SFC Ikeman
Jeremy was born in April 1972 to Frank and Elise Ikeman in the town of Fairport, NY. He had a normal upbringing,
sports throughout school, boy scouts, childhood friends, etc. Making his decision early in high school, Jerry
was going to enlist and become an Airborne Ranger like his father was during Vietnam. Upon graduation, Jeremy
found himself on the way to Fort Benning, Georgia for Basic training and Infantry AIT. He then completed airborne
school and R.I.P. He then found himself assigned to 3rd Plt, C Co. 3rd Bat, 75th Rangers. He was with his unit
only a few months when Jeremy found himself scared to death in a C-130 over Tocumen International Airport. He
was part of the initial assault in Operation: Just Cause, the US invasion of Panama. As his teams M-249 SAW gunner,
Jeremy stepped into tracer filled sky with over 100 pounds of combat equipment. By sunrise they had wiped out
all Panamanian Defense Force (PDF) resistance and have taken all objectives. They had been reinforced by the 82nd
Division hours after their assault. After that hectic night, Jeremy had seen his first taste of combat. He had
seen PDF soldiers cut in half by his own machine gun and the bodies of men he had trained with only days before.
For the 18-year-old private, this was a sobering experience. The 3rd Battalion conducted follow on operations
until mid January in which they returned to the US.
Upon return to the US, the Battalion continued training hard as always, during this time, Jerry gained much experience.
He was soon promoted to PFC and then re-enlisted at the end of his two years. He had decided the Army is what
he wanted in life. He soon found himself a Specialist 4 and was sent to the 8 week hell of Ranger school. He
had been taught well by his unit and went straight through without recycle. He rejoined his unit only to be sent
to pathfinder and then jumpmaster as time went on. He stayed with the 3rd Bat, eventually making E-5 buck Sergeant
and being sent to PLDC. He was then made a fire team leader in 2nd Squad. Life continued as normal until August
1993, when the 3rd Bat found themselves at the Mogadishu Airport as part of Task Force Ranger, tasked with hunting
down and capturing Somali warlords. As an assistant Chalk leader, the first five raids had gone according to plan.
So far no losses only wins. The unit got cocky. On October 3rd, Jeremy fast roped to the northern corner of
the target building, the 14 men set up a tight perimeter and kept a close lookout. Things were going well, the
Delta Force teams had just breached the building, the other three chalks were in position and the convoy was standing
by. A few minutes go by and one of the men calls out that he spots movement down the street. A crowd is forming
and sporadic fire begins. The crowd grows larger, and begins to move down the street; fire intensifies in all
areas. Things are getting bad. The prisoners are secured and the convoy picks them up and begins movement, just
then the volume of fire dramatically increases and we begin to take casualties. Flash bangs or fire does not disperse
the crowd. Women and children hold the advancing first rank as a shield and men fire between the people. The situation
is critical and the LT orders the MG crew to open, the crowd disperses as it is mowed down, but incoming fire is
still strong. RPGs are then seen flying through the air and down the streets. Little Bird helicopters from the
160th zoom from street to street using their miniguns on the Somali troops. A loud explosion is heard in the air
followed by a loud crash. Over the radio comes the report, the circling Black Hawk, Super 61 is down. This was
the beginning of a hellish 18-hour firefight, which saw the death of 18 US special operation soldiers and an estimated
1000 Somali's. By the morning when the 10th was able to rescue the surrounded Rangers, Jeremy had taken shrapnel
from an RPG in his upper back and arm and rifle round had grazed his upper left thigh. He was one of the 70% wounded
in his unit. They had taken a beating, but come out victorious, all prisoners were taken to our lines. This ended
US involvement in Somalia and set the tone for US foreign policy for years to come. Scott returned to the US to
recuperate. After his unit's ordeal, they were not exactly greeted with a warm welcome. It seemed the population
wanted to forget about the whole incident. After returning to his unit Jeremy met Melissa Sikes in March of 1994,
by August they were married and happy as ever. Life continued as normal for Jeremy and his wife, as things seemed
to deteriorate overseas, it didn't affect them much. Training began to increase its pace and Jeremy was away longer
as Melissa worked for a law firm as a legal secretary. But still they were happy. But in 1996 the US entered
WWIII and Jeremy was called up to go fight in Europe. By know he was a Staff Sergeant and led 2nd Squad. They
had been training for years and were ready to get into the fight. They fought on numerous assaults, raids and
other special operations for months, but the war continued to drag on. Entering some of the heaviest fighting
in 1998, the 2nd and 3rd Ranger Battalions were caught in a Soviet Armored counter attack during as US led push.
The Rangers, which only had light anti-tank weapons fought tenaciously for 40 plus hours until they were completely
decimated, only a handful of men from both battalions were able to get out of the valley and back to friendly lines.
The loss had been traumatic to Jeremy, he had seen most of his friends killed or listed as missing. Things were
bad on the Western front of the war; the Soviets were making strong gains against the Chinese and were bringing
veteran divisions to the front. Jeremy hadn't heard from his wife in close to a year by now. The mail system
seemed to have failed. He was soon sent to F Company, 51st Infantry. This was the Long-Range Surveillance Detachment
assigned to the US 11th Corps. He found himself as a team leader in 1st Platoon. The unit was already under strength
and he quickly put his friend's memories into the back of his mind. He had a job to do now. He would make the
Russians pay. Any way he could. He soon found himself behind enemy lines, conducting recon missions, and pathfinder
operations. It was risky business, but his team was good. They made it home every time. He was soon promoted
to Sergeant First Class and made the Platoon Sergeant of 1st Platoon. It was the spring of 1999 and the old PSG
had been lost when his team was over run deep in Poland. By now Jeremy was tired of the war, he had seen the results
of the Soviet advances on his missions behind enemy lines. He though he had seen it all when they cut down women
and children combatants in Somalia, but this war was turning into pure barbarism. The Soviets seemed to spare
nothing and marauding bands even less. But he continued on, with mission after mission. The command structure
was breaking down; supplies seemed to be getting scarcer. His final mission with F Company, 1st Platoon began
on July 1st, 2000. His 5 man team infiltrated 30 miles ahead of the soon to be advancing US 11th Corps. They
moved right in between 2 Soviet armored divisions. They quickly tried to radio back to higher, but unbeknownst
to them, his Platoon Leader and the rest of the relay team had walked into a Soviet recon unit and were quickly
wiped out. Trapped behind enemy lines they began to escape and evade all forces and try to get back to friendly
lines. By the 18th of July, the other four members of the team had died in an ambush. Jeremy had buried them
in shallow graves. He was alone and tired. He was 15 miles from the front line when his SINCGAR picked up the
5th Division net, his first radio contact in over a week. It wasn't good. Only one line: "Good Luck, you're
on your own." Carrying what he had salvaged from his friends, Jeremy does only what he know to do, he marches
to the west. It's his only chance.
By this point Jeremy is quickly loosing faith in humanity. He has steeled himself to the horrors of war, but
it still bothers him. He crosses the remains of the Soviet advance many times. Not many civilians make it out
of the villages. He has seen most of his friend's die in combat. Even his lust for revenge is gone. He is very
pessimistic and the only thing that keeps him going is the thought of his wife. He hasn't had word of her in over
three years. Events in the US are unknown to him. But he is alert; war has taught him many lessons. He vows
to make it home……..