Image courtesy: Rick Centanni Memorial FundSgt. Maj. Robert Cottle was old enough to be Lance Cpl. Rick Centanni's father. At 45, Sgt. Maj. Cottle had already achieved more than many will in a lifetime. At 19, Lance Cpl. Centanni's promising life was just beginning to take shape.
Maybe that's why Cottle became close friends with Centanni, and perhaps even a battlefield father figure. Cottle had been in the Marines 27 years, and a member of the Los Angeles Police Department since 1990. Centanni, the son of a sergeant in the Santa Ana Police Department, recently joined the Marines out of high school. Both lived in Yorba Linda, California, and while Cottle would have likely resumed his job on the LAPD SWAT team upon his return, Centanni hoped to become a cop in his dad's department.
Shocking news began traveling through southern California late last week. Cottle and Centanni, who bridged a dramatic age gap for the sake of freedom and friendship, had been killed in Afghanistan's Helmand province. While a Pentagon release said only that the two Marines died while supporting combat operations with the 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, The Orange County Register reports their vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb planted by terrorists.
Reporters Jessica Terrell and Greg Hardesty write that flags are flying at half-staff all week in Yorba Linda. The journalists also spoke with several friends, family members, and fellow Marines mourning the incomprehensible loss.
"It doesn't matter if you knew them," said Crystal Gates, a relative of Cottle's, "When someone who puts their life on the line for you is lost, you have to be devastated."
A fellow Marine credits Centanni for encouraging him and three others to serve their country.
"He convinced each and every one of us to join,” Lance Cpl. Joseph Patterson said. "We saw the way he was when he came out of boot camp, the sense of accomplishment and pride he had. We all wanted to serve our country together."
The Santa Ana Police Department has already helped set up a memorial fund to honor Centanni, who hoped to one day trade his fatigues for a police uniform. Officers in the Los Angeles Police Department are wearing black stripes on their badges in remembrance of Cottle, who is survived by a wife who serves in the Navy and their 9-month-old daughter. Additional honors for Cottle, the first active LAPD officer to die in the Iraq or Afghanistan conflicts, are being discussed.
"This deeply saddens me, especially since I've known RJ for over 20 years," said LAPD Chief Charlie Beck. "He is a fine man and a great example of the best LAPD has to offer. He will be missed."
The losses being suffered by the U.S. military in Afghanistan are excruciating. Suddenly being without Sgt. Maj. Robert Cottle, who risked his life for our nation every single day for more than two decades, at home and abroad, is a devastating blow. The young man who looked up to him, Lance Cpl. Rick Centanni, likely would have spent decades serving his southern California community after returning from the war zone. While despair is a natural reaction to a tragedy of this magnitude, we also must remember all the hard-fought victories our brave men and women have earned in Afghanistan. We honor fallen heroes by doing everything in our power to support their brothers and sisters still in harm's way.
Yorba Linda, where two families are still coming to grips with unimaginable pain, calls itself "the land of gracious living." Tonight, thanks to two exceptional patriots who proudly called the city home, that motto has become a battle cry.
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