Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse met recently with members of Combined Joint Task Force 82 at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, including, from left, Eric Bynes, a Marine and a Providence native who grew up in Detroit; U.S. Army Capt. William Feeney of Providence; Senator Whitehouse; Army PFC Migual Peralta of Providence; Marine Gunnery Sgt. Nathan Blackwelder of Boston; Army Sgt. Raymundo Esteves of Pawtucket; and Army Sgt. SFC Martin Cortese of Waterbury, Conn.

By John E. Mulligan
Journal Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- It's not unusual during an overseas fact-finding tour to run into a Rhode Islander in uniform here and there, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said this week after a brief visit to Afghanistan.

But his tour of the war-torn nation last weekend was unusual in that regard.

``Everywhere I turned on this trip, I seemed to see a Rhode Islander,'' said Democrat Whitehouse, the state's junior senator, who traveled to Bagram, Jalalabad, the Afghan capital of Kabul, and other locations.

Among the Rhode Islanders who Whitehouse reported having met during his tour was Maj. Gen. Richard P. Formica of the Combined Security Transition Command. Formica is a 32-year Army veteran who took undergraduate officer training at Providence College and Bryant College.

Whitehouse also saw ``the Flynn brothers of Newport,'' as he called them - Army Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who leads the U.S. intelligence efforts in Afghanistan, and Army Col. Charles Flynn, who commands the 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division.

At Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Whitehouse met members of Combined Joint Task Force - 82 (CJTF-82). That is a U.S.-led subordinate formation of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The Army members of the unit are from the 82nd Airborne. The Marines are there as Individual Augmentees (IA's), and they are reservists.

Whitehouse noted that one of the Rhode Islanders he met, Army Capt. William Feeney of Providence, is the son of his long-ago opponent in a Rhode Island election campaign for attorney general, Eva Mancuso.

Whitehouse traveled with Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. The American Embassy has posted official pictures of their visit.

 Tags  Afghanistan Maj. Gen. Richard P. Formica Pawtucket RI Providence RI Sheldon Whitehouse

Comments

LEC said:

God bless our troops and bring them all home safely.

Link | October 29, 2009 6:26 PM
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