Carl L. Raines II
Profile
Age: 20
From: Coffee, Ala.
Assigned to the Combat Service Support Detachment 21, 2nd Force Service Support Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Cherry Point, N.C. attached to Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward)
Incident: Marine Lance Cpl. Carl L. Raines II was killed Oct. 6 by an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces near Qaim, Iraq.
Died: October 06, 2005
Dothan father of Marine killed in Iraq reflects on son’s devotion
By Lance Griffin
The Associated Press / The Dothan (Ala.) Eagle
ENTERPRISE, Ala. — Carl Raines II wrote his father a letter about a month ago while stationed in Iraq with the Marines. To his father, it sounded like goodbye.
“He said he had no regrets and he told me I had done a good job (raising him),” said Raines, a former Army soldier and Marine who now lives in Enterprise. Carl and his son were linked not only by blood, but by that inexplicable bond shared by fellow Marines.
“I don’t know. It was like a premonition or something,” he said. “I just knew instinctively something was going to happen.”
He received another letter last Thursday. In this one, his son talked about getting on with his life after serving two more years with the Marines. He wanted to be a personal trainer. Two hours after opening the letter, two Marine sergeants and an Air...