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Randy J. Gillespie
- U. S. Air Force -
Afghanistan
Randy J. Gillespie
(Address not available or expired.)
Make a donation, please. Click HERE AFTER you get an address.
(This address has been requested 31 times.) (NOTE **)
APO/FPO: APO AE (Note 1*)
Added here: 30 April 2007
End date: 11 Jun 2007 (Note 3*)
Contact for approx number of Males: 6, Females: 0 (Note 5*)
Unit is from: Arizona (Note 6*)
Master Sgt. Randy J. Gillespie

11 Jul 2007:
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 865-07
July 11, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------

DoD Identifies Air Force Casualty


            The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Master Sgt. Randy J. Gillespie, 44, of Coaldale, Colo., died July 9, in Herat, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered during small arms fire outside of Camp Stone. He was assigned to the 56th Logistics Readiness Squadron, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.

A heart for service
Coloradan killed in Afghanistan remembered for his compassion for others

By Justin Coons, Rocky Mountain News
July 12, 2007

PUEBLO - Master Sgt. Randy Gillespie always looked out for others, his brother Roger Gillespie said Wednesday.
When the church bus broke down, he rebuilt the engine block. When a comrade felt uneasy about taking on a task, Gillespie would volunteer to take his place.

Gillespie also adopted a 6-year-old girl who was abused by her biological father.

"He always said he wanted to meet her father, just so he could tell him how much he loves her," Roger Gillespie said.

Roger Gillespie will fly to Vermont today to greet his brother one last time. From Vermont, Roger Gillespie will accompany Randy Gillespie's casket to Colorado.

Randy Gillespie, 44, of Coaldale, was killed Monday in Herat, Afghanistan, 75 miles from the Iranian border.

He and an interpreter reportedly were shot by a small group, believed to be Iranian militants, a few hundred feet outside the walls of the U.S. military base there.

He had served 16 tours of duty in his 24-year Air Force career, traveling twice to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan. He was about eight months from retirement at the time of his death, Roger Gillespie said.

Randy Gillespie, an avid outdoorsman who loved Colorado's wildlife and hiking areas, had planned to return home to the area with his wife, Lisa, and four children.

"He supported the Air Force and the military whole-heartedly," Roger Gillespie said. "He knew that if we kept the war over there, it would never cross our borders.

"Randy knew what he was doing, and he always said that somebody has got to pay a price for freedom."

Randy Gillespie was a mechanic, and working close to jet engines had left him deaf in one ear, but his brother said that he handled it with good humor.

"He laughed about it all the time," Roger Gillespie said. "He would always have to turn to hear what you said."

Gillespie was good-humored about a lot of things, his brother said. He could laugh at just about anything, and almost nothing cracked his cool demeanor.

He also had a knack for helping others. In Afghanistan, Gillespie made deep connections with the locals.

"He always said they were decent people who couldn't fight for themselves," Roger Gillespie said. "They were wonderful people who wanted something a lot better."

There, he met a young Afghani boy who walked around town barefoot.

When Gillespie offered to have his family send him a pair of shoes, the boy vehemently refused, because, he was afraid he would be killed by militants if they saw him wearing the shoes.

Determined to help in any way possible, Gillespie instead snuck the boy chocolate bars.

"He was the type of guy who would give you the shirt off his back," Roger Gillespie said.

Gillespie is survived by his mother, JoAnn; his father, Edwin; his wife, Lisa; four children; and three brothers.

Service dates have not been set, but the family says it plans to hold memorials in Pueblo and Phoenix, where he was stationed.

25 May 2007

   I want to thank everybody that has sent us items for the children of Afghanistan.   I've been overwhelmed with toys, candy & clothing for our local village children. I've received packages from coast to coast and then some! We have enough of those things to last our tour here. I have enjoyed reading your letters and if you have an e-mail address I'll gladly write back. I'd like to switch gears now and start collecting notebooks, pens, pencils and basic school supplies to assist in stocking the schools that we are building here in Afghanistan. Your contributions are making a big difference in the lives of these kids. The attached photo is of my Embedded Training Team. I'm the good-looking one :). Thanks again for all you do to support us.

