Armchair General Supports The Fallen Heroes Fund

Editorial Staff

click above to visit the fund’s home

We are very proud that Armchair General has agreed to donate 10% of our profits to the Intrepid Museum’s Fallen Heroes Fund. This outstanding organization donates 100% of all the funds it raises. The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund is constructing a world-class state-of-the-art advanced training skills facility at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. The center will serve military personnel who have been catastrophically disabled in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The center will also serve military personnel and veterans severely injured in other operations and in the normal performance of their duties, combat and non-combat related.

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Armchair General’s support goes to the family of SSGT Andrew Pokorny.

SSGT Andrew Pokorny, USA
30 Yrs Old
Killed In Action: 6/13/2003
Operation Iraqi Freedom

Facts & Testimonials

Of Naperville, Illinois. On the way back from patrol, Pokorny’s M113 armored personnel carrier threw a track causing the vehicle to roll over in Al Asad, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Air Defense Artillery, 3rd Armor Cavalry Regiment, Fort Carson, Colorado.

From MSNBC.com: Even as a student growing up in Naperville, Pokorny had an adventuresome spirit and put others first, friends and family say. He loved serving his country. "That’s just the way he was," Martha Pokorny said.

Pokorny, 30, was returning from that patrol on Friday when his armored personnel carrier went over a 4-foot drop on the side of the road and rolled over, the Defense Department said. His wife said Pokorny helped a private – one of his soldiers – get out of the way but was struck by the vehicle himself and killed. Eight other soldiers were injured, officials said. "He took care of his soldiers," Martha Pokorny said Monday, her voice breaking. "It always terrified me; I knew he would always put them above himself."

Pokorny had been stationed in Iraq since April 9.

David Pokorny of Streamwood said he’ll remember his brother’s bravery. "He was physically very strong and mentally strong," David Pokorny said. "He did not back down from a challenge. He was always the first to do it." The family moved to Naperville when Andrew Pokorny was 5, David Pokorny said. His parents, Douglas and Marie Pokorny, still live here. Several of his five siblings also reside in the area.

Andrew Pokorny graduated from Naperville North High School in 1990. At 18, Pokorny joined the Army, where he rose to the level of staff sergeant assigned to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Fort Carson, Colo. "It was kind of a quick decision for him," David Pokorny said. "He finished high school and he wanted to do something big, and he thought the military was the route."

Andrew Pokorny met his wife when they both were stationed in Germany. His wife has since left the Army to raise their two daughters, Kristen and Andie, and son, Kodi. They live in Fort Carson. Pokorny was always involved in his children’s lives, coaching soccer games and chaperoning field trips, family members said. "He was a very outgoing, friendly person,"

Martha Pokorny said. "The most important thing to him was me and his children. He was a very involved father. He never missed a thing." "His main concern while serving as a staff sergeant in Iraq was the safety of his soldiers," said his sister, Barbara Bonnet of Aurora. "He ultimately made a supreme sacrifice for those men. He will be greatly missed by the many lives he touched."