Full-Honors Ceremony for Afghanistan Casualty

On Christmas Eve, Army Cpl. Charles P. Gaffney Jr., a decorated soldier from Phoenix, was killed in Afghanistan. Yesterday, he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Gaffney, 42, died in Paktika when his combat outpost came under enemy rocket fire, according to the Department of Defense.

An estimated three dozen mourners attended Gaffney's full-honors ceremony, which included a horse-drawn caisson, escort platoon, colors team, military band, firing party, casket team and bugler, according to cemetery spokeswoman Kaitlin Horst.

During the service, Brig. Gen. Ben Hodges presented flags to Gaffney's wife, Latticia; their twin daughters, Mia and Cara; and his father, Charles P. Gaffney Sr.

Gaffney was the 84th casualty from Afghanistan to be buried at Arlington. In all, 536 service members killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are buried at Arlington.

He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), based at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Gaffney and his family moved to Tucson in the late 1970s, according to the Arizona Daily Star. He joined the Army in the mid-1980s and served most of his six years in Germany, before returning to Tucson and working at several auto shops. He moved to Las Vegas and then Phoenix before deciding to reenlist.

Gaffney, an infantryman, reentered the Army in August 2006 and arrived at Fort Campbell in November 2007, according to the base's Web site. He had been awarded the Army Commendation Medal and National Defense Service Medal.

"I won't say I was upset he was going back, but I didn't want him to," Charles Gaffney Sr. told the Daily Star shortly after his son's death. "He told me it was for people's rights around the world, for them to say what they want to say without other people beating them down. And he said he never wanted anyone to come here to the United States and tell his daughters that they had to do things a certain way.

"And then I couldn't argue with him."

Gaffney talked about his son's love of family and country and his enthusiasm for motorcycles. "The boy had no fear," he said.