Army son of Lake County pastor killed in Pakistan | PressDemocrat.com
Army son of Lake County pastor killed in Pakistan
By GLENDA ANDERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
The son of a Lake County pastor died Feb. 3 in Pakistans Northwest Frontier Province when an improvised explosive device killed three U.S. Army Special Operations soldiers.
Army Sgt. 1st Class David J.Hartman was killed Feb. 3 by a roadside bomb in Pakistan.
Sergeant 1st Class David J. Hartman, 27, died of injuries from the blast, according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Hartman and the other two Army casualties, Sgt. 1st Class Matthew S. Sluss-Tiller and Staff Sgt. Mark A. Stets Jr. were part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The soldiers were among at least 60 to 100 members of a team that trains Pakistans paramilitary Frontier Corps in counter-insurgency techniques, the New York Times has reported. They were on their way to attend the inauguration ceremony of a girls school that had recently been renovated with U.S. humanitarian assistance, according to the Army.
It was really senseless, said his father, Greg Hartman, a Kelseyville contractor and pastor of the Freedom Worship Center.
He said hes feeling both hurt by the loss and proud of his son. This is what David wanted to do. He was helping people, Hartman said.
Part of his sons job was to make sure work on the school, which earlier had been destroyed by bombing, was completed.
Hartman said he was acutely aware during his sons 10 years of service that he could be killed. It was pretty scary, he said.
His son would reassure him, saying: Dont worry dad, itll be OK.
David Hartman tried to convince his father that serving in Pakistan would be safer than his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Greg Hartman wasnt convinced. He said he tried to prepare himself for the possibility his son might be killed but also said thats not really possible.
I know I have all the answers. But they dont answer the questions that I have, he said.
David Hartman visited but never lived in Lake County, his father said. Two of Davids three sisters and his paternal grandparents live in Lake County. His younger brother, following in his footsteps, completed boot camp the day before Hartmans death.
David Hartmans wife, Cherise Sabio, is from Rosamond, near Lancaster. They have a 1-year-old son, Michael, and she is pregnant with their second child.
David Hartman loved spending time with Michael and disliked being away from him, his father said. He was looking forward to coming home in April for an extended period of time, he said. But the Army was his career and it was likely he would again return to a war zone, Hartman said.
David Hartman was born in Merced and graduated from Kadena High School, located on an Air Force Base on Okinawa, where his step father was stationed and his mother, Mikail, lived. He was a member of the ROTC and enlisted in the Army after graduation, his father said.
He served in Afghanistan in 2002 and Iraq in 2004.
Hartman, who was based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, had earned multiple awards during his service to the Army. He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, his father said.
Greg Hartman said hes struggling with the loss, but has found one positive thing to come from his sons death: Its going to help me minister to people going through this, he said.