11/04/2006

Slain soldier remembered fondly

By
Record-Eagle staff writer

Special to the Record-Eagle
Douglas Sloan and his son, Kellan, in 2003. The Charlevoix native was killed earlier this week in Afghanistan.

CHARLEVOIX — There were two sides to Douglas Sloan.

His childhood buddies in Charlevoix recall a charismatic jokester who loved prank phone calls, toy soldiers and marathon sessions of Risk, the game of world domination.

But his men in Afghanistan knew a different side.

An Army officer touring various combat units earlier this year remarked that Sloan was "truly a leader of his men and his company, setting the standard" for how to conduct an operation.

"He was calm, cool, decisive," the man wrote in an e-mail to Sloan's family this summer. "He displayed the finest leadership I have ever observed in combat."

Sloan, 40, a father of four, was a rising star in the Army's 10th Mountain Division, stationed in the Korengal Valley region of northern Afghanistan. This fall, he'd been promoted from captain to major.

"He was excited. He was going to be in a safer job," said Joe Hayes, a Charlevoix attorney and longtime friend who spoke by phone with Sloan a few weeks ago.

Sloan lived with his wife Kerry and their family near Fort Drum in upstate New York. He was on leave for two weeks in early October and met his infant daughter for the first time.

He shipped back to Afghanistan about three weeks ago, prepared to delve into his new assignment. Early this week, he was driving his replacement captain around, showing the new man the ropes, when an improvised explosive device — an IED — struck the vehicle.

Sloan was one of three men killed, the first Charlevoix native to die in combat since the Vietnam War.

City officials ordered the patriotic decorations normally reserved for Memorial Day put up downtown and have asked that all flags be flown at half-mast.

Sloan will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. A local service is planned at 11 a.m. Nov. 11 in Charlevoix, either in the middle school gym, or, weather permitting, in Veteran's Memorial Park.

"He'd had a lot of close calls he'd told us about," said Sloan's older brother Van. "But we never thought this could happen to him. He was just the kind of guy — it didn't seem possible."

A 1985 graduate of Charlevoix High School, Sloan was mischievous and charming in equal measure. Many times he was ejected from the school library for being too loud, and would subsequently sneak back in, crawling on his hands and knees.

"It really aggravated the librarian — this tough, serious lady," Van Sloan said. "Then, at his graduation party, she showed up with this huge present. Even when he was in trouble, the people who were supposed to discipline him would laugh."

Longtime friend Tim LaBlance, a member of the varsity basketball team with Sloan, recalled a game where the Rayders were way ahead. Sloan, a star forward-center, decided roughhousing with a teammate would be more interesting than playing hoops.

"He started screwing around with Jimmy Martin during the game. Finally, Jimmy had enough," recalled LaBlance. "There they went, both of them, running out the gym doors into the parking lot."

They never came back. The hometown crowd sat in stunned silence for several seconds, LaBlance said.

"Then everyone realized it was just Doug being Doug. They subbed in a couple more guys and we finished the game," he said. "That's a typical Doug Sloan story — something you never saw before and never, ever would expect to see again."