Ian P. Weikel

Ian Weikel was an officer in 10th Cav, during 2003-2004, when his unit
was the Recon unit for 1st (Raider) Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division.
Since 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry spearheaded much of the Brigade's operations,
his unit was often attached to 1-22 Infantry, and CPT Weikel worked with,
and was well known to many of the 1-22 Regulars.

Top photo: Ian Weikel posing in the entrance to the underground hiding place
in which Sadaam Hussein was captured by 1st Brigade 4th Infantry Division.

Captain Ian P. Weikel, 31, of Colorado, died in Balad, Iraq on April 18, 2006, from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device
detonated near his HMMWV during combat operations in Baghdad. Weikel was assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment,
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Army Capt. Ian P. Weikel
Remember Our Heroes

Army Capt. Ian P. Weikel, 31, of Colorado

Cpt Weikel was assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas;
died April 18, 2006 in Balad, Iraq, from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee
during combat operations in Baghdad.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A former class president, star football and basketball player at Fountain-Fort Carson High School
who attended West Point died after his vehicle was struck by a roadside explosive in Baghdad.

Capt. Ian P. Weikel, 31, was assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas.
He died Tuesday in Balad, which is about 42 miles north of Baghdad, the military said.

Weikel, of Colorado Springs was profiled in 1993 after being picked by The (Colorado Springs) Gazette as one of the “Best and Brightest”
teenagers, the newspaper reported. While in high school — where he organized food drives and worked to get students to take a drug free pledge
before they could buy prom tickets — Weikel dreamed of being an Air Force pilot.

He graduated with a 3.94 grade-point-average and went on to attend the Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

“My life is regimented, and the challenges are hard. Anything worth having is, though,” he told the newspaper shortly after graduating.

The grave marker of CPT Ian Weikel

can be seen just behind the marker of

CPT Mark Paine, in Arlington Cemetery.

Ian and Mark were room mates at

the US Military Academy at West Point,

and died within six months of each other.

Mark Paine died with B 1-66 Armor

and had previously served with 1-22 IN

in Iraq.

Photograph by

LTC Steve Russell USA (Retired)

www.rockymountainnews.com -- Sorrow spread through the Fountain-Fort Carson community Wednesday as friends and family learned
of the death in Iraq of Capt. Ian P. Weikel, whose friends described him as a natural leader and problem-solver who led by example.

Weikel, 31, died in Balad, Iraq, on Sunday when an improvised explosive device detonated near the U.S. Army Humvee he was riding in
during combat operations, the Department of Defense said.

A graduate of West Point, Weikel was assigned to the 10th Cavalry Regiment, the 1st Brigade Combat Team in the 4th Infantry Division
based out of Fort Hood, Texas.

To his teachers and coaches at Fountain-Fort Carson High School, he was a bright and energetic young man who stood out from the moment they met him.

"Ian was a very special young man," said Mitch Johnson, who coached Weikel and his brother, Chad, on the varsity football team.

"You could tell that from the moment he walked through the door as a bright-eyed freshman," Johnson said.

Ian Weikel was the team quarterback and president of the student government in his senior year.

Michael Maiurro, a teacher at the high school, said Weikel "was the kind of kid who was always part of the solution."

Weikel married a fellow West Point graduate. He and his wife, Wendy, served overseas together in Europe. She was discharged back to
Colorado Springs when they learned she was pregnant with their first child, Jonathan Troy, a boy born in August.
Their son's middle name reflected the father's profession. Troy means "foot soldier", Maiurro said.

Maiurro last saw his former student when Weikel returned to Colorado Springs for a visit with his family
and a chance to be with his wife and newborn son.

"He was no longer a student but a peer," Maiurro said. "He and I could talk politics and debate government."

"He was the kind of young man that we all could share," he added. "He was part of all of us."

Army Capt. Ian P. Weikel was killed in action on 04/18/06.
posted by Terri Rager

from Fallen heroes

http://livinglegendteam.blogspot.com/2006/04/army-capt-ian-p-weikel.html

Captain Ian Weikel was killed in action on April 18, 2006, while serving his country in Iraq. Ian was a husband, father, son, brother, friend, and soldier.
Ian loved his Lord, his family, his soldiers, and his country. Ian was a warrior, for his country, and for his Lord Jesus Christ.
Ian grew up in Colorado Springs and graduated from Fountain-Ft. Carson High School. After graduating from West Point, he was stationed
at Fort Carson and Fort Hood, TX. He served overseas in Bosnia and was serving his second tour in Iraq.

Ian will be missed by his wife Wendy, his eight-month-old son Jonathan Troy, his parents Dave and Beth, his brother Chad, his grampa Bill,
and countless friends and soldiers. Contributions can be made to the Jonathan Troy Weikel's Education Fund at The Bank at Broadmoor,
501 South Tejon Street. Ian's life will be celebrated at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26th, at Woodmen Valley Chapel.
He will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. It was not the way Ian died that made him a hero; it was the way he lived.

