Buehring, Charles H. (Chad), LTC, SF

[The Reaper]

Soldier's discipline, service remembered

By Henry Cuningham
Military editor


Friends of Lt. Col. Charles H. "Chad" Buehring on Monday reacted with sorrow to news of his death Sunday in Iraq.

Buehring
The 40-year-old officer was fatally injured during a rocket-propelled grenade attack on the Al-Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad. Buehring and his family left Fayetteville this summer after he had been assigned to Fort Bragg for several years.

"It comes as quite a shock," said Vince Maffia, who knew Buehring through the Army and through Westminster Presbyterian Church at 2505 Village Drive. "It is an immeasurable loss, not only to the military but to his family and to our church family."

Buehring and his wife, Alicia, had two children, Drew and Nick.

Barbara Nicholas, who knew the family through the church, said her 8-year-old son, Wesley, wrote a letter to her about Buehring that said: "We know he was the best Cub Scout leader ever."

"Chad was a person who was very disciplined," Nicholas said. "Underneath that discipline was a very soft twinkle."

She recalled that Buehring wore ties featuring characters from Dr. Seuss and Looney Tunes.

"Here's this guy we presumed to be so tough, but he had a love for children," she said. "He could come across as very disciplined, but just watch his boys look at him. There was just a great adoration. I hurt for them."

Nicholas said Buehring exuded patriotism.

"He believed in what we are doing," she said. In Sunday school class, he "always reminded us of our freedom to sit in a room and have discussions."


'A man of honor'

Buehring was serving as the chief of the Military Information Support Team with the Coalition Provisional Authority in the Office of Strategic Communications at Iraq. The Pentagon listed his permanent assignment as Army Central Command Headquarters (Forward) at Fort McPherson, Ga.

"He was a man of honor who served his country and gave the ultimate sacrifice," said Maj. David Farlow, a public affairs officer with U.S. Central Command at Tampa, Fla.

Farlow was in Baghdad with Buehring for two weeks in September and early October.

"He was committed to doing what he could do with all the resources he controlled to bring about stabilization and advancement for the Iraqi people. He was working to inform the Iraqi people about the progress that was occurring under the Coalition Provisional Authority with the Iraqi Governing Council and ministries."


Scout leader

Buehring and Maffia were adult leaders with Cub Pack 709 and Boy Scout Troop 709 at the church.

"He is one of the adults through the scouting program and the youth in the church anyone could approach and talk to," Maffia said. "The youth and the adults alike would go to him for his advice.

"I can't think of a single person who would have anything negative to say about Chad. He was always the first one there when you needed a hand, to pitch in and help, and the last one there cleaning up."

Buehring served in the 3rd Special Forces Group and then the 4th Psychological Operations Group at Fort Bragg.

"We considered him to be somewhat untouchable," said Maffia, who is a staff sergeant. "I knew where he was and what he was doing. You never think it will happen to someone so close."

Maffia said he and Buehring became close friends after serving in the Army, the church and scouting.

"He was a great officer," Maffia said. "He was an excellent psy ops officer and planner. He was an excellent father, a great role model and a great friend."