IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1160-10
December 17, 2010

DOD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Specialist Sean R. Cutsforth, 22, of Radford, Virginia, died Deceber 15, 2011, at Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire.  He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

For more information, the media may contact the Fort Campbell public affairs office at 270-798-3025.

Manassas-area native Sean Cutsforth was a gifted athlete playing baseball at Virginia Wesleyan College when he felt a calling and joined the Army in September 2008.

On Wednesday, the 22-year-old Brentsville District High School graduate was killed by small-arms fire on foot patrol in Afghanistan.

His wife Ashley is due with their first child, a boy, in April, his family said Thursday night.

Vickie Cutsforth said Army officials knocked on her door Wednesday afternoon to tell her that her youngest son was gone.

“The best they can tell us is he died yesterday,” she said through tears in a Thursday phone interview from her Manassas home. “We’re still getting details. It was in the line of duty.”

His father, Robert Cutsforth, said the family was told he was killed by small-arms fire.

Sean Cutsforth, the youngest of four children, grew up in the Manassas area, attending Weems Elementary School, Benton Middle School and Brentsville District High School.

He grew proficient at any sport he tried, but swimming and baseball were where he excelled. Robert Cutsforth remembers many a poolside weekend watching his son compete with the Ben Lomond Swim Team.

He also played football and baseball at Benton and at Brentsville, and with the Greater Manassas Football League and the Greater Manassas Baseball League as a kid.

“One I thing I remember about Sean is that when we would run out to the GMBL fields, he would be the one kid with us up there to get the field ready to play,” former coach Paul Hairfield said Thursday night.

Stan Wilson, who coached Sean Cutsforth since he was 11, remembered him as “a hard-working, caring person.”

“He came over and cut out my grass just because it was long,” Wilson said.

Along with his sports accomplishments, Cutsforth also had a talent for woodworking, his old coach said. “He built a dog house for me that will probably last longer than my house.”

Robert Cutsforth said his son loved sports but didn’t consider baseball a career pursuit.

“He felt it was a calling, joining the Army,” Cutsforth said.

Sean Cutsforth, who was stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, got married two years ago. He and his wife were excited about their baby, his family said.

“It’s going to be a boy,” Vickie Cutsforth said. “He will be our first grandchild.”

The Cutsforths last saw their son at the beginning of August, when he was home for R&R.

Besides his wife and parents, Sean Cutsforth leaves behind his older brother, Ryan, and sisters Casey Torrez and Kayla Cutsforth.

“We’re very proud, and we can just hope in the grand scheme this means something.

A Manassas family is mourning the death of a son, a soldier killed in action in Afghanistan.

 Spec. Sean Cutsworth was in the final weeks of a one-year tour of duty, and poised to become a father, when he lost his life while on foot patrol.
 
"We always thought he would be safe and come back to us," said his mother, Vicki Cutsforth.
 
The 22-year-old died Wednesday, nearly two years after he enlisted.
 
"I think he felt that he saved lives while he was over there," said Bob Cutsforth, his father. "Unfortunately there are bad people in the world and he was able to help. That the greatest country in the would, he was able to go and help the people who needed help is how he looked at it."
 
Cutsforth grew up in Manassas and graduated from Brentsville District High School. He was an athlete who loved baseball, swimming and football.
 
Cutsforth's former coach says his loss is devastating
 
"We have memories that we can cherish but the way that I'm trying to interpret it is that God needed him more," said Stan Wilson.
 
Cutsforth was married last July. He was about to become a father, his wife is due in the spring.
 
"It hurts because we know he wanted to be there. He was going to be a great dad," his mother said. "He was ready for it. He wanted to be one."
 
The Cutsforths were head to Dover Air Force Base Friday to receive his remains, and begin the painful process of planning his funeral.
 
"You never want to go through it -- got to be strong though, that's what he would want," Vicki said. "He wouldn't want people feeling sorry for him."

CUTSFORTH, SEAN RUSSELL
SPC   US ARMY
AFGHANISTAN
DATE OF BIRTH: 08/29/1988
DATE OF DEATH: 12/15/2010
BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 9604
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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