About Andy

The first three pictures on this page, in order, show Andy first in Iraq, and then in each of his two deployments to Afghanistan. Andy joined the United States Army in the spring of 2001. He graduated from Basic, Advanced Infantry and then Airborne School. He was assigned to the US Army 173rd Airborne Infantry in Italy, and is now in back stateside serving as a Criminal Investigator with the Army.

Andy Hurst

Meet the family

mountainous and inaccessible region where the Russians were defeated by the Taliban many years before. During his two weeks of leave from this deployment, Andy came home and was married to his fiancé, Catherine, back here in Washington. He had been promoted to the rank of Sergeant in the field in Afghanistan, and returned from this second tour of duty changed in many ways. He went back to fulfill his obligation and tour of duty in Afghanistan, and then got back to his wife in Italy.

In 2007, his unit was again deployed to Afghanistan in the same area as before. With a significant increase in hostilities in this region following a bombing raid in which a number of civilians were killed, many villagers who had been neutral to the long American presence, declared "holy war" on American troops. This led to many more soldiers being killed in action from his unit. Andy’s unit suffered 69 soldiers killed in combat in these three deployments.

Now Andy's life has taken a new path, as both a commissioned federal investigator in the Army's Criminal Investigation Division and a father. Andy and Cathrine's first child, a boy named Jacob, was born last April. Andy and his family have now moved to upstate New York, where he is stationed doing investigations for the Army. He is excited to be on this new career path, and both he and Catherine are enjoying being parents.

At the beginning of the Iraq war, when Turkey would not allow US troops to cross their border, his unit parachuted into Northern Iraq to open the Northern Front. You may remember TV images of soldiers jumping out of planes at night when the war began. That was his unit. He later told me that they thought that they had been dropped into the wrong country because instead of sand, they landed in about two feet of mud due to heavy rain in this mountainous region of Iraq. Their commanders told them that their mission would be over in eight to 14 days, after which they would be home safe and sound. Many years later, we are still there. During this deployment, his small unit suffered nine soldiers killed in action, including Spc Justin Hebert, the first Washington State soldier killed in the Iraq war. Andy was wounded twice in Iraq, once by an improvised explosive device and once by a rocket-propelled grenade during a firefight. Many was the day Chris and April were worried driving home and turning that last corner, hoping

Andy Hurst in Iraq and Afghanistan

not to see an Army vehicle parked in their driveway as so many parents of dead soldiers have. His unit was called up again to go to Afghanistan and serve on the eastern border with Pakistan. Seventeen more soldiers in his unit were killed in action during this deployment in 2005, in a very tough

Finally, posted here are two pictures from the memorial service for their nephew who was killed in Iraq in 2005. Also pictured are his twin daughters at his memorial service. On February 14, 2005, Eric and his wife and kids had dinner with Chris and April at their house, the last evening before he went to Iraq. They talked about getting him a job in law enforcement when he got back and was out of the Army, his lifelong dream. On April 30, 2005, Chris and April found that he had been killed in Mosul, Iraq, on April 28 by an improvised explosive device.