military

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

A U.S. Marine from Buffalo was one of five Marines killed Wednesday when an Osprey helicopter crashed in the desert near the border between California and Arizona, the U.S. Marine Corps announced on Thursday.

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso confirmed the death of Seth Rasmuson on Thursday evening in a press release.

“We are deeply saddened to learn today about the death of one of Wyoming’s U.S. Marines, Seth Rasmuson,” Barrasso said.

“There is certainly more to learn about what happened yesterday, and much more we need to hear about his life and service to our country. Today, we mourn this tragic loss. Bobbi and I are holding Seth and his family in our prayers,” the senator said.

U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis echoed Barrasso’s sentiments.

“I am saddened to learn of the tragic loss of U.S. Marine and Buffalo native Seth Rasmuson,” Lummis said. “I am praying for comfort over his friends and family as they mourn. I take solace in Psalm 34:18, ‘The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.’”

Rasmuson graduated from Buffalo High School in 2019, according to the Buffalo Bulletin.

“We mourn the loss of our Marines in this tragic mishap,” said Maj. Gen. Bradford Gering, the commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, in a statement. “Our hearts go out to their families and friends as they cope with this tragedy.”

According to media reports, the aircraft reportedly went down at 12:25pm during training exercises near Glamis, California, approximately 115 miles east of San Diego.

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^{Video: Courtesy The Wort Hotel}

By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

Hundreds of people lined Broadway Avenue in Jackson on Monday afternoon to welcome the family of a Wyoming Marine who died in a terrorist attack at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan on Thursday.

Members of the Jackson Police Department, the Teton County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marine Corps escorted the father of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, Jim, and Rylee’s two sisters, Cheyenne and Roice, through the community at 3:40 p.m. after their trip to Washington, DC over the weekend.

The family was attending a ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware where the bodies of the 13 servicemen killed in the attacks were returned to the U.S. in a military service called a “dignified transfer.”

Onlookers waved flags and applauded in an effort to show support for the family.

Earlier in the day, Jim McCollum told a Facebook friend that his son would be returned to the Jackson area “for his last trip home” sometime in the immediate future.

“The process has started but no definitive time-line yet,” Mr. McCollum said.

The elder McCollum also posted a tribute video made for his son by a friend on his Facebook page. The video showed many pictures of Rylee and his sisters growing up in the Jackson area.

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso told FOX News on Monday evening that he spoke with Jim McCollum earlier in the day and was told Rylee was “red, white, and blue from the beginning.”

“He joined the Marines on his 18th birthday,” Barrasso said.  “He leaves behind a wife who is pregnant with their first child next month.”

“His Dad ended our conversation by saying, ‘Tonight, Rylee is guarding the gates of Heaven,'” he added.

Jim McCollum, however, did not speak with President Joe Biden, who attended the transfer ceremony in Dover, Massachusetts. McCollum and his family walked out when Biden entered the room.

McCollum’s daughter, Roice, told the Washington Post that this was because they blamed the president for her brother’s death.

“You can’t f— up as bad as he did and say you’re sorry,” Roice McCollum said. “This did not need to happen, and every life is on his hands.”

Jiennah McCollum, the wife of the late Marine, did meet with Biden briefly but reportedly left disappointed because she felt he was following a script.

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

The family of the Wyoming Marine killed in a terrorist attack on Thursday refused to meet with President Joe Biden following a solemn ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday.

Roice McCollum, sister of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, said the family did attend the ceremony — known as the “dignified transfer” — but ultimately decided not to meet with the president because they held him responsible for the Marine’s death.

“You can’t f— up as bad as he did and say you’re sorry,” Roice McCollum told the Washington Post. “This did not need to happen, and every life is on his hands.”

Jiennah McCollum, the wife of the late Marine, did meet with Biden briefly but reportedly left disappointed because she felt he was following a script.

FOX News reported that “the family felt the president’s conversation with Jiennah was hollow and lacking meaning, and said Biden appeared to show a ‘total disregard to the loss of our Marine.’”

The White House would not comment on the private conversations the president had with the families.

Meanwhile, McCollum’s father on Sunday posted an original poem on his Facebook page, which reads:

Where do I find the answers 
Where do I go from here 
When the heart is filled with sorrow 
When eyes are filled with tears
When will it be OK 
To smile once again 
Without feeling bad 
For feeling something 
About the memories held within 
Today I start that journey 
My son has made it home
Thankful for you and the love that you share
I know I’m not alone

Mr. McCollum signed the poem “wykid”.

One of Mr. McCollum’s Facebook friends encouraged him to keep writing.

“Please keep writing your poetry. It’s therapeutic for you! Keeping you in my thoughts & prayers!” Kari Mulinix wrote.

McCollumn concurred: “Thank you…it truly is.”

Mr. McCollum told another friend that he and his family will return to Wyoming late Monday and his late son will arrive soon after.

“It will be a few days before he makes his last trip home. There are some things that need to be taken care of before that can happen. The process has started but no definitive time-line yet,” he said.

