Jackson, Mark W., SFC, SF

[The Reaper]

Sergeant First Class Mark Wayne Jackson

Born at Saint Luke Hospital in Saginaw, Michigan to the proud parents of William Alva and Janice Marie Jackson on June 7th, 1962.

He spent his youth between Saginaw, Michigan, Bridge Port, Michigan and Swan Valley, Michigan. While growing up, he balanced his time between academics, hunting, fishing, football, wrestling and track. He graduated from the Swan Valley School system in June 1981. After graduation, he got a job as a mason tender in Tawas, Michigan, and later enrolled in Delta College.


Sergeant First Class Jackson started his military career in 1983 with attendance to Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, as a member of the United States Army Reserve. Additionally, he completed the Motor Transport Operators course and on the job training as an artillery soldier in B Battery, 4th Battalion, 38th Field Artillery at Bad Axe, Michigan. While assigned there he was promoted from Private First Class through Sergeant. In February of 1986, he joined the Active Army and attended the cannon crewman course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and continued on to Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, as a Private First Class. He was assigned to C Battery, 1st Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina.


While assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, he attended a Combat Lifesaver Course, Unit Armors Course and Jungle Warfare Training at Fort Sherman, Panama. He was promoted to Specialist in January 1987.

In November 1987, Sergeant First Class Jackson was assigned to A Battery, 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment in Hanau, Germany. He participated in numerous training exercises, attended Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC), and completed Basic Non-commissioned Officers Course (BNOC). He was promoted to Sergeant in November 1988.

In March 1990, Sergeant First Class Jackson was assigned to the 18th Airborne Corps, Noncommissioned Officers Course where he taught PLDC and BNOC and acted as the Reenlistment NCO. While assigned to the 18th Airborne Corps, he was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant and attended the Instructor Training Course, Ranger Course, Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course, and the Jumpmaster Course.


In August 1993, Sergeant First Class Jackson volunteered for Special Forces Training. He graduated from the Special Forces Weapons Sergeants Course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and went on to complete the Basic Military Language Course for Persian Farsi in August 1994.

In September 1994, Sergeant First Class Jackson was assigned to C Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He served on Operational Detachment Alpha 536. During his time in the 5th Special Forces Group, he participated in numerous overseas deployments to Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, and Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. Additionally, he attended the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape High Risk course, Tank Commander Certification Course, Aviation in Foreign Internal Defense Course, and the Special Forces Assistant Operations Course. In November 1998, Sergeant First Class Jackson attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, for basic Arabic and graduated from in December 1999.In December 1999, Sergeant First Class Jackson was assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Lewis, Washington, and became a member of Operational Detachment Alpha 142. He served as the Assistant Operations Sergeant for numerous deployments in South East Asia.

In August 2002, Sergeant First Class Jackson was assigned as the Operations Sergeant of Operational Detachment Alpha 145.

On October 2nd 2002, while participating in Operation Enduring Freedom, Sergeant First Class Jackson was killed in the Republic of the Philippines.

Sergeant First Class Mark Jackson was a highly decorated soldier whose awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Army Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Army Achievement Medal with five oak leaf clusters, the Southwest Asia Service Ribbon with Bronze Service Star, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with arrowhead, the Army Good Conduct Medal fifth award, the National Defense Service Ribbon with Bronze Star, the Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon with three device, the Army Service Ribbon, and the Army Overseas Service Ribbon. Sergeant First Class Jackson's decorations include the Expert Infantry Badge, the Master Parachutists Badge, the Military Free Fall Badge, the Special Forces Tab, the Ranger Tab, the Jordanian Parachutist Badge, the Bahraini Parachutist Badge, the Russian Parachutist Badge, the Korean Parachutist Badge, and the Royal Thai Army Parachutist Badge.

[Richard]

Today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin. RIP, Sergeant Jackson.

Richard's $.02

Mission's end -
A conference room at Camp Smith is named for Green Beret Mark Wayne Johnson, who died during a special operation in the Philippines.

It has been seven years since Army Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Mark Wayne Jackson died during a Special Operations mission in the Philippines, and for his family the pain has never gone away.

