SRA Jonathan A. Vega Yelner

Jonathan “Jake” A. Vega Yelner was born on December 24, 1983 in Lafayette, California.

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In second grade Jake enrolled in the Cub Scouts, and over the years was enriched by the program and held several leadership positions in the organization. He achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in 2002. Jake attended Catholic schools throughout his childhood, first at St. Perpetua's in Lafayette, then at De La Salle High School in Walnut Creek. But he embraced the Jewish part of his heritage, completing the Bar Mitzvah coming-of-age ceremony. A 2002 graduate of De La Salle High School in Concord, California, he was active in lacross there. He briefly attended college and then feeling a desire to serve his country, he enlisted in the Air Force in October 2003.

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He took basic training at Lackland Air Force base in Texas and was stationed for five months afterwards at the US Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Jonathan was assigned to the 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota. It was his third deployment, but his first in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Vega to his friends — had no difficulty holding his own among the soldiers at Forward Operating Base Kutschbach, Afghanistan.

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“As one of the very few airmen on the FOB, the other soldiers down there enjoyed razzing Yelner up quite a bit. He never let it bother him and was quick to shoot back with a smart comment,” Army Capt. Casey McCausland, Kapisa South Civil Affairs team leader, recalled at his memorial service at Bagram Air Base.

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At the age of 24, Jake was just a few months into a yearlong tour with the Army when he was killed April 29, 2008 by an improvised explosive device near Bagram. A bomb loader by training, he volunteered for the in-lieu-of tasking as a Humvee driver for the Kapisa and Parwan Provincial Reconstruction Team, a job he did carefully and conscientiously.

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“From setting up the radios, to mounting the crew serve weapon ... we could always count on Yelner to get it done right the first time,” McCausland said.

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Master Sgt. Felipe Richards, the PRT first sergeant, remembered Yelner as a “smart, vibrant, full-of-life person who brought a smile to my face.”

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Jonathan was very proud to be in the military and volunteered for his current tour of duty in Afghanistan as he believed in the mission and what he was sent there to do. He found great joy helping to build roads, buildings and establishing water supplies.

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On his personal website, he says "We are the forgotten. Doing the unthinkable. For the ungrateful." Proud of his Puerto Rican heritage, he said he was blunt, honest and a heartthrob.