The Gazette

School named after fallen hero
Comments 4
August 10, 2010 9:18 AM
CAROL MCGRAW
THE GAZETTE

This was no typical ribbon-cutting ceremony, Cheryl Serrano, superintendent of Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 told the crowd gathered Monday.

“It’s easy to name a school after a mountain, an eagle,” she said. “But this was the right thing to do.”

The district’s eighth elementary school is named after Ian Weikel, the hometown boy who collected food for the needy, became a star quarterback
and valedictorian at Fountain-Fort Carson High School, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and died in combat.

He was killed in a bomb blast on April 18, 2006, during his second tour in Iraq.

The emotion-ridden school dedication on Fort Carson included talks by those who knew Weikel well, including Brig. Gen. James Pasquarette,
deputy commander of the 4th Infantry Division, and Mike Maiurro, a social studies teacher and Weikel’s high school coach.

But possibly the most touching moment belonged to Weikel’s 4-year-old son Jonathan, who cut the ceremonial yellow ribbon
and then jumped up and down grinning as the crowd clapped.

On his red shirt was a photo button of himself at age 8 weeks in the arms of his father.

“That’s all the time they had together,” said Wendy Green, Weikel’s widow.

“The school is beautiful. This is a bittersweet moment,” Dave Weikel, Ian Weikel’s father, said as he greeted guests.

Pasquarette, Weikel’s brigade commander in Iraq, told the crowd, “Some soldiers stick with you. I think of him almost every day.”
He ranked Weikel as a top company commander at Fort Hood and in Iraq.

“He led by example and was affirmative without being Polyannish,” said Pasquarette, who was there when Weikel died of his wounds.

“It was the hardest day of my life. He was the best this nation had to offer.

“I could not find any silver lining in what happened until today when I saw this school.”

He urged teachers to tell students about Weikel — “the story of a 21st century hero.”

Maiurro, who mentored Weikel during his school days in Fountain, called the school a time for “new beginnings.”

The district created commemorative coins with two wolf prints that will be given each year to achieving students.
Maiurro said he delivered the first coin to Weikel’s grave in Arlington, Va.

On Monday, he gave one to Jonathan and tearfully hugged the boy.

The school’s mascot is the wolf and the motto is from Rudyard Kipling: “The strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf.”

Maiurro said, “Ian lived that.”

Weikel Elementary, with room for 1,000 students, opens Thursday with about 450 students. It’s the district’s largest elementary,
with 104,400 square feet, including space to eventually house the district’s preschool and all-day kindergarten programs.

District 8 has about 7,500 students.

The $13.5 million school was paid for with district reserves and $3.5 million from the state’s new Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) program.

The school soon will be surrounded by new housing on Fort Carson.

Assistant Superintendent Dave Roudebush said, “We feel this is a field of dreams. We built it and they are coming.”

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/fallen-102749-hero-named.html#ixzz1DoEot96d

Aug 13, 2010

By Devin Fisher, Mountaineer staff

Photo Credit: Devin Fisher.

FORT CARSON, Colo. - The legacy of a local boy who put others first, graduated from West Point and was killed in combat in 2006
continued Aug. 9 as Fountain-Fort Carson School District Eight officially dedicated its newest elementary school.

The emotional dedication ceremony featured Capt. Ian Weikel's high school teacher and coach, and the brigade commander he served under
while in Iraq, attesting to his character and leadership. The event concluded as Weikel's 4-year-old son, Jonathon, beamed with pride
as he jumped up and down on the cafetorium stage after cutting the ceremonial ribbon to a rousing ovation from the standing room only crowd.

District Eight Superintendent Cheryl Serrano noted it was not the typical school ribbon-cutting ceremony, attended by school staff,
members of the school board and few others.

"We all know why this one is special, it is because who the building is named after," she said. "We're very excited about what this building means
to the community, to our school district, to the Army."

She said the board of education hadn't made a decision to name a school after an individual in more than 20 years.

"It is easier sometimes to just name it after a mountain or an eagle ... but this was the right thing to do."

Located at 6565 Lindstrom Street, west of the post exchange, Weikel Elementary held its first day of classes Thursday
with a staff of 57 and about 400 students.

Mike Maiurro, who taught Weikel's leadership class at Fountain-Fort Carson High School and coached him in football, basketball
and baseball, summed up his former student and player in four words: service, excellence, achievement and leadership.

He said having the school named in honor of Weikel is a tribute to his family, the community that raised him and a tribute to the school district as a whole.

"But the military took him that next step, we had a young boy ... and they created a man," Maiurro said.

He said Weikel would be "a little bit angry about all this fuss that has gone on today because he was one who never drew attention to himself."

