Segun Akintade was an awesome person and friend and I want to share with you all a little of who he was and what he was about because I dont think that nearly enough people know about the personal sacrifice he made to himself, his family, his friends, and all of us.
Segun Akintade (aka Obi-wan) was a 27 year old imigrant from Nigeria. When he moved to this country as a kid, he took on his uncle's surname Okuabi and went by the name Fredrick until just before we deployed to Iraq. In the military your last name becomes your first and Okuabi turned to Obi and not too long after that Obi-Wan.
I met Akintade when I joined the National Guard after coming off of active duty with the 10th Mountain in 2001. He was a friendly guy and he always maintained a positive attitude even under the worse circumstances.
We served together on the infamous 11th day of September in 2001 and slept under the same bench in the lobby of a hotel across from the south street sea port a few blocks from ground zero for 17 days. Akintade always cracked jokes and shared everything. He always bugged me about getting my shebs back to school and he was relentless about pushing the importance of education to everybody around him. Akintade was an awesome student as well and even managed to keep his grades above average while we were protecting the airports, bridges, and tunnels of New York City.
Segun earned his citizenship right before we deployed to Iraq but in my opinion he had earned it long before. If you asked him what nationality he was he'd tell you without hesitation that he was American and that this was his counrty too, be believed it and was very proud of it. He was a Mommas boy too and his family and the idea of family was very important to Akintade. He demonstated that with those of us lucky enough to be considered family by him.
Before the formation of company level snipers I was Alpha Company 1st platoons weapons squad leader and Akintade was in my Bravo team. We'd been together for a long time before then and it was like having another brother in the squad. We roomed together for a while during training and I had a tin of godivas special dark hot chocolate mix that I asked him to pack for me the night we got on the planes to Iraq because I had no room left for it. He gladly made room for it in his stuff and he carried it to Iraq for me. I was moved from the weapons squad to execute sniper operations for the company and didnt see Akintade very often. Well I had forgoten about the hot chocolate mix and it wasnt til a few months later that he strolled into my little area to give me my can of goods. The timing couldnt have been better because it was a cold night (yes it gets cold in Iraq) and I was about to go on a shift of radio watch, the chocolate was perfect and there wasnt a grandule of mix missing. He even stayed with me on my shift to keep me company til it was over before heading back to his bunker located down the service road a quarter mile. The whole time we talked about everything and what I should do when I get home. He told me in his heavy accent

"Hey Moda @#&$, you beda go to schooal when we git home cos you are too smart for dees $%@*."

I didnt take him too seriouse then. He just wanted to finish school and get on with his life and marry his fiance at the time. Akintade still maintained his focus and did his job day in and day out.

The last time I saw Akintade alive was a little over 2 years ago on the night of Oct, 27, 2004. I was out on an air assault sniper mission that night and we were ambushed with a triple IED attack on the way back to base because the blackhawk pilots refused to pick us up. I had engaged some contacts at close range with fourteen 203 rounds and word was spreading about the contact. Akintade was on the QRF (Quick Reaction Force) that night and was on a 240B Machine gun truck that reacted and came to our aid. I was on my way to the back of an open humvee to leave the area when I heard him call my name and ask me if I was OK. He asked me how many did I get and I told him I couldnt tell from what was left. He laughed about it and cracked a joke I cant share with you and told me to take it easy and that he was going to drop by the next day to shoot the breeze.
The very next morning Segun Akintade was killed by an IED not far from where we were the night before. Ill never forget how hollowed out I felt to hear the news. It still stings when I hear of guys getting killed by IEDs. I still feel sad about it and I dont think Ill ever not feel sad about the loss. Akintade was a productive and positive citizen and did more in his short life and saw more in his short life than most will ever in the whole lives. I miss him and his accented laughter, his friendship, and his brotherhood.

Ive been going to school fulltime since coming home from the sandbox, and Im holding a 3.93 gpa right now and I plan on keeping it as high as I can. I hope he knows I think about him almost everyday and that what he did wasn't for nothing.

Rest in peace ner vod...

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