In Memory of Austin Klein

Austin Klein passed away last week, survived by his wife and 2 year old daughter. The purpose of this memorial is to raise a small amount of money to help his family in any way during this difficult time. His brothers from C co. 1-185 Armor all mourn his passing and hope that in some small way, we can pay homage to him and lend a hand to his family.

I had the good fortune of having Austin as my gunner during our tour in Iraq in 08'-09', during which we crewed the lead truck and its attached mine roller, leading supply convoys up and down the main supply routes in the northern part part of the country. Extremely close quarters, long hours, endless monotony and occasional high levels of stress forced our crew to bond in ways that are unimagineable to most.

We all shared parts of ourselves with each other, good, bad, and everything in between during our long journeys in the darkness of the night in a hostile environment. We laughed till we couldn't breathe, complained and cried together, we worried and wondered about the unknown bump on the side of the road, all while trying our hardest to keep each other alive until we could hang up our body armor and eventually get on with our lives back home with our families.

Austin is definitely the guy you wanted on your side, covering your 6 when it mattered the most, so please think of his family and donate what you can.