MAJ Guy Barattieri

[Razor]

Guy was a classmate and friend of mine. He graduated as the Goat of our class; he fought hard to attain his goals. Bear was in 1SFG for a while, then got out and joined 19SFG, and ended up deploying to Iraq with them.

Well done, Brother Bear; be thou at peace. We'll keep your family safe for you.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/287788_barattieri06.html

Fund set up to help family of slain soldier
Friends reaching out to former Seattle police officer

By MIKE BARBER
P-I REPORTER

As word of his death continued to spread among his many friends and family around the country Thursday, a fund was set up for the family of Washington National Guard Maj. Guy R. Barattieri, 36, a West Point graduate, decorated Green Beret and former Seattle police officer.

Barattieri, a major in the state National Guard's Alpha Co., 1st Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group based in Buckley, was killed Wednesday morning by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Though he was at the time working in a civilian contract capacity, Barattieri, originally of Ohio, was a senior officer with the state National Guard "in good standing" at the time of his death, Guard officials said Thursday.

"The Bear Fund," referring to Barattieri's long-standing nickname since his high school football days near Cincinnati, was created through the National Guard Association of Washington.

The account through the American Lake Credit Union, Camp Murray, will be used to help Barattieri's wife of one year, Laurel, and 3-month-old daughter, Odessa, and stepdaughter, Rees.

"Bear was a doting stepfather to her, taking her to swim lessons, making her lunch and taking her to school every day," said Mary Mascarella, a family friend in Seattle.

Donations can be made in his name to the credit union through account number 13878, Guard officials said.

Donations can be made by visiting any branch, or arranged by telephoning the main branch, 800-228-2377, or the Department of Veterans Affairs branch at 800-244-0874.

Inquiries about electronic funds transfers should be directed to Cindy Arnold by e-mail, cindy@americanlake.org.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Barattieri had been in Iraq only a few days before he was killed. Barattieri had served numerous times in Iraq either with the military or lately working for a contractor, his friends and military officials said.

Since last year, he had held the post of operations officer for the state National Guard's Special Operations Detachment -- Pacific.

Buckley's Green Beret company is one of the military's elite units that carry out secretive missions.

A 1992 West Point graduate, Barattieri first served in the regular Army infantry before becoming a Green Beret and serving with the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Lewis.

After leaving active duty as a captain, Barattieri became a citizen-soldier in August 2000 with the state National Guard's Special Forces outfit in Buckley, which is east of Tacoma. From August 2001 to 2004, he was a Seattle police officer in civilian life, and he was elected president of his police academy class.

Barattieri went on activie duty in 2002 as a Special Forces detachment commander in Kuwait. In March 2003, his team led the 101st Infantry Division on its march to Baghdad. Barattieri received a Bronze Star and Combat Infantryman's badge for his role.

Barattieri transferred to the state National Guard's information operations group in 2004 before being appointed last year to the post he held at the time of his death.

Many who knew Barattieri here, including many police officers, were stunned at his death. And Barattieri's many friends nationwide Thursday read of his death and wrote the Seattle P-I.

"Word of Guy Barattieri's death in Iraq has dropped all of 'Bear's' Cincinnati family to one knee," wrote Mark Steiner of Cincinnati, a high school friend of Barattieri's.

Steiner said Barattieri's father, Guy Sr., was a veteran and the original "Bear" who was the defensive line coach for the state championship high school football team on which Steiner and Barattieri played in 1986.

"It will be a difficult Friday night later this month when Purcell honors the 20th anniversary of our undefeated 1986 state football championship that we were teammates on. Bear played defensive end. What other position would you expect a guy named 'Bear' to play?" Steiner said.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

RIP

[jbour13]

RIP Sir

[Surgicalcric]

RIP Sir.

[Books]

RIP Sir.

[Ambush Master]

Rest In Peace Brother!!

[Aequitas]

Razor,

I was writing an eulogy for one of my classmates and found the MAJs page. If you wanted to leave something for friends and family here is the site.

http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1992/48911/

[Texian]

RIP, Warrior

[Goggles Pizano]

Rest in peace Sir.

[Peregrino]

Rest in Peace

[MRF54]

At 1258 today in NE Baghdad (38S MB 4246 9789) a three vehicle convoy from Falcon Security was hit with and EFP IED. Immediately after the explosion the convoy begin receiving SAF from both sides to include the rooftops.

