Camp Rudder to be represented at funeral of soldier who died in Afghanistan

Army Staff Sgt. Casey J. Grochowiak may have been assigned to a different battalion when he was killed Aug. 30, but he was still in the hearts of the Camp James E. Rudder team he taught with for three years.

As the country observes the Sept. 11 attack, the event that initiated Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, Army Rangers will mourn one of the recent casualties of the conflict.

As a unit representative of Camp Rudder’s 6th Ranger Training Battalion (RGB), Capt. Matthew Myer will pay his respects to the Grochowiak family at Saturday’s funeral service in San Diego, Ca. He plans to present Celestina Grochowiak, Casey’s wife, with an Army Ranger flag that everyone from the battalion has signed.

The Army’s protocol is to send a unit representative and remains escort from the soldier’s current unit. Grochowiak was part of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo. when he died was killed by an improvised explosive device 30 in Malajat, Afghanistan.

“We’re just doing this kind of extra because really, his family knew our unit better than they knew his current unit. His wife and his kids have a lot of friends here that they don’t necessarily have in the current unit,” Myer said.

Many at Camp Rudder learned of Grochowiak’s death by a phone call from his wife. While stationed here, he lived at the camp with his two kids and his wife.

“He had a very strong relationship with her,” Myer said.

Retired Army Ranger Jose Marengo met Grochowiak in 2007. They had knee surgery at around the same time and talked at their kids’ soccer games.

“He was a good kid, a family man,” Marengo said.

With tattooed arms and an energetic demeanor, Grochowiak was a memorable reptile handler, part of the team who toured area schools and events educating people about the indigenous reptiles.

Grochowiak had knee and back problems and did everything he could to get better so that he could deploy again.

“He wasn’t the type of guy that was trying to get out of deployment. It was something he believed in and something he loved to do,” Myer said.

Before he left the area last May, Grochowiak was one of the instructors in Myer’s company. Myer described him as an outstanding soldier and instructor who really cared about the soldiers he taught.

Grochowiak was also one of the strictest instructors Myer had. He had high expectations for his students.

“He was a hardened instructor, meaning that he graded students to a very high standard, and that was because he cared about the person that they would be when they left here,” Myer said. “He trained guys to such a high standard because he knew that what he was teaching them was going to make a difference in combat, a difference as a leader.”

Myer said he will remember Grochowiak’s love of the Army and his mission most.

“He was a guy that genuinely cared about everything he was doing,” Myer said. “He believed in it and that just exuded in everything he did.”