One of the latest of American casualties in Afghanistan is Green Country's own.
People are mourning the loss of Michael Sauro, a McAlester civilian, who died in an attack near Kabul Wednesday.
“As a civilian, I don't think anyone ever thinks it's a possibility for something like this to happen,” said VFW Post 1098 Commander Bill Englemen.
Just one day after turning 40, Mike Sauro died during his third overseas tour to teach the Afghan military.
The news sent shockwaves through McAlester.
“It didn't set well,” said Englemen.
Englemen worked alongside folks just like Sauro during his time in Desert Storm.
“They'd be gone a little while and then they'd come back and be at their normal job and tell you all kinds of stories,” he said.
And if you ask his colleagues, that's what Sauro lived for.
“He always made the comment, 'it's nice to have fun at work,'” said Sauro's supervisor, Deborah Schreiner.
Sauro worked as a course instructor for HAZMAT transportation with the U.S. Army of Defense Ammunition Center.
The job relocated him first to Kansas...then Hawaii. But McAlester was home.
“Everybody has very fond memories. They're all the same...about how caring and likeable he was...his personality being so contagious,” she said.
Sauro was with two other DAC employees, Rick Alford and Rodney Henderson, when they were attacked near Camp Morehead.
Sauro had been overseas for just one month.
“He always willing and volunteered to do more than what he needed to do,” Schreiner said. “Mike was just so much a part of the DAC team.”
He was part of a team that many are unaware of.
But now Mike Sauro is part of a special brotherhood of heroes...and Americans.
“He was there for the same reasons we were. So in my eyes, yes. His family can hold their heads up proud knowing he died for his country,” said Englemen.
Funeral arrangements haven't been set yet.
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