LTC Daniel Holland - Someone You Should Know

Posted By Blackfive

Peggy S. sends this comment about the character of Daniel Holland from the Charlotte Observer:

It was Christmas Eve and Daniel Holland and his family were just leaving church when they happened upon a man, his teenage daughter and their broken-down truck.It wasn't Holland's style to ignore someone who needed help, even if a holiday meal was waiting. So he towed the truck to his house and the two men tinkered away in the driveway.

It soon became obvious the truck wasn't going anywhere. but instead of just offering the pair a place to sleep, he lent total strangers his car so they could finish their journey.

LTC Daniel E. Holland grew up as an Army brat and, when his father retired from the artillery corps, they became farmers.  Daniel went to OSU, compeleted ROTC and became a veterinarian.  Vets work with military animals (working dogs, marine mammals, etc.) and also perform health and safety inspections (food, water quality, sanitation etc.)

LTC Holland went to Iraq as part of a Civil Affairs Group that served the 4th Infantry Division.  He was the Chief of Public Health.  His Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine and Masters in Public Health uniquely qualified him to ensure that the Iraqis he served were getting improved services - he inspected and recommended actions to get Iraqis clean water and sanitary living conditions, making sure that hospitals have medicine and working incubators, etc.  And, of course, he made sure that the animals that sustained the Iraqis were healthy.

Here's is what LTC Holland had to say about his and CA's role in the war via an email to his brother (also a retired Army Officer):

This war is mostly about CA [Civil Affairs] now, but the IEDs keep it very real, all the time.  It is very common to hear small arms fire and for mortars or rockets to land within our compounds.  Fortunately the random fire doesn't cause much damage and rarely casualties. It's the IEDs that cause the loss of life and limb.  We work every day and have very little free time (at most 1-2 hrs in the evening before hitting the rack).  Email is much more problematic here for lots of reasons, the LAN is very slow and computer time is much more limited. (as annoying as it is, I can't help but reflect how much better off we are than the generations who went before us that had to rely solely on snail mail.)  I work in the HQ most of the time but go out on missions too.  When I go out it is to evaluate Iraqi sites that pertain to public health, vet med, animals, or agriculture.  The idea is to encourage civil participation, collect civil information, and to positively impact the average Iraqi citizen by helping them with their subsistence style of ag/animal husbandry.  Frankly, we can make more progress helping here than working on huge national problems that take forever to impact and don't resonate with the average Haji. Counterinsurgency is a tough business but we have a lot of good folks working diligently at it...

On May 18th, 2006, LTC Holland, 1LT Robert A. Seidel III, SGT Lonnie C. Allen Jr., and PFC Nicholas R. Cournoyer along with an Iraqi interpreter were killed by a roadside IED (bomb) near Baghdad while on a humanitarian mission to aid the people of Iraq.

Daniel is survived by his wife Sheryl, son Garrett, and daughter Rachel of Boerne, TX. 

On May 31st, the Patriot Guard Riders (from Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and elsewhere) escorted the Holland family to Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church. 

After a two-hour funeral service, they escorted Holland's body to Fort Sam Houston in a light rain.  LTC Daniel Holland was buried with full military honors at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

At the memorial, Sheryl had this to say about her husband:

"Daniel, I am honored to have been your wife. I had what many people dream of. I've been married to a wonderful man and father. I have been loved completely and my children have been loved completely. Please don't feel sorry for me."

Godspeed, LTC Holland.

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LTC Daniel Holland - Someone You Should Know

Peggy S. sends this comment about the character of Daniel Holland from the Charlotte Observer:

It was Christmas Eve and Daniel Holland and his family were just leaving church when they happened upon a man, his teenage daughter and their broken-down truck.It wasn't Holland's style to ignore someone who needed help, even if a holiday meal was waiting. So he towed the truck to his house and the two men tinkered away in the driveway.

It soon became obvious the truck wasn't going anywhere. but instead of just offering the pair a place to sleep, he lent total strangers his car so they could finish their journey.

LTC Daniel E. Holland grew up as an Army brat and, when his father retired from the artillery corps, they became farmers.  Daniel went to OSU, compeleted ROTC and became a veterinarian.  Vets work with military animals (working dogs, marine mammals, etc.) and also perform health and safety inspections (food, water quality, sanitation etc.)

LTC Holland went to Iraq as part of a Civil Affairs Group that served the 4th Infantry Division.  He was the Chief of Public Health.  His Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine and Masters in Public Health uniquely qualified him to ensure that the Iraqis he served were getting improved services - he inspected and recommended actions to get Iraqis clean water and sanitary living conditions, making sure that hospitals have medicine and working incubators, etc.  And, of course, he made sure that the animals that sustained the Iraqis were healthy.

Here's is what LTC Holland had to say about his and CA's role in the war via an email to his brother (also a retired Army Officer):

This war is mostly about CA [Civil Affairs] now, but the IEDs keep it very real, all the time.  It is very common to hear small arms fire and for mortars or rockets to land within our compounds.  Fortunately the random fire doesn't cause much damage and rarely casualties. It's the IEDs that cause the loss of life and limb.  We work every day and have very little free time (at most 1-2 hrs in the evening before hitting the rack).  Email is much more problematic here for lots of reasons, the LAN is very slow and computer time is much more limited. (as annoying as it is, I can't help but reflect how much better off we are than the generations who went before us that had to rely solely on snail mail.)  I work in the HQ most of the time but go out on missions too.  When I go out it is to evaluate Iraqi sites that pertain to public health, vet med, animals, or agriculture.  The idea is to encourage civil participation, collect civil information, and to positively impact the average Iraqi citizen by helping them with their subsistence style of ag/animal husbandry.  Frankly, we can make more progress helping here than working on huge national problems that take forever to impact and don't resonate with the average Haji. Counterinsurgency is a tough business but we have a lot of good folks working diligently at it...

On May 18th, 2006, LTC Holland, 1LT Robert A. Seidel III, SGT Lonnie C. Allen Jr., and PFC Nicholas R. Cournoyer along with an Iraqi interpreter were killed by a roadside IED (bomb) near Baghdad while on a humanitarian mission to aid the people of Iraq.

Daniel is survived by his wife Sheryl, son Garrett, and daughter Rachel of Boerne, TX. 

On May 31st, the Patriot Guard Riders (from Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and elsewhere) escorted the Holland family to Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church. 

After a two-hour funeral service, they escorted Holland's body to Fort Sam Houston in a light rain.  LTC Daniel Holland was buried with full military honors at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

At the memorial, Sheryl had this to say about her husband:

"Daniel, I am honored to have been your wife. I had what many people dream of. I've been married to a wonderful man and father. I have been loved completely and my children have been loved completely. Please don't feel sorry for me."

Godspeed, LTC Holland.

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