Aaron was the son of Susan Price and Donald Kenefick. He was a brother to Jacquelyn and Jade, father to Landon Hope, Grandson, Nephew, Friend, Brother in Arms to so many from every arena of service.
Aaron was a “Noble Warrior,” yet first and foremost, Aaron was a child of God, and a light to the world. He knew at a young age that he wanted to serve his country, so he enlisted into the Marine delayed entry program at the beginning of his senior year of high school in 1996. In 1997, after graduation, he attended boot camp in Paris Island, S.C. where he would prepare for his adult career serving for over twelve years. It was to be his entire adult life’s career path, training and mentoring our American Legacy, making a difference professionally as well as spiritually in the hearts and minds of men and woman who crossed his path, hoping for the best, yet preparing for the worst during the security and protection of our country.
His name Aaron Michael, meaning “Rod of Truth,” and “Warrior Angel,” carried the vibrations of a more symbolic measure as he grew into himself as a protector for America, tragically, ending as an American Hero at the age of thirty and a half years old.
From a family member’s point of view the above information describes such a scant of detail about Aaron, yet through the eyes of the United States Marine Corps and brother in arms, Aaron would have the following information added to his profile: Provided security detail to three President’s, Marine of the year 1999, Distinguished Honor Graduate of Fort Benning U.S. Airborne School, NCO-IC Training and Airborne Operations (Special Operations Command Europe) throughout Africa, Operation Shining Express, U.S Central Command enlisted Aide to Deputy director of Strategic Plans and Policy and the SNCO IC for J-5 Directorate, hand selected as the personal attendee for George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention, SNCO IC of Operation Support Branch J-2X Division, Marine of the Year 2007, and yet that would still not describe in detail such a simple, yet complex American Hero that would give his life any day of the weak for his belief in God and his Country, yet this day, September 8th 2009, his life and the lives of his four other brothers in arms were taken away, by negligence, dereliction of duty and abandonment by the very country he loved.
The cause of death was stated by the United States of America, Military Investigators of the 15-6 Ganjgal Ambush, over 500 pages of redacted material including “eye witness accounts,” that the cause of death was DIRECTLY caused by the negligence, dereliction of duties and abandonment by the officers in charge. One would question, how and why could this happen? It is and was the most unbelievable and tragic event to befall the family and friends of Aaron Kenefick USMC and his brothers of the Ganjgal Ambush. It is bizarre and unbelievable that there was so much disconnect for this ETT 2-8 Marine Team of Security Advisers to the Afghan Soldiers and people of Afghanistan only on this very day of the year! Why would a few American Army Officers of the 10th Mountain Division, who were in charge of the TOC at Camp Joyce, deny, deny, deny, them over and over for hours until their radios fell silent?. They were denied Artillery and Air Support, making one excuse after another, with a barrage of twenty questions, in their attempt to put down the Marines that were fighting for their lives, while these selected few officers in charge of monitoring the satellites and intelligence, forbid their own American brothers in arms the right to live, assisting and abetting the enemy. They prevented Marines requesting permission to go into the fire from going in to rescue them. “Leave No Man Behind,” is not a motto in the Corps it is a call to action and their dead bodies were brought home to their families for Christian burials and closure to their pain only because orders were not followed. Why would American soldiers, this one day of the year, September 8 2009, stand down orders to rescue 3 Marines, 1 Navy Corpsman and other Marine ETT 2-8 Mentors as well as their Afghan counter parts on the border of Pakistan, in the remote foothills of the Ganjgal Valley, who were begging desperately for help. Ganjgal is the very area that the Russian soldiers could NOT penetrate for ten years from 1979 to 1989 ?
This being said, how did the Taliban get AK 47’s, rocket propelled missiles, grenades and the ammunition that was used? Yet more bizarre is why the air support that was on its’ way was cancelled? As calls for air and artillery support were requested repeatedly, and excuses from the Officer in charge in the TOC were provided repeatedly, it was a lower level Sgt in the TOC who jumped into action behind the scenes calling for reinforcements from neighboring bases (inorganic support) and it was one of the inorganic air support units that was on the way to rescue the Marine team when a call was put in to the air support to abort the plan. They were only five minutes away from rescuing three Marines and Navy Corpsman while they were still alive and fighting. There was reported to be 100 to 150 Taliban who ambushed the Marine ETT 2-8 team. Yet Aaron M. Kenefick, was found with one bullet to the right cheekbone, which severed his spinal cord. One would think the fallen brothers that day would be also riddled with bullets. They were not. These men fought to their last bullet, the enemy knew it, and they were all assassinated, left to die in a ditch, together. Homicide reads as the death of Aaron Kenefick. My son is laid to rest beside his Grandfather (my father) who was also a United States Marine.
To add more outrage to their senseless deaths that day, when Dakota Meyer, the Marine Medal of Honor recipient, along with others who were listening to this horrific denial of help, called to go in to find his team, they were denied over and over again by the same negligent officers. Why and how could this happen? We have seen it recently with the murders in Benghazi. Similar Rules Of Engagement are playing out, snuffing out the lives of our great warriors. All American Patriots must ask the question of WHY? Who would orchestrate such evil on the honorable and valorous? The inability to make sense of these policies makes me wonder if this is an inside job, “Is our government killing off our best?,” or are they all random acts, not connected in any way?
