Travis A. Morgado, 25

Army, 2nd Lieutenant

Based: Joint Base Lewis-McChord

5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division

Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom

Died: May 23, 2012

Zharay, Afghanistan

Single

Gender: Male

Hometown: San Jose

Burial: Calvary Catholic Cemetery, San Jose

Morgado died May 23 in Zharay, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his patrol with an improvised explosive device.

Vilmar Galarza Hernandez, 05/26/2012

Ryan J. Wilson, 05/20/2012

Four memories of Travis A. Morgado

“

I remember when I first met him, I thought he was a new privet because his eyes were soft he hadn't seen what Afghanistan had in store. It was in the shower tent after we had returned. I looked at him wondering who the f@#$ he was and if I would be the one who had to bring him up to speed. so I asked him "who are you," aggressively. He told me his name and I asked him what platoon he was in. It just so happened to be third platoon charlie company. I then asked him his rank and was surprised to be confronting my cherry lieutenant. Cherry means newbie someone who retained his combat cherry. I then welcomed him and informed him I was his weapons squad team leader. Since our previous lieutenant became the xo of the company this meant that our forward momentum in the fight with an aggressive enemy would slow in order to bring him to speed. It was hilarious his first fire fight. Immediately following contact instead of getting on the radio and getting assets allocated to our position he began to shoot back I was laughing because you could tell he was nervous kinda like a new higher who knows what his job is but bumbles like he cant seem to do something he's done hundreds of times before because his new boss is there watching him. This began a good friendship with Travis and I. Once he was there a while he and I would talk about different things my assistant gunner my squad leader Travis and i began hitting to gym after the two missions required a day. This particular day I went to his chew (bed) and opened the plywood door. I stepped up a step or two to see if he was sleeping but the chew was empty. As I back out the door and down the steps I hear him say "what are you doing in my chew?" I respond to him with another question. "why does your room smell like fart?" He smirks and in a taken a back way says "what?" I reply with the same thing. He says" I dont know why?" I proceed to tell him I was coming to get him because we were heading to the gym and I noticed he wasn't there so I thought I had time to booby-trap him by cutting a fart and leaving a musty surprise for his returne. He busted up laughing. One of the most important things I received from Travis was a gift in the form of wisdom. A squad leader and I butted heads all the time due to lack of know how on his part I wanted to break his jaw so he had to go home lil a bitch but Travis's wisdom to me was let it go I distinctly remember his saying blam will it matter in five hours and it realm hit me. I questioned him on age why he went to school and what for and I would say to him your crazy getting a civil engineering degree and then decide to live a life of violence. But I respected him for it.

” — adam blamires, April 7, 2016 at 6:48 p.m.

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Sources: Times research, Defense Department, iCasualties.org

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