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Hood soldier's family thankful for community support and help

BY DEBBIE STEVENSON
The Killeen Daily Herald Staff Writer

FORT HOOD — One of Linnie Blankenbecler's biggest fears when she heard that her husband had died in Iraq was that no one but the family would be present to honor him at his new home.

She quickly found out that this Army community and the active-duty ranks are a close-knit family.

"I'm so grateful for their support, for all their giving, for all their graciousness. I could not have done this without them," Linnie said. "When I first heard about this, we've only been here like a month and a half and my concern was: Oh my God, who's going to come to his funeral because I didn't realize that the Army was so big like this and that they come together."

Linnie's husband, Command Sgt. Maj. James Blankenbecler, was killed Oct. 1 when his convoy was attacked in Samara.

Blankenbecler had been assigned to the 4th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery at Fort Hood in mid-August after graduating in May from the nine-month Command Sergeants Major Academy at Fort Bliss.

The division has been in Iraq since late March for a yearlong tour. Linnie said her husband was scheduled to report to his unit in Iraq on Sept. 1, but had delayed his departure a couple of weeks to ensure his family was settled in their military quarters on Fort Hood.

The day before he died, the 40-year-old Arlington, Va., native wrote his wife two letters.

"He told me that he was going on the road again tomorrow and that he was going to one of the ugliest places that he has," Linnie said.

As with earlier visits to his unit's outlying areas, Blankenbecler was torn between doing his duty and putting his soldiers at risk, Linnie said.

"I told you that I wanted to do what my soldiers are doing," Blankenbecler wrote. "But it is so hard that every time I leave this place, it's a major operation making sure that I have the right security and stuff. That every time I move, it affects six soldiers that have nothing to do with what I have to do and I hate that. But I have to move around the battlefield."

But while he cared deeply for his people, Linnie said her husband, who had signed up for the Army in 1983, had little patience for sloppiness such as wrinkled uniforms or dirty boots.

"He just couldn't believe a soldier wouldn't wear a uniform with pride," said Linnie, a former Army brat. "He never put up with it."

Out of uniform, Blankenbecler would never let a sneeze go unblessed, a door unopened for his wife and daughters, if they would let him. A gesture was always received with a thank you.

"My husband was very serious; he was a very serious man," Linnie said. "But when he found something funny, it would just like be so amazing to see him laugh so hard that it would just put you in tears, you were laughing so hard.

"He loved his golf. He loved his family, he loved me and man, he loved those (Washington) Redskins," said Linnie of her husband's favorite football team.

Blankenbecler's passing has left his wife and three children with mixed emotions.

"Losing someone is awful," said Joseph Morales, his 20-year-old son. "But if God had to take my dad, I wouldn't have had it any other way."

Noting the intense pride that Blankenbecler had in his military service, Morales said the battlefield would have been his choice of places to die.

"I'm thankful for that, as much as I hate that he's gone," Morales said

Linnie and James met while he was stationed at Fort Bliss.

Recovering from a tough period, Linnie had not been out in two years when she agreed to go to a club with her friend. They hadn't been there long when James approached her.

"He said, 'What's a beautiful woman like you doing in a place like this?' " said Linnie smiling at the memory.

Getting past that unoriginal opening line, Linnie saw a depth of character in the man who would become her husband after he returned to Fort Bliss following a nine-month assignment.

"He was a beautiful man," Linnie said. "He was what my son described as a savior to this family. He had come into a family that was broken and he was willing to take on my mom, who was terminally ill, and take on my children from a previous marriage."

The transition was not easy. Daughter Amanda, now 23, said she and her brother initially resisted him.

"It was hard for me to accept him as a father," she said, adding that she also resented the moves that her mother's marriage to the military entailed.

But, in the end, the two older children accepted their new father, and Amanda had Blankenbecler and her real father walk her down the aisle for her marriage to Willy Villalobos six months ago.

"I realized that he was the best thing that could have happened to us," she said. "His children always came first, his family always came first, no matter what."

Linnie and 14-year-old Jessica Blankenbecler, the couple's youngest child, have been assured by Fort Hood officials that they can remain longer than the 90 days usually given to the families in government quarters once their loved one has passed on. The extension will allow Jessica to finish her freshman year at Shoemaker High School.

After that, Linnie said she was thinking about returning to Hawaii, a place where the couple had been.

"My heart says Hawaii because we both wanted to retire there. We loved the way it felt. I loved the way I felt there," Linnie said. "I don't know if it will be as easy to live there as a civilian."

As an avid golfer, Linnie said one of her husband's wishes had been to have some of his ashes left in the 18th hole of the Leilehua golf course. As a former employee, Linnie said she is hoping she can make that happen.

Linnie said a full military memorial and funeral service is planned for her husband at 10 a.m. on Oct. 16 in the Killeen Civic and Convention Center.

A CD will be played during the ceremony of a song recorded by her son, titled "Remember Me."

Blankenbecler will be cremated and laid to rest at Punch Bowl National Cemetery in Hawaii.

Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home in Killeen is handling funeral arrangements. Linnie was told that the home is not charging her for the cremation.

A memorial fund also has been established for the children. Contributions can be sent to Memorial Fund for children of Command Sgt. Maj. James Blankenbecler, Fort Hood National Bank, P.O. Box 5000, Fort Hood, Texas 76544.

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