameer said he wanted should anything happen to him.
“We mourn the loss of Sgt. Rateb and our hearts go out to the Rateb family,” Brigantine Mayor Philip J. Guenther said Wednesday. “Sgt. Rateb will forever be remembered for the supreme sacrifice he made in defense of our country and the American way of life.”
U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd, also offered his condolences.
“Too often, we here in America forget that our freedoms are courageously protected by those men and women who serve in uniform,” he said. “Our nation owes them and, in particular, Army Sgt. Rateb, a debt of gratitude for their commitment and selfless sacrifice.”
“We're all devastated over it,” Mohamed Rateb said. “Between the phone calls, personal visits and e-mails, it's been a tremendous outpouring of love and support from everybody.”
Sameer Rateb is also survived by his brother, Mohamed II, and paternal grandmother, Naima Rateb, of Northfield. Less..
Added: May 12 2007 In: middle_east
By: RichieRich55 
- Views: 6085 |
- Votes: 1 |
- Recommendations: 0 |
- Comments: 34
