4/15/2002
SGT Jamie Odell Maugans,SSG Brain T. Craig, SSG Justin J. Galewski, and SFC Daniel A. Romero were killed and a fifth person was wounded on 15 April 2002. SGT Maugans, SSG Craig, and SSG Galewski were assigned to the 710th Ordnance Company (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), 3rd Ordnance Battalion (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), 52nd Ordnance Group (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and SFC Romero was assigned to the 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Colorado Army National Guard. SGT Maugans, SSG Craig, and SSG Galewski were killed in an explosion while dismantling large caliber (107mm) rockets that had been confiscated from a former Taliban ammunition dump near Kandahar, Afghanistan. It is suspected that a Taliban booby-trap device may have initiated the explosion. SGT Maugans was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. The way in which the soldiers died made identification of all of the remains difficult. Those that were identified were being buried in individual graves. Commingled remains of the soldiers were interred in a single joint grave in Section 60, Site 7757 in Arlington National Cemetery.
*This bio was researched and authored by SGM Mike R.Vining, USA (Retired). Please send any additional information and/or corrections to the author of this bio by email: sgmmvining@gmail.com. The EOD Wounded Warrior Foundation is not responsible for the accuracy of the information in bio.
SGT Jamie Odell Maugans was my on the road Team member. He showed me that he was an amazing person and helped me through my first few missions as a new CPT within EOD on VIPPSA missions. I will always be grateful to his parents for raising such a wonderful son. I will also always remember when I learned of this incident that took his life. He was close to taking a break to attend college full time, or at least that was the last conversation we shared. He made a positive impact in our world and I wished he was still here to continue making that positive impact. (Thank you for having this platform for us to share our first hand knowledge of our dear fellow Soldiers; Soldiers who kindly and professionally made us better EOD Techs.)