Maiurro noted whenever they received any recognition, Weikel would have 20 students standing with him and he would move to the back row.

He also lauded Weikel for having the vision and being able to not only identify issues, but come up with solutions. As a freshman,
Weikel met with the school board to discuss his recommended list of changes. Eight of the nine issues - to include developing an alternative school
and a place for teenage parents to continue their education - are in place today, Maiurro said.

He also said many of the projects he teaches in his leadership class today were initiated by Weikel.

"I feel like I'm just running a relay race and it's my turn to carry that torch," he said.
Weikel's brigade commander in Iraq said April 18, 2006, the day Weikel was killed, was the worst day of his life.

Citing he read that every combat leader has one person that sticks with them, Brig. Gen. James Pasquarette, deputy commanding general for support,
4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson, said, "For me, it's Ian Weikel. I think about him almost every day."

He recalled completing an officer efficiency report while on the plane to Iraq in December 2005, where he stated Weikel,
who was the commander of G Troop, 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division,
was his No. 1 of 31 company commanders in the brigade.

"He always had a positive outlook and he made me feel better as a brigade commander," Pasquarette said. "I knew if the world was going to hell,
I had a troop commander that could look at things in a positive outlook and keep the benefit of his Soldiers first."

The general said Weikel was full of potential, someone he could see quickly progressing the Army ranks.
He commended Weikel's strength of character, noting he always did the right thing. He was morally and ethically grounded
which allowed him to operate confidently in a complex environment such as Iraq.

"He was always looking out for his Soldiers, leading from the front and ... he did everything he asked his Soldiers to do," Pasquarette said.

"Ian was the best that the nation had to offer, not just the Army, but the whole nation had to offer," he said.
"I challenge the teachers to tell the story of Ian Weikel ... (to tell the students) how lucky they are to be in a school named after such a great American."

The day was bittersweet for Ian's father, Dave Weikel.

"The first time we walked through school was a feeling of wow what a beautiful school and why do I even want to be here," he said.
"You get to point where you realize it's a real honor, it's a beautiful school in his name."

Weikel said he experienced a lot of pride and emotion during the ceremony.

"It's beautiful," he said of the joy to hear what a commanding officer and coach had to say about his son and to know the school
is going to have a lot of purpose. "This honor, this feels like it honored the 4th (Inf. Div.), Fort Carson, the Army and ultimately all of the military.
We are truly thankful to be a part of it."

Weikel recalled the day his son received his West Point acceptance letter.

"It was like an explosion went off in his room," he said.

Weikel Elementary is one of eight elementary schools in District Eight and the fourth on Fort Carson. The 104,000 square foot facility
has a capacity of 1,000 students, to include 16 preschool classrooms. The $13.5 million facility was funded by District Eight
with the assistance of a $3.5 million grant through Colorado's Building Excellent Schools Today program.

http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/08/13/43622-carson-school-honors-fallen-warrior/

FORT CARSON, COLO. -- Administrators, teachers, parents and students held a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony
for Fountain-Fort Carson School District Eight's newest elementary school.

Weikel Elementary is a 104,000 square-foot school located on Fort Carson. It will provide educational programming for Kindergarten
through fifth graders as well as serve the needs of all the preschool students on the Mountain Post.

The school is named after Capt. Ian Weikel - a graduate of Fountain-Fort Carson High School who was killed in action in Iraq in 2006.

"Raising him, it was a joy to watch, his choices and what he wanted to do and how he worked with people and kids," Dave Weikel, Ian's father, said.

He says when Ian was alive, he knew how special his son was, but he adds it wasn't until after Ian's death that he began to really understand
what an impact Ian's life had on others.

"You know, you send them off, and you never think anything like this is going to happen, but it is a joy to hear
what a commanding officer thinks about your son," Dave said.

Dave said over the past few years he's heard nothing but good things about his son, and Monday was no different,
as Ian's former commanding general, along with past teachers and friends, spoke about his dedication and love of God, family and country.

They say he is truly the definition of a hometown hero.

"Everything that was great about Ian, he learned here in this great community of Fountain-Fort Carson in Colorado Springs,"
Brig. Gen. James Pasquarette said. "He was a great young man and a fantastic officer, and it was privilege to be his commander in combat."

Along with his legacy as a great student and honorable soldier, Ian also left behind another story in his young son Jonathan,
who was presented with a special Weikel Elementary coin at the dedication.

Dave said Monday was not just about the Weikel family, but all military families that have lost loved ones in the fight for freedom.

"This feels like an honor for the 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson and the Army, and ultimately all of the military,
so we are truly thankful to be a part of that," he said.

The $13.5 million facility was funded by District Eight with the assistance of a $3.5 million grant
through Colorado's 'Building Excellent Schools Today' program.

from Colorado Connection FOX21