"It's still hard," said Bill Jackson as he wiped away tears at a ceremony last week dedicating a conference room at Camp Smith's Special Operations Command Pacific in honor of his son, the only American soldier to die as a result of terrorist action in the Philippines.

The younger Jackson commanded 12 soldiers of Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, of the 1st Special Forces Group from Fort Lewis, Wash., when he was killed by a terrorist in the southern island of Mindanao.

On Oct. 2, 2002, he and five Filipino soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle set off a nail-laden, homemade bomb at an open-air restaurant outside the gate of Camp Enrile Malagutay in Zamboanga. Abu Sayyaf -- a Filipino jihadist group linked to al-Qaida and founded in the late 1980s by the brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden -- claimed responsibility for the blast.

Twenty other people were injured, including a Special Forces captain.

Jackson, 40, had been with the group since 1999. He was part of a 260-soldier U.S. force sent to train Filipino soldiers in anti-terrorism tactics and undertake humanitarian projects.

Members of his family -- his father, mother Janice, brother Richard, sister Kimberly Reeves and grandmother Evelyn Tompa -- attended the ceremony and the unveiling of a memorial wall in the basement conference room dedicated to the Special Forces soldier. The crest of Jackson's 1st Special Forces Group decorates one wall of the room.

Jackson's mother cried as "Amazing Grace" was played on bagpipes, accompanying a slide show chronicling the life of the soldier from Saginaw, Mich.

William Jackson said his son never told him "what he really did," adding, "He didn't want to worry us."

Jackson has his own suspicions.

"I think it had something to do with the kidnappings," said the elder Jackson, referring to the abduction of Kansas missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and 19 others in May 2001 by Abu Sayyaf. Gracia Burnham was wounded and her husband killed in a botched rescue by Philippine soldiers in 2002 after they were held for ransom for more than a year.

More than 1,000 soldiers, including units from Fort Lewis, where sent to the Philippines from February to July to train Filipino troops to curb the kidnapping activities of Abu Sayyaf.

Maj. Gen. Salvatore Cambria, who leaves as commander of Special Operations Command Pacific on Friday, said the room was named after Mark Wayne Jackson because "he was a quiet professional" and a "Special Forces warrior who embodied all of those qualities that set Special Operations members apart from the rest."

Cambria added the conference room, which can be connected to other services by secure closed-circuit satellite links, "serves as a center for the Special Operations plans and operations that support the Pacific Command's objectives of deterring aggression, advancing security cooperation and responding to crises throughout the vast Asian-Pacific region."

Although the military declined to disclose the number of special warfare troops assigned to the command, past media reports have estimated as many as 48,000 Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, Air Force and Marine Corps commandos. Cambria's next assignment will be U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., as deputy director of the Center for Special Operations.

Mark Wayne Jackson had been in the Army for 19 years, nine in Special Forces. He spoke Farsi (Persian) and Arabic and had deployed to Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Haiti and numerous Southeast Asian countries.

William Jackson said his son had initially enlisted in the Army Reserve in 1983 and switched later to the active Army, volunteering to be a paratrooper, then an Army Ranger and finally, in 1993, the Green Berets.

"Whatever he did, he wanted to be the best," his father said.

Before he went to the Philippines in 2002, his brother begged him not to because he knew it was a dangerous mission.

"Mark told us that it was just something he had to do. You just got to do what you have to do. I am so pleased and proud of him."

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/200...sions_end.html

[Red Flag 1]

Though belated, Rest In Peace SFC Mark Jackson!!!

Thank you for your service!!

Prayers out, never too late for that.

[f50lrrp]

I met SFC Jackson in Monterey when he was studying Arabic at DLI. I was selling almonds at the Tuesday night Farmers Market when SFC Jackson strolled up and tasted my almonds. He was in uniform and I told him that I had also served in SF. After that he made it a point of buying a $10 bag of my nuts each week to be consumed when he was studying. RIP warrior.

[greenberetTFS]

RIP, Warrior.............

GB TFS

[glebo]

Rest in Peace Mark, you are not forgotten.

We were in 1/5th together.

[Penn]

Rest in Peace SFC Jackson

[Utah Bob]

Rest in piece Brother.

[Saoirse]

Rest in Peace, Warrior! Thank you for your service.

Rest in peace, brother.

Prayers out going to his family.