Not just a name on a plaque
Story and photos by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. April Wickes Regional Support Command-West/NTM-A Unit Public Affairs Representative
Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Nededog, Joint Medical Operations Center Bio Medical Equipment Technician Mentor working in Regional Support Command-West, points out his cousin’s name on Camp Stone’s memorial July 18, 2012 in Herat, Afghanistan.
CAMP STONE, Afghanistan – Have you ever admired a Memorial from afar? Take a closer look next time and you may be surprised by what you find.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Nededog, Joint Medical Operations Center Bio- Medical Equipment Technician mentor in Regional Support Command-West was caught off guard by what he found on Camp Stone’s Memorial in Herat, Afghanistan.
“I pass by that (Memorial) all the time and I’m always looking from afar when I’m passing by, but then I decided to stop and take a look after the formation,” said Nededog. “I looked at it closer and I was like, wow I couldn’t believe his name was on there, I didn’t know he was here in Herat. “
After hearing his cousin Anthony passed away, Nededog placed the news at the back of his mind.
“I never really paid too much mind about it, it didn’t really start to kick in until I started to keep in touch with his younger brother Austin. I looked it up; I was on YouTube scrolling through different memorial videos of corpsman and I saw it said 2008, I thought ‘wow that was pretty recent,’” said Nededog.
After doing more research he found out that Petty Officer 2nd Class Anthony Carbullido died in Afghanistan during a convoy operation, but Nededog had no idea where in Afghanistan.
“When I saw his name on the plaque I was kind of in shock a little bit, I was just surprised it caught me off guard,” he said.
Nededog was never really close to his cousin, but had a lot in common with him. They were both Navy corpsmen, they both held the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class and they were both stationed at Camp Stone.
“Me and Austin (Carbullido’s brother) were close but I never really paid attention to Anthony, it was kind of weird that I found out he was a corpsman, he was a corps school instructor, and he did a lot of great things being a corpsman,” said Nededog.
When asked what it was like being at the same location as his cousin, Nededog stated that he thinks about it every night.
“I feel like I was meant to come here, that I have a purpose here. I’m not sure why exactly but maybe it’s because of my job,” he said. “I just think it’s odd, of all places in the world; I’m here where he was.”
If Nededog could talk to his cousin today he would say, “First and foremost, thank you for your service, I wish I paid more attention to you and I’ll do my best to not only be a good corpsman but a brother to Austin. I’m sorry that I never kept in touch when I left Guam.”
RSC-West falls under NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan, headquartered at Camp Eggers in Kabul and composed of a coalition of 38 troop-contributing nations charged with assisting the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in generating a capable and sustainable Afghan National Security Force ready to take lead of their country’s security by 2014. For more information about NTM-A, visit www.ntm-a.com
NTM-A is a coalition of 38 troop-contributing nations charged with assisting the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in generating a capable and sustainable Afghan National Security Force ready to take lead of their country’s security by 2014. For more information about NTM-A, visit www.ntm-a.com.
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Category: News - General, News - Medical
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