Help Gweni: A Hero's Daughter Needs Your Support

On February 16 America lost a hero. Michael Craig Aper departed this world in an officer involved shooting in Yavapai county Arizona. A Prescott native, a soldier, a father, and a patriot, Mike was one of my dearest friends. Yet the wounds he sustained from operation Enduring Freedom eventually proved too much and he departed this world violently and tragically at the hands of the police. He leaves behind a beautiful daughter Gweni, three dear sisters including his twin sister Hillary, Tessa, and Anna, his parents Craig and Nancy, a community that loved him, and his brothers in arms who cherished and respected him.

Mike, or as I used to call him "Ape Dawg" was the epitome of an All-American soldier. He was fiercely intelligent, athletic, competitive, talented, and possessed admirable leadership skills with an uncanny ability to navigate challenging situations and thrive. During our time at war together we would often sit on the roof of our combat outpost and ponder what it all meant, and Mike was always there with a grounded, logical, yet spiritual and wholesome take. He believed in the mission, he fought for a better world and exemplified everything in a soldier that myself and his peers wanted to be. During times of great struggle he would often stand as a bulwark of morality and reason and offer encouragement and guidance to his fellow soldiers.

Mike was on the frontlines of the most challenging year in Afghanistan during the war on terror. He never shied away from the mission and he was eager to put himself in harms way in order to help his brothers. This could not have been demonstrated better than when our platoon came under an ambush west of FOB Wilson in late November or early December of 2009. When our convoy came under sustained small arms fire including enemy machine guns and rocket propelled grenades, Mike, myself, and Sergeant Zach Brady climbed to the top of an Afghan Police Station tower to engage insurgents located in approximately three different locations. All the while, Mike was cracking jokes and maintaining a high spirit, helping guide my machine gun fire to suppress insurgent positions and engage a squad of Taliban fighters. Within moments of us arriving at the top of the tower, an Afghan Police officer accidentally discharged his PKM medium machine gun at point blank range directly at myself, Mike, and Brady. The round impacted Lieutenant Erik Edstrom's rifle and broke into numerous large and small pieces, and gravely wounded Zach Brady, peppering me with shrapnel as well. Sergeant Brady, rolling and screaming in pain, spitting up blood and chunks of his teeth, had received a near fatal wound. Aper sprung into action to assist with Brady while I detained the police officer and rendered his machine gun inert. Without regard for his personal safety, exposed on top of a roof with no cover and under sustained enemy fire, Aper rendered aid on Brady until our medic could arrive and take over. He then assisted myself and the rest of the platoon in providing security on the evacuation site to get Brady home. After the helicopters evacuated Sergeant Brady, Mike, myself, and Staff Sergeant John Wright were able to lock in and eliminate an enemy combatant armed with an RPG. His stalwart attitude and selfless bravery reflected honor on himself, his peers, and the United States Army.

After the military Mike would go on to earn his master's degree in sustainability at Wake Forest. He wasn't just a warrior, he was a scholar and a believer in a better world. The environment was extremely important to him, as well as art, literature, philosophy, and science. He was truly a modern renaissance man. Never to be left sitting still he would then go on to earn his commercial diving license as an underwater welder at the Diver's Institute Of Technology in Seattle.

I could go on and on about how tremendous this loss is. But suffice to say we lost one of the best among us. And we need your help. His daughter will be left with his memory, but that is not enough. Please, if you care for our veterans, if you feel like we have been unfairly abandoned and left to fend for ourselves after sacrificing everything in two decades of war, if you wish to honor the legacy of a good man, find it within yourself to donate something to his daughter. All proceeds go to Gweni so that hopefully some day she can use it to better herself. It's no consolation. But it's something.