Cedar Rapids Marine killed in Afghanistan

By Orlan Love, The Gazette

Three Marines, including a Cedar Rapids resident, were killed in combat Friday in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced Monday.

Lance Cpl. Adam R. Wolff, 25, of Cedar Rapids, a native of rural Eldon in southeast Iowa, was killed along with Staff Sgt. David H. Stewart, 34, of Stafford, Va., and Lance Cpl. Brandon J. Garabrant, 19, of Peterborough, N.H.

They died as a result of a 'hostile incident while supporting combat operations in Helmand province,” defense officials said.

The Daily Nation and other media outlets have reported that the Taliban, claiming responsibility for the attack in a text message to news agencies, said the Marines were killed by a bomb carried on a motorbike and detonated close to a patrol conducted by NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

But First Lt. Peter Koerner, a public affairs officer with the 2d Marine Division, said Monday he could not confirm that report.

Wolff is the 29th Iowan killed in combat in Afghanistan since U.S. military operations began there in 2001.

Wolff, a 2006 graduate of Cardinal High School in Eldon, 'was kind of quiet and went to the beat of his own drum,” recalled his middle school math teacher, Sheila Fetter.

'Adam was kind, friends were important to him and he was never anyone you had to worry about,” said Fetter, whose daughter Chelsea was in the same class with Wolff and his twin brother, Aaron, from kindergarten through 12th grade.

When Wolff joined the Marine Corps in 2012, Fetter said she was somewhat surprised.

'But then it made sense. He was kind of a paradox. He did surprising things,” she said.

As an example, she cited Wolff's performance in a high school play.

'He was really good. No one would have known there was an actor inside him,” Fetter said.

The news of Wolff's death hit the tight-knit rural community hard, according to Fetter.

'I keep thinking of his mom, Deb Hall, and his four siblings, twin brother Aaron, brother Nathan, and sisters Amanda and Angela,” she said.

Wolff's mother was en route Monday to the U.S. Air Force Base at Dover, Del., to meet an aircraft carrying the bodies of the three fallen Marines, according to the Ottumwa Courier.

The dignified transfer of remains was expected to occur about 11:30 CDT Monday night, according to Maj. Jennifer Piggott, a public affairs officer with Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations.

Gen. James F. Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps, will be leading the official party at the transfer, Piggott said.

Wolff, a combat engineer, joined the Marine Corps in December 2012 and was promoted to lance corporal Feb. 1 this year. He and his comrades were deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom with the Second Combat Engineer Battalion.

Stewart, a platoon sergeant, joined the Marine Corps in June 2004 and was deployed twice to Iraq and was on his second deployment in Afghanistan. Garabrant joined the Marine Corps in March 2013 and was promoted to lance corporal Dec. 1, 2011.

As with Wolff, Garabrant was deployed to Afghanistan in March 2014.