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

The grief-stricken mother of the Wyoming Marine who was killed in a terrorist attack in Afghanistan on Friday blamed President Joe Biden and his voters for her son’s death.

Kathy McCollum, a resident of Montrose, Colorado, called a Sirius XM political talk show on Friday afternoon to discuss her son Lance Cpl. Rylee MCCollum’s death.

Not mincing words on the segment, McCollum said she called the talk show to “process [the grief] through anger instead of tears”.

“I just want all you Democrats who cheated in the election, or who voted for him legitimately, to know that you just killed my son,” McCollum said. “With a dementia-ridden piece of crap who doesn’t even know he’s in the White House, who still thinks he’s a senator.

McCollum said she was awakened at her door at 4am by two Marines telling her that her son was one of 13 serviceman killed in the attacks.

She told talk show host Andrew Wilkow that her representative Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO) will be visiting her house on Monday and “will be able to convey my message to the rest of the United States.”

“She said my son did not die in vain but guess what? My son did die in vain. This was unnecessary debacle which could have been handled properly,” she said.

McCollum’s son, a former resident of Bondurant, Wyoming and a 2019 graduate of Jackson High School, was married on February 14 and was expecting his first child with wife Gigi in three weeks.

“They had months and months to remove everyone from Afghanistan and they chose not to,” she said.  “My son was, through the laws of statistics, was one of the ones who just got blown up in a terrorist bomb yesterday.”

“I’m just going to stay pissed-off and that’s the only way I’m going to be able to do this,” she said. “Every Democrat that’s listening, you did this to my son.”

Meanwhile in Jackson, Wyoming, McCollum’s father and two sisters appeared at the Jackson High School football game on Friday night.

The family walked out to the middle of the football field for a moment of silence followed by the national anthem.

“Rylee McCollum gave his life defending freedom around the world, our country, and the lives of many yesterday. We will be forever grateful for Rylee’s service and sacrifice to our country,” the announcer said.

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By Jimmy Orr, Cowboy State Daily

Outpourings of support continued over the weekend for the family of a Wyoming marine who was killed in a terrorist attack in Afghanistan on Friday.

Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, a former resident of Bondurant, Wyoming, and a 2019 graduate of Jackson Hole High School, was one of 13 servicemen killed in two separate blasts at the Kabul airport.

McCollum was married and his wife is expecting a child in three weeks.

Donations over $500,000 have been generated on two GoFundMe sites.

One page set up by McCollum’s mother-in-law, Jill Crayton, has raised more than $160,000 while the other, set-up by an unknown organizer, has topped $350,000.

“My heart is incredibly heavy today, in the wee hours of the morning my beautiful daughter got that knock on her door that no military spouse wants to get,” Crayton, the mother of McCollum’s wife Gigi, said.

Crayton said the couple had been married less than a year and said Gigi is 36 weeks pregnant.

“I never got to meet him, but I will meet his baby, and I will love and spoil that baby forever. please hold her in your heart and soul because she needs it, this mama knows exactly what that feels like,” she wrote on the page.

Holding back tears, Crayton told a Charlotte TV station that she learned the news from her daughter at 6 a.m. EDT Friday after Marines showed up at her daughter’s door.

“He brought out the best of her. He did,” she said.

Crayton lost her husband when Gigi was five years old and said she remembered hoping that her children would never have to go through something like that.

“It’s not just losing your spouse,” she said. “But something you were so excited to share with somebody and that person isn’t there anymore.”

The other page said the purpose of the fundraiser is toward the education and upbringing of McCollum’s child,

“His sacrifice at HKIA [Hamid Karzai International Airport] to protect the lives of those who cannot themselves will not be forgotten,” the page said. “Once we close off donations, withdrawals will be directed directly to an account chosen by her and her mother.”

McCollum’s sister, Roice, said her brother had wanted to be a Marine his entire life and as a toddler, he carried around a toy rifle while wearing diapers and his cowboy boots.

“Rylee wanted to be a history teacher and a wrestling coach when he finished serving his country,” she said. “Rylee will always be a hero, not just for the ultimate sacrifice he made for our country but for the way he impacted every life around him for the better. Making us stronger, kinder, teaching us to love deeper. We love you Rylee.”

His father, Jim, told the New York Times that he could track his son through a messaging app that displayed a green dot when he was online.

When Jim got word of the terrorist attacks, he checked the app but there was no green light.

“In my heart yesterday afternoon, I knew,” he said.

“He was a beautiful soul,” Mr. McCollum said.

Wyoming’s congressional delegation was quick to offer condolences to McCollum’s family.

“His bravery and patriotism will never be forgotten,” Rep. Liz Cheney said, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and perhaps the most-outspoken critic of U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. “His willingness to put himself in harm’s way to keep our country safe and defend our freedom represents a level of selflessness and heroism that embodies the best of America.”

“There are no words sufficient to comfort a family after hearing news like this, but I want to express my deepest condolences to Rylee McCollum’s family and friends,” U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis said.

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