{"id":19582,"date":"2024-03-29T14:18:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T20:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/?casualty=vankomen-darren-dale"},"modified":"2024-05-13T20:23:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T02:23:50","slug":"vankomen-darren-dale","status":"publish","type":"casualty","link":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/?casualty=vankomen-darren-dale","title":{"rendered":"VanKomen, Darren Dale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Date<\/strong>: 12\/21\/2004<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rank<\/strong>: Staff Sergeant<\/p>\n<p><strong>Branch<\/strong>: U.S. Army<\/p>\n<p><strong>Operation<\/strong>: Operation Iraqi Freedom<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"341\" height=\"226\" data-id=\"25690\" src=\"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/SGT-Darren-D-Vankomen.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25690\" srcset=\"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/SGT-Darren-D-Vankomen.png 341w, https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/SGT-Darren-D-Vankomen-300x199.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 341px) 100vw, 341px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Darren VanKomen grew up in Lewiston, Idaho, and enlisted in the military in 1991, a few years after graduating from Culdesac High School in Idaho. He was stationed in West Virginia and Colorado before coming to Fort Lewis for a second time. Twice, he left the army, to explore life as a civilian. Twice he returned, after missing the structure and purpose of the military. &#8220;He liked everything about it. He literally felt like he could make a difference,&#8221; said sister-in-law Stephanie VanKomen of Orofino, Idaho. &#8220;He was right where he wanted to be,&#8221; said another sister-in-law, Andrea VanKomen, of Puyallup. &#8220;He was really dedicated to serving his country.&#8221; VanKomen was a 33-year-old sergeant and unit supply specialist who doted on his large family of six brothers and two sisters. He was the uncle who played basketball and blind man&#8217;s bluff with the kids. He was tall and funny, liked to draw pictures of cartoon characters and Conan the Barbarian, and he loved the military. He was a loving and devoted man who doted on his wife, Stephaine, and 12-year-old stepdaughter, Chelsea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"casualty-operation":[100],"casualty-tag":[106],"class_list":["post-19582","casualty","type-casualty","status-publish","hentry","casualty-operation-operation-iraqi-freedom","casualty-tag-idaho-casualty"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/casualty\/19582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/casualty"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/casualty"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/casualty\/19582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25691,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/casualty\/19582\/revisions\/25691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"casualty-operation","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcasualty-operation&post=19582"},{"taxonomy":"casualty-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcasualty-tag&post=19582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}