Michigan Boy loses older brother in Iraq

[Moses]

Marine from Climax killed in attack in Iraq

BY CECILIA OLECK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

January 12, 2006


Jason Little

The death of a local Marine has been a blow to residents in Climax, a small community between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo.

Marine Lance Cpl. Jason T. Little, 20, was killed Jan. 7 when his tank was attacked near Ferris, Iraq.

"It is a shock to a small community," said Dr. Geoffrey Balkam, the superintendent of Climax-Scotts Community Schools. Little was a 2003 graduate of Climax-Scotts High School.

Little was serving with the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to the U.S. Department of Defense Web site. It also said he was one of five Marines from the force killed Saturday in separate incidents.

Balkam said he remembered Little as being very interested in computer technology.

"Jason was a fine young man," he said.

Balkam said students were told earlier in the week of Little's death. A younger brother, Derek, who is a 10th-grader, has not been in class this week.

Little was a role model to Derek, said Ron Ehlers, a math teacher at the school who taught both boys.

Little is the 78th troop with Michigan ties to die in the Iraq war.

Contact CECILIA OLECK at 248-351-3692 or coleck@freepress

.com. .

Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.

[Moses]

AP State News
January 12. 2006 7:15AM
Dead Michigan Marine loved computers, counselor says

The Associated Press

A 20-year-old Michigan man who was killed when an improvised explosive device blasted his tank in Iraq joined the Marine Corps to pursue his interest in computers, a school counselor says.

Lance Cpl. Jason T. Little died Saturday in an explosion near Ferris, Iraq, according to the Pentagon. It said he was one of five Marines who died in weekend attacks.

Another Marine was killed Saturday in a roadside bombing near Karmah, while three Marines died Sunday in small arms attacks in Fallujah, the military said.

Little, who was from the Kalamazoo County community of Climax, was serving with the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

"He died doing what he wanted to do," sister Stephanie Little told The Detroit News. "He knew the circumstances of what he was doing, but believed strongly in serving his country. He was scared at times, but handled everything well."

He was a 2003 graduate of Climax-Scotts High School and studied computers at Kalamazoo Valley Community College before enlisting.

"It is a shock to a small community," Dr. Geoffrey Balkam, superintendent of Climax-Scotts Community Schools, told the Detroit Free Press. "Jason was a fine young man."

Balkam said Little was very interested in computer technology. Computers helped him gain confidence and fueled his interest in the Marines, guidance counselor Judi Kingsbury told the Battle Creek Enquirer.

"I think he saw it as an avenue to get training in computers," Kingsbury said. "That was something I saw that changed in him from seventh to 12th grade his maturity and confidence."

Lisa Rose, 22, of Bellevue said she and Little started dating last summer. She said they met when they worked together at a Meijer store in Battle Creek.

Rose said she visited him at Camp Lejeune shortly before his Sept. 17 departure for Iraq and talked with him on the phone before his final mission.

"He was always nervous, and he was scared," she said. "You could hear it in his voice. But he always said he would come back."