Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Jacob McNeley.

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Died this month in Afghanistan.
Member of ACU-1, homeported in Coronado.
Left behind a wife and two children.

Body of slain sailor recovered in Afghanistan

Navy identifies other sailor held by Taliban

By Jeanette Steele pv["p.a_3"] = "Jeanette Steele"; , UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Originally published July 27, 2010 at 8:43 p.m., updated July 28, 2010 at 12:01 p.m.


- Associated Press

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Jacob McNeley.

Justin Jacob McNeley

Age: 30

Hometown: Wheatridge, Colo.

Enlisted: April 2001

Job: Navy hull technician 2nd class

San Diego tie: Served on the aircraft carrier Nimitz, 2001 to 2006

The Pentagon said Tuesday that coalition forces have found the body of a sailor from Coronado who was killed last week in eastern Afghanistan and identified a second sailor missing in the incident as having San Diego ties.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Jacob McNeley, 30 — the father of two young boys, 8 and 4 — died in a firefight with the Taliban after the two sailors drove an armored sport utility vehicle down the wrong road and into an enemy-held area.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, 25, was captured and is being held “where he will not be found,” according to dispatches reported to be from the Taliban.

Both men were working as instructors at a counterinsurgency school for Afghan security forces. The school is headquartered in Kabul and has classrooms outside the capital, but it was unclear why the sailors were in the eastern province of Logar.

McNeley volunteered for hazardous duty instead of staying back with his Coronado boat unit, where he served as a hull technician. He was a tall sailor with a mustache and tattoos running down his forearms, according to photographs from before he deployed in May 2009.

He always took the hard jobs, according to his commander in Coronado.

“Petty Officer McNeley was a valued member of our ACU-1 family for more than two and a half years,” said Cmdr. Andrew Amidon of Assault Craft Unit 1. “He was a hardworking, dedicated sailor who always sought out tough assignments. He will be missed by all who knew him.”

McNeley’s father, George, is a deputy fire marshal in Encinitas. His mother, Sharon Wood, lives in Kingman, Ariz. Reached Tuesday by telephone, she said the family was not ready to talk about their son.

“We need a little time to settle into the information,” she said.

Coalition forces recovered McNeley’s body Sunday after an extensive search.

Newlove is a reservist called back after serving from 2004 to 2008. His last active-duty assignment was in San Diego on the amphibious ship New Orleans. Trained as a Navy cook, he appears to have returned to the Seattle area after being discharged in 2008.

The military listed him as “whereabouts unknown” on Tuesday.

Hundreds of fliers bearing photos of the two sailors were distributed throughout Logar province where coalition troops stopped and searched vehicles, according to the Associated Press. NATO has offered a $20,000 reward for information about Newlove’s location.

The Navy’s top officer, Adm. Gary Roughead, issued a statement about the two men, saying that he is “extremely proud of the thousands of U.S. Navy sailors serving on the ground in Afghanistan today.”

About 6,500 sailors are in Afghanistan and nearly 2,800 are in Iraq.

“The deepest sympathy of the entire Navy is with the family and friends of Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley,” the chief of naval operations said.

“We appreciate all the coalition forces have done to bring our shipmate home, and we know they continue to do everything they can in the search for Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove.”