For an American mother to be told that her child, her beautiful and strong son, was KIA in Afghanistan, it was like taking the sun out of her life for a series of years; a complete eclipse to the heart and very soul, a hurt so deep that it transformed into a new life’s plan for justice. At the time of being informed by the two Marine brothers, this mother’s screams were that of a wounded animal left out in the wild caught in a trap. Slowly the screams turned into whispers. Then a voice began to emerge, a voice with a consuming list of unanswered questions and still NO JUSTICE.
This mother questions the unfolding of events in the Ganjgal Ambush and now that of the Afghanistan War in general, not to forget the troops still serving in Iraq that we no longer hear about. No mother or father should have to investigate the death of their own military child, yet through all of the unanswered logical questions, there came no logical answers. One day I was praying over Aaron’s personal Bible, a Bible that was shipped back to me with his belongings. I asked God to show me a verse in the Bible that would give me a new stepping stone of direction I must take in my journey for truth and justice, that I would follow whatever message presented itself to me. I opened his Bible to find, “Know that this mission belongs to you, and that I will be with you, every step of the way.” I knelt down on my knees and began to Thank God for my message and cried with every tear I had in reserve. I was surprised I had any left but there were many. I got on the phone to convey my actions to my family as well as my Gold Star brothers and sisters. We all cried this day in joy and in memory of our fallen, having new signs of emerging hope.
Through a series of meetings, phone calls, emails, letters, media, tv, radio, networking, advocating, research, speaking, a pentagon meeting with military officials, congress men and woman, senators, the celebration of life of Aaron and his fallen brothers as well as the special Marine Medal of Honor Dakota Meyer’s award to which he dedicated his MOH to Aaron, Mike, Edwin, James and Kenneth, a series of events have taken place.
This journey has placed me to the here and now of Aaron Kenefick, my son (sun). No mother on earth should have to endure the heartbreak of losing a child, yet losing a child to a murder that was completely preventable. There are those who will say, “Lady your son died in the fog of war.” To them I say, “Wake up!”. Look around you and see that there is and was an obtuse yet real picture emerging from our military/political arena. It has intensified since Aaron’s death, yet maybe, this was the plan of God or the Universe in the first place. Maybe it was the new path I had to follow during the death of my child so that I would see the behind the scenes agenda emerge. It was Aaron’s job, his career as a Warrior, to protect us from evil. It is mine, as a mother, in spirit, voice and heart, to get this word out and never have I stopped being that mother, to protect the legacy of our America, so that other mothers will never know my pain. It is my hope as well as my faith that there will be other eyes and ears with truth that will emerge to tell another angle of this story. I would be eternally grateful to you, as you will find yourself eternally blessed beyond earthy measure one day. I have attached articles as well as the Ganjgal Ambush story and details. Soon to follow will be a copy of the entire 15-6 Investigation Report.
One would question how and why this once high profile Marine ended up dead in a ditch, deserted by our own Government and Military; executed and abandoned then forgot about in time by some of the members in congress. There are few fighting for our American Legacy, as I stated there were those before Aaron, and what came after were the executions and murders of other Special Operations Marines, as well as Navy Seals and those in Benghazi. To some individuals in the world it may appear that their deaths occurred through the fog of war or accidental, yet to those of us who do care, and personally put forth the time to investigate, we see that there is a crisis taking place. It is our families who are now fighting these battles for our fallen heroes here at home and in the halls of Congress. It is us who ban together with other patriot groups to assimilate the goings on of derelictions of duties coming from Washington DC, as well as the abandonment and the negligence of those in charge. I promise you that as the daughter of a Marine, the Mother of a Fallen Marine as an Army Veteran myself, I am a Mother Warrior. I have grown stronger in my demand for truth and justice and my fight has only begun. I embrace my new found position through the tears and struggles, that of myself and my family, and have formed new alliances with those of like minds who will ban together for the good of humanity. I know that my son is not dead or gone forever but he has transformed into the very spirit that propels me into the action that is needed to carry on my new found path in this life.
Aaron in his own words: I’m a laid back guy who try’s not to take himself too seriously. I’ve experienced many things in life, both good and bad and I have to say, it’s made me the strong man that I am today. I cherish my friends and my family more than anything in this world as they have always been there for me through the good times and the bad times. I’ve been all over the world, pick a place and I’ve probably been there but my days of traveling are far from over. I have a competative spirit and I am driven my ambitions which includes first and foremost, happiness and whatever that encompasses. I’m not afraid to take chances or risks. No risk, no reward but I do understand that for every action there is a consequence
I’d rather die like a man, then live like a coward!!
17 MARCH 2013: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT AARON:
Together We Served has compiled photos and information about Aaron including his Bronze Star with V citation. Read this for a greater understanding of who Aaron was. Link:
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Contact Susan Price at: