Friday, June 09 2006 @ 05:47 AM EDT
Contributed by: River97
Views: 1,987
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www.marinetimes.com -- OCEANSIDE, Calif. – The Marine Corps is investigating the June 3 death of an officer in Iraq as a possible suicide, officials said.
Maj. Michael D. Stover died "of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound" at Taqqadum, a large air base west of Baghdad in Anbar province, according to 1st Lt. Kevin Schultz, a spokesman at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.

Stover, 43, who was assigned to the Yuma-based Marine Wing Support Squadron 371, was on temporary duty in Iraq with Marine Wing Support Squadron 374, which is based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., Schultz said in a Wednesday news release.
Stover grew up in Mansfield, Ohio, and enlisted in the Corps in 1980. He first deployed to Iraq in February 2005 and returned in October.
His military awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals and the Iraq Campaign Medal.
Since Marines landed in Afghanistan in November 2001, through May this year, more than 112 Marines have taken their own lives, according to statistics released June 8 by the Marine Corps. During calendar year 2004, 31 Marines committed suicide; an average of 16.7 per 100,000.
Forty-six percent of the 24 Marines who the Corps said committed suicide in 2005 were veterans of operations Enduring Freedom or Iraqi Freedom, Corps officials said.
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Sir, I would like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.
Semper Fi Devil Dog!