1LT Joseph Theinert

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Joey arrived home today from Dover air base. The paper in his college town had the most factual and respectful story.

Thanks for reading.


UAlbany grad killed in Afghanistan
Patriotic UAlbany grad killed leading platoon on Afghanistan mission


Wednesday, June 9, 2010

ALBANY-- Joseph Theinert wanted to serve in the Army so badly that he jubilantly informed classmates at tiny Shelter Island High School on his 18th birthday that he had signed up for military service on the very first day he was eligible.

First Lt. Theinert, who was killed in combat Friday in Afghanistan, was a member of the New York Army National Guard. He volunteered for active duty service with the 10th Mountain Division after a boyhood influenced by twin assaults on America's sovereignty.
His grandfather, a World War II veteran, told him accounts about surviving the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that lingered in the boy's imagination.

As an impressionable teenager, he grieved along with his father, a retired New York City firefighter, who knew many of those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

His brother found a picture album posthumously on which Theinert, 24, a 2008 University at Albany graduate, wrote these words on the back cover: "There is nothing glorious about war, but I will go to it to keep the people I love away from it. 9/11 -- never forget."

Theinert was hailed as a hero and others on Tuesday, while the tight-knit community of Shelter Island was planning two days of funeral services expected to draw more than 1,000 people later this week.

Friends described the fallen soldier as a focused, hard-working and patriotic young man who majored in history at UAlbany, spent summer vacations traveling to World War II battlefields and completed ROTC training at Siena College while taking a full academic load.

"He was a wonderful young man and very patriotic. He strived to be a great leader and a great officer," said Lt. Col. Michael Papadopoulos, a retired military science professor at Siena and former commander of the ROTC battalion who commissioned Theinert as an Army officer at a May 2008 ceremony.

Theinert was the 32nd member of the New York Army National Guard killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, with 23 deaths in Iraq and nine in Afghanistan. There have been 4,402 American soldiers killed in Iraq out of 4,720 total NATO casualties since 2003, and 1,103 Americans killed in Afghanistan among 1,812 NATO fatalities since 2001, according to icasualties.org, a Web site that tracks deaths of all NATO forces.

"He was a homegrown American hero. We should take some time to think about his sacrifice and what his life stood for," said Lt. John Harder, an active duty Army National Guard member who lives in North Greenbush. He is a 2008 Siena College graduate who was a classmate of Theinert's in the ROTC unit that year. They briefly shared an apartment and Theinert sent frequent e-mails and Facebook messages from Afghanistan, where he had been deployed for about five weeks before he was killed.

Theinert was among 30,000 additional troops ordered to Afghanistan in December by President Obama to try to thwart the rise of the resurgent Taliban. U.S. commanders warned of more casualties as the alliance gears up for a major operation to secure Kandahar, the former headquarters of the Taliban and the biggest city in the south with a half million people.


Theinert was killed while leading his 20-member platoon on a mission in Kandahar when they came under fire, including by a rocket-propelled grenade, or RPG. A military news release originally stated that Theinert died after his vehicle was struck by an RPG, but it later corrected the notice to say Theinert was killed when an improvised explosive device, or IED, was detonated during a dismounted patrol.

According to family members who spoke to the Shelter Island Reporter after hearing from Theinert's commanding officer, they said Theinert died after he disabled one IED and began to disarm a second one when the trigger mechanism sounded. Theinert had ordered the soldiers under his command to get back before the device exploded and he was the only soldier killed in the incident. He is expected to receive the Purple Heart, they said.


Theinert, who divided his time between his mother's home on Shelter Island and his father's in Sag Harbor, Suffolk County, was serving as a member of the New York Army National Guard, assigned to the Army's 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry, which is part of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division. He volunteered through a National Guard program that allows Guard members to serve three years on active duty prior to returning to a local unit.

He set his sights as a youngster on a military career.

"His grandfather talked all the time about World War II and Pearl Harbor with Joey and I think that's what put it in his head about going into the service," said his grandmother, Patricia Theinert, of Sag Harbor. "Joey was a nice boy, a sweetheart."

"Somehow, he managed to be everybody's best friend and big brother at the same time," said Emily Larsen, a close friend since kindergarten and a classmate among two dozen seniors who graduated in 2004 from Shelter Island High School.

Theinert enjoyed fishing on Long Island Sound and he worked for the Shelter Island ferry service, along with his younger brother, Jim, 22, also a UAlbany graduate. They have an older brother, Billy, 25. In high school, Theinert competed in lacrosse, basketball and cross-country and was Student Council president and prom king.

Theinert never talked about the danger of his deployment and when he saw friends in Shelter Island for the last time before heading to Afghanistan.

"He never let anybody worry about him," Larsen said. "He wasn't into goodbyes. He just said, 'I'll see you later.'?"

[PeteLeathersac]

Prayers and condolences to this lad's family and friends..
A salute and heartfelt thank you to First Lt. Joseph Theinert also those who've returned from or are still in action today protecting the free world we all take so for granted!!!

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~ Pete
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[Lynn]

Condolences to the family.
I can barely read these things.
My youngest son spent 15 mos. in Bagdad, and is currently serving in Kuwait. Should be home in about 3 weeks.

I am so sorry for the loss this family must feel. I cannot imagine (actually, I guess I can imagine - I have many times).

[RPOLS3]

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[1970Ls6]

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[JJEH]

RIP [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]

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Today, a great honor was paid to Joe as The South Ferry Co. of Shelter Island, where he worked summers, recommissioned one of their boats in his name. His brother Jimbo is a Captain on the ferry and also works summers while earning his masters degree.

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