Max W Donahue

Highlands Ranch, Colorado

August 7, 2010

 Died Aug. 7 of wounds received Aug. 4 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Two Coloradans killed while serving in wars
POSTED: 08/10/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
By Kirk Mitchell
The Denver Post

A Marine dog handler stationed in Afghanistan was killed in an IED explosion, and an Army intelligence specialist in Iraq was killed in a rocket attack in the past several days. Both were 23 and from Colorado.
Cpl. Max William Donahue of Highlands Ranch died Friday, and Spec. Faith Hinkley of Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley died Saturday, according to family members.
Donahue, who was a Marine military-police dog handler, was severely injured Wednesday while working with his dog, Fenji, a German shepherd, in the Helmand province when an IED exploded, said his mother, Julie Schrock.
Donahue had both his legs amputated above the knees and his right arm amputated below the elbow. He was taken to the U.S. and died Friday.

"Max was doing what he thought was right, and that gives me peace," Schrock said. "We're in shock mode right now."
Donahue had served in Iraq, and when he was assigned to go to Afghanistan, he explained to his mother why he wanted to go.
" 'There's not a lot of guys who can do what I can do, and my buddies need me there,' " Schrock recalled him saying. "My son became a man."
Donahue was the kind of person who always took care of other people. When an elderly man's credit card wouldn't go through at a gas station, Donahue and a brother paid the bill for him. One day he did yard work for a woman whose husband had just died and on the way home helped a woman whose car broke down, Schrock said.
Donahue was assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. He had served with the U.S. Marine Corps for more than four years.
Besides his mother, he is survived by his father, Greg; stepfather, Chad Schrock; brother, Ryan; sister-in-law, Devan; and stepbrothers Taylor and Jordan Schrock.
The family suggests donations to the Daniel C. Oakes High School in Castle Rock in lieu of flowers.
Donahue's funeral is set for Friday. Details will be available later.

Spec. Hinkley was stationed in Iskandariya, Iraq, when an alarm alerted her of an insurgent rocket attack, according to a Department of Defense news release and her step-grandmother, Orene Hinkley of Colorado Springs.
She was running for cover when a missile exploded nearby, killing her and injuring other soldiers, Orene Hinkley said. She died in Baghdad.
Hinkley, who had been in her high school's marching band, surprised her family after the first year of college at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs when she announced she had enlisted in the Army.
She was smart, beautiful and had a wonderful personality, Orene Hinkley said.
Hinkley received army intelligence training at Fort Huachuca in Arizona.
"She really couldn't tell us what she did," Orene Hinkley said. "She didn't want us to worry about her. She was pretty happy with what she was doing."
She was about six weeks away from coming home.
"That's what is so hard," Orene Hinkley said. "It's just devastating."
Hinkley was assigned to the 502nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

MILITARY: Camp Pendleton Marine killed in Afghanistan
By MARK WALKER - Posted: Monday, August 9, 2010 1:04 pm
A Camp Pendleton Marine has been killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan, the Defense Department reported Monday.
The department said Cpl. Max W. Donahue, 23, of Highlands Ranch, Colo., died Saturday of wounds suffered Wednesday in what was described only as combat operations in the Helmand province.
Donahue, a military policeman and dog handler, was assigned to the I Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group led by Maj. Gen. Richard Mills.
Donahue, who was on his third combat assignment after two tours in Iraq, joined the U.S. Marine Corps in July 2006.
His body was returned Sunday to the U.S. Air Force base at Dover, Del.
Military authorities in Afghanistan also announced that two more U.S. Marines died Saturday when they tried to subdue an inmate who was attempting to escape from an unidentified prison in southern Afghanistan.
The prisoner had fled a room where he was praying, somehow obtained a rifle and opened fire before he was killed, according to a NATO news release.
Late Monday afternoon, the Defense Department announced the deaths of two other Marines on Saturday: Lance Cpl. Kevin Cornelius, 20, of Ashtabula, Ohio, and Pfc. Vincent Gammone III of Christiana, Tenn.
The department did not say whether they were the victims in the prison incident, but military officials have not announced any other Marine deaths occurring that day.
Efforts to confirm they were the Marines killed at the prison were not immediately successful.
Cornelius and Gammone were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
The headquarters group that left Camp Pendleton in the spring is responsible for oversight of about 20,000 Marines in the country, including about 10,000 from Camp Pendleton, Miramar Marine Corps Air Station and other regional bases.
The toll of U.S. troop deaths since the war began in fall 2001 stood at 1,220 as of Monday evening.
The U.S. has recorded 273 deaths this year, compared with 317 for all of 2009.
Nearly 60 percent of the war dead are victims of roadside bombs, which the Taliban have increasingly used to avoid direct fighting with U.S. and NATO troops.
Helmand remains the most deadly region with 547 American service members killed since the war's inception, according to the independent website https://icasualties.org, which tracks troop deaths.

Camp Pendleton Marine killed in Afghanistan
Coalition says two others killed by escaped detainee
Written by Gretel C. Kovach 3:50 p.m., Aug. 9, 2010

Cpl. Max W. Donahue, 23, a military policeman and dog handler serving with Camp Pendleton’s 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Afghanistan, died Saturday from combat wounds, defense officials announced Monday.

Donahue, originally from Highlands Ranch, Colo., had been wounded Aug. 4 while serving in Helmand Province with the force’s Headquarters Group. No further details about the cause of death were released. “The Marines and Sailors of I MEF extend their heartfelt condolences to his family,” Marine officials said.

Donahue had enlisted in the Marine Corps July 17, 2006, and served two combat tours in Iraq before deploying to Afghanistan. His personal service awards include the Navy Unit Commendation, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and the Certificate of Commendation, the Marines said.
The International Security Assistance Force, the coalition of NATO troops serving in Afghanistan under Army Gen. David Petraeus, also announced Monday that two Marines had been killed Saturday by a prisoner in southern Afghanistan. The detainee escaped from a room where he had been praying, grabbed a rifle and fought with Afghan and coalition forces, the joint command said.

The prisoner killed the Marines, who were not identified, as they tried to subdue him, officials said. The escaped detainee was later shot and killed. The incident remains under investigation.

The Pentagon later announced that two Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., had died Saturday in Helmand Province: Lance Cpl. Kevin M. Cornelius, 20, of Ashtabula, Ohio, and Pfc. Vincent E. Gammone III, 19, of Christiana, Tenn. A spokesman for the Marine force, citing "operational security," said Tuesday he could not confirm whether they were the ones killed by the escaped prisoner.

About 20,000 U.S. Marines are serving in southern Afghanistan, including roughly 10,000 from the force based near Oceanside. Maj. Gen. Richard Mills and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Forward took command this spring in Helmand province, a stronghold of Taliban militants and opium traders. Mills was later selected to lead NATO’s new command in southwestern Afghanistan, which includes Helmand and Nimruz provinces.