Photo By Erin Thompson | Sgt. Timothy P. Martin read more read more
by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AGENT KILLED IN NORTHWEST IRAQ
On 8 February 2008, four Army soldiers with the 2d Stryker Brigade Combat Team (BCT) of the 25th Infantry Division out of Schofield Barracks, Honolulu, were killed in a roadside bombing in Taji, Iraq. One of those soldiers, Sgt. Timothy P. Martin, was a 35L counterintelligence agent assigned to the unit.
Timothy Martin grew up in Pixley, California, and graduated from Monache High School in 1996. He went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in biology from St. Mary’s College, Moraga, California, in 2004. Throughout college, he participated in numerous sports, including weightlifting, football, and basketball. Martin’s aspirations were to become a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. His mother, Lucy Martin, later told reporters he “hoped that studying and performing intelligence work in the military would help him win a spot with the federal agency.”
Martin joined the Army shortly after finishing college in 2005 and became a counterintelligence agent. He also spent eight months learning Arabic. He was stationed at Schofield Barracks when he deployed to Iraq with 2d Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 2d Stryker BCT, 25th Infantry Division, in December 2007. Overseas, he became popular for his habit of handing out candy and pens to Iraqi children, even asking his mother in early February to send more of each to give out. In his last phone call to his mother on 28 January 2008, 27-year-old Sergeant Martin told her he would talk about his deployment with her when he returned home. His final email, sent on 5 February, was signed, “I love you too, Mom.”
On 8 February 2008, Martin and three other soldiers with the Stryker BCT— Spec. Michael T. Manibog, S. Sgt. Jerald A. Whisenhunt, and Sgt. Gary D. Willett—were performing routine duties in Taji, a town in northwestern Iraq. The brigade had assumed responsibility for the area in mid-January, and Martin had been deployed for just two months. The group was traveling in an M1126 infantry carrier vehicle when it struck a buried improvised explosive device in the road. All four men were killed when it detonated. The bombing was the second such attack against the unit in only a few weeks. On 19 January, Spec. Jon M. Schoolcraft III had become the unit’s first combat fatality when he was killed in a similar incident, also in Taji.
Sergeant Martin was remembered most for his commitment to hard work and his dreams of joining the FBI. Brig. Gen. Robert Brown stated, “[Martin] chose selfless service toward the cause of freedom over the comforts of an easy life.” His body was recovered and returned to California, where he was buried in Tulare Cemetery next to his sister, Bryna, who died of leukemia in 1990. Sergeant Martin is honored on the Military Intelligence Corps Memorial Wall at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
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| Date Taken: | 02.02.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.02.2024 16:24 |
| Story ID: | 463076 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 323 |
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