Jon Krancich, 1957-2006

My next-door neighbor in high school was one of two Americans killed in Kandahar province in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. Jon Krancich was a man of boundless humor and energy, and I could even overlook the fact that he often worked on the more shadowy side of Army Rangers, private security agencies like USPI, etc. Jon was the public rep for the Rangers during the 1983 invasion of Grenada, and was involved in a lot of funny Balkans stuff in the 1990s. I kept warning him over the past few months that, with NATO being unwilling to commit more in Afghanistan, it was time to leave Kandahar. He was scheduled to leave Wednesday. The Taliban got him first. This is crushing. A toast to you, brother.