The group had just left a power plant where they had been conducting a site survey. The ingress route had been lined with Iraqi Police both on foot and in vehicles. When egressesing the power plant a different route was taken. It was noted that all streets were clear of pedestrians and vehicles.

A radio call was made by K2 stating that "Streets are clear. That's kind of odd isn't it?". There was an explosion 3 seconds later.

Convoy consisted of 3 x armored Ford F-350's. Center vehicle was hit broadside with center impact point being the drivers cab. Both the driver and front right passenger (Pesh Merga's') were KIA. The driver was on fire and the front right passenger had disintegrated. The two rear passengers were WIA. K2 was one of these passengers; Bear (former 19th Group SF) was the other.

Lead and trail vehicles stopped to render assistance while continuing the firefight. All attackers seen wore IP uniforms.

Bear had lost both legs below the knees. A tourniquet was applied to each leg to stop the bleeding. K2 was in and out of consciousness. It took 10 minutes to extricate the two rear passengers.

A running fire fight ensued and the rear gunner of the trail vehicle opened up on all IP's that were in his sights.

The ROC monitored the situation and Falcon personnel in their TOC were also monitoring the situation.

The two remaining vehicles returned to the IZ and drove straight to the CSH.
K2 was announced DOA and Bear went into surgery. He was stabilized and moved to Surgical ICU.

[Matta mile]

Rest in Peace

[NousDefionsDoc]

En Paz Descansen

[Gypsy]

Rest in peace, Sir. My condolences for your personal loss Razor.

[Roguish Lawyer]

RIP

[x SF med]

Rest in Peace, Sir.

[The Reaper]

I met him somewhere and I cannot place him.

RIP, Major, and condolences to your family.

Sorry for your loss, Razor.

TR

[lrd]

Rest in peace, Major.

My condolences to your family and friends.

[Roycroft201]

Rest in Peace, Sir.

I'm very sorry for your loss, Razor.

[CoLawman]

My condolensces Razor. Rest in Peace Major.

[LongWire]

My condolences Razor, a Brother and Teammate of mine was very good friends with him, and will be making his way out there for the services............


RIP Major

[Leozinho]

Rest in Peace, Major.

[gtcrispy]

RIP Sir.

[PSM]

Rest in Peace, Maj. Barattieri.

Pat

[Abu Jack]

Rest In Peace

[JMH85]

Rest in Peace, Major.

[NSDQ]

Rest in Peace Major

[AF IDMT]

RIP, Major.

[Trip_Wire (RIP)]

RIP Major

[vsvo]

Razor, I am sorry for your loss.

RIP, Major.

[Gypsy]

From those he protected...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,222117,00.html

Remembering 'Bear': A Tribute to a Protector
Wednesday, October 18, 2006

By Ken LaCorte

Everyone called him "Bear." In fact, many of his colleagues here at FOX News learned Guy Barattieri's full name for the first time when they read his obituary.

To us, Bear was a protector. He worked with FOX as a guard in our Baghdad bureau, leading our large security team when that office was attacked with a cement mixer full of explosives last year.

To insurgents, he was a target. While traveling with contractors to a power plant near Baghdad, they killed him and two others with a roadside bomb.

Bear survived the blast, but he died shortly afterward on an operating table.

He was a young man with impressive achievements. At 36, he was a West Point graduate, decorated Green Beret and Seattle police officer. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he rejoined the military and led troops to the heart of Baghdad. When he died, Bear was a major in a National Guard Special Forces group, working for private security firms while not on active duty. He was big, confident and quick with a smile.

A rotation in our Baghdad office is always unsettling, but it helps that everyone at FOX lives under the constant protection of men like Bear. They meet us at the airport, fit us with body armor and explain the procedures for traveling what is said to be the world's deadliest road. They sleep and eat with us in the bureau; they never leave our side. Bear's impressive combination of brawn and brains stood between us and the people who wanted us dead.

Covering the war in Iraq is dangerous for every reporter, producer and technician, but even more so for our security people. We continually evaluate our safety procedures and the changing threats. At one point I asked Bear for his recommendation on an important change that would affect us all, adding "they always go after the big guys with guns first." Bear smiled and agreed. He knew the risks and gave his life protecting others, just as he'd protected so many of us here at FOX.

Guy Barattieri left behind his wife, Laurel, and two daughters, the younger of whom is 3 months old.

The Washington National Guard has established a fund for his family, which can be reached at (800) 244-0874.