Randy J. Gillespie, MSgt, USAF

30 Apr 2007
First of all, thanks so much for your kindness! My troops and I are grateful for your generosity. We are fairly well stocked for our tour of duty but would like to provide the families and children in surrounding villiages with clothing and shoes. Individually wrapped candy and small toys are also popular with the local children. In exchange for small gifts the villiagers keep a watchful eye for trouble outside the wire. Again, thank-you for your contributions.

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(NOTE *): Effective 1 May 2006 this web site added a major layer of security to our contacts' information. This change is necessary to protect our troops and ensure that Any Soldier will continue to operate.
The ONLY changes are that the addresses of our contacts are now hidden and the number of addresses you can get are limited. You may obtain addresses simply by clicking on the link provided and correctly filling out the form, the address will then be emailed to you immediately.

(NOTE **): The number shown is how many times a form was submitted requesting this address. This does NOT necessarily mean that this contact will be helped by that many folks. Rule of thumb is that anything 5 requests or less may in fact be no support at all. No way to tell exactly unless the contact lets you know in his/her update how much support they are getting.

(Note 1.): Note that postage to APO AE and FPO AE (E = Europe) is only to NY where the connection to the APO/FPO (APO = Army Post Office)(FPO = Fleet Post Office) is, or to San Francisco for APO AP and FPO AP (P = Pacific), so you don't pay postage all the way to Iraq/Afghanistan. You might consider picking contacts closer to your mailing area to help cut the cost of mailing. If you live on the East Coast, pick "AE", West Coast, pick "AP", Midwest, well...uh, Thank You for your Support! ;)

New with us (December 2005) you might notice "APO AA" and "FPO AA". This is for units in the Caribbean/South America. Normally. However, due to the nature of some units they may be in Iraq but have an address showing "FPO AA". Mail addresses to "AA" goes out of Miami, Florida.

(Note 2.): Why are military addresses weird? There isn't a street address or city. What gives? Correct, just about everything about the military is weird to civilians. Military units are very mobile, they move around a lot, often they even become part of another unit. The APO (Army Post Office) and FPO (Fleet Post Office) assign APO and FPO numbers as needed, they are NOT static. An APO/FPO number may be for a large unit, or a location. An APO/FPO number for Baghdad today may be for Frankfurt tomorrow.

(Note 3.): The "Expect to not mail past" date is only an approximate and is one of the least reliable things on this web site. It is because of this that you must check often before you send anything to this unit. There are a few reasons this date is not reliable, to include: it IS the Military, we ARE dealing with the APO/FPO/DPO. The only thing that does not change in the military is that things will change. PLEASE NOTE that a Contact is dropped off our active list 30 days PRIOR to their date leaving to help avoid mail bouncing.

(Note 4.): (Removed for OPSEC reasons)

(Note 5.): The lines, "Contact with approx number of Soldiers:" and "Approx how may Female Soldiers:" have NOTHING to do with unit strength. They are approximately how many other Troops the Contacts believe they can get packages to. This helps you understand that you should not send 100 packages to someone who only deals with 10 Troops.
Don't forget that if your package is for a female Soldier, be sure to change "ATTN: Any Soldier®" to "ATTN: Any Female Soldier".

( Note 6.): This is simply where the unit this contact is from. This is NOT a true picture of the folks in the unit as most all units are made up of folks from all over the United States.) A "Composite Unit" is one made up of other units and is usually temporary for a particular mission.

( Note 7.): Updated APO/FPO/DPO mailing restrictions> courtesy of Oconus.com (gone now) (Note: About Restriction "U2": "U2 - Limited to First Class Letters", Box "R" is for retired personnel that live overseas and are still authorized an APO/FPO box. Their address will be something like Box 3345R. Doubt you will see anything like that in Afghanistan or Iraq or ...)(Please Note: Sometime in August 2013, Oconus.com changed the code on their page and our form doesn't work with them anymore, so a link to their page is the best we can do, sorry.)

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Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that all product photographs, descriptions and specifications on this website are accurate. However, inadvertent errors may occur, and changes in design or materials, due to our continual effort to improve products, may result in some change in specifications before subsequent publications are issued.
Any Soldier® reserves the right to modify or change specifications without notice.