Another Fallen Currahee: RIP, Jeff Calero

I received this from the 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment Association (Airmobile - Air Assault) a couple nights ago but am just now getting around to recent emails. While I do not recall knowing him personally, he was a fellow Currahee who served in Korea north of the Imjin River. I left there late in ‘95…I’m not sure if he was in the battalion yet or not, but it was his first assignment.

I thought I would repost this for those of my fellow Currahee warriors and any others who may have known him.

Rest in peace, Jeff Calero.

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RELEASE NUMBER: 071030-04
DATE POSTED: OCTOBER 30, 2007

PRESS RELEASE: Special Forces Soldier killed in Afghanistan
U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Oct. 30, 2007) — An Army Special Forces Soldier was killed Oct. 29 as a result of an improvised explosive device strike while conducting a combat patrol in the southern Afghan city of Kajaki.

MAJ Jeffrey R. Calero, 34, was fatally wounded when he encountered an IED in the course of conducting a dismounted route clearance of a “choke point” during a combat reconnaissance patrol and resupply convoy. He was a Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha detachment commander assigned to, ODA-2132, Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) out of Springfield, Mass.

Calero, a native of Puerto Rico, earned his commission as an infantry officer after graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. in 1995. He served six years on active duty before joining the U.S. Army National Guard. His first assignment was with the 2nd Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea as a rifle platoon leader and executive officer for 1st Bn., 506th Infantry Regiment. He also served as a rifle platoon leader and headquarters and headquarters company executive officer at 4th Ranger Training Battalion, Fort Benning, Georgia. Calero left active duty in the 2001 and joined Co. C, 1st Bn., 20th SFG (A).

Calero is survived by his father and mother, Raymond and Roselle Calero both of Queens, N.Y.; brother, Dennis Calero; sister, Irene and sister, Joyce Crespo and three nieces, Amelia, Lauren and Claire.