If you'd like to add your thoughts, please send them to ken.lacorte@foxnews.com.

—————————————————————

I'd known Bear for a couple of weeks before I got 'round to asking him what his real name was. Guy, he told me. He didn't seem like a Guy. Bear was so much more appropriate for the man we trusted to protect us while we did our jobs in Iraq. Many people you meet in Baghdad are transient friends — colleagues who you don't get the chance to know outside of here. But I, like many others, was welcomed into Bear's Seattle home. He promised me a wild night on the town with his army and police buddies, and he lived up to that promise.

Bear and I arrived back in Baghdad a few days apart earlier this month. I'd been giving him a hard time over e-mail about neglecting to send me his mailing address. I'd bought some baby gifts for his daughter after she was born in July and still hadn't sent them out.

Bear called me the day before he was killed. We talked about marriage and being a dad — and he jokingly complained that babies just eat sleep and poop — for some reason, he thought they'd be more interactive. Underneath the laughter was a man fiercely in love with his new family; a devoted husband, father, son and brother; a man who served his city and his country with honor. A man I'm proud to have called my friend.

— David Mac Dougall

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In a bad place Bear was calm. You could tell this calm came from experience, from a man who knew what he was doing. He did not have to try to impress anyone, and said a lot with a few words, a nod and a smile. The effect he had on me was to make me feel better in a bad place.

— Steve Harrigan

——————————————————-

The last time I recall seeing Bear was in a dank, makeshift kitchen inside Baghdad's Palestine Hotel. I was trying to make a pizza using a broken oven and Bear came in to borrow some pepperoni. At first, I didn't see him standing behind my producer so he overheard our conversation. We were saying, Bear was the reason our operation didn't fall apart following a triple car bombing a few weeks earlier. Bear was a natural leader. He had a way of making people hold themselves to a higher standard. He made people believe in themselves more than they normally would. He was truly a force multiplier.

Bear stood just outside the kitchen listening to our conversation until he couldn't take anymore. We must have embarrassed him, which was not an easy thing to do. With a grin on his face, he picked up his pepperoni and told us to be quiet. Looking back now, I'm glad he overheard us. So often, when people die, everyone says nice things about them at their funeral, but we were lucky enough to say these things in front of Bear while he was still alive. We all loved Bear. He was literally one in a million.

— Andrew Stack

——————————————————-

In the minutes after last October's car bombs, Bear was the person who held all of us together both as individuals and as a news bureau. He made contact with the two staff members who were trapped outdoors only a few feet away from the blasts, took roll, turned to me and asked whom I needed to keep us functioning as a news operation and where I needed those people. He organized work crews to begin the laborious process of cleaning up the rooms on one side of the hotel (including his own) that had been destroyed by the explosions. That night and the following day he brought a series of American officers, culminating in a general, into my office to discuss the security arrangements around the hotel compound.

Throughout it all he remained calm. When it was over he was confident and smiling, and that attitude helped the rest of us to understand that we, too, were going to make it through.

— Gordon Robison

——————————————————-

Bear arrived on his first assignment to head up our security team in Baghdad. We all knew right away that Bear was the man. You just knew no one would mess with us because Bear would make sure of it. He would be out there, checking the perimeter, always watching, never leaving anything to chance and running a tight ship. And it was done in a quiet, no braggin' way. He was proud of the army he served in and he played a role in educating us, keeping us better informed without revealing things we were never supposed to know.

The quick smile was one of the things that struck me most about Bear and his biggest smiles were reserved for the many frequent mentions of his family back home. He never hesitated to show pictures of his wife, his daughter and eventually his newborn baby girl.

For those of us at the FOX Baghdad office who lived and worked with him, we will always owe Bear our greatest gratitude, our deepest respect and a place in our memories. I will always miss him.

— John Fiegener

————

Bear was the best. In a weird way, he was like the super-cool summer camp counselor that everyone loved and respected and wanted to be a good person around. He was smart and honest and direct. He made us feel safe. He was the kind of guy who could wear absurd gold hot pants (or gym shorts as he called them) and yet still be the biggest badass. He was loyal and loved his family, and when we were in Baghdad, we were a part of that family. I am so grateful to have shared those times with him.

— Clarissa Ward

[Richman]

I'll be remembering you this weekend Bear. I tip another beer in your honor. May your baby grow up to know you as the hero you are. It was good to know you big guy....

Rest In Peace.

- Rich

[dennisw]

Rest in Peace