Authorized newspaper of Fort Lewis, Washington
An Army Ranger assigned to 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, died in Afghanistan, April 29, of wounds sustained while conducting combat operations.
Sergeant. 1st Class David L. McDowell, 30, was engaged in a firefight when he was wounded. He was evacuated to Bastion, Afghanistan, where he died from those wounds.
McDowell volunteered for military service and entered the Army in July 1996. After completing One Station Unit Training, the Basic Airborne Course and the 75th Ranger Regiment’s Ranger Indoctrination Program training at Fort Benning, he was assigned to 2nd Bn., 75th Ranger Regt. in December 1996. He served there as an automatic rifleman, machine gun team leader, fire team leader, rifle squad leader, and weapons squad leader. In 2005, McDowell moved to Fort Benning and was assigned to the Regimental Training Detachment as a pre-Ranger Course instructor. After more than a year at Fort Benning, McDowell returned to 2nd Bn., as a platoon sergeant.
McDowell was a graduate of Poway High School in Ramona, Calif. He was a veteran of operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. This was his seventh deployment in support of the war on terrorism.
McDowell’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal for valor, two Army Commendation Medals, four Army Achievement Medals, three Army Good Conduct Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, three NCO Professional Development Ribbons, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Master Parachutist Badge, the Senior Parachutist Badge, the Parachutist Badge and the Ranger Tab.
McDowell was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, a second Bronze Star Medal with Valor device and a Meritorious Service Medal.
He is survived by his wife, Joleen, son, Joshua and daughter, Erin, his mother, Laurie Ann Wathen, of Julian, Calif., and father, Steven L. McDowell, of Hope Mills, N.C.
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