Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
December 12, 2006
Pg. B1
Highest-ranking woman to die in Iraq was public affairs officer
By Mike Barber, P-I Reporter
To journalists covering the war in Iraq, Marine Corps Maj. Megan Malia McClung was a professional yet friendly face, working hard as a public affairs officer to help them do their jobs.
Many of those same journalists now are writing about her after McClung, 34, who listed Coupeville on Whidbey Island as her hometown, died Wednesday in Iraq. She is apparently the highest-ranking woman of any branch of the service to die in Iraq.
Marine Lt. Col. Bryan F. Salas, who helped pin on McClung's gold oak leaves when she was promoted to major in Iraq in June, said she is the only woman graduate of the Naval Academy to die in Iraq as a result of hostile action.
According to Defense Department statistics through Dec. 2, 60 of the more than 2,900 U.S. military deaths in Iraq have been women.
She is the 146th member of the military with ties to Washington to die in Iraq.
In her job, McClung "was an advocate of media coverage of military operations," and managed the embed program in which reporters hook up with military units, developing public affairs plans for operations, Salas wrote by e-mail from Iraq.
Her death also numbed a community of marathoners. McClung, Salas said, also found time to organize the Marine Corps Marathon in Al Asad Airbase in October. She finished second among women.
The Defense Department in disclosing McClung's death Monday said she was killed in Al Anbar province supporting combat operations. Media and other military sources say she was killed in downtown Ramadi by a roadside bomb while doing her job -- escorting reporters.
She was in her last month in her Iraq deployment.
McClung's family declined to be interviewed, directing inquiries to Marine Corps officials. Funeral arrangements are incomplete but are planned for Arlington National Cemetery, Salas said from Iraq.
McClung's name has filled Google pages on the Web since her death, including notes from numerous journalists who appreciated her work.
Many cited her energy and professionalism -- and remembered a personality as bright as her red hair.
The Washington Post on Oct. 27 reported that McClung in May came up with the idea for a marathon race in Iraq to parallel the popular Marine Corps Marathon held in Washington, D.C., each fall.
The Iraq "shadow race" was dubbed the Marine Corps Marathon Forward. Participants were considered part of the U.S. marathon, their finishes added to the list of those who completed the race in the U.S.
In an online endorsement for a joint-pain product, McClung said she had trained 20 years in gymnastics and later took up the Ironman Distance Triathlon.
McClung had been serving as public affairs officer for the Army's 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division. Her home unit was the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton.
McClung, who was single, graduated in 1995 from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. She had been serving in Iraq since January.
Details about her connection to Coupeville, however, were unclear Monday. Officials in the Coupeville School District found no record of her.
Although listed by the military as a member of the Marine Corps Reserve, blogs and other Web sources indicated McClung had spent some time previously in recent years as a civilian contractor in Baghdad for Halliburton subsidiary KBR.
December 12, 2006
Pg. B1
Highest-ranking woman to die in Iraq was public affairs officer
By Mike Barber, P-I Reporter
To journalists covering the war in Iraq, Marine Corps Maj. Megan Malia McClung was a professional yet friendly face, working hard as a public affairs officer to help them do their jobs.
Many of those same journalists now are writing about her after McClung, 34, who listed Coupeville on Whidbey Island as her hometown, died Wednesday in Iraq. She is apparently the highest-ranking woman of any branch of the service to die in Iraq.
Marine Lt. Col. Bryan F. Salas, who helped pin on McClung's gold oak leaves when she was promoted to major in Iraq in June, said she is the only woman graduate of the Naval Academy to die in Iraq as a result of hostile action.
According to Defense Department statistics through Dec. 2, 60 of the more than 2,900 U.S. military deaths in Iraq have been women.
She is the 146th member of the military with ties to Washington to die in Iraq.
In her job, McClung "was an advocate of media coverage of military operations," and managed the embed program in which reporters hook up with military units, developing public affairs plans for operations, Salas wrote by e-mail from Iraq.
Her death also numbed a community of marathoners. McClung, Salas said, also found time to organize the Marine Corps Marathon in Al Asad Airbase in October. She finished second among women.
The Defense Department in disclosing McClung's death Monday said she was killed in Al Anbar province supporting combat operations. Media and other military sources say she was killed in downtown Ramadi by a roadside bomb while doing her job -- escorting reporters.
She was in her last month in her Iraq deployment.
McClung's family declined to be interviewed, directing inquiries to Marine Corps officials. Funeral arrangements are incomplete but are planned for Arlington National Cemetery, Salas said from Iraq.
McClung's name has filled Google pages on the Web since her death, including notes from numerous journalists who appreciated her work.
Many cited her energy and professionalism -- and remembered a personality as bright as her red hair.
The Washington Post on Oct. 27 reported that McClung in May came up with the idea for a marathon race in Iraq to parallel the popular Marine Corps Marathon held in Washington, D.C., each fall.
The Iraq "shadow race" was dubbed the Marine Corps Marathon Forward. Participants were considered part of the U.S. marathon, their finishes added to the list of those who completed the race in the U.S.
In an online endorsement for a joint-pain product, McClung said she had trained 20 years in gymnastics and later took up the Ironman Distance Triathlon.
McClung had been serving as public affairs officer for the Army's 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division. Her home unit was the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton.
McClung, who was single, graduated in 1995 from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. She had been serving in Iraq since January.
Details about her connection to Coupeville, however, were unclear Monday. Officials in the Coupeville School District found no record of her.
Although listed by the military as a member of the Marine Corps Reserve, blogs and other Web sources indicated McClung had spent some time previously in recent years as a civilian contractor in Baghdad for Halliburton subsidiary KBR.