{"id":22953,"date":"2024-03-29T14:25:09","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T20:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/?casualty=stanley-derek-anthony"},"modified":"2024-05-13T19:57:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T01:57:54","slug":"stanley-derek-anthony","status":"publish","type":"casualty","link":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/?casualty=stanley-derek-anthony","title":{"rendered":"Stanley, Derek Anthony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Date<\/strong>: 6\/5\/2006<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rank<\/strong>: Corporal<\/p>\n<p><strong>Branch<\/strong>: U.S. Army<\/p>\n<p><strong>Operation<\/strong>: Operation Enduring 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=\"124\" height=\"159\" data-id=\"25664\" src=\"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/CPL-Derek-A-Stanley.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25664\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Army Spc. Derek A. Stanley, 20, of Tulsa, died Monday in Salerno, Afghanistan, the military said in a news release. His death was not combat-related and remains under investigation, the Department of Defense said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDerek always conducted himself honorably and was a much-loved son, brother, grandson, cousin and nephew,\u201d his mother, Darlyn M. Smith, who moved eight months ago from Tulsa to Boise, Idaho, said in a statement released by the National Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was his mother\u2019s protector, strength and friend. He loved his family deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stanley dropped out of high school in Tulsa and entered the Thunderbird Youth Academy in Pryor where he earned his GED and prepared for a military career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Retired Maj. Steven Tunnell, the academy director, said Stanley had problems before he entered the school but became a proud young man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was very intent on gaining his education and joining the military, moving on in his life,\u201d Tunnell said. \u201cHe was very concerned about being mentally and physically fit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stanley graduated from the Thunderbird Youth Academy in December 2003 in the top quarter of his class. He enlisted in the Army in March 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pam Smith, the soldier\u2019s aunt, said Stanley\u2019s unit was responsible for guarding buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She talked to Stanley about three weeks ago, and the soldier was in great spirits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI know that a lot of people have views on the war,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut I can tell you this, he believed in what he was doing and he was proud of what he was doing. And that makes me real proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Family friend P.J. Baker was nervous about Stanley joining the Army but supported him after seeing his excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She spoke with Stanley a couple of days before his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was laughing, talking about never having seen mountains all away around him, and telling stories about some of the locals he had met,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stanley was assigned to the 710th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) out of Fort Drum, N.Y.<\/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":[101],"casualty-tag":[106],"class_list":["post-22953","casualty","type-casualty","status-publish","hentry","casualty-operation-operation-enduring-freedom","casualty-tag-idaho-casualty"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/casualty\/22953","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\/22953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25665,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/casualty\/22953\/revisions\/25665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"casualty-operation","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcasualty-operation&post=22953"},{"taxonomy":"casualty-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcasualty-tag&post=22953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}