10-06-2011, 05:58
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#1
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: San Antonio, TX
Posts: 1
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Leonard "Len" Whistler AKA "Lynn"
The Specialty Operations and Intel community have lost another one of our finest with the passing of Len Whistler this past weekend.
I knew Len a long time and considered him a good comrade and friend. We took part in both training exercises and operations in many nasty, flea-bitten corners of the world. He was MI and took well our many innocent jokes and remarks my fellow QPs know too well amongst our peers.
He was an excellent intel analyst and will be missed.
His memorial service is being held this Saturday, 06 October 1300 hours, at Ft Bragg JFK Chapel. I am heading that way. He loved supporting SF so if you can swing by and pay your respects, it would mean a lot.
Arlington to follow in the future but not yet scheduled. More later...
Franz
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Franz is offline
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10-06-2011, 07:16
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#2
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: State of confusion
Posts: 1,560
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Franz - I what happened...??? I remember Len when he reported in to the 705th MID back in the day. Bumped into him in various venues throughout the years but the last time I saw him in person was when he left active duty circa 2005-ish?? I know he had recently met up with ratman and I got no feedback that his health was jacked.
PM me if you think item not of interest to the larger audience.
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JimP is offline
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10-06-2011, 09:17
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#3
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Germany
Posts: 400
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Len called me less than 2 months ago and told me he had throat cancer and was going to the hospital to get evaluated. He asked me to get a message to Franz to call him.
I called Len on Tuesday. He didn't answer so I left him a message. I called Franz afterwords and got the bad news...
Franz, Len and I were in FRY in 1995/96. In early 1996, I was arrested by the JNA and interrogated for over 12 hours. The nice JNA Colonel kept asking me about my relationship to "LEO-nard Vee-stler", where he was located and his actions in Priboj. He threatened to shoot me if I didn't tell him everything he wanted to know.
I saw Len two years ago at Bragg and I told him about what happened and asked him why the Serbs wanted him so badly. He just smiled and said, "Maybe someday I'll be able to tell you."
It looks like I'll never know.
Len was a great guy, a great friend. We love him and will miss him.
226
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Bitka Sve Rešava!
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ODA 226 is offline
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10-06-2011, 09:32
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#4
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: 18 yrs upstate NY, 30 yrs South Florida, 20 yrs Conch Republic, now chasing G-Kids in NOVA & UK
Posts: 11,901
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RIP Warrior, Vaya con Dios...
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Go raibh tú leathuair ar Neamh sula mbeadh a fhios ag an diabhal go bhfuil tú marbh
"May you be a half hour in heaven before the devil knows you’re dead"
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JJ_BPK is offline
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10-06-2011, 10:00
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#5
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Quiet Professional (RIP)
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Carriere,Ms.
Posts: 6,922
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God Bless,Rest in Peace Warrior........... 
He was just a simple soldier and his ranks are growing thin
But his presence should remind us; we may need his like again,
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in the paper that might say:
OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING, FOR A SOLDIER DIED TODAY. (author unknown)
The passing of our soldiers often go unnoticed and unsung by most of the world, remembered only by family and friends. Wish it were not so. May he RIP, his family will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Big Teddy
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I believe that SF is a 'calling' - not too different from the calling missionaries I know received. I knew instantly that it was for me, and that I would do all I could to achieve it. Most others I know in SF experienced something similar. If, as you say, you HAVE searched and read, and you do not KNOW if this is the path for you --- it is not....
Zonie Diver
SF is a calling and it requires commitment and dedication that the uninitiated will never understand......
Jack Moroney
SFA M-2527, Chapter XXXVII
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greenberetTFS is offline
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10-06-2011, 17:56
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#6
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Wilson,NC
Posts: 1,506
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Rest in Peace.
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"Solitude is strength; to depend on the presence of the crowd is weakness. The man who needs a mob to nerve him is much more alone than he imagines."
~ Paul Brunton (1898-1981)
R.D. Winters
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rdret1 is offline
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10-06-2011, 20:12
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#7
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Area Commander
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 2,952
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Rest In God's Peace.
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Red Flag 1 is offline
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10-09-2011, 14:04
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#8
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Der Vaterland
Posts: 2,311
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RIP
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v/r
Stras
der Kriegskind SFA LXV
De Oppresso Liber
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Stras is offline
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10-12-2011, 09:16
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#9
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Asset
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: KC Metro Area
Posts: 4
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RIP Len...
I am shocked and saddened to read of his passing.
I met Len when we were both ROTC Cadets at the University of Southern Mississippi in the late 70s. Len did not complete the program for some reason, and I later bumped into him at Ft. Bragg in the early-mid 90s. IIRC, he was an SSG. and we got together on occasion at the GB Club for lunch or beers after work.
He was, as others have pointed out, an MI guy and did a fair amount of time ISO various SF or other units over the course of his career. Intelligent, articulate, inquisitive...he had all the right tools for his chosen calling.
Len and another ROTC bud and I used to spend a fair amount of time shooting pistols at a local gravel pit just outside of the Hattiesburg city limits...setting up humanoid targets and scenarios...he was pretty focused on shooting back then.
RIP Len...sorry we did not stay in touch to a greater degree...Vaya Con Dios, Mano.
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Mike
Last edited by Mike Spight; 10-12-2011 at 09:33.
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Mike Spight is offline
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10-12-2011, 10:42
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#10
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Georgetown, SC
Posts: 4,204
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Rest In Peace.
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"I took a different route from most and came into Special Forces..." - Col. Nick Rowe
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ZonieDiver is offline
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10-12-2011, 16:30
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#11
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Sneaking back and forth across the Border
Posts: 6,679
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Rest in Peace!!!!
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SF_BHT is offline
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10-14-2011, 21:29
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#12
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Asset
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Fayetteville
Posts: 0
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... agreed ...
All very true ... I miss him . . .
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You know, I don't remember being this forgetful when I was younger.
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Earl_J is offline
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10-25-2011, 12:25
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#13
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bonum medicina malis locis
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Blue Ridge, GA and Orlando, FL
Posts: 305
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Some pictures from his Memorial Service At JFK Chapel
A picture of Len from Iraq and one of him held by his brothers.
Len was fortunate to have a great family. His mother was a WAC during WWII and she set the tone for the day of remembrance, humor and exceptional grace.
As for the gentleman behind the two brothers, one can only speculate. Maybe Richard will recognize him.
Rest in Peace, Len.
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SEMPER VIGILIS
The two easiest things to spend; someone else's time and someone else's money.
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98G is offline
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10-30-2011, 05:31
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#14
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NorCal
Posts: 15,370
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The distinguished looking 'silver back' behind Len's brothers is the former 1-0 of RT Nebraska, a fine SF soldier, friend, and retired Team Sergeant.
RIP, Len - your presence is missed greatly by many.
__________________
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)
“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
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Richard is offline
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10-31-2011, 09:43
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#15
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Germany
Posts: 400
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
The distinguished looking 'silver back' behind Len's brothers is the former 1-0 of RT Nebraska, a fine SF soldier, friend, and retired Team Sergeant.
RIP, Len - your presence is missed greatly by many.
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Yep! "Schatzi" and I were on 226 together many years ago.
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