ONE A DAY
Editor’s note: The following is a submission by the American Legion Post TH02 in Pattaya Thailand. It focuses specifically on a US military combat veteran, however, gives a lot of insight behind the scenes into what happens in general when a foreign national passes away in Thailand. This is part three of four that we will post over the next week or so. -Adam Judd, Chief Editor, The Pattaya News English
If you missed part one, please click here for the full article. This article will not make sense without reading part one.
If you missed part two, here you go! Click here!
Chapter 3
Nathan Lee Kent
Born Jan 30, 1981
Died July 25, 2022
At the time of his passing, Nathan was a traveler….and passed away on one of his explorations in Pattaya…..hence no one here knew him personally.
But to us, he was not a stranger. Nathan served his country honorably as a member of the United States Navy.
Nathan volunteered to serve in the United States Military during a time of war by enlisting in the Navy in October of 2005.
After basic training, his military occupation specialty was designated as a corpsman.
Navy corpsmen come in two types: Blue and Green….blue stripe corpsmen work in either ship or land-based hospitals. Green stripe corpsmen are assigned to the United States Marine Corps infantry units. This requires additional training in treating acute traumatic injury, and in the tactics and physicality of a Marine infantryman.
Once assigned to an infantry platoon, the corpsman undergoes the same training in weapons, tactics, strength, endurance, and depravations as a Marine infantryman. In September of 2006, Nathan was assigned to the Third Battalion, First Marines, or 3/1, First Marine Division, India Company.
3/1, known as the Thundering Third, is based out of Camp Horno, located in Camp Pendleton, California. On 10 April 2007, 3/1 deployed as the ground combat element of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. A MEU can simply be described as America’s 911 first responders. Its mission is to be able to respond anywhere in the world within 24 hours.
They were ordered into Iraq as part of Operation Phantom Thunder. The ground combat element, of which Nathan was a part, began operating on 15 June 2007, north of Falluja.
During his time in Iraq, Nathan went on more than 100 patrols and treated Marines injured in IED attacks and Iraqi civilians injured by gunfire. 3/1 concluded operations in Iraq after 90 days on 20 September 2007 and returned to Camp Pendleton on 17 November 2007.
After his separation from the Navy in 2008, Nathan enrolled at California State University Fullerton. He graduated in May of 2014 with a B.A. in Anthropology.
The cultural element of this degree may explain his love of travel, and in 2016 he became a student of the world. We ask why we have to lose such good men? Part of the answer is, that only good men volunteer to serve and defend their country. He chose the harder life of a soldier in a time of war. I do not know where such men come from, except to say they are the kind of men who have made America great and will continue to preserve it.
To be continued….Stay Tuned for the